Advice wanted - how to buy a TV?!

[DiD]

It's been a long time since we bought a telly. And we're flummoxed. We don't want to spend a lot of money (200 - ?350), We're looking for 39 or 40" -- what used to be classified as large, which is now apparently considered small.

It needs to be easy to set up and use, have Freeview and all the streaming apps, and OK sound/picture quality, and ideally with wifi. We don't use Alexa. Can anyone offer advice on brands? There's too much to choose from!

What brand do you have? And do you like it?

[jazzer]

Have used Richer Sounds a couple of times and both experiences were good at there Croydon and Bromley stores. TV's are fairly straightforward to set up. Have been happy with LG, reliable, work well and easy to use.

[ed26]

Agree re Richer Sounds - nice crew in the Tooley Street store. I'm on my 4th TV in 35 years with each of the previous ones lasting 10+ years. I don't think this one will last as long due to the apps. At some point, Amazon, Netflix, etc., will stop supporting that model and you'll be left with a perfectly good TV that can only play from plugged-in devices (BluRay, Sky box, Fire Stick, etc). That's not a complaint, but the way things are these days, just like apps no longer supporting a mobile phone that's more than 5 years old, or software no longer supporting Windows 7. Planned obsolescence, unfortunately.

My previous TVs were Panasonic and were brilliant. This one is Samsung. No particular reason. Great picture and much better sound than expected (don't underestimate good sound quality - turn it up LOUD in the showroom and check for distortion and rattles, as a TV that sounds good loud should sound great at normal volumes), but it's quirky. Will switch off or reboot for no reason, and it has ads on the home screen, which really bugs me for something I've paid outright for. I would think all brands are the same though.

Richer Sounds often have stock of last year's models, with hundreds of pounds off - you'll get a much better TV if you buy last year's ?600 TV for ?350, compared to this year's ?350 TV. So bear in mind that this purchase may not last as long as you've been used to, and don't pay over the odds for a new model or gimmicks like Alexa (I can walk to the other end of the house and tell Alexa to turn the TV off in the room I've just left - that's how useful I find it).

If you have any other recent kit, then it might be worth brand matching so you can use a single remote for all devices. At 40", don't go out of your way for 4K/UHD as you won't notice much difference at that size. And WiFi is useful but you'll get better streaming and fewer settings to mess around with if you can plug it in with a network cable.

Stay with a good brand that is known for TVs - Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, LG, Philips. You'll get seemingly good brands in Tesco or Asda for ?100 less (Bush, Polaroid, etc) but you'll get half the quality for a small saving.

[kford]

Samsung or LG Smart TV will be fine. Around ?350 from Amazon

[Nigello]

Yes, Go for LG or Samsung - great quality and you can get "smaller" screens with decent sound and 4K. (More and more shows, inlcuding on BBC, are being made in this format, AKA UHD.) I got mine from John Lewis for around ?250 about 18 months ago but I bet some are now cheaper.

[George Orwell]

The sound quality on most new TVs is pretty poor and you won't really be able to test it in a showroom. Budget for getting a soundbar or alternatively you may be able to play the sound through a hi-fi / stereo system (I do). As far as I know, each brand offers various common apps but I'm not sure every brand offers every app you might want. You might want to check. Unlike a phone, as far as I know, you can't add apps later.

A thumbs up for Richer Sounds too.

I'm not sure you want to be bothered about 4k quality - HD is good enough for me, certainly for a 40" screen, but each to their own.

[jazzer]

Got to say the sound from the last LG flat screen LCD TV I purchased from Richer Sounds, the sound had improved tremendously from the previous LG I had bought about 8 years earlier, and no need for a sound bar.

[Huggers]

Lidl while stocks last https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/home-tech/toshiba-tv-43-full-hd-smarttv-12-43l2163db/p50538

[Mark]

If you can go to 43in, WhatHifi says Samsung UE43TU7100 https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/tvs/best-samsung-tvs for that budget.

My mum's got one and she's very pleased with it, she had a 32-inch screen before. Currently ?320 on Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-inch-AU7100-UHD-Smart/dp/B08Y733RV1

[Bic Basher]

What I would say about smart tv apps is while they'll go obsolete before the tv breaks, you can easily get a streaming stick from Amazon or Roku which will keep on providing those catch-up services which saves you chucking out a perfectly good tv set.

Most manufacturers seem to be going for two types of sets. The first are the budget sets which are HD ready which will have a Freeview HD tuner, but if you use anything for HD, it'll be only good for up to 720p, so if you stream a 1080p HD movie or have a Blu-ray player, it'll be downscaled.

The other sets are now 4K/HDR which is fine for Full HD and 4K resolutions.

While my last tv set was purchased from Argos in 2019, I'd go for the Richer Sounds Tooley Street recommendation where you can book a tv demonstration if you really feel that will help you choose a decent set for a bargain price.

[ianr]

Power consumption figures provided for the last two mentioned above:

Lidl Toshiba 43? Full HD SmartTV 12 43L2163DB

https://toshiba-tv.com/uk-uk/full-hd-tv/43l2163db

Energy Class E

Energy Consumption(I assume for standard dynamic range) 42W

Energy Class(HDR) G

Energy Consumption (HDR) 60W

Stand-By Energy Consumption (Average) <0.5W

Amazon Samsung AU7100 43 Inch Smart TV (2021)

[figures from the product fiche on the Amazon page]

Standard dynamic 70W

High dynamic 103W

Standby 0.5W

[DiD]

Thanks everyone. Your advice was very helpful. We opted for a Samsung, which we got from Richer Sounds. Arrives tomorrow!

[OutOfFocus]

I am too later for DiD but I would agree with Bic Basher. I bought an LG TV about 5 years ago and find the apps too haff for my liking. I largely cast things to a Chromecast either from a phone or laptop.

[Leara4077]

Hey, we have a TV that we want to sell. ?100 DM me for pics and measurements x

[malumbu]

Looking back at earlier posts we also used Richer Sounds, in Tooley Street. This time a Sony, last a Samsung. It was driven by size as we wanted to max out on space in our alcove, think it was 36inch, the largest we'd ever bought but considered small in the shop hence they didn't keep it in stock. Niggly things were less outlets so we can no longer plug the amp in (has to go via the headset socket), less scarts, needed to get a cable for the DVD player (not that we ever use it), no Channel 4 or ITV catch up so need to do this through mirroring on the mobile which we haven't got round to.

But (the above are minor issues) cheap and excellent for our demands.

[hahn_ka]

Oled TVs are great. The image is perfect. As for the brand, you can consider having LG. Recommend it as I have the one and feel comfortable about it.

[KidKruger]

I need to replace also?

Anyone know what the terminology is for a TV that will take apps i.e. sports channels news channels et cetera but I want to install on the TV ?

When I look at TVs online, because I don?t know the terminology for this (assuming there is one), I don?t know what I?m looking at and the specifications don?t always answer in my layman?s language!