40" Kitchen TV

Sam

Established Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2000
Messages
343
Reaction score
12
Points
92
Location
Surbiton
Looking to get a 40" TV for the kitchen, and like many people who haven't researched a TV for a while, I'm struggling to understand the different models options in each manufacturer's range.

There's large glass double doors and some velux windows near where the TV will be located, so it needs to be able to cope with those conditions.

Not looking for 4k - 1080p is fine given the size and viewing distance, but I'm aware that 1080p seems to be harder to come by now so I'm open to suggestions. HDR too, though it looks less common on 1080p TVs...?

I'm intending to get content from streaming services only, so it should have amazon, Netflix, all of the terrestrial on demand apps.

Ideally looking for a model that's pretty thin so it will look OK on the wall. Budget is probably up to around £500.

I've had a look around JL and Richer Sounds, so have seen a few different models which look ok, but I'm more inclined to get some recommendations on here before making a decision.

Has anyone got any recommendations?
 
If you want all on demand services then Samsung is out of the question, they promised all4 on last year's models but despite having it on their 2015 models it never surfaced.

LG, Hisense, Sony(models with android tv) and Panasonic all use freeview play that has all of them. Netflix and Amazon are on all platforms too..(no Amazon on non android Sony tv's).

So with that out of the way you need to work out whether you need wide horizontal viewing angles from the tv or not, that will determine whether you can get a higher contrast panel with better blacks or whether wider viewing angles are more important so the picture doesn't look washed out when you view from the side.

Work out in degrees off centre horizontally the max angle you'll need to view the t.v. from.

With that in mind it should be pretty easy to make a recommendation, just gotta be careful as there's limited information on smaller tv's nowadays so its not always easy to know which type of panel a tv will ship with.

Lastly, will you use the tv for standard definition content still? If not there's no real harm in going UHD.
 
Thanks for the comprehensive reply.

Odd about the Samsung - I thought I saw a mu6400 yesterday in JL that had it. Maybe I got confused as I saw so many different TVs.

Viewing angle - we're going get a cantilever bracket so it shouldn't matter too much, but I would guess maybe 45 degrees...?

As for SD content, it's basically down to what's available over on demand, so I guess most stuff is in HD now anyway. I'll add an aerial for freeview at a later date, but that'll be HD too.
 
Could be different on the 2017 Samsung's but I'm not sure.

Anything over 20° and I would only look at TVs with PLS/IPS panels, it means worse contrast and blacks but its better than a washed out image to the side. Unless of course you don't mind moving the TV so the angles are always good.

At 40" most Samsungs/Panasonics will use high contrast VA panels.
and LG/Sony mostly use IPS. Apart from Sony XD80/LG UH635v.

You could always view some TVs with VA panels in the store to check how you think they will fair vs IPS.

Not much terrestrial on demand content is in HD, but most iPlayer is and Netflix/Amazon will be.
 
The TV will be on a bracket so can be moved, but I suspect most of the time we won't bother. Looking at the drawbacks of an IPS, some of them are mitigated by the fact that this isn't our main TV for watching movies and it's in quite a bright room so I suspect the benefits of a VA would be less obvious, but I'll pop down to a shop to see now I know what I'm looking for.

Do you have any particular recommended models as a starting point?

I'm still battling with trying to decipher each brand's models. e.g I gather 'K' and 'M' mean 2016 & 2017 respectively for Samsung models, but not sure what's specifically the difference between a 5500, 6100, 6400, 7000, etc...
 
Yes I would think for the kitchen an IPS model is preferable, even if you do get less contrast most viewing will be done in light so it doesn't matter so much. Viewing angles are more important.

The best TV at 40-43 would be the Sony XD8305, uses a 120hz IPS panel and you should be able to find some good deals on it now as its a 2016 model. The 2017 XE83 will be similar, but prices will be high as its a new model.

If you cannot get that then I would look at LG models like the 43UH750V.

If those are out of budget then cheaper LGs are probably best, UH661v, UH650v etc

Again these are 2016 models, the 2017 ones are currently overpriced. The 2017 models will likely use the same panels though.

Model numbers with Samsung TVs: You have the year correct with the K and M. The U in the model number means UHD and the S means SUHD.

So KU6000 would be their entry UHD model whilst K6300 is a FHD model.
 
If you want all on demand services then Samsung is out of the question, they promised all4 on last year's models but despite having it on their 2015 models it never surfaced.

LG, Hisense, Sony(models with android tv) and Panasonic all use freeview play that has all of them. Netflix and Amazon are on all platforms too..(no Amazon on non android Sony tv's).

So with that out of the way you need to work out whether you need wide horizontal viewing angles from the tv or not, that will determine whether you can get a higher contrast panel with better blacks or whether wider viewing angles are more important so the picture doesn't look washed out when you view from the side.

Work out in degrees off centre horizontally the max angle you'll need to view the t.v. from.

With that in mind it should be pretty easy to make a recommendation, just gotta be careful as there's limited information on smaller tv's nowadays so its not always easy to know which type of panel a tv will ship with.

Lastly, will you use the tv for standard definition content still? If not there's no real harm in going UHD.
All4 is now available on last years Samsung models. It has been on mine for several months.
 
Thanks for the responses.

I'm not looking to go over £500 max, so the Sony models are probably out of reach, but I'll take a look at the others.

Thanks,
Sam
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom