Question Another one bites the dust, new TV required but which?

jenam93

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Seems like there has been a spate of these recently, but I am another whose Panasonic Plasma, a 50VT30, has stopped working, mine with a 7 blink led failure (Which apparently suggests 1 or up to 3 boards inside has gone).

We had recently been considering upgrading for a larger screen, but I'm one who rarely upgrades while things are working fine and the 50" would not really fit anywhere else in the house, so we quickly stopped looking.

As with others, I doubt I want to take the risk of spending £££ on repairs seeing as it is now over 8 years old.

Main viewing source is a BT Youview box (no subscription) through which we also run Netflix (SD subscription only and unlikely to pay more at present) and Amazon Prime plus the occasional catch up apps like iPlayer etc.
PS4 plays our disks which are Blu-ray or DVD, plus Disney+ and a few games.
We also play games on a Switch, more than on the PS4, and very occasionally original Wii too!
We watch an exceedingly occasional movie via Rakuten with a laptop plugged into the TV.
We do have some movies copied to a WDTVLiveHub but I cant remember the last time we actually watched one that way.
Generally do not watch much sport at all.

Sound is currently fed to a Marantz M-CR612 which is hooked up to some Monitor Audio Bronze 5 speakers, so stereo only and unlikely to change.

Our room is long and thin with the TV on the narrow wall, so viewing distances are generally excessive (hence why we were toying with the larger screen idea) with 2 people on a sofa against the long wall about 3.5 metres away and 2 people on a sofa across the width of the room around 4.5 metres away. This means a wider viewing angle is required for us.

The room is almost north facing so never any direct sunlilght into it, the windows always have venetian blinds that are down but tilted open during the day and closed as darkness falls (Or earlier when watching a movie). Lighting is generally some IKEA chain lights around 2 windows only so nothing too bright in the evening/night either.

I'm happy to tweak settings to try to get the best picture I'm able to, but unlikely to fork out on professional callibration.

Given most 4K content is available via subscriptions or 4K discs (and therefore 4K player), we are unlikely to watch that much 4K content (Other than on Prime/Disney+ if any apps suit playing it), therefore ability to handle SD content well is a must!

I don't know if we just got lucky with the 50VT30, or we just didn't look too hard for faults (Probably the best way), but no-one ever complained about the picture we had for any reason (well until it no longer turned on of course), so its hard to know which faults would annoy us most having not experienced/noticed them.

We watch quite a lot of TV, and don't buy TVs often, so I dont mind spending a fair chunk of money accordingly. I would not risk buying second hand, though wold perhaps consdier a manufacturer refurb if it was right to do so and a great value set.

Having tacked up a 65" cardboard TV for a while, see image below, I reckon we can push to this size, especially with the viewing distances.

From Dodgexander's excellect summary posts, the Sony 65XH9505 (£1300) handles upscaling well and has wider viewing angles so that would appear to suit our requirements and I'm not adverse to pushing the boat out on a LG 65BX, £1500 from Costco (Plus £15 membership fee), if the LG BX is going to serve our purposes better than the Sony listed.

I guess I have a few questions though as what concerns me is; with so much SD content being viewed, is it pointless spending this amount of money on either?
Shoud I consider an alternate model in this price, without pushing the budget up higher than the BX?
Should I just spend less as my requirements/usage don't warrant either the Sony or LG?
Are there likely to be any sales coming up soon? By that I mean very soon as watching an older 40" TV is like watching a portable from the old days!! :)

Many thanks in advance for reading and any further insight you may have.

Jon

65 TV.jpg
 
It doesn't sound like most of your viewing will be SD, but HD. Freeview SD channels (outside of channel 1-5) /catch up TV (aside from iPlayer which can be 720p) will be the worse, everything else is minimum HD, with some UHD content available.

Once you reach OLEDs you do get benefits all-round compared to LCD TVs, so I'd say the LG BX is best buy for your usage. If you wanted to save some money on an LCD instead try the Sony XH9005 instead of the XH9505 since you don't plan to use much HDR material. You may even be okay with an even cheaper LCD TV like the TCL 8 series (65C815) although not sure if Costco have any of those in stock at the moment.
 
Sony XH9005 75 inch if it fits I say or the


 
It doesn't sound like most of your viewing will be SD, but HD. Freeview SD channels (outside of channel 1-5) /catch up TV (aside from iPlayer which can be 720p) will be the worse, everything else is minimum HD, with some UHD content available.

Once you reach OLEDs you do get benefits all-round compared to LCD TVs, so I'd say the LG BX is best buy for your usage. If you wanted to save some money on an LCD instead try the Sony XH9005 instead of the XH9505 since you don't plan to use much HDR material. You may even be okay with an even cheaper LCD TV like the TCL 8 series (65C815) although not sure if Costco have any of those in stock at the moment.
Much obliged for your feedback, as ever.

Don't suppose you have a crystal ball on a 65" BX sale do you!
 
I expect it will drop to £1500 fairly soon, that was the outgoing sale price of the B9, B8, B7 et al.

Take a look at last years model price trend to get some idea: LG OLED65B9 (TVs)
 
Sony XH9005 75 inch if it fits I say or the


Not going to even try the 75" to be honest, even I don't think that would be right, let alone anyone else in the house.... and the Panasonic is a tad too rich for me, there are limits!

Thanks for your feedback though, appreciated.
 
I expect it will drop to £1500 fairly soon, that was the outgoing sale price of the B9, B8, B7 et al.

Take a look at last years model price trend to get some idea: LG OLED65B9 (TVs)
Oh so the current Costco price could be its lowest, other than being that price at non membership places....
 
So I never got round to buying a new TV yet, had to get a new boiler installed....but back in the hunt on this now.

With 10% discount, seemingly sponsored by LG, it currently looks like I can get the 65BX for around £1440 now, even from John Lewis.

The 10% discount also makes the 65CX around £1620 at various places I've not heard of like PRC Direct or ElectricShop.

I tried to price match this at RS, but they have no stock of the CX, they offered the Philips 65 805 for £1699 instead.

I've an outstanding price match in with John Lewis on the CX.

Mulling over whether to go:
BX at £1440
CX at £1620
805 at £1699
 
Most people would take the CX if they could afford it I think. Whether its better value than the BX, not so sure.

Philips OLED805 would be an option if you prefer good motion above all else.
 
Most people would take the CX if they could afford it I think. Whether its better value than the BX, not so sure.

Philips OLED805 would be an option if you prefer good motion above all else.
Thanks as ever.

John Lewis have confirmed the price match at £1620 which is great.

Just having serious discussions in the family over whether 65 is too big for the room, not from a viewing perspective but aesthetically speaking. It will really dominate.

Size wise a 55 inch would be just a couple of centimetres larger than the plasma it's replacing, whereas the 65 is a huge step up.

I reckon a 60 inch would have been about perfect but the are few options in that size and definitely little value.

I know that just about every thread says push the size, you'll get used to it, but we've been 'watching' a cardboard box and it's gargantuan at 65 inch.

Fantastic for movies for sure... but normal telly watching....
 
You are probably speaking to the wrong person. I don't understand the dominating the room thing. I'd have an 85" or a Projector set up in my room if I could.

At the moment I view about 100cm-150cm from my 65". The room is also pretty small.
 
Pulled the trigger today...65CX on its way!!

Thanks for all the guidance :clap:
 
Never watch it. I am hoping not to pay on renewal.
 
Not sure what jim1106's post is about but it served as a reminder to post this:
IMG-20210319-WA0004.jpeg


65CX in situ, looks awesome and actually really glad we did not go for the 55!

Just need to move the picture on the wall a bit :)
 

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