New TV - Advice sought

Strat_a_tat_tat · December 2014

Panasonic plasma has lasted well... nearly 11 years... but time for an upgrade. Wow - it's all so complicated nowadays! What to buy??

Looking at 55inch LED (possibly Samsung... probably can't convince wife that we need 65 inch. Who said size isn't important?)... but which technologies are worth having and which are gimmicks?

Smart TV - I guess I'm pretty much decided that this is essential... as there's never anything good on when I want to view... so catch up TV of some sort would be good.

Viewing Netflix / Love Film etc. online seems like a good idea - but I only have BT's standard 8Mb broadband (BT Infinity won't be here for another year or two). Will that be fast enough - or will there be endless buffering?

4K? I'm aware that there's not much 4K content at the moment... but I'm guessing upscaling of ordinary broadcasts etc. might make this desirable in the meantime. Is that sensible - or daft? (and bear in mind, I tend to keep my TVs for 10 years-ish... so I don't plan on changing this again until 2015!!!)

3D. I think I'd probably just watch a couple of films... think 3D is great... for a short while... then never bother again. To me, it seems it's more of a 'selling feature' rather than a day-to-day useful feature. Is that fair. Is 3D not really taking off?

Thanks for your help

Mr Bewildered Viewer.

strumjoughlamps · December 2014

8mb will be fine if you are not doing much else ,think they usually say 2-3 for streaming.

Could not live without a smart tv now, we use Netflix, Amazon Instant and NOW TV and being able to use those without an external device is great.

FX_Munkee · December 2014

Picture Quality before anything else.
3D not worth a premium but it will have to have a faster refresh for it so maybe slightly better PQ.
Smart, hmmm they tend not to be from experience and most of the stuff looks like it will be out of date before this weeks bread.
Connectivity is important, no of HDMI inputs, ethernet for updates etc.
DLNA rendering can be pretty useful.
BTW the Sony W8 series are probably the best "mid range" sets they've done for a few years. Picture Quality wise.

richardhomer · December 2014

FX_Munkee;442993" said:
BTW the Sony W8 series are probably the best "mid range" sets they've done for a few years. Picture Quality wise.

I find it immensely reassuring that in spite of all the technological developments that have taken place, it's still okay to refer to a telly as a 'set'.

Strat_a_tat_tat · December 2014

Thanks, strumjoughlamps... good to know.

Thanks FX_Munkee... I'm away to read what DLNA means!

LooseMoose · December 2014

Best bet is nip down Tesco and punch an old lady in the face before grabbing the nearest TV and legging it to the tills. Keep the spirit of Black Friday alive.

Strat_a_tat_tat · December 2014

LooseMoose said:

Best bet is nip down Tesco and punch an old lady in the face before grabbing the nearest TV and legging it to the tills. Keep the spirit of Black Friday alive.

Truly inspirational, Mr Moose.

ICBM · December 2014

Panasonic 2D HD LED, in whatever size you can fit in your room/think isn't too silly.

Admittedly two or three years ago now since I bought mine, but it had the best picture, best connectivity, best features, lowest energy use, and wasn't by any means the most expensive - although not quite the cheapest, LG and Samsung were cheaper but didn't score as well on the other things.

I did look at Sony for reference, and the pictures were good, but I find all Sony products overhyped and overpriced for what they actually are - and after several just-out-of-warranty failures, I wouldn't buy another Sony anything.

FX_Munkee · December 2014

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

Thanks, strumjoughlamps... good to know.

Thanks FX_Munkee... I'm away to read what DLNA means!

it's just a way that the TV can stream video/music/images from a computer/NAS box running as a DLNA server.
It's one of the few standards we have ATM that are actually "standard"

Strat_a_tat_tat · December 2014

... oh... and curved displays! What's that all about? I can't see any major benefit in that... or am I missing something?

That said, it looks like some manufacturers are charging same price for older flat screens and their latest curved screens... so maybe they're trying to push the market towards curved.

Thanks.

boogieman · December 2014

Curved screens are a gimmick IMO. Can't see any real benefits to them.

And a big plus one to not buying a Sony. We had two of their products go tits up after relatively short use.

Stevepage · December 2014

Had a few guys at John Lewis say that currently Sony are making the best sets for picture quality. It used to be Panasonic but that was when plasma was reigning supreme

spark240 · December 2014

Panasonic for me all the way..

Flink_Poyd · December 2014

Bought my Panny plasma about 18 months ago before the stocks started to disappear, glad I did. 5 year guarantee from Richer Sounds so hopefully it'll conk out just before the end of the guarantee or they'll have settled on a decent format/resolution by then.
They bet big on 3D which is a gimmick, curved screens below cinema size are are a gimmick and 4K is low on content.
I'm sure there'll be some sort of sale again soon so bargains will be around. Try places like AV Forums, loads of advice there.

Axe_meister · December 2014

I'd leave the smarts to an external device (Chrome cast, apple TV, etc, etc) as you can upgrade them when something better comes along. Buy the best picture quality you can get for the money even if it means dropping Smarts,4K, 3D.
It't a pity large Monitors are no longer sold without even a TV tuner.
I personally would love an OLED 55 inch monitor

rocktron · December 2014

I have a Samsung 55" 3D TV, bought from JohnLewis in the August 2013 Bank Holiday sale. It is the model just before the curved screen TVs were released.

I love the TV, but if I am buying now, I'd get the 60" Samsung 8000 series curved screen model.

My living room is 15' x 12' and the 55" TV does not dominate the room. In fact, I am looking at the Samsung 55" 2012 model at a relative's house in NYC right now, and it is a brilliant TV. Further, there is no need for a soundbar - the volume is good.

ToneControl · December 2014

I just went through this myself

4k is a waste of time for anything less than 50 inch, and even then you would need to sit 4 feet from it, and there is almost zero material available to view. Wait 10 years before that is useful? There are review sites explaining why 4k is currently a waste

netflix works fine on 8Mb broadband

3D is not that useful usually

curved is a gimmick

LEDs are supposed to still not manage the quality of plasma to watch stuff, read the reviews explaining refresh rates and the way that LEDs have to interpolate extra frames to try to be a smooth as Plasmas, yet plasmas are sometimes currently sold off cheap, since hte marketing is making out that they are old tech

some deals turn out to be only Freeview (not HD), or old SMART functionality. I have heard that LG and Samsung have good SMART software, not certain though

In the sales last week, they had an LG 60 inch plasma smart tv for £600. I bought one - very good. Amazingly only 158 watts in use, not like my old plasma which could heat a room
Probably better than the 70 inch LG LED I got from Costco

Richer sounds is the best place, but they will try to sell you one for 50% more than what I think are good models
Costco have some great deals, and John Lewis is always good
I think the cheap 60 inch at Currys have all gone now

Bear in mind: now they all have 7mm bezels, the sound quality through the little speakers underneath is similar to an iPad, so you will need a Soundbar or external AV amp and speakers. Also - is using the supplied stand, most soundbars will block some of the screen and/or the remote sensor

boogieman · December 2014

I was thinking of getting an AV amp and 5.1 speakers but can't be arsed with all the cabling. Anyone know if those soundbases are actually any good? They look a better idea than a soundbar on paper but I can't find that many user reviews.

ToneControl · December 2014

boogieman said:

I was thinking of getting an AV amp and 5.1 speakers but can't be arsed with all the cabling. Anyone know if those soundbases are actually any good? They look a better idea than a soundbar on paper but I can't find that many user reviews.

you can just use main L+R plus a centre speaker, with a sub behind the TV. You don't need to use rears

fastboy · December 2014

I wouldn't bother with 4k, it's a gimmick unless you have money to burn. Look at it this way, even HD (1080p) broadcasts aren't even the norm except a few domestic channels on Freeview. If you want it on Sky / Virgin you have to pay extra for it!

Given that we can't even seem to reach HD as a standard for broadcast I wouldn't be rushing out the door to go 4K as you might be on your next TV set by the time there's a reasonable amount of everyday terrestrial content for it!

Smart TV is good to go for as it gives you options. I've done Amazon and Netflix and they're ok but Now TV on movies whilst it doesn't have the library sizes of the former two, the content is much newer as you're getting what's on Sky Movies. I got frustrated with old movies on the other two.

Also with Now TV you can get access to box sets (like the others) but I also like buying the occasional day or week pass for sky sports as well. You also have things like the iplayer, demand 5, ITV player etc for catchup etc.

The now TV boxes are very small which makes any TV smart but LG also do TV's with Now TV built in if you don't want to have a separate box.

bigdawg · December 2014

ive just got a panasonic 48'' full (old) hd for £550. The most important thing was the screen refresh rate (normally between 100 to 1500) this stops it becoming blocky and pixelly - the panasonic has 1200.

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