I am well aware that we ‘need’ to upgrade out tv, can’t quite put my finger on why, but really we should.

Anyway, seeing the stuff coming out of the Las Vegas show last ?eek, curved screens, 4k stuff etc etc. what the hell should you buy? Is the sensible thing to do just to buy the previous years innovation for 50% of the original price or do you go for one of the new fancy Dan stuff and enjoy the loveliness of shiney?

Curved is a fad, there’s little reason to buy 4K yet, and smart TVs are better having the smarts externally. Get the best panel you can in the size you want; Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba.

I wish I could pick up a decent panel without all the extras.

Was intending to get a Panasonic 50″ but local RS was out of stock and ended up with a Samsung. They didn’t have any on display so I waited to find one with the same panel in another store but I prefer the pictures on panasonic and sony. The other problem is being a basic model (5 series) it doesnt have ARC (so will use up the optical input on my amp) and no CEC.

4k seem to be dropping like stones at the moment so I figure I may as well wait a few months for the better 50″ to come down a bit more so will stick with my old 32″ CRT for a bit longer.

Another annoyance is AV amps as only Onkyo support the HDCP 2.2 protection at the moment and Atmos is just starting to come out but so is DTS X…

I am wanting to put together a fully networked system that uses our hudl2/ipad/phones as remotes. Every all in one IR solution I have seen has niggles and I like the two way communication of IP control.

3D is dead, curved will go the same way, 4K gives a noticeably better picture (even upscaled from 1080p) so is probably worthwhile. Smart options will be tempting at the time of purchase but will be out of date way before the TV is halfway through its lifespan so consider them a bonus rather than a real feature.

Personally I would go for the absolute best image quality you can with as few features as possible. No curved, no 3D and no smarts. Then make sure it’s got optical output so you can upgrade the inherently disappointing sound that comes from cramming speakers into such thin enclosures and make sure it’s got plenty of input options for attaching external devices.

the thing is the better panels come on the more expensive TVs which are also smart. Adding the smart features adds peanuts to the price. You only have to look at the price of a smart blueray player (£50 ish) which have a physical drive, often a video upscaler and the smart features to realise how little smart adds.

I have no intention of using most of the smart stuff, I’d rather use a dongle of my choice plugged but a decent EPG with seemless roll-back and pause is nice. We have a youview box at the moment which fulfils all that and does quite a good job but I will replace it with a kodi/myth HTPC for full control over recordings etc.

Then make sure it’s got optical output

Eh?

We bought one of the last Samsung plasma screens for buttons – way cheaper than the equivalent quality of LED display. Bought an external Roku box to go with it. That’ll see us through until 4k or whatever settles down and that tech gets better priced.

what the hell should you buy?

this:

previous years innovation for 50% of the original price

I know someone who pays through the nose on a rental scheme to get a new TV every 18 months – “It’s the only way you can keep up with the technology!” He’s clearly a gadget show watcher and, as he’s an un-ashamed strictly viewer, I question the need for a spanking TV if all people do with them is watch total shit.

Rob, self-righteous non-TV owner

3D/Smart seem to come as standard on large, top of end TVs – they did on mine. You may struggle to avoid them!

I’ve been looking at TVs recently in the 55″ ish size. I’d love one that doesn’t have smart, 3d or curve but they’re tough to find. Any good examples about?

Futureproof… Buyiing older proven tech thats been about for a few years… Least then its not going anywhere…

Everyone knows someone whos bought a betamax at somepoint 🙂

Betamax was much better quality than VHS. I still have and old player in the attic (not working but don’t want to throw it away)

Some of the higher end samsungs have replaceable processors, though I think its a couple of hundred quid to upgrade

Panasonic 50″ but local RS was out of stock

If its the 50″ Panasonic i just bought (and returned) you dodged a bullet! Now have a 42″ Sony TV.

Having gone through the process of buying a new TV (replacing a 10year old sony 40″ flat screen), ive learnt that if you watch a lot of standard definition channels then the picture on large screen tvs can be terrible: big screen, good picture, cheap…pick 2.

With regard 4k, unless you have deep pockets, the upscaling of SD/HD on the ‘budget’ 4k sets can be pretty poor and, given there is limited 4k content out there, there seemed no point in considering it at this time.

Don’t bother with a TV get some forks

Or some wheels

future proof in a market that’s changing so rapidly?

my 5yr old panny has smart features I’d now call dumb, and basically unusable. at 5yr old, I’m expecting it to fail any time. just like my JVC that failed at 4 years and philips that failed at 3.

personally, I’d go for 1080p again unless there’s a real need for 4K. sure 4K have plummeted in price down to 899, but 1080p stuff has plummeted to prices that I think even my 23in PC monitor costs more than a 32in smart tv.

and beyond watching iplayer, hulu or netflix, all the smart stuff is a dumb gimmick you’ll be bored of within an hour of trying out all fo the apps.

Some of the higher end samsungs have replaceable processors, though I think its a couple of hundred quid to upgrade

BIL has just bought a 55″ 4k Samsung with a separate processor box, which is handy as he’s also just found out that its not capable of playing Netflixs 4k stream!

LoOking myself at the moment for the same sort of thing. As others have saiD, on something Reasonably decent you will get 3D and Smart whether you like it or not so just find a TV wiTh the best image quality and go from there.

4k wise, there is basically no native content currently and the ups sling I’ve seen is not hugely different to a decent 1080p set. If all you watch is good quality (I.e uncompressed such as Blu-Ray etc rather than streamed) 1080p content through a good player then a 4k set May produce some great images. If you watch a reasonable amount of SD TV or DVDs then the upscaling difference will not be noticeable – just too little original information to try and magically make into a crazy resolution.

My thoughts anyway.

If its the 50″ Panasonic i just bought (and returned) you dodged a bullet! Now have a 42″ Sony TV.

Really? Which one?

I want a 50″ for the living room but am thinking about buying a decent Sony 40/42″ as they are coming in very cheap now and using that for a couple of years along with a nice amp and then when we move into our own place I’ll get a big ass TV and Atmos/DTS X surround sound system and the 40/42″ can go in my office.

Everytime I go look at TVs I prefer the image on Sony over pretty much anything. But I have to say there is something about 4k images that I like. I think out of all the HD screens the sony comes closest unless you are talking about the top end Samsungs etc.

Up until december we still had a 14″ CRT /DVD combo in the bedroom and 32″ CRT in the living room. Replaced the beedroom one with a Samsung which is okay and I quite like the OSD and smart features work well (for now) but the plan is to stick a chromecast or Nexus Player in the back of it.

No idea how long I’ve had my Panasonic Plasma (46″), 5, maybe 6 years? but absolutely no need to replace it. Yeah, so the “smart” side of it is pretty crap and out of date, but hardly use it anyway, what with a laptop and Chromecast. Picture quality on HD is perfect and that’s all I need from a TV.

Pleas don’t fall into the “upscaling” trap. Upscaling is the simple act of making a small picture appear bigger by guessing at the intermediate bits. Say you have two boxes, one red and one yellow. You need to add a third box between them that doesn’t look out of place, so you paint it orange. That’s upscaling. You cannot add detail which isn’t there, this isn’t Bladerunner.

But I have to say there is something about 4k images that I like.

There’s something about 4K images I like too, but I prefer to watch TV and films on my TV so the novelty of looking at images on a shop demo would almost certainly wear off pretty fast.

The biggest improvement I’ve seen that will probably hang around is OLED screens, they’re still expensive at the moment but I would wait for one of those to come down in price and nab that.

Unless you’ve got a real hankering for 4k then I’d swerve it for a couple of generations, besides Netflix pushing it there’s not a whole lot of content out there anyways. I think LG showed and 8k panel at CES so by the time your 2k TV dies, 8k OLED may be the thing.

I don’t get this “I don’t want a Smart TV” sentiment either, no one forces you to use it and unless you get some professional monitor type thing nearly every TV is going to have “Smart” features.

New Sony TV’s at CES were less than 5mm thick!

This is just another one of these modern day battles I’ve waved the white flag on – I just don’t care anymore, my TV – which I won’t mention for fear of someone who cares about such things tearing to bits and making me all angst ridden to replace was, in my view, the best looking one in the shop for the money I was prepared to pay when the last one went pop after 5 years.

It will display 1080p but not from the Sky box – which doesn’t, I can get some 1080p via my Blurray player – but I haven’t bought a physical disc in years.

Anyway, the HD that sky pumps out looks great, or rather looked great for about a week, then the “oooo ahhh” stopped, now it just looks normal and all the SD channels just look shit – it’s like when I first bought a DVD player – looked great for a very short time before it just looked normal and all my VHS films just became worse.

When this one dies I’ll no doubt get a 4K ready TV, unless it costs much more than an ‘old’ 1080p one and maybe one day someone will start to broadcast something in 4k and I’ll be staggered at the quality – for about a week, then it will just become the new normal. Hardly seems worth spending a grand on.

Really? Which one?

Tx50a400b

…and if you think the 500 series would be better (tx50as500b), from looking at the spec its seems to be the same tv but with smart added

future proof in a market that’s changing so rapidly?

The market is, and isn’t, changing rapidly. TV manufactures are throwing our innovations left right and centre. But theres been no move from broadcasters in terms of what they’re commissioning. At present broadcasters ask for delivery in 1080p and with a very specific set of parameters, and they won’t accept a deviation from those parameters for more than a very small percentage of each programme – to allow the inclusion of archive footage, maybe something shot on a go-pro or a phone or whatever. Even though production companies are investing in 4K cameras in the hope that they are future-proofing, for the present they can still only deliver in 1080p, whatever they shoot on. If/when broadcasters decide on a new deliverable format it will basically be decided on the cameras that the BBC wants to buy, not the tellies in people’s living rooms.

The current broadcast standards reflect a bulk purchase of Canon 305s. The next standard will be based on whatever pro-sumer camera the BBC can hand to an assistant producer who’s done a day’s camera training and say ‘go out and get some vox-pops’

That camera doesn’t exist yet, but whenever it does, it’ll be effectively the lowest common denominator – what that camera delivers will shape whats being broadcast and in turn what TV you’d want to watch that on.

The market is, and isn’t, changing rapidly.

+1

The electronics manufactures might be throwing new innovations and new standards at us all the time but it takes a very long time for any of these to actually become established.

HD resolution came out years ago yet very few freeview channels have HD channels. Not sure what percentage of Sky is HD and don’t you also have to pay more for the H channels? Similar thing with Blu Ray, it came out years ago yet I think only 50% of my friends have blu ray players.

Yes there is 4K content to be found but it probably ends up costing a lot of money. AFAIK most of it is online so you’re going to need a fast connection and lots of bandwidth.

If you are a gadget freak who always needs the best stuff and doesn’t mind spending the cash then go for 4K, super smart etc… Otherwise I think your average consumer is fine for a few years yet with just a full HD TV.

Cougar – Moderator
Then make sure it’s got optical output
Eh?

Optical out for sound – I have mine set up like this – an old-ish Panasonic paired with an LG soundbar via the optical output.

The stuff talked about at CES is either at a big premium or years away from the mainstream.

Buy a 1080p TV at the size you want and as “nice” image quality as you can afford. Get one with plenty of HDMI inputs.

I appreciate that this isn’t going to pass muster with the TV snobs but I got one of these recently and it’s really good, especially at the price – £400 for 50″ (with no smart extras 🙂 ). As such, if 4k really becomes a must have in a couple of years, it’s not much money to replace.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/toshiba-50l2436db-50-inch-full-hd-1080p-led-tv-with-freeview/778-0699.prd

Optical out for sound – I have mine set up like this – an old-ish Panasonic paired with an LG soundbar via the optical output.

Oh yeah, I was forgetting about sound bars. When the wrangler of muppets was talking about upgrading the sound I assumed he meant properly. (-: Was confused as to why you wouldn’t use HDMI (and why you’d be using the TV tuner as the source anyway).

I appreciate that this isn’t going to pass muster with the TV snobs

Au contraire, I think that’s a perfect set and good money.

You’re not a TV snob, clearly 🙂

It does have optical out too though I don’t like that as I then have to use the soundbar remote to adjust volume.

HD resolution came out years ago yet very few freeview channels have HD channels.

More to the point between SD and the current HD was another HD format for cameras and screens that was never adopted by broadcasters at all.

I wouldn’t spend money on a TV that does things that broadcasters don’t unless I planed to use those features for something other than broadcast telly. I certainly wouldn’t pay for features in the expectation that support from broadcasters will follow. Have a think about how long a TV might last and then try and recall how many times broadcasters have changed broadcast formats in your lifetime.

Futureproof?

What do you watch? How good is your eyesight? How well set up is the room for viewing rather than watching?

Unless everything else is perfect get what looks good to your eyes and has some in/out ports that fit (all mine go through the surround sound unit so only 1 HDMI needed)

Whatever you get will be outdated by tech but not by function next year. It took long enough to get HD across the board, imagine how long for 4k or 3d etc.

Currently have the last of the 60″ non smart samsungs, works fine does HD and is as good as I’ll need for at least 5 years.

I wish I got this much help when posting on the bike part of the forum 🙂

I think shinyites was getting the better of me after seeing the stuff from the show, I have calmed down now and agree with the comments about just getting the one I like best at a price I can live with.

@johnj2000 I am still using an 8 year old HD tv – 720 res. Its a bit rubbish now versus the 1080 ones not least as the bezel is huge and it weighs a ton, it has better speakers than my newer TV. My other HD TV (1080) is 5 years old and still going strong. My GF’s TV is 1080 and 5 years old, works well and still looks good. As stated earlier buy the best HD TV you can at a size that works and get Apple TV or some other smart box to sit outside so you can upgrade that if you wish. Also think about external speakers, these modern and thin TVs look good but sound rubbish

I’m not looking forward to when my TV dies. I don’t want a bloody sound bar I want the sound to come out of my TV.

I think you should be thinking of getting the best performance out of your budget for a reasonable return over time. My 28″ Pannasonic CRT with DVD and Sound system bought in the sale in 2004 for about £300 is still the best watching solution in my house and family favourite for films.

A 2008 expensive Panasonic 32″ Plasma is runner up picture wise and we also have several 1080P offerings from Sony (Bravia) and Panasonic, in other rooms. The blacks are not as good as the CRT, better on the plasma, and for that the picture seems to lack definition and contrast and in turn the richness of the natural colours seems to suffer.

The best 4k display I have seen is the Dolby mega expensive grading monitor which is exceptional, and ultra expensive, but I think I already said that. The 4k monitors are going to become cheaper as the tech filters down.

Even with all these screens Mrs Zzz and I often watch on the 17″ mac HD laptop screen as since the viewing distance is so small, it is like being at the cinema, even streaming at 720P. So maybe look at the iMac 5k if you want to try going big on the res, that’ll be future proof for a few years. You can also probably attach whatever accessory needed through Thunderbolt 2 that way? Sound stuff and other stuff?

Future proof tv? As has been pointed out, go for the best picture, with as few bells and whistles on the set, and pay as much as you can afford.
I’ve owned three sets since the 1980’s, a Panasonic 21″ FST, a Philips 32″ CRT widescreen, and my current Sony Bravia.
The first two each lasted somewhere between ten and fifteen years, the Sony is five or six years old now, and will likely last about the same.
The Sony has no smart functions, it’s sound is bypassed into my old Yamaha DSP A/V amp, which has a Sky+ box feeding the sound via fiberoptic, and if I want smart functions they’re provided by my Mac Mini.
I only very, very rarely use the set for terrestrial TV, if I miss something I just download it via the Sky box.
The only reason for having smart functions on a set that I can see is if that’s the only way someone has to access stuff extra to the TV programs, but most people I’m sure have multiple sources these days.
Mine is pretty much just a 40″ monitor.