Advice required please on four LED TVs for my sister!

[P Adams]

My sister is asking for advice on four TVs she is considering buying one of!

I know there are numerous questions she should be answering for me to give her some advice, but if anyone has any views on any of them I would be most grateful. I’m sure they will all be good enough for her watching and listening enjoyment but any good or bad info on any of them would be good

The TV will be used at home in their lounge for general tv viewing. They have my old Pioneer Kuro LX5090 which they will move to their bedroom for her husband to watch his sport etc! We have a Panasonic OLED so sort of recommended the Panny one to her to start with!

They also have mobile wifi with Vodafone and a fire stick that they use Netflix and amazon prime through the existing TV

LG 43UP81006LR (2021) LED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 43 inch with Freeview Play/Freesat HD, Ashed Blue

Samsung UE43AU7100 (2021) HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 43 inch with TVPlus, Black

LG 43UP75006LF (2021) LED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 43 inch with Freeview Play/Freesat HD, Ceramic Black

Panasonic TX-43JX600B (2022) LED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 43 inch with Freeview Play & Dolby Atmos, Black

Thanks for any advice

 

[mikej]

I can't offer advice on those specific models, but I've got a couple of small (non-smart) LG LCDs that are still going after 10+ years of use, plus a smart 28" LG LCD I bought recently that I'm happy with so far. Some LG TVs suffer from a lack of memory issue which causes some apps to crash occasionally (Netflix in my case), but if your sister uses a Fire TV Stick then that won't be an issue.

There may not be a huge difference between all the TVs you've listed TBH, so it might just come down to price and which has the best user interface. None of them will perform particularly well with HDR at that price. Note that Samsung don't use Freeview Play, but their own 'TV Plus'.

It's probably worth mentioning that Panasonic don't make their own (cheaper) LCD TVs these days - they're made by Vestel who also make TVs for budget brands like Hitachi, Bush and JVC (etc). That's not to say that a cheap Panasonic LCD will be poor, but the quality you've experienced from your Panasonic OLED won't necessarily apply to their bottom-end LCDs, sadly.

Whatever she goes for, I would definitely recommend buying from a company who includes a free, extended warranty (like John Lewis, Richer Sounds etc) to make sorting any problems easier in the future.

 

[P Adams]

Thanks mikej

Good advice. They are leaning towards the Samsung after testing them all in John Lewis this afternoon. I think they have some JL vouchers as well. They might also get a soundbar as there is £50 off when purchased with a TV

 

[mikej]

A soundbar would be sensible upgrade, as the internal speakers won't be great.

 

[P Adams]

Yes indeed. Even our Samsung HW-MS650 soundbar, which was on offer at the time, is better than the OLED’s speakers when we’re not using the main surround sound system

 

[P Adams]

My sister and her husband looked at all four TVs and preferred the Samsung UE43AU7100. They’ll also get a soundbar, so very happy with our help!

 

[Plugman]

Don't overlooking the John Lewis clearance section. You maybe able to bag a bargain there. Last week I bagged a brand new boxed XH9505 Sony 49inch for just under £600. It was up for 669 but I said I got it for £602.10 less £10 for my john lewis voucher.