Which TV to buy 4K or 3D

kah22

im buying a new television come the post Christmas sales, but I'm not quite sure what to buy. I'll be buying at John Lewis as I have £100 credit there

The TV will be 40-43 inch. Probably a Samsung and will be in the sub £600 bracket. It will be used to watch Freeview, Netflix and the occasional DVD.

I probably will retire my old DVD player and buy a new blu ray player in the near future, but it is by no means top of my list. I'm not a gamer and won't be having Sky or Freesat.

So I'm wondering, given the above which type of TV would be more appropriate 4K or 3D. My personal thinking would be 4K as I'll not be rushing out to buy 3D films (are there that many on sale anyway?) However, it has been drawn to my attention that 3D sets have a faster refresh rate and that the workings are more advanced

Viewing distance is coming in at 3.04m and if I hop over to the WHICH website their TV screen size calculator would suggest something in the region of 40-46 inches. It surprised me when they said that with a 4K TV., '..........you really need to go 40-inch or larger to appreciate the jump in picture quality. However, bear in mind that because of the extra detail in the picture, you can sit a bit closer to the TV screen and still watch in comfort. For example, with a 40-inch 4K TV you can sit around 8.3 feet away from it. For a 50-inch, that goes up to 10.4 feet and for a 55-inch 11.4 feet. ' I thought the opposite would have been the case, just goes to show what I know In my room anything over 46 would be overkill

What would be your thinking and why

RumRat

Firstly for 4K I wouldn't go for anything below 50" unless space is a dictating factor. Secondly I would go 4K over 3D, I never liked it and it seems that the Country and industry hasn't really embraced it.
Most people I know haven't used the 3D function after around the first month of ownership....
Purely my opinion, but there it is, for what it's worth.:)

globalds

Just go into a currys and you will see there is a difference even close up with 4K and HD

Go for the 4K ..And I would probably go for 50 Inch or bigger

Just remember you might be stuck for content for a while ..But like most things nowadays ..If it catches on progress can be very rapid.

Richie-from-the-Boro

3D is worthless, I've had foolish friends and family buy these things at very high prices, they were a con then and they are now. Most of those friends and family discontinued the 3D use very quickly and reverted to using them like ordinary TV's till the end of their working life. You can get way easily with a 60" on 4k if your room is big enough. You should REM that like 3D, 4k has [relatively] no content yet. Best of luck.

kah22

In reality there is only one place I can put the telly and that, as I said above, is 3.04m as measured by laser. It will be sitting on top of a cupboard. I can't fix it to the wall as it is just plasterboard plastered over and painted

While I do appreciate that there may not be much 4K material out there at the moment it should be making a steady appearance over the next number of years and my thinking is to be ready

One of the sets I'm looking carefully at is the Samsung UE40JU6400 LED 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 40" with Freeview HD and Built-In Wi-Fi

VoucherMan

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

3D is worthless,

they were a con then and they are now.

I'd have to disagree with that.
I feel it has been miss-sold. I have yet to find any videos which give the same 3D effect as the National Geographic type of films that were shown on the TVs in the shops, where moving animals/objects appear to come towards you through the screen (as demonstrated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO7P8SOf3dE). Probably because most films are just converted from 2D.

That said, I do find that 3D gives more depth to the films. If I had a choice of 2D or 3D at the cinema, I'd choose 3D, but I don't buy many DVDs or Blu-rays, and haven't seen any 3D material on broadcast TV for a long time.


Thanks for the reminder though. I haven't used my 3D for a while. I'll have to see if there are any 3D films about that are worth watching.

Browntoa

BT are moving forward with 4K tv broadcasts , Netflix also now streaming at 4K , 3D was a failed gimmick so personally I'd go for 4K

wongataa

For the price specified in the OP I wouldn't go specifically for 3D or 4K. I would just go for the best set possible for the price.

roddydogs

But a set with 3D is no dearer, arnt most 4K Tvs 3D/smart anyway? so you dont use it, but its better to have it than not.

lee111s

In my opinion, it's not worth getting a 4K TV unless you're going for an OLED and your budget won't stretch to that.

RumRat

VoucherMan wrote: »

I'd have to disagree with that.
I feel it has been miss-sold. I have yet to find any videos which give the same 3D effect as the National Geographic type of films that were shown on the TVs in the shops, where moving animals/objects appear to come towards you through the screen (as demonstrated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO7P8SOf3dE). Probably because most films are just converted from 2D.

That said, I do find that 3D gives more depth to the films. If I had a choice of 2D or 3D at the cinema, I'd choose 3D, but I don't buy many DVDs or Blu-rays, and haven't seen any 3D material on broadcast TV for a long time.


Thanks for the reminder though. I haven't used my 3D for a while. I'll have to see if there are any 3D films about that are worth watching.

If you watch 4K properly (size and distance) then it gives proper depth to the pictures. Some of the specifically shot stuff is amazing and makes you realise what a crock 3D actually is.
Plenty of 4K on YouTube (especially nature if that's your bag) if your PC and monitor can handle it or you have a 4K TV to watch it on.