I need a new TV because my has given up. Ive been without it for a few weeks now but just need to get one sorted. They used to be easy, just a choice of colour or B&W the last time i had to choose but now it’s all too complicated. So here you go, choose me a TV, preferably from Richer Sounds or somewhere like that that’s cheap, but I need it to do the following;

-fit in a recess in my lounge that’s 1098mm wide (looks like 48″ tellys mostly fit).
-Sit on the house network, wired with RJ45 (avoiding wireless and all that faff)
-from the network will play iPlayer and all that stuff
-will record to a NAS drive on the network and play back from there
-will pick up from a ‘normal’ aerial with all the digital (free) stations
-will drive a pair of 8ohm standard speakers that i have wired in the lounge

I’m hoping for sub £400, why is buying a telly so complicated now? If someone sends me link, I can just print it out, waltz into Richer and sound like I know what I want!

C

do you want woofers and tweeters?

nor a bang on the head. I am old enough to remember Smith and Jones, Not the Nine O’clock News. That’s the problem!

well done sir, spotted at the first.

Drive speakers? You know we are in 2017 don’t you 😉
I think you’ll be wanting an amp to drive separate speakers, they will all be able to do that via HDMI or optical out 😆

-will record to a NAS drive on the network and play back from there
-will drive a pair of 8ohm standard speakers that i have wired in the lounge

These are going to be the difficult ones, the rest of your requirements are pretty much “all modern TVs.”

Playing back from a NAS is easy, for recording you’re probably going to need something like a Humax box.

Driving external speakers generally means an amp or a soundbar.

Why not just visit Richer Sounds and ask their advice?

What about slimline salad dressing?

Living 40 miles from any sizable town precludes wandering into a R Sounds. I was hoping to chose via the WWW

As for amps and boxes and stuff, I’m trying to get away from clutter, just a TV on the wall and trying to get away from several different remote controls (for picture, recording, sound, etc)

This looks to fit the bill (with 4mm to spare):

https://www.richersounds.com/product/tv—all/sony/bravia-kdl48wd653/sony-kdl48wd653bu

Living 40 miles from any sizable town precludes wandering into a R Sounds. I was hoping to chose via the WWW

… apart from that, in store collection only.

My NAS supports recording but only if it’s got a USB TV tuner installed. My TV supports recording but only if you connect a USB hard drive directly.

You have no chance at all on the speakers, get a TV with optical out and a small amp for about £40.

GlennQuagmire has it though, go into Richer and ask some questions! Just seen it’s 40 miles away. Get one of your grandkids to drive you?

Jekkyl, —– can I pay with Luncheon Vouchers?…

If someone sends me link, I can just print it out, waltz into Richer and sound like I know what I want!

Living 40 miles from any sizable town precludes wandering into a R Sounds

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trying to get away from several different remote controls (for picture, recording, sound, etc)

That’s all handled over HDMI these days. All this Bravia Link / Regza Link stuff are brand names for HDMI-CEC, and it all interoperates (at least in theory). On my setup any of the remotes will control anything, so if I have the amp on then the TV automatically mutes and the volume buttons control the amp, if I switch off the amp then it drops to pass-through and the remotes control TV audio instead. And there’s none of this business with doing some sort of Vulcan Nerve Pinch on the remote and playing guess-the-code to set it up like you did pre-HDMI, just enable it and it all works. (The one thing that doesn’t do it, annoyingly, is the Xbox – that uses the Kinect’s IR blaster to send codes, which is very 20th Century of it.)

I could prob hide the optical amp at the back of the TV mount. If so, will the ‘normal’ TV remote increase the volume of the amp-speakers as well as the TV speakers?

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I think I get it now – he wants to choose online before going to the store to get it.

I could prob hide the optical amp at the back of the TV mount. If so, will the ‘normal’ TV remote increase the volume of the amp-speakers as well as the TV speakers?

See my previous reply. Get something that works with HDMI.

You would mute the TV speakers, the optical output volume will not be controlled by the tv remote IME. HDMI might be better.

Hm. A quick Google would suggest that a stereo HDMI amp is a rare beast. Teac do one (A-H01) but it’s £300 sovs.

Lets face it, with the amount of boxes that will eventually get connected then it would be worth investing in a decent programable remote if you can’t deal with multiple remote controls, they are not all huge money & I can thoroughly recommend the Harmony brand if you’re on a budget, they work well for the money & have a huge database.

Cougar – Moderator

Playing back from a NAS is easy, for recording you’re probably going to need something like a Humax box.

Not tried it, but apparently if you plug a hard drive into our LG tv you can record to it. If you select a program in the future it asks if you want to set a reminder or record.
Dunno how sophisticated it is compared to our Humax, as we still use that for recording stuff.

I think I get it now – he wants to choose online before going to the store to get it.

Arse about face I think!

@Chris – you’ve got so many options/questions it’s hard to give a definitive answer. Visit a shop, ask them and just get it delivered at your convenience.

none will record to a NAS drive as it would get in the way of copy protection.

most TVs can record to a USB drive but that drive can then only be used on that TV.

If you are wanting to control things via HDMI CEC then I would avoid Panasonic as my experience with them is terrible. My sony works great though with Denon and Samsung devices connected.

Not all TVs have all the catchup TV players. All have iplayer but not all have ITV, 4OD and 5 as. The Sonys with android built in might do as they have a youview app. Our standalone youview box is better than any of the TV players but no idea if the one built into sony android TVs is as good.

For the speakers I would just go with something like this: https://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avrx520bt/deno-avrx520bt-blk

I have had this for a year or so and it is excellent: https://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avrx2300w/deno-avrx2300-blk

Marantz do slimmer AV amps but RS cheapest is £299. Take a look on ebay for a cheap HDMI capable reciever on ebay local to you. They tend to go pretty cheap. Onkyo, Denon, Sony, Yamaha and Pioneer all worth looking at.

Or just get a sound base if you have room and sack off the speakers?

ChrisE – Member

nor a bang on the head. I am old enough to remember Smith and Jones, Not the Nine O’clock News. That’s the problem!

I think you will find its “Do you want a bag on your head”

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoPXQ9fotZM[/video]

I think most TVs these days will support recording to USB of that’ll do. I think it’s going to be hard finding one that will record to a NAS.

How about a sound bar or Base instead of your current speakers?

Rest of the features should be supported by pretty much all TVs.