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New TV advice

7percent

7percent

Pascal Chimbonda
Family TV is kaput, dad's asked me to help pick a new one. He's been to curries and likes the look of a Samsung 4k screen.

Is 4k necessary? it seems only yesterday we were weighing up whether to get a HD ready 720p or full HD 1080 whatever. We don't have a very big living room at all.

Our budget seems to be ~£500 and we're looking at screen sizes of ~40

I'm tempted to advise to get a 1080 ~50 inch as we don't have any 4k inputs anyway and aren't likely to anytime soon. When are services likely to start broadcasting 4k? If we got a 1080 it'd probably be 3d as that was the gimmick the industry were using to push tvs before the 4k gimmick.

Anybody got ideas?
 
So i've continued my research. Our Virgin Media tv box is the only HD input we have at the moment (no playstation, no blue ray player)

Apparently, even though the BBC is starting a 4k channel soon that no industry standard for 4k broadcasts have been agreed. Meaning that you can buy a 4k TV now and not be able to watch 4k broadcasts in the future.

The Tivo box is apparently not capable of 4k. How many years will it take Virgin to roll out 4k kit? I'm willing to bet it'll take a while..

we're looking at refresh rates as well, apparently the 4k tvs the salesman was showing my dad have 1000 something refresh rates. Apparently the tivo box only outputs like 50hz.

1080 tv it is. Save the money we'd spend on 4k to buy an industry standard 4k tv in 4-5 years time.
 
We've gone with a 42" Panasonic for £350. Can spend the money saved not getting 4k on a soundbar or speakers.. any thoughts?
 
I would avoid Samsung, terrible picture issues. Banding and shading.
Check out avforms, great advice and very helpful if you have any questions.
 
Ive got LG TVs and cant fault them. Cant beat a good Plasma, always better to get the latest specs if in Budget. TVs are a lot slimmer now. My brother just got a 60 inc 4K LG and ive got the 60 inch plasma, his TV seems a bit smaller coz the border is much slimmer. Go for a 50. Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic. Cant go wrong with these sets.

If you watch lots of football make sure you get something with a decent refresh rate. Most new TVs can handle most fast moving sports and gaming.

Also i try to always get TVs from John Lewis, they will price match and you will get a 5 year guarantee included. Customer service is also very good.
 
I don't know how prices compare to Norwegian prices, but for £500 in Norway you could get a Sony kdl48w705. A 48" with a really good panel. It also has a "football" picture mode. Off all the tv's I have in my shop here, it's the best bang for the buck. The Sony's are much more neutral in their picture settings out of the box, while Samsung especially are way to collorful to make it stand out in the shop.

Would not go for plasma. It's a dead technology witch all the big panel manufacturers have stopped producing. Even Panasonic are sticking to led tv's now. The led tv's consume alot less power, they are much brighter and have no "plasma buzzing". So unless you can get a really good deal on a coupple of years old top of the line panasonic I wouldn't go plasma.
 
7percent said:
We've gone with a 42" Panasonic for £350. Can spend the money saved not getting 4k on a soundbar or speakers.. any thoughts?
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Seems sensible to me, not much point having a set that can show 4K if there are no sources for it (as i understand it, even the HD channels aren't true HD because they use the bandwidth to send all the other crap too, and the vast majority of channels are still SD), and a soundbar should give you a good, noticeable improvement from the basic speakers in a flat panel.

4K seems a bit gimmicky to me at the moment tbh, good for the set makers and sellers but no practical value to the consumer, like 3D.
 
I was going with the logic that;

  • if the only source we have for it is 1080 then 4k is a waste of money.
  • the tivo box transmits at 50hz so 100hz is enough (it says it will insert an extra frame between each frame for smoothness?)
  • Panasonic have a good reputation for TVs?
  • When you get a new TV for about a week you're studying it really closely to see how sharp it is, but then after that time it's just a TV, especially when you're not in a showroom comparing it to every other TV.
  • 42" is about the size we can fit in the space without dominating the room.
  • I do not want to compare TVs again EVER EVER EVER.
  • Definitely saved some money on a 4k
I've moved my 23" from my bedroom into the living room until the new TV arrives and it's quite old now and not many features, but you know what? watching the United game I didn't think once, gosh I wish the picture was smoother, I just watched the game.

Now, talking about the game. Michael Owen was commentating. I understand that commentary in a surround sound system only comes through the centre speaker- see this video;

What's a cheap and cheerful way of achieving this? Do I need a whole 5.1 system or are there soundbars or 2.1 systems that would let me adjust the level for each channel? Does anyone have BT sport through virgin media and can you confirm that muting the central speaker mutes the commentary?
 
I'm so baffled right now.

The cheapest surround sound systems are the ones that come with a DVD/BluRay player. In this case the DVD/BluRay player acts as the 'amp', correct? My question is; if the DVD/BlueRay player is the 'amp' can it accept audio from the TV/Tivo box? is this what the HDMI arc thing is about?

If I got a system such as this I'd be able to unplug the central speaker and mute the commentators? I'm actually becoming obsessed with this one feature.
 
My TiVo is connected to my Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound system using the Optical Audio port.

Just re-watched the BT Sport coverage of February' NLD and discovered that I have to unplug the Centre + Front Left + Front Right speakers in order to mute Michael Owen' dreary commentary; the noise of the crowd is coming through the Rear Left + Right speakers.

FWIW: I've got a Panasonic plasma telly which has been going strong since 2008. I've been thinking about upgrading to a larger screen for a few months but am waiting for Panasonic to bring out their next generation OLED tellies (I've never been a fan of LCD screens, only good for scoreboards imho) which are apparently due in time for Christmas, when the new fangled Ultra HD 4K Blu-Rays should be released. However prices will no doubt be exorbitant, so guess I won't be getting a new 4K telly until around the same time as Spurs move into the new stadium...
 
Cheers Steve.

Can I ask if you found it watchable with only the rear left and right speakers? My dream is to turn them up to max and sing along with the crowd in a rather messed up karaoke kind of way.
 
7percent said:
Cheers Steve.

Can I ask if you found it watchable with only the rear left and right speakers? My dream is to turn them up to max and sing along with the crowd in a rather messed up karaoke kind of way.
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It takes a bit of getting used to but having just the surround effects blasting, without the commentators prattling away, does make it sound a bit more like you're part of the crowd.

Although I just tried to do the same thing with the WBA v Chavski game but the broadcast is in stereo (guess it's because I'm watching the SD channel, as I refuse to pay a further surcharge for Sky Sports' HD package) so the commentary is coming out of all the speakers.
 
All budget dependent of course but for £5-600 you can pick up a av receiver and 5.1 speaker bundle.
Will amp and decode your sound.
TV broadcast is usually stereo commentary will come from left and right.
 
7percent said:
Thanks Glasgow! £500 is out of our price range since none of us watch that many films in the front room.

If I get a 'home cinema system' is this true surround sound? or is it just a system that happens to have 5 speakers? I'm thinking something like this; http://www.johnlewis.com/panasonic-...ray-bluetooth-nfc-home-cinema-system/p2051346
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That home cinema system got 7/10 on http://www.trustedreviews.com/panasonic-sc-btt400-review and if you're accustomed to using the TV' internal speakers then this should be a big step-up in sound quality; it has a Digital Optical Input socket on the rear for connecting up to your TiVo.
 
Seedy Ron said:
Seems sensible to me, not much point having a set that can show 4K if there are no sources for it (as i understand it, even the HD channels aren't true HD because they use the bandwidth to send all the other crap too, and the vast majority of channels are still SD), and a soundbar should give you a good, noticeable improvement from the basic speakers in a flat panel.

4K seems a bit gimmicky to me at the moment tbh, good for the set makers and sellers but no practical value to the consumer, like 3D.
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I agree and I've got a 4K TV. (Tbh I didn't even know what 4K was when I bought it!)

I've had it over a month and not watched one thing that would be classed as 4K.

Take from that what you will. :rolleyes:
 
As Steve said really, TV speakers are cack. Any BD player over two year old will do what you are looking for. The audio decoding is the thing. I have a pricey set up and the receiver is less than a year old and out of date, supposedly. But 3d, atmos and UHD are all gimmicks designed to get enthusiasts like me to upgrade every year.
 
stinkfoot said:
I agree and I've got a 4K TV. (Tbh I didn't even know what 4K was when I bought it!)

I've had it over a month and not watched one thing that would be classed as 4K.

Take from that what you will. :rolleyes:
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I see that BT are broadcasting the footie in Ultra-HD 4K now...

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2015/08/bt-sport-ultra-hd-made-even-my-mum-want-to-watch-4k-football/
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/tvs-...9/bt-ultra-hd-youview-box-review-4k-in-the-uk

Also there's Netflix and Amazon Instant in 4K...

glasgowspur said:
As Steve said really, TV speakers are cack. Any BD player over two year old will do what you are looking for. The audio decoding is the thing. I have a pricey set up and the receiver is less than a year old and out of date, supposedly. But 3d, atmos and UHD are all gimmicks designed to get enthusiasts like me to upgrade every year.
Click to expand...

Wish I could justify the cost and hassle of an Atmos surround sound installation but I think 5.1 is as many speakers as I can get away with in the living room!

Think my next upgrade wil be when those new fangled HDR, Ultra-HD, OLED tellies become affordable.
 
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