TV TV for 2016

[Wij]

My living-room 40" Sony 1080p LCD non-smart non-LED TV is starting to look a bit shit. The backlight is now inconsistent and leaves annoying smudge effects on the screen.

I'm going to want to replace it shortly. I'm thinking slightly bigger and future-proofed with 4K (UHD) although I'm aware that it's a bit hard to future-proof to evolving standards.

I'm not exactly short on cash but I wouldn't want to splash out several grand on something that might not be ideal for the next 5 years or so.

I'm thinking HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2 should be a minimum and something a little in advance of 40" but otherwise I'm just not a TV expert. Anyone got any ideas? It doesn't need to be a current recommendation. If you think waiting for 6 months is wise and can back it up with good reasons then that's useful too.

 

[Tom]

When you're thinking about 4k you should be thinking about the distance you sit from the tv when watching. Is the screen size you want large enough to warrant 4k resolution?

 

[soze]

If you can afford it go for OLED over anything else the picture in those sets are stunning. Im not sure they are out yet in 40 inch sets though.

 

[Wij]

Hmm. Any good OLED sets yet?

 

[soze]

http://www.stuff.tv/lg/55ec930v/review
http://www.trustedreviews.com/lg-55ec930v-review

This gets good reviews and they are about £1300 in sales at the moment. There is a new one with 4k as well but it is still £3k so it becomes very expensive.

http://televisions.reviewed.com/content/lg-65ef9500-flat-4k-oled-tv-review

 

[Cadelin]

I got a new TV at Christmas. I had a more constrained budget, I got an LG 40" 4K Smart TV. I only wanted a 40" TV so as not to dominate my living room. A few things I learned when doing my research:

- I had a very quick look at OLED TVs before realizing they were out of my price band. When I looked only LG were selling OLED TVs and while they did look great, they only do them in very large screens. I would say that OLED is not quite ready and if you wait 6 months you might well have a much larger choice of TVs which are more competitively priced.

- 3D and curved screens seemed to be gimmicks to me.

- I spoke to an aerial engineer because I was wondering if I needed to upgrade anything. He said that it was difficult enough to send HD via an aerial and he was certain that the way people will receive 4K in future will be via fibre to their homes. (i.e. get a TV with decent web browser support).

- Different TV manufacturers support different "iplayer" apps. Just about everybody has working BBC iplayer and netflix apps but for other channels you can find that it isn't supported. Of course if you get a TV with decent web browsing capabilities you can just play stuff via their website.

- LG have been getting lots of good reveiws about their WebOS platform and that (along with price) was why I went with them. I can't really compare it to any other manufacturer though.

- LG apparently don't have as good a sound quality, but I couldn't really tell the difference between sound quality on various TVs and if you are an audiophile, then I am sure you won't bother with any substandard inbuilt speaker and get some fancy soundbar thing.

- 4K is awesome compared to normal HD, for the money you are looking to spend, you will certainly get that. Some people say that you won't notice the difference on 40" TV, they are just wrong.

 

[Moriath]

I got a new TV at Christmas. I had a more constrained budget, I got an LG 40" 4K Smart TV. I only wanted a 40" TV so as not to dominate my living room. A few things I learned when doing my research:

- I had a very quick look at OLED TVs before realizing they were out of my price band. When I looked only LG were selling OLED TVs and while they did look great, they only do them in very large screens. I would say that OLED is not quite ready and if you wait 6 months you might well have a much larger choice of TVs which are more competitively priced.

- 3D and curved screens seemed to be gimmicks to me.

- I spoke to an aerial engineer because I was wondering if I needed to upgrade anything. He said that it was difficult enough to send HD via an aerial and he was certain that the way people will receive 4K in future will be via fibre to their homes. (i.e. get a TV with decent web browser support).

- Different TV manufacturers support different "iplayer" apps. Just about everybody has working BBC iplayer and netflix apps but for other channels you can find that it isn't supported. Of course if you get a TV with decent web browsing capabilities you can just play stuff via their website.

- LG have been getting lots of good reveiws about their WebOS platform and that (along with price) was why I went with them. I can't really compare it to any other manufacturer though.

- LG apparently don't have as good a sound quality, but I couldn't really tell the difference between sound quality on various TVs and if you are an audiophile, then I am sure you won't bother with any substandard inbuilt speaker and get some fancy soundbar thing.

- 4K is awesome compared to normal HD, for the money you are looking to spend, you will certainly get that. Some people say that you won't notice the difference on 40" TV, they are just wrong.

I agree on 3d and curved screens. But all sound from tvs is rubbish compared to an amp and some speakers.

 

[soze]

- 4K is awesome compared to normal HD, for the money you are looking to spend, you will certainly get that. Some people say that you won't notice the difference on 40" TV, they are just wrong.

The TV I just ordered was budget driven and is a 1080p 50 inch LG. I decided against 4k for a few reasons the main one being a general lack of real content. I watched a review with several streaming services going up against the same content from one of the few 4k blu rays and the reviews said the streaming side is just not there yet. And with the "Scene" not seeming to be adopting 4K yet it seems unless you are going to rebut your movie collection in 4K (when available) 4K is limited to YouTube and similar. That and I did not fancy having to upgrade my streaming PC as basic games at 4k need a lot more grunt. I do not know if in 2 years I will be kicking myself but for now 4K is not a necessity.

 

[Hawkwind]

Wait another 6-12 months for 4k prices to come down. The Japan/Taiwan based manufacturers only just started production. Prior to that all panels were made by on 3 companies in China (like Au Optronics used by Sony) and prices were very premium. The amount of media available also meant that manufacturers did not commit to the format with huge production runs. They will start to come down now as companies like Japan Display ramp up their manufacturing.

AMOLED is the way to go despite some manufacturers loosing interest in it last year.

 

[JBP|]

My simple rule for buying a tv is decide on your budget then pop off to a large currys to have a look, taking a usb stick with you that has a movie on you can use as a benchmark. I still find Avatar is a good benchmark movie

 

[Embattle]

They didn't really lose interest in OLED, it just isn't easy to manufacture hence you had Samsung turn out SUHD etc.

As for streaming 4k content it is quite good but it doesn't take away from the simple fact it'll use more aggressive compression settings so you actually get the content.

 

[Gwadien]

I went into Currys the only day (Or PC world, which is it?!) and they were comparing two TVs, 1 with the latest super ultra HD and the other was standard HD.

It was so blatant that they played massively with brightness and contrast.

If you can't see that shit you're dumb as fuck, and if you do notice it, why would you continue to buy that TV from them?

 

[Bodhi]

You can't get an idea of TV Picture from Currys etc, they're always displayed in Store mode which is everything cranked up to the max. Always try to get a demo or read a few reviews (HDTV Test I think it is, and What Hi Fi are normally good places to start).

I did that with the Sony I bought 2 years ago and it's been epic - fantastic set (same as @dysfunction). Only 1080p but with the lack of 4k content I'm not too bothered. I've had a 4k phone for about a month now and still haven't found anything to play on it (Android mobile apps don't support 4k yet).

 

[Embattle]

I suspect one was actually the SUHD from Samsung, the idea being that since they couldn't produce OLEDs they wanted something to say we've improved upon the ordinary UHD panels.

Nothing in a Currys etc is properly calibrated in any way, so you can never really get a good idea of how it performs unless the manufacturer has there own display where they'll probably fiddle with the set to improve presentation.

 

[dysfunction]

You can't get an idea of TV Picture from Currys etc, they're always displayed in Store mode which is everything cranked up to the max. Always try to get a demo or read a few reviews (HDTV Test I think it is, and What Hi Fi are normally good places to start).

I did that with the Sony I bought 2 years ago and it's been epic - fantastic set (same as @dysfunction). Only 1080p but with the lack of 4k content I'm not too bothered. I've had a 4k phone for about a month now and still haven't found anything to play on it (Android mobile apps don't support 4k yet).

Yes the Sony KDL-50W829. It's a great YV. I do prefer Panasonic's TV Guide but apart from that it's the best TV I've ever had!

 

[old.user4556]

Hmm. Any good OLED sets yet?

LG as Soze said. Reviews very well.

I don't see the point in getting a TV in 2016 that isn't OLED or 4k, but I guess it depends on your budget.

 

[JBP|]

I went into Currys the only day (Or PC world, which is it?!) and they were comparing two TVs, 1 with the latest super ultra HD and the other was standard HD.

It was so blatant that they played massively with brightness and contrast.

If you can't see that shit you're dumb as fuck, and if you do notice it, why would you continue to buy that TV from them?

Well as the town I live only has pound shops and charity shops left in it finding somewhere I can view a tv is somewhat limited.
Doing research on any tv you plan on buying is obvious, but I wouldn't want to buy one without actually seeing one first and dicking about with it in store was my point.

Doing that resulted in my getting a Samsung F8000 in 2013 which turned out to be the second best tv of the year only beaten by Bang & Olufsen. But who is mental enough to spunk 5 grand on a tv?

 

[soze]

I went to Lakeside the other week and in the big Currys there the LG panels looked like shit. They had different colour USB sticks in it compared to the Sony models that looked like pure sex. Swapping them round changed this as it appear they have HD on one stick and the same film but SD on the other. I bet they change it depending what is on Sale. That said there was a 80 odd inch Sony in there for just under £10k that was stunning the best looking TV I have ever seen, I am fairly sure it was the 800mhz refresh rather than anything else but it was immense.

 

[soze]

Doing that resulted in my getting a Samsung F8000 in 2013 which turned out to be the second best tv of the year only beaten by Bang & Olufsen. But who is mental enough to spunk 5 grand on a tv?

Economies of scale I suppose. My mate at secondary School had a £50k room in his house which was B&O audio gear where his dad listened to music. The house was worth over £6m back then though so £50k to his Dad was nothing.

 

[Embattle]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xii0-VJ_mOg

 

[Moriath]

Glenn.