I’m looking for a new TV. Somewhere between 32 and 40 inch, not bothered about 3d. Undecided on ‘smart tv’ mainly because I know bugger all about it. Budget up £600.

Any recommendations?

John Lewis. Price match and best warranty back up anywhere.

As long as it says Samsung on the front you’ll be fine 😉

Is that what Samsung’s lawyers told their phone developers? 🙂

Once I would have said Sony, but it seems their quality has dropped off since I bought my Bravia five or so years ago. Sharp appear to have upped their game panel wise lately, and LG are very good. Panasonic have always been very reliable as well.
I may be telling you stuff you already know, but one thing worth keeping in mind when viewing sets; the picture you see in the showroom is often set using a default setting to make it really bright, ‘Vivid’ being one such, so make sure the contrast ratio is as high as possible, and look for over-emphasis at the edges of contrast areas. Look on the interwebz for fine tuning the picture settings, there are often a list of advanced settings that you can use and then fine tune to your personal taste.
Like I say, you probably know all that, but it’s dead easy to get carried away faced with several dozen whizzy new tellies all arrayed in front of you and forget. 😀
My Bravia was tweaked several times until I got it the way I wanted it, took about an hour in total.
600 squids ought to get you a damned good 40-42″ set, my 40″ Bravia was £1400, reduced to £900 at Christmas, bought on Boxing day, and I haven’t regretted buying it for one second, it’s a beautiful set, and things have moved on a lot in five years. Have fun!

I’d just buy whatever Panasonic Plasma came in at the right size and price, but I’m a simple soul.

Been very happy with this one bought earlier this year.

http://www.johnlewis.com/231546907/Product.aspx

I think there’s a 37″ version of it.

I can recommend samsung from personal experience. Smart TVs will let you connect to t’internet and watch iplayer/ buy films on demand etc. I bought a PVR recently which does this and didn’t think I’d be much impressed but its bloody brilliant.

Edit: what hi-fi sound and vision mag was useful for me too.

johnners – Member

I’d just buy whatever Panasonic Plasma came in at the right size and price, but I’m a simple soul.

Panasonic make great televisions. Feed them with a decent source and you will be happy.

http://www.johnlewis.com/231575483/Product.aspx

Just got one of these and it is awesome. The picture quality is stunning whatever the source of the content.

3D smart 40″ is the way forward, ally driving 3D is just astounding!!!Samsung versions have slow interface and are notoriously unreliable ime. Having just spent over a ton on power output and a new chip royally pissed off I was and that,s meant to be cheaper than other fix,s! :o:o:o:o

The best Panasonic you can afford.

Panasonic Vieira according to which. I wish I had got an internet TV when I bought mine so I could stream films. open end up a vast amount of content during the OOlympics in an easier to use way than the standard cable channels that were added

Smart TV is worth having just for the LoveFilm streaming service.

Don’t listen to people who have owned one big telly at a time and tell you theirs is amazing, check out the reviews: http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk

Don’t listen to a Captain, listen to a colonel

Safe bets are Panasonic and Samsung. The newer LG models are doing very now too and always a better price, HOT Deals UK is good for finding the bargains.

Don’t listen to people who have owned one big telly at a time and tell you theirs is amazing

The OP specifically asked for recommendations. People can only recommend stuff they have experience of.

I think if you listen to people who have owned a TV for a period of time, along with the various reviews, then I think you’ll make the right decision.

I’ve got a 42″ Panasonic Plasma in the living room and a 32″ Panasonic LED in the bedroom. The 32″ has loads more features (internet etc) but it is two or three years newer than the 42″ the LED picture has improved a lot in that time too. I’d go for Panasonic next time without hesitation.

jon1973 – Member
Don’t listen to people who have owned one big telly at a time and tell you theirs is amazing
The OP specifically asked for recommendations. People can only recommend stuff they have experience of.

I think if you listen to people who have owned a TV for a period of time, along with the various reviews, then I think you’ll make the right decision.

Trouble is, its very rare for someone to post how poorly they’ve spent £600. But then that is because any new TV is going to be better than the last one because of the x years of technological development. Obviously individuals can give info on reliability and ease of use, but advice on picture quality is something i’ll get from the experts.

Ok now I comprehend your thinking capitan.

But you have to see the 3D Samsung to believe, shame bout reliability and poor slow interface.

LG if peeps did not know already are like the Giant of the bike world, i.e. make most of the screens for other brands.

Can confirm Panasonic have great features and are reliable so far apart from when I chucked a Wii remote at it. lmao, that was fun! but expensive way of upgrading. heehe

John Lewis + Panasonic is all you need to know

As long as it says Samsung on the front you’ll be fine

I have one – following similar advice! Picture quality is great, but in most other ways it is disappointing. Remote is temperamental, menus are poorly designed and slow, smart features are awful. Browsing through iplayer or YouTube is like pulling teeth. I expect other brands suffer from the same flaws, just make sure you play with everything in the shop before you buy.

oh I got on ok with rightmove smart app on samsung.
remote, tempremental that,s saying it politely 😉

Thanks for all the advice folks. Was thinking of a Samsung but poor interfaces really wind me up so without actually going to look at any (I know, I know…) I’m thinking it’s a choice between these two.

Will I be wasting my money if I get either of them?

Recently got the 42″ version of that LG. It replaced a 37″ Philips and came in at the same size as the frame is much thinner. Picture is really impressive and can self calibrated and has a variety of modes. Seems to upscale poorer signals too. Has plenty of connections. I’d recommend it.

Jurik – Got that same Panasonic in a 47″ last month and its mint, so gets my vote. 😀

My experience in seeing and dealing with numerous TV sets everyday,
Samsung seem to make nice looking TV’s(Aesthetics) and some do have decent picture but seem to be the most unreliable of the bigger name brands.

Sharp & Sony the higher end sets have cracking pictures and a very PS3 like menu(for the Sony)if you like that sort of thing.
However the cheaper end of the above 2 can be distinctly average with regards to pic quality.

LG & Toshiba very middle of the road,Menu system on the LG is quite nice,on the contrary the menus of most of the Toshiba are sh!te.

Panasonic pretty much a winner on every level.
Never seem to see any NEW Philips TV’s in peoples houses now I come to think of it.