Buying a new TV 22 October 2017 at 8:11PM in TV MoneySaving 11 replies 4.4K views

geek84

Hi folks

I'm thinking of buying a new widescreen TV. I haven't bought one for over 20 years and would like advice on what features both essential and 'nice to have' features I should look for when selecting my TV.

Also, do you suggest I should select the TV model from the popular makes such as Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic etc, or should I widen my choice?

Thanks

giraffe69

I looked recently for a new TV and was considering Panasonic as they had made my old TV (8 years old) which was very good. The model size I wanted (55") got a bad Which review. As well as Sony and Samsung I looked at and ended up buying an LG TV. I'm very pleased with it. The picture is great. Growing deafness means the sound in TVs is not always good enough for me. This one works with my existing (Panasonic) soundbar and also Bluetooth headphones.

Cornucopia

The smart money in the midmarket is usually on Samsung or LG, purchased through John Lewis or Richer Sounds. (Of the two, I've always found Richer Sounds customer service to be impeccable).

Other than that, it really is a question of working out what you want, and how much you are looking to spend.

- Screen size?
- Smart functions or dumb?
- Do you want to interface directly to a satellite feed (Freesat)?
- 4K/HDR/UHD or just HD?
- What are the sources you want to play on it? Freeview, Sky/VM, Netflix, Amazon, Bluray, DVD?
- Games consoles?

custardy

geek84 wrote: »

Hi folks

I'm thinking of buying a new widescreen TV. I haven't bought one for over 20 years and would like advice on what features both essential and 'nice to have' features I should look for when selecting my TV.

Also, do you suggest I should select the TV model from the popular makes such as Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic etc, or should I widen my choice?

Thanks

first thing.
What are you connecting to the TV?
Do you have the likes of Sky,Bluray player etc?

Tom99

I would go for a good make and then look at John Lewis or Richer Sounds who have a cheap 5 yr guarantee.

Cornucopia

The current warranty deals are 6 years Free at Richer Sounds and 5 years Free at John Lewis.

When I bought my TV last year, I asked my local Currys if they would match the deal including the warranty, but they would match on price only.

almillar

My 'first thing' would be size and budget (big as possible!). That will guide us on what kind of specs to chase, and I wouldn't restrict myself to only two brands.

teddysmum

Our last two have been Panasonic and the current one (very small surround) is even better than the other which we still have but I wanted a larger screen (the tv is roughly the same size, though).


We've always found Panasonic reliable, with a long warranty anyway, but I viewed various brands in Curry's (bought from RS) and the Panasonic picture was crisper, though it was Curry's version of a higher grade range. Also, people complain that modern tvs have poor sound, because of the location of speakers , but ours is just as clear as the one with forward facing ones.


I've avoided LG after a friend, who didn't want to wait for her catalogue's installer, asked if I could help her set up, but the handsets to tv and pvr were so flimsy that I was afraid of breaking the covers when inserting batteries.


Sony have always seemed more expensive and their accredited repairers like Canon for their cameras etc, were fixed at a costly level even if the problem was very minor.


The independent repairman that mended my son's Sony (Sony actually paid the repair as the man was charging less than half the accredited person's price ) said that a number of manufacturers deliberately make it difficult for such as himself to obtain parts, meaning that customers have to use the more expensive option. Sony and Panasonic were ok, but Samsung was his nightmare brand (luckily we've never had problems with our small screen Samsung,though).

[Deleted User]

Black Friday sales are coming up in 4 or 5 weeks, you may want to hold fire until then. We got a nice Sony 50" for £529 last year which was over £200 discount.

teddysmum

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

Black Friday sales are coming up in 4 or 5 weeks, you may want to hold fire until then. We got a nice Sony 50" for £529 last year which was over £200 discount.

A lot of Black Friday stuff is bought in rubbish, though (the ones pictured being fought over being a once reputable brand name sold off to a cheapie eastern European manufacturer. )


You also have to be wary of big tv brands in supermarkets as manufacturers make cheaper, but inferior models ,by using cheap parts, so the supermarket can claim to be selling at a good price. You can recognize these as the model numbers can only be sourced from supermarkets.

mobileron

Ill take the Richersounds 6 year free warranty on the Sony,and i dont need to worry about lack of spares or other charges.

Also its one of the best quality pictures available.