TV budget - base it on the licence fee?

A_Nice_Englishman

The advice to sit closer to the TV so you can see the difference your hundreds of pounds bought amused me.

How about sitting where you want to and buying a TV of sufficient size and quality that you can enjoy the programmes without being irritated by any flaws?

Cornucopia

I would avoid the very cheapest TVs, but other than that, anything from one of the "usual suspect" brands, and purchased from John Lewis or Richer Sounds (NOT Currys) will likely be excellent.

I have an LG from RS that is excellent and was good VFM.

I tweaked the picture set-up the other day, and was watching a film today that looked fantastic (even with only 720p source material).

[Deleted User]

Cornucopia wrote: »

I tweaked the picture set-up the other day, and was watching a film today that looked fantastic (even with only 720p source material).

This part is so, so important and sadly very few people will actually do it. We bought a Sony KDL-50W755C a couple of years back in the sales and at stock settings it looks average at best. Tweak it (I Googled a suitable set-up) and the picture is superb, Netflix especially is brilliant with the close ups on the likes of Gotham being just stunning.

Anyone who doesn't set the TV up correctly is in effect wasting half of what ever they paid.

It does raise the question of just why the stock settings are so bad, I've not come across one that doesn't benefit from being tweaked.

Carrot007

AndyPK wrote: »

Stick to 42 unless you watch a lot of films or have a large room.

To replace a 42 with a set of the same "size" you now need a 50 becuase of the current trend of removing decent speakers and minimising the bezel (though do factor in the cost of getting decent sound too).

[Deleted User]

Carrot007 wrote: »

To replace a 42 with a set of the same "size" you now need a 50 becuase of the current trend of removing decent speakers and minimising the bezel (though do factor in the cost of getting decent sound too).

Sorry but unless you're physically restrained by available space that's nonsense. The lack or otherwise of a bezel makes no difference to the actual viewing.

The inbuilt speakers have usually been an after thought on most TV's for very long time as well so I'd agree that a decent (say £100-£150 at least) soundbar is worthwhile.

teddysmum

When we upgraded to our 42" Panasonic, we were able to have a larger viewing area than before , while taking up about the same space, because the border was much smaller.


We find 42" ample and cannot tell the difference between SD and HD unless the SD broadcast is old. However, we don't have anywhere near perfect eyesight and don't want the set to dominate the room.


We have always paid under £550 and found the sound on Panasonics good enough without extra speakers. However, we fell out of love with Panasonic after the loss of two catchup channels on relatively new sets. (Sorted by using an Amazon stick.)

Bigphil1474

My old 38 inch Panasonic was the same size as my newer LG 42" TV, due to reduced bevel.
OP, If you really want big movie experience at home, have a look at projectors and movie screens. A bit impractical for day to day telly, but great for cinema nights. Decent set up for less than £400-£500. I have a 2016 Optima HD141 projector and a powered movie screen - gives me a 180" display, and I can show 3d movies - it's awesome.
TV's that are non 4k are very low price these days, but as others say, work out what you want, then price accordingly. Do you want a smart TV - I have one, and use smart functions often - do you want it wifi connected, do you want to be able to bounce things to it from your smart phone, etc. Last time I bought a new telly I spent a month comparing and contrasting, got it down to a Samsung or LG. Richer Sounds is worth a trip as their staff are very knowledgeable and their prices are reasonable. If you find a model they have that you like, you can always see if you can get it cheaper elsewhere. Personally, I'm not bothered for 4k, and can't see it having the impact that HD did.

takman

I also don't think £1200 is excessive and i recently bought an LG OLED TV for slightly more than that!. I don't spend as much time as most people watching TV but the picture quality is so far superior to LED that it's worth the money.

Standard LED TV's are backlit so the blacks either get washed out when their is a bright bit on the screen or the bright bit is dimmer than it could be.
On an OLED TV each pixel is individually lit which means you can get perfect blacks next to bright lights and the picture improvement compared to LED is extraordinary. They can also produce a much larger range of colours compared to cheaper LED TV's.