I don’t really watch tv, and I like physical media so I’ve never bothered with set top boxes, on-demand, or anything like that. But my mum and dad’s (15-year old CRT) tv just died and they’re trying to figure out what to get… They don’t have sky or cable or anything like that, currently just using a freeview box (which still works). Oh and the internet connection is not too fast.

So, they can just get a decent, normal TV, and carry on as before. But they do watch a lot so I was wondering about on-demand stuff or set-top recorders etc. Probably mainly recorders.

So… What to suggest? Smart TVs seem a bit, well, complicated. And possibly over-featured. And seem to lack recording?

But then, freeview recorder boxes seem fairly expensive for what you get, especially since most seem to be more or less unbranded- cheap freeview boxes seem to be more or less disposable and, frankly, a bit shit so not really keen for them to spend £70 or thereabouts for something of that spec.

All in all I haven’t a clue. I’m tempted to just send them off to get the cheapest quality-brand 32 inch tv they can find but maybe I can do a wee bit better for them? So any advice would be really helpful

most modern tellies have freeview receivers inside, I think

unless they have either good broadband or a satellite dish I reckon on-demand will be painful

???

All modern TV’s will be digital ready either via Freeview and/or freest. So all you should need to do is to connect to your aerial or a satellite dish and you’re off – no need for a set top box.

You will only need or want a set top box if you want the ability to pause/rewind TV or record. Some TV’s have some limited capability to do this also with the addition of a USB hard drive.

I don’t think smart TV’s are quite there yet so I wouldn’t necessarily bother with that specifically. If you want something like NetFlix or IPlayer, then there are other means you can get that either via your computer/smart device or via relatively cheap set-top boxes.

Samsung is probably your best bet to start looking. You should be able to get a decent HD 32″ set for £300 ish.

Yeah, freeview itself’ll come with pretty much any telly I think. But I couldn’t find any with record/playback, unless I’m just not looking right. Which to be fair, I probably am not 😉

I’ve been really happy with my Toshiba Regza, are Samsung a better bet now? Oh… HD vs “HD-ready”, I’m not sure that’s something they’ll be bothered about but maybe I’m wrong- my dad’s got some sight issues, not terrible but I’d kind of assumed that HD would be wasted. But maybe the better picture works better for that?

What you want is a ‘freeview+’ tv

That record but I think you may need a hard drive to plug in and store it on

My samsung smart tv has netflix, I player, etc, freeview, USB, will take a webcam for skype, record to a USB hardrive
32″ and is the latest gen 8

OK, thanks folks. Smart TVs out I think, they won’t use most of the features. Standard TV and probably a freeview+ box if they want it, nice and simple. Cheers!

On a related note (apologies for the hijack) but does anyone know of any 32″ ish TVs that come with an analogue audio output? I use my tv plugged into my hifi for sound but very few tvs seem to have line outs now. Anyone know any that do?

As mentioned all TVs will now have Freeview in, SMART TV is just a nice add on but probably not necessary. Lots of good deals out at the minute hotdealsuk is your friend.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/search?action=search&keywords=TV

@Matthew_h mostly these days they have a optical digital out for sound but may alos have a 3.5mm jack for headphones which can be connected to a hi fi. it is adaquate rather than excellent.

Bugger, that confirms what I seem to be finding. Are there boxes that take the optical out and convert it to line level or would I need a proper AV amp?

Yeah, freeview isn’t a consideration but I’ve not found any freeview+ TVs so if they want the playback options etc it seems like an external box (or smart tv) are needed?

We have our eyes on the Samsung from hotukdeals there, nice to see it pop up there too.

(http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/samsung-ue32f5000-32-inch-widescreen-1080p-full-hd-led-tv-with-freeview-hd-new-for-1665447)

Or if they want cheaper then

I have the 5500 version of that 32″ Samsung – will record tv using a usb hardrive plugged in the back 😉

Pack them off to the nearest Richer Sounds – the salesmen aren’t usually pushy, they’ll just sell you what you need and the prices are keen.
32″ TV from Samsung or similar brand should be a smidge over £200. Add a Humax Freeview recorder, easy to use, either from Richer again, or direct from Humax website, the cheapest is a 160Gb recorder for £70, or a 500Gb HD recorder is £130.
If they’re anything like my parents they won’t want to worry about USB sticks and adding their own hard drives, just keep it simple and they’ll use it and enjoy it.

Smart TV’s at the moment are not really very smart. I know a few friends with them and they wish they hadn’t bothered.

Richer Sounds is a good shout – know their stuff and as mentioned don’t push the most expensive thing in the shop on you if its not what you need.

Cheers

Danny B

A word of warning…Samsung consider it perfectly reasonable to expect to have to replace the screen on a 40″ Smart TV after 18 months.

Yes, it happened to me. 🙁

Get a normal telly. I really can’t see the point in paying extra for a smart TV – give it a couple of years and they’ll stop updating it, and eventually you’ll end up with a set top box to get the functionality you want.

Then get some sort of set top box or games console. Freeview+ PVRs are alright, but if you get a nice HD one it’ll be the thick end of £150-£200. Or you can just get a cheapy on the basis that most stuff is SD anyway. Then get a games console, and you can watch Youtube, Netflix, Iplayer etc. and play games… Then when the console gets outdated, you flog it on ebay and get another.

I think that’s what I’d do myself but I can’t see my mum playing GTA5 🙂

Smart is definitely out. Aaargh Takisawa, I’d just got sold on Samsung!

Smart TV’s at the moment are not really very smart. I know a few friends with them and they wish they hadn’t bothered.

Pretty true – little that you can do with them ( that you’d actually want to do with them ) that can’t be done by connecting up a Raspberry Pi with XBMC installed on it.

A simpler TV with a Humax set top box would be my recommendation. Humax are good and rather easy to use ( handy for older people ).