sylvandale
Novice Member
55" IPS family TV - sorry for yet another one of these type of requests but I really do need some help with finding a ‘simple’ family” living room telly, please.
The tv will be replacing a 10+ years old Panasonic 42” plasma, TH-42PX70, whose HDMI inputs seem to have given up the ghost. I don’t keep up with AV tech but I do like to do my homework before a new purchase. I thought: I’ll trot over to AVforums, do some reading, and it’ll be easy. But after a whole day mostly going round in circles I’m discovering it isn’t quite so straightforward. So I’m hoping for someone to tell me where I'm going wrong please. I have read Mr Dodge’s excellent buying guides and many other threads.
I would like what I assumed would be a fairly straightforward family telly, with no particular demanding input requirements nor wish to have the latest greatest tech. Viewing is mostly recorded broadcast Freesat TV (Humax Freesat recorder), so its all SD or HD. We also have Freeview reception. The only other viewing is the basic BBC/ITV/CH4 catch up services & maybe a bit of YouTube, all currently via a Firestick, but I would like to get these via the new tv for simplicity. I also connect a laptop occasionally for online zoom or facebook gig watching etc. That’s about it. We don’t have any Netflix/Prime etc subscriptions although I guess we might. There is an ordinary DVD player but we haven’t used it in years.
I also play SD/HD files stored on a NAS drive. I currently do this via the Firestick so it doesn’t necessarily need to change although being able to do it via the TV would be a bonus. So I was drawn towards Android TV OS which I assumed would be the easiest to load other apps like VLC onto.
The living room is normally reasonably well lit. This is just your everyday tv viewing, not the big movie experience. It's a big room. Viewing distance is 3.5 to 4m from the screen. Viewing angle is typically 1.5m either side of centre (=25 degrees) but could be up to 2m (=30 degrees). I understand that this sort of viewing angle is on the borderline of VA acceptability, so initially I was assuming I would go for an IPS panel, although I wondered if I was in danger of overly fussing a bit about this aspect since there appear to be some many more VA models about. However the other advantages of IPS also appealed to me i.e. better motion & better anti-glare performance on cheaper TVs. So I set off looking at IPS screens, which I read means 55” or 65”.
Size of screen is not critical but a 50”-65” screen seems like the sweet spot at the moment. I had assumed bigger would be better, but I realise now that with the mostly SD/HD content we play I don’t want to go too big.
Simplicity of use is important. I don’t mind setting up and tweaking initially but I’d rather ‘fit and forget’ after that. A simple and stable user interface would be a big plus. Freeview Play or YouView sounds quite handy, although I’ve never used either one.
In terms of sound, I’m happy to accept that it will not be great. If it's too poor, I’ll get a soundbar. I haven’t read too much about those yet but for simplicity of use again, I’d prefer it if all audio from all sources automatically played through the soundbar, so there’s not another layer of faff for everyone to master. I gather this means an HDMI(arc) socket on the TV and a similarly equipped sound bar, but I’d be glad for any pointers on this too and recommendations for a basic model.
I’d normally buy electronic gear from Amazon but something like this I’d quite like to buy from Richer Sounds or John Lewis. I don’t have a specific budget but I had assumed £600 or so would be ample.
I think that’s it. From the above, my priorities would seem to be:
That’s where I’m at now. All help gratefully received.
The tv will be replacing a 10+ years old Panasonic 42” plasma, TH-42PX70, whose HDMI inputs seem to have given up the ghost. I don’t keep up with AV tech but I do like to do my homework before a new purchase. I thought: I’ll trot over to AVforums, do some reading, and it’ll be easy. But after a whole day mostly going round in circles I’m discovering it isn’t quite so straightforward. So I’m hoping for someone to tell me where I'm going wrong please. I have read Mr Dodge’s excellent buying guides and many other threads.
I would like what I assumed would be a fairly straightforward family telly, with no particular demanding input requirements nor wish to have the latest greatest tech. Viewing is mostly recorded broadcast Freesat TV (Humax Freesat recorder), so its all SD or HD. We also have Freeview reception. The only other viewing is the basic BBC/ITV/CH4 catch up services & maybe a bit of YouTube, all currently via a Firestick, but I would like to get these via the new tv for simplicity. I also connect a laptop occasionally for online zoom or facebook gig watching etc. That’s about it. We don’t have any Netflix/Prime etc subscriptions although I guess we might. There is an ordinary DVD player but we haven’t used it in years.
I also play SD/HD files stored on a NAS drive. I currently do this via the Firestick so it doesn’t necessarily need to change although being able to do it via the TV would be a bonus. So I was drawn towards Android TV OS which I assumed would be the easiest to load other apps like VLC onto.
The living room is normally reasonably well lit. This is just your everyday tv viewing, not the big movie experience. It's a big room. Viewing distance is 3.5 to 4m from the screen. Viewing angle is typically 1.5m either side of centre (=25 degrees) but could be up to 2m (=30 degrees). I understand that this sort of viewing angle is on the borderline of VA acceptability, so initially I was assuming I would go for an IPS panel, although I wondered if I was in danger of overly fussing a bit about this aspect since there appear to be some many more VA models about. However the other advantages of IPS also appealed to me i.e. better motion & better anti-glare performance on cheaper TVs. So I set off looking at IPS screens, which I read means 55” or 65”.
Size of screen is not critical but a 50”-65” screen seems like the sweet spot at the moment. I had assumed bigger would be better, but I realise now that with the mostly SD/HD content we play I don’t want to go too big.
Simplicity of use is important. I don’t mind setting up and tweaking initially but I’d rather ‘fit and forget’ after that. A simple and stable user interface would be a big plus. Freeview Play or YouView sounds quite handy, although I’ve never used either one.
In terms of sound, I’m happy to accept that it will not be great. If it's too poor, I’ll get a soundbar. I haven’t read too much about those yet but for simplicity of use again, I’d prefer it if all audio from all sources automatically played through the soundbar, so there’s not another layer of faff for everyone to master. I gather this means an HDMI(arc) socket on the TV and a similarly equipped sound bar, but I’d be glad for any pointers on this too and recommendations for a basic model.
I’d normally buy electronic gear from Amazon but something like this I’d quite like to buy from Richer Sounds or John Lewis. I don’t have a specific budget but I had assumed £600 or so would be ample.
I think that’s it. From the above, my priorities would seem to be:
- Viewing angles
- SDR Picture quality with SD and HD sources.
- Smart TV ease of use
- Smart TV app selection, with the various catchup services a must, Freeview Play or YouView or similar a bonus, playing files from NAS box an extra bonus.
- I do like good value too!
- Everything else e.g super blacks, high contrast etc less important.
- Various LGs e.g. LG 55UN7300 /55UN7400/ UN7100/ UN8000/ UN8100. These sounded like the obvious main option. However I understand LG do not currently offer most of the catchup apps, which is probably a deal breaker. Can anyone clarify this please?
- Then there’s some Philips IPS models e.g. 55PUS7805 / 55PUS7855. Richer have only the 55PUS7805 and 65PUS8555 with “erratic stock levels”, plus the 65PUS7805. These looked promising as they do have Freeview Play but then I saw one or two pretty bad reviews of the Saphi OS which have put me off a bit. The higher spec Android TV models seem rather pricey (Richer have 55PUS9435 at £1200).
- Some Sony models. I am starting to look at these now but by this stage am going a bit goggle-eyed with it all so wanted to get this post off for some help. I left these until last as I am not a big Sony fan, having had Vaio laptops at work. But if one of their TVs fits the bill then I’m happy to be converted again.
That’s where I’m at now. All help gratefully received.