Help: Looking for 40" smart 3D tv for about £500-£600

Scouse337

Nice one mate, great advice again! Really helpful indeed as my knowledge is minimal. I do know I don't have sky though! lol

What do i need to know about USB connection do get the most out of it? Do many tv's come with 2 tuners? Expensive?

Bigphil1474

Scouse - not many TV's in your price range will come with twin tuners. You might be better looking for a twin tuner external device to record and watch TV but that adds a big chunk on your costs.
My TV is not tiwn tuner, but if its recording something I usually go on to the smart functions and watch something else. We always record commercial TV channels so we can FF through the adverts, so we tend to watch i-player to catch up on BBC. Also, if you already have a freeview enabled external device, you connect that up to your tv and watch that if the TV is recording.

For recording, you need a TV that is enabled for USB recording and Playback. You will then need an external hard drive dedicated to the TV. I got a Western Digitial AVTV HD which is designed for TV's and cost about £70. Now when I go onto the tv guide, I can press on the programme and it will ask me if I want to record or series record it, and it automatically detects the hard drive. Pretty cool stuff. The only downside is that recording HD output isn't good on any model I've heard of. If you find the model you like on the Richer SOunds website and look at the specs, it will tell you whether it can do USB recording and playback on the specs. For connecting USB devices to playback movies etc. most new TV's have this function anyway - its only the record and playback which is less common.
In relation to size - I replaced a 37" Toshiba which was about 5 years old, with a 42" LG. Because there is less bevel on the screen, the new TV is actually about the same size as a unit - so the boss said ok!
LG TV's come with the Lovefilm app in for definite - not sure about netflix. However, I got a Panasonic 3d player which has Netflix app. Not all TV's have the same smart function which can be a pain. The LG TV has 5 on demand but not 4 OD as of yet. LG does have Sky Now app, which is something I'm looking at. Not sure about the Samsung smart functions though. Worth looking at their websites to see what functions suite you - we tend to watch more through catch up tv than actually watching live.

wongataa

Most TVs are not twin tuner. The ones that are tend to be more expensive. Most people will record with a separate device.

I bought a Youview box on ebay for about £60 which can record two channels at once etc. and record the Freeview HD channels.

almillar

Sorry Scouse, I must be getting my threads mixed up.
Don't try to make the TV do everything, use it to give you a picture, and then use a box to feed that picture in.
Simple answer - if you've got an aerial, buy a YouView box. If you've got a satellite (and 2 feeds into the room) buy a <freetime> box.
The above two are by far the best way to cover recording 2 programmes at at time, in HD, as well as having catch-up stuff very well integrated, without subscription.
That leaves you with streaming Lovefilm or Netflix. Doesn't a PS3 do both? As well as, you know, play Blu-Rays, DVDs and games? Grab one second hand for around £100.
I think that just leaves playing stuff from USB - I think both the boxes above can do that, and the PS3 too, but they might all be fussy about file formats. Then again, so will a TV.
Notice that I've chopped most features out of your TV!

Scouse337

Brilliant info and advice mate, so........after all that i don't need a new TV just buy a Youview box? lol We have xbox and PS3 in the house so you rightly said they cover most bits!

Hang on, i could, but i NEED a bigger screen and the boss says i'm allowed to buy one, so i need a Youview box.....but what 40" tv should i get almillar?

Scouse337

Thanks again everyone! But......

EEeeeks more questions:

Main one is what TV to buy?
Does a youview box and Western Digitial AVTV HD do the same thing?
What youview box should i go for if thats the way to go?
Do you also have to subscribe to the youview box or just plug and play?

wongataa

You don't have to subscribe with a Youview box. You can buy Humax Youview boxes in shops but they are quite expensive.
TalkTalk Youview boxes are available on eBay for around £60 and work quite happily as a standalone unit. Obviously you can't access the TalkTalk specific features but all the standard Youview stuff works.

You can get Youview boxes from BT & TalkTalk with subscriptions for the BT & TalkTalk specific services.

Youview boxes and WD AVTV boxes have different features. Youview boxes are Freeview receivers and recorders with the catch up services integrated in the EPG - you can scroll backwards in time in the EPG. Look at the Youview website for details.

The WD device is a media player that plugs into the TV.

Bigphil1474

Scouse

What TV to buy? - that's the big question. If you've got PS3 - that will get you online, play blu-rays and also plays 3d films, has some TV apps, certainly all the ones I generally use on my telly.
I don't know about the YouView box so couldn't comment.
The WD hard drive, is basically like a video recorder only. On my setup it plugs into the back of the TV through a USB port, and it remains there happily recording any programmes I want it to, to watch later. It's basically an external hard drive that can be used with PC's, playstation, TV's etc. However, they generally get formatted when you connect them to the TV so I thought it was easier to get one just for that. I suppose a tv recorder would do the same job, and have freeview built in, but not for £70.
TechRadar do some good TV reviews. They recommended the Panasonic TX-L42E6B (currently around £530 at Currys) as a good 2D mid range - techradar.com search for 10 best 40 and 42 inch tvs in the world today. As I was looking for wi-fi, 3d smart etc. I never looked at ones that weren't. The one recommended above is smart, but only has 50hz processing rate which is quite low.
In your first post you mentioned the Samsung ue40f6500 - came across the UE40F6510 which is slightly different - think the different number is because the frame is white rather than silver. Looks good to me - it also has Freeviw and Freesat so if you've got a dish, you can switch between the 2 i.e. it works like twin tuners, and is 400Hz. I'd go for that if you can find it in your price range - currently about £650 in Richer sounds.

almillar

You're going mad wondering what devices do what, when you should be deciding what you want, then buying THAT!
Anyway, with a PS3 and a Youview box you'll have more smartness under your TV than any Smart TV will have.
You need to think about picture quality, and connections.
If you want to add surround sound later, you would connect the Youview and the PS3 to the amp, then amp into TV.
How many HDMI ports do you need? Youview and PS3 is two, and maybe room for expansion.
Any other considerations?
How about this LG? Just from a quick look at price and specs...
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd-blu-ray/televisions/large-screen-tvs-32-and-over/lg-42ln575v-smart-42-led-tv-21342715-pdt.html

Scouse337

Thanks again guys, this has really helped. Im going to Richer sounds local store to see about the TV, tell the bits you have advised on and see what they have.....then find the TV for a cheaper price!


Have been watching some youview boxes so will purchase one of those after i get the tv