New TV Advice

MrSwanson

Hi people, currently looking for a new TV but I have no idea what out there is good atm!

Budget is probably around £400 use for gaming with PS4 and Netflix etc, what do you guys recommend?

Cheers in advance

boogieman

This has come up on a couple of forums recently and the answer seems to be Samsung. Decent picture quality and good array of features for the money.  Richer Sounds are the best value and give you a decent warranty, otherwise John Lewis. 

octatonic

I just bought a 40" Samsung for the workshop- it was £420.
I bought it from Richer Sounds- got a 6 year warranty.
If you want something cheaper then buy last years model, or go down a screen size.
Personally I wouldn't want to compromise on screen clarity, I'd rather have a higher quality smaller screen than a lower quality larger screen.

MrSwanson

octatonic said:

I jus bought a 40" Samsung for the workshop- it was £420 IIRC.
I bought it from Richer Sounds- got a 6 year warranty.
If you want something cheaper then buy last years model, or go down a screen size.
Personally I wouldn't want to compromise on screen clarity, I'd rather have a higher quality smaller screen than a lower quality larger screen.

Which model? Not bothered about a massive screen 40" would probably be just about right

octatonic

I linked you up already.

MrSwanson

Damn , missed it, cheers!

octatonic

No worries.
I'm really happy with it, btw.
I only really watch the news on it whilst I am in the workshop but it is very clear and has decent speakers for a flat screen.

crunchman

You'll never get really good sound out of the TV speakers on a modern flat screen.  "Decent speakers for a flat screen" is like saying "Crunchman is a decent cyclist for a 15 stone 47 year old".  Chris Froome I ain't.

The only other thing I would say is don't worry about lots of "smart" functionality.  If it's got it then fine, but don't pay extra for it.  It will be outdated within a year or two anyway.  Just get one with a decent screen and use something external for the smart content.  You can get the Amazon Fire stick for £35 - less when they have an offer on.

Sporky

crunchman said:

You'll never get really good sound out of the TV speakers on a modern flat screen.

Depends on your definition of decent in this context, which probably depends on your needs.

Most of them are fine for voice reproduction. If you're watching the news that's probably enough.

Gassage

Some useful reviews here

http://www.trans-mission.org/tips/starting.php

MrSwanson

Gassage said:

Some useful reviews here

http://www.trans-mission.org/tips/starting.php

I actually clicked this without thinking!

ICBM

I'd go with Panasonic over Samsung, just because I think the picture quality looks better, but I seem to be in a minority of taste when it comes to that… I prefer softer and more natural colours over bright and strident.

ToneControl

how far away from it will you sit?

ToneControl

last time I bought, I bought a big LED for us, and Plasmas for the kids
I wish I'd bought all Plasmas - the kids' screens were cheaper and have a better picture

The cheaper  LEDs were not as good as the last generation  of Plasmas, which I have read have been stopped due to lower profits rather than any issue with picture quality

The best OLEDs are great, but if you find any low-energy plasmas going cheap, get one. 

MrSwanson

ToneControl said:

how far away from it will you sit?

Going to be 1-2m I think, currently moving but that will be about it I reckon

Sporky

If anyone wants to try the quick-and-dirty way to size a screen for commercial use, you take the viewing distance in millimetres, divide by 75 and that's the screen diagonal in inches (if anyone is interested this is within 2% of the Infocomm recommendation for "detailed-viewing-with-clues"). For home use I'd go one size smaller unless you're definitely going to have a lot of high resolution content; the 75 guideline is about presentation material including detailed drawings, Excel and so on.

I think the last major plasma production line (Samsung's) closed in 2014, which is a shame, because while LCD has come on a great deal I still don't think it's quite as good. OLED has significant promise, as does Sony's Crystal LED but the former is still expensive and the latter isn't on sale yet.

ToneControl

http://uk.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-size/size-to-distance-relationship

in case you  were thinking of 4k

usually us geeks spend time warning people off 4k when they are sitting 3m away and wanting to buy a 40 inch

Sporky

ToneControl said:

http://uk.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-size/size-to-distance-relationship

in case you  were thinking of 4k

usually us geeks spend time warning people off 4k when they are sitting 3m away and wanting to buy a 40 inch

I'd say that chart gives too large a screen for comfort and for the quality of most broadcast images (including HD channels, most of which still aren't 1080p).

They're working on sitting at the point where someone with 6/6 vision can resolve individual pixels, which is appropriate for detailed CAD work or complex small text, but for watching telly that's just too close. Add into the mix that most people have higher acuity than 6/6 - 6/4 is pretty much "normal" - and you end up with a screen that's too big for telly use.

ToneControl

Sporky said:

ToneControl said:

http://uk.rtings.com/tv/reviews/by-size/size-to-distance-relationship

in case you  were thinking of 4k

usually us geeks spend time warning people off 4k when they are sitting 3m away and wanting to buy a 40 inch

I'd say that chart gives too large a screen for comfort and for the quality of most broadcast images (including HD channels, most of which still aren't 1080p).

They're working on sitting at the point where someone with 6/6 vision can resolve individual pixels, which is appropriate for detailed CAD work or complex small text, but for watching telly that's just too close. Add into the mix that most people have higher acuity than 6/6 - 6/4 is pretty much "normal" - and you end up with a screen that's too big for telly use.

you seem to know a lot about this

I'm waiting until my current kit  pops its clogs before going 4k, since it will be so long before there is much media for it
Also, when I was buying 2 years ago, there was no way I could afford the better OLED stuff, too early

Chalky

See ordinary Sky channels on a big 4k TV and you might seriously wonder whether it's worth buying a new TV.  Are some 4k TVs better at showing lower qualitychannels, non-HD I mean, than others?

exocet

I bought a 4K Samsung last year. In my view the 4K processing has to work pretty hard to display non HD content - end result is a very poor picture. It is also pretty unforgiving on 1080p content that is not "up to scratch". Good quality 1080p source material looks stunning. 
My dad bought one of the final generation of Panasonic Plasma screens - a store near him had stock piled a few of them. I concur that the picture quality is superb.