Rec for basic 40inch tv that has a decent interface/OS

Ant555

Does anyone have any recs for a basic 40 inch TV.

The basic requirement is that it has freeview/Freely, is 40 inch but more importantly starts up quickly and has a quick/zippy interface when changing channels etc.

My parents current TV is not old but is an 'Android' OS and takes ages to start up - there is a message 'loading' on screen for a long time and switching channels is VERY laggy. We dont really need many features, the user experience is the main factor.

Thanks in advance for anyone that has recent experience they can share.

Neil_Jones

Well without knowing what you've got now the "user experience" recommendations will be meaningless.

Modern TVs are designed to be left on in standby rather than power cycled, so the "loading" and lagging issue can be related.

Grumpy_chap

Can the OP take their parents to see TVs on display in a store and try out the interface to see what they actually like?

It is just that no online description will give the level of honesty required - no articles will ever say "great interface except for when it is loading and laggy"

SammyBoyd

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6689510/rec-for-basic-40inch-tv-that-has-a-decent-interface-os

Your problem is thus. Freely runs via certain TV operating systems(OS) Operating systems use Random Access Memory. RAM is relatively expensive right now for varied reasons.The most expensive 40" Freely TV the TCL V5D is around £200. It has 1GB of RAM. Even the cheapest smartphones these days run with 4GB of RAM.

One way around this is to get a basic TV without an OS, if they still exist, then to obtain a standalone Freely box, such as Manhattan Aero. Curiously they don't specify the amount of RAM installed. I suspect 2GB. Either way, it should be less sluggish than the TV.

The Netgem Pleio runs with 3GB of RAM, though is more expensive. Price has recently jumped from £99 to £129

Manhattan Aero from £69 to £89. Told you about those RAM prices.

Manhattan Aero runs on TiVo OS, so no customisation in sideloading applications.

The NetGem Pleio runs on Android TV and has Google Play.

This from the top of my head, so re-check the details.

teaselMay

Which interface they get on well with will be quite a personal thing. I like Roku and have a Roku stick in a ?7 year old smart TV as it's a much better for me interface than the original. I also had one in a previous non smart TV that I've since replaced with a JVC Roku TV, I think from Currys but others around. Simple to use and reliable.

ballyblack

is an 'Android' OS and takes ages to start up

Don't switch off TV when not in use as some people do

Put it in standby

daveyjp

I have recently stayed in 6 different hotels over a couple of weeks, all rooms had modern connected TVs and all were a pain to use to such an extent I didn't bother.

Ayr_Rage

A good friend of mine recently purchased a Hisense TV with Freely and terrestrial tuners and it starts instantly, the OS is pretty easy to navigate too.

As above, just do not unplug from the wall, modern TVs use very little power when in standby.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82194085#Comment_82194085

That's often because hotel TVs are fed from a central server and don't have local access to internet/terrestrial TV.

The complexity (or otherwise) of TVs is a function of how they are now used and the sources that they gather their output from.

At some point in the not-too-distant future people will scoff that in the olden times people had to sit and press buttons in order to switch from watching Ted Lasso on Apple TV to Black Doves on Netflix to the football on Sky Sports 2 to Traitors on Freeview. Fire and Google TV interfaces will sort-of let you do this with voice commands but it's clunky.

Sky/BT/Virgin will try to convince you that their boxes will serve everything up from a single menu but that is rarely cost effective or comprehensive.

With thousand-channel availability comes complexity and fragmented, complicated multi-tier billing.

Ant555

Thanks for the replies, very useful.

I realise that some of this is subjective but the lagginess of their current TV is just ridiculous so they are wary - even after startup it sometimes seems to take longer than it should to respond to button presses (tried new batteries etc)

We may need to change their TV power off habits but as they are 80+ that may be the ultimate challenge 😄

flashg67

I recommended a 40" Hisense with Freely for my 82 year old Mother in law. It was easy to set up and I felt it was plenty quick enough. She's not complained about it yet, and she complains about everything…

Think it was this one Argos catalogue no 851/2143