43” Bedroom TV choices

[pompeydean]

Hi all

I need to replace a 40” TV for our bedroom. From reading a lot of similar posts on here I know there’s not much of any quality at the 40 - 43” size but I can’t have any bigger in the bedroom.

I’ve read that the only 43” that seems to be recommended is the Samsung 43 QN90A but that’s more than I was hoping to spend.

What would you guys recommend out of the following:

Samsung 43 AU9000 - £359
Samsung 43 AU9010 - £359
Samsung 43 Q65A - £399

Or is the extra money really necessary for a TV that well watch for maybe an hour a day?
If so then I’ve seen:

Samsung 43 QN90A - £674
Sony 43 X85J - £699

Mainly for Sky Q mini or Netflix viewing from about 6’ or 7’ at night.

Cheers

 

[Dodgexander]

I'd recommend just spending as little as possible and have a plan in place to avoid HDR on Netflix such as a connected Apple TV or similar. Something like a Hisense A7G.

 

[pompeydean]

I'd recommend just spending as little as possible and have a plan in place to avoid HDR on Netflix such as a connected Apple TV or similar. Something like a Hisense A7G.

Thanks

Would the A7G be better than the Samsung AU options (same price)?

The extra money on an Apple TV would get me just over £140 away from the price of the QN90A so not sure that’s worth doing.

Out of interest, assuming you have a TV in your bedroom, what do you have?

Cheers

 

[Dodgexander]

For Netflix the A7G will be better than the Samsung models because of its Dolby Vision support. It will help negate some of the issues of using HDR on a TV without good HDR capabilities.

Samsung, by comparison are backing HDR10+ which would work better for Amazon.

I have my old TCL 5 series in my bedroom which used to be our living room TV. Spec wise its similar to the Hisense A7G with Dolby Vision support but I still avoid using HDR on it where I can since it looks so bad.

If you can hold on and don't mind spending more to get a better set you could wait for 42" OLEDs to be released later this year.

QN90 is still not a good TV really. At 43" it's not the same TV as the QN94A or QN95A recommended at larger sizes. Once you step down to 50" the QN9xxA models have a reduced set of features such 60hz panels, reduced peak brightness, worse sound and more basic local dimming. It, whilst better than other cheaper TVs will still have problems with HDR in certain titles.

 

[pompeydean]

For Netflix the A7G will be better than the Samsung models because of its Dolby Vision support. It will help negate some of the issues of using HDR on a TV without good HDR capabilities.

Samsung, by comparison are backing HDR10+ which would work better for Amazon.

I have my old TCL 5 series in my bedroom which used to be our living room TV. Spec wise its similar to the Hisense A7G with Dolby Vision support but I still avoid using HDR on it where I can since it looks so bad.

If you can hold on and don't mind spending more to get a better set you could wait for 42" OLEDs to be released later this year.

QN90 is still not a good TV really. At 43" it's not the same TV as the QN94A or QN95A recommended at larger sizes. Once you step down to 50" the QN9xxA models have a reduced set of features such 60hz panels, reduced peak brightness, worse sound and more basic local dimming. It, whilst better than other cheaper TVs will still have problems with HDR in certain titles.

Thanks Dodge

So A7G sounds like a good option at the moment then.

How long do we expect the 42” OLED’s to take to hit the market, any idea?

Sounds like manufacturers are sacrificing quality at lower sizes to meet price points

 

[Dodgexander]

Not sure if they will come out when most TVs do by summer or if they will be later. They are of course going to be more expensive, but hopefully they release the good models at smaller sizes and not just the lower end ones like with LCD TVs.

 

[pompeydean]

Cheers. I’ll get a cheap one now but will keep my eye out later in the year for the new panels

 

[Gallifreyan]

John Lewis has a 42" LG OLED now.

LG OLED42C24LA (2022) OLED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 42 inch with Freeview HD/Freesat HD & Dolby Atmos, Dark Titan Silver

Buy LG OLED42C24LA (2022) OLED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 42 inch with Freeview HD/Freesat HD & Dolby Atmos, Dark Titan Silver from our View All TVs range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.

www.johnlewis.com

Pricey, though!

 

[pompeydean]

John Lewis has a 42" LG OLED now.

LG OLED42C24LA (2022) OLED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 42 inch with Freeview HD/Freesat HD & Dolby Atmos, Dark Titan Silver

Buy LG OLED42C24LA (2022) OLED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 42 inch with Freeview HD/Freesat HD & Dolby Atmos, Dark Titan Silver from our View All TVs range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.

www.johnlewis.com

Pricey, though!

Thanks
Definitely too pricey for what I want but nice to see there’s not long to wait for a C2 panel

 

[beastman]

I'd recommend just spending as little as possible and have a plan in place to avoid HDR on Netflix such as a connected Apple TV or similar. Something like a Hisense A7G.

Dodgexander you offer your thoughts on the Philips P5 picture processor. Some of the promo videos on youtube look impressive eg:



I can pick up a 43PUS8536 for £350 which seems good value especially as I fancy the Android system. I'm not fussed HDR and I'm only going to to be watching sat TV (1080i and some SDR) and 1080p streams from my NAS. How might it compare to that Hisense you suggested? Thanks.

Edit - Just seen that it might have a MVA panel:
42.5" Philips 43PUS8536/12 - Specifications

 

[Dodgexander]

Upscaling from the likes of Philips, Sony and Samsung is a step above Hisense. With such a small TV though I'm not sure you'd really notice a difference with 1080i material, SD quality feeds you may.

Displayspecs isn't always reliable with panel info, so it may come with VA or IPS type panel. Typically, Philips use IPS.

 

[beastman]

Upscaling from the likes of Philips, Sony and Samsung is a step above Hisense. With such a small TV though I'm not sure you'd really notice a difference with 1080i material, SD quality feeds you may.

Thanks. I'm around 7 foot from the TV. The upscaling side I think is very important as I noticed a huge difference when using the Nvidia Shield TV upscaler to my current, rather garbage Sharp 40" TV. I'm amazed at how good that upscaler can be. Begs the question, unless I've missed it, why there isn't any discussion/comparison in the merits of the main upscaling systems from the main manufacturers. Which one is best? If all everything else was equal (which is know isn't possible; eg all TVs having the same panels and backlighting etc) then surely the hardware chip upscaling/software would be a key comparator?

 

[Dodgexander]

You're probably talking to the wrong person. In my opinion the difference between the best and worse upscaling is very minor, and I don't think any TVs in this price bracket get even close to replicating what the Shield can do. For that you're really looking at the higher end processors and even then, the most notable difference is with lower quality material than 1080i, especially on such a small TV viewing 7ft away.

7ft is a long way to view from a 43" model.

With Philips, they do carry the P5 down to cheaper models, but its not a dedicated chip like it is on the higher end ones, instead they carry the word 'engine' which insinuates its just software running on cheaper integrated SoC's.

If you're looking for something premium and small with a dedicated picture processor, I'd wait for the LG C2 OLED to come down in price.