My old Sony tv is on its way out 2 years ago the screen started to go …looks like a shade torn edge all round the screen in certain colours…and then last week I notices a cloud that now that goes from left to right about half way up the screen….and it’s getting bigger real quick!!…honestly the telly is only 7 years old …..doesn’t nothing last anymore ?

So I’m off to the shops to have a look at some telly today …I’m not getting another Sony …..I’m thinking Samsung are the way to go
But what would you buy now….flat screen or curved??
People with curved screens…are you happy? And blind spots??

Aren’t curved just a gimmick and need to beat least 4ft wide until the benefit is noticed?

How many people do you know with a 3D Tv?

In my opinion curved will go the same way as 3D. People will buy it but then realise that it is ultimately a gimmick. Unless of course you buy an 80″ one and sit the right distance from it with a full on home theatre set up. That I imagine would be pretty cool.

<guesses>
probably a tiny bit better if you sit right in front; probably a tiny bit worse if you’re nowhere near right in front

See the light:

Get a flat one.
Fitting a sheet of perspex over a curved screen to protect it from rampaging children might prove problematic.

Was that your lighthouse on grand designs? If not, get a flat one.

I’m not getting another Sony

You’re already at the right first step.

Stand in John Lewis for a while and look at the actual TV’s watch the picture. Watch motion on them, check they are all playing from the same source of course so you are getting a like for like comparisson.

For balance I do have a 3D TV, but only because it came as default on the higher spec Panasonic I wanted. I’ve watched about 3 movies in 3D over the 3/4 years I’ve owned it!

I nearly bought a Philips, then watched it spontaneously turn off in store, so went back to my preference that was Panasonic anyway.

Top of my list for a new TV would be OLED, curved screens at home TV sizes are just a gimmick and have the drawback of reduced viewing angle

I went to the IMAX 2 days ago, that was curved. I don’t think it would fit in my lounge though.

Also saw a TV in Harrods that was about 4m long and £20k that was curved but out of my price range.

So I don’t live in a big house or have lots of cash. If I was buying a TV I would spend max £500 and get a flat one

If you live on your own or always watch TV on your own and sit at the centre of the radius of the curve at the right height all the time, then there is no problem getting the curved screen. If not get a flat one. They are a bit of a gimmick. 3D is a gimmick but seems to be standard issue on mid to high end sets these days, but at least you don’t have to use it. A curved screen is curved all the time.

iMaxes are curved but they’re also about 30ft tall and 90ft wide.

Looked at new TV’s with my Dad yesterday, and the new Samsung SUHD with nano stuff looked GREAT, way better than anything else in store.

Didn’t notice a reduced viewing angle with the curve, actually thought it seemed better.

Overall the viewing experience was superb on the flat or curved versions to be honest.

When you go into the shop to choose have a look at the back of the TV’s to see how they are being fed. Last time I did this in Currys not a single one of them was connected to an HDMI lead (all were connected via the component connectors). Also if you go into the service menu most TV’s have a “shop” mode which increases brightness and boosts contrast etc to make the picture look more impressive in the shop but would look daft in your front room.

.I’m not getting another Sony …..I’m thinking Samsung are the way to go

out of the frying pan and into the fire…

get a Panasonic if you want the best shout at long term reliability

buy from JL with a 5 year warranty and regard anything after 5 years as a bonus

If you live alone and have no friends and have your watching seat in the optimum position then go for a curved TV. Otherwise goes for flat.

The fact I forgot that curved screens existed says it all for me and its only been a short time since they were the new big thing.

How many people do you know with a 3D Tv?

Many, including myself. The question should be how may people you know use 3D features on Tv? 3D features were included in most top of the line TV’s when I bought my current one.
Surely answer is that no one uses 3D on a home telly, I even bought Piranha 3D on Blueray to try it 🙂 and the effect is really weak.

It would be good to try the most used functions on the telly, I haven’t tried latest ones from any manufacturer but older Samsungs were really annoying to use. Newer Smart models are likely to be worse anyway.

Sony TVs used to have a link to some Playboy 3D videos so you could see how good the 3D rendering was…

It’s gone now though

Well the trip to JL was impressive…..call me crazy …but I’m going for curved…..48″..4K .the pic quality was out of this world!!
It’s not 3D …as no one ever used them…I must have spent an hour looking , breaking down which ones I likes and messing with them, and looking at the curved ones ….I didn’t notice no problems in the viewing from different angles …pretty much the same as when flat screens first came out…no probs

Now is it worth buying a 4K blu ray player or should I just stick to my standard blu Ray ??

Have any uhd blurays been released on the new standard?

Stick with what you have until the content is out there for physical media, you’ll be relying on other media for a while yet unless you want to watch demo disks. You’ll also pay through the nose

I wasn’t aware 4k BR players had been released. I’ve had a quick look and can’t determine if the claimed 4k BR players are native 4k players or just have 4k upscaling. Similarly most of the 4k BR disks i’ve looked at say ‘remastered in 4k’ which to me they are no native 4k format.

Upscaling is always disappointing as you can’t get better quality than the native format, so you have to be careful. But having said that, if the UHD players and disks currently available are true 4k format, then yes – buy one. What buy a 4k telly only to watch HD or SD content?

Only Samsung has released a true ultra HD Bluray player as far as I know, the rest are coming next year

Your right ….I just checked again the deal they were doing with the telly and it’s a upscale 4K blu Ray player…it’s only £89 ….
But the telly up scales pictures anyway……so that should be just as good ??…right????

Sadly probably not, especially with an £89 player – Bluray up scaled will probably look a tiny tiny bit better, DVDs up scaled will almost certainly look worse than when scaled to 1080p. As was in another thread, you can display what isn’t there.

But the telly up scales pictures anyway……so that should be just as good ??…right????

with a TV that size there is a good chance that anything upscaled is going to look pretty poor unless you are sitting a good distance away.

If you had a 1080P TV then the amount of upscaling required from normal broadcast material is either low (720p or 1080i) or none. None is best as the TV doesn’t have to do any extra processing, and possibly screw it up (upscaling is particularly problematical with moving pictures).

Obviously with your 4K TV it will have to upscale a lot for the majority of sources, so let’s hope that you don’t end up disappointed with it.

Look back through the forum, there’s been a rake of threads about this recently. Here’s a few:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tvs-help-please-4k-or-1080p

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tv-can-you-future-proof

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/4k-up-scaling

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/4k-smart-tv-what-do-i-need-to-know

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/any-tv-experts-around

Well the trip to JL was impressive…..call me crazy …but I’m going for curved…..48″..4K .the pic quality was out of this world!!

That’s what we found 😛 Is it the SUHD one as well?

SUHD…..ooooh that as something else…..what quality !!

Sadly I’m not rich enough to buy!!

You need to see the TV running something from a 1080i or p source, not 4k. Any TV will look amazing with a 4k source if you’re not used to it but once you get it home your 4k source options will be very limited and you might end up with a TV that’s pretty poor at 1080

Just to put an engineering perspective on this question. A few years ago I remember reading an article in electronics weekly about large OLED screens overheating. The “solution” was to use a curved screen (probably gives just enough space for thermal expansion without damaging the LEDs). It speculated that it would take some creative marketing to sell this design flaw solution to the public as a good thing.

As time goes by, the overheating problem will be solved and flat screens marketed as the next great thing.

I have searched but cannot find the article.

Spotted an Aldi advert today with a full HD 55″ tv, 3 HDMI and 2 USB ports, Freeview tuner for £399.99.
Worth checking out at least, and having a poke around in the settings menu can make a world of difference to picture quality.

I saw the thing on the gadget show a few weeks back, where they basically proved that curved tv’s are not worth the bother

I has a sony 40″ for 10 years, it still works and had been excellent

I just been a bought a new one

samsungs are too unrealistic , they have pumped up colours
panasonic, are not good value for what they offer

We went with Sony again as the last one was perfect

but got a 65″ 4K this time, by god, blu rays are amazing on it !!!

and a few months virgin should have a 4k channel braodcasting

Had 4 Toshiba’s in about 25 years, first one only got replaced when we went to live in Germany – and bought a (bigger screen) Tosh there.

That one lasted until we went flat screen. Replaced by a bigger flat screen in about 2006, moved into the snug and still working. Newest one is about 7 years old.

Most expensive though was the first one bought, NICAM stereo and the best part of £450 in 1989.

So buy Toshiba from John Lewis.

samsungs are too unrealistic , they have pumped up colours

No, they aren’t/don’t. You just don’t know how to set them up

Toshiba crts couldn’t show whites, they were always pink…

For crts nothing came close to the old trinatrons, the slightly cylindrical ones.

And as Gil Scott Heron used to say…

The television will not be revolutionised

Toshiba crts couldn’t show whites, they were always pink…

For crts nothing came close to the old trinatrons, the slightly cylindrical ones.

I’ve still got a 32″ one of these going strong in the bedroom – must be well over 15 years old. Thought it had died a few years back as the screen got darker and darker – a bit of internet research led me to a trim screw hidden at the back to adjust the brightness. It still gives a cracking picture…

Five year old Panasonic owner here, more than happy with it. Not that something from five years ago is any reliable indication of present performance. I should also add that Vieracast is a load of crap.

We have an LG 37″ flat screen lcd TV from nearly 10 years ago. Anything bigger in this room would be ridiculous.
But I had a look at the current 4K and UHD TVs in a well known chain today, amazing picture quality, if only the broadcasts were in the same level of definition.
Not sure if curved is a gimmick or not. Guess we’ll know in a couple of years

I currently have this in 40″ flavour – it’s 7 years old…

…and has a PQ that can’t really be faulted

[url=https://flic.kr/p/zdgYQF]Statham.[/url] by davetheblade, on Flickr

But, I’m seriously considering this in 55″ – not because it’s curved, but because it’s a fantastic tv. I always spend weeks reviewing stuff before buying, but have to admit I’m a Samsung fanboi