Answered Back to the Future

Bussta242

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Hi all

Need some help and advise ( appreciate i'm not the first)

Looking buy a second but main TV for our living room, i'm a little bit of a luddite and am skeptical about the new fads in technology lasting - 3D, HDR etc, to me & my eyes 1080P is good enough and all I need.

I only want a 40" - 43" max so it doesn't dominate our room (personally not a fan of the TV being the main focus of the room) currently have an old 38" Sony that will go in the kids play room.

We will be sitting about 8 ft away from the tv so I don't think from what I have read even with a 43" tv we would see get any notable bonus in the increased resolution that the new 4K panels give.

Everything seems to be 4K these days, my problem is that I'm not too fussed about 4K content at the moment and am happy with FHD. We mainly watch SD Freeview (sad I know), sometimes HD Freeview, then Stream HD content via Netflix, Now Tv & the like, not 4K. Am slowly building up a Blu-Ray library too, so would be happy with just a stellar FHD TV.

I am a photographer, so I understand the upscaling process - upscaling is effectively adding pixels that surround the original pixel to increase the resolution - it does not improve the quality of the image as it's filling in the missing pixels with similar colours etc that surround it to give more resolution, so it's not making the image better, just blowing it up to fit the new resolution by filling in the missing gaps for want of a better word. So if I were to get a 4K TV then it would be playing with the content just to fit the screen resolution, often making it worse just to become forced 4K.

So it leaves me the question, is it still possible to get a kick ass excellent quality 40/43" Full HD TV these days that has the below?

My main criteria is:

1. Great Image quality for SD & FHD content (Freeview HD & Blu Ray)
2. Sound quality ( I know a lot of these flat panels have rubbish sound)
3. Apps - Freeview Play, etc etc

Someone said Sony are probably the best bet, but am sure there are people in the know here that can help please?

Many thanks in advance

Bussta
 
Sony still offer full hd models in 43”, so I’d go for one of those. Or look for a secondhand plasma from Panasonic or Pioneer.
 
Sony or LG FHD model at 43" Sony better picture quality, LG better smart TV.

Samsung made some okay HD TVs last year but stopped larger than 32" now.

Sound - hmm you aren't going to really get anything with good sound, even if you were looking at higher end larger models good sound is a no-go on TVs now.

Upscaling aside UHD models are just as good in the budget sector and you can get at least a mid-range spec UHD model in the Sony XF85/XF87 series at 43". It will have superior picture quality in terms of motion and colour but at the cost of course of more upscaling needing to be done.

However, since the TV is so small, the worse upscaling may not be as apparent. Sadly manufacturers tend to only make budget TVs at smaller sizes, be they UHD or HD. A lot of older models will beat them overall for picture quality.
 
Just been through all this myself.

Honest answer, nothing really out there these days in a 43" or smaller that is much cop.
Problem is most are IPS panels now rather than VA and just look washed out and no real depth.

The Samsung NU7400 and the Philips 6703/6753 were the best of a bad bunch.
The Philips was actually really good image wise but has some serious issues with motion, the processing kept going into a meltdown with terrible judder.
You could stick it in monitor mode and that sorted it, but you did lose a few options to tweak the picture, however still looked great.
Only problem with that is no monitor mode for some of the apps, only external sources.

In the end I swapped for the last SONY VA 43" which was the XD80.
However, the black levels on that were not as good as the Philips, and I have been spoilt with Pioneer Kuros and OLEDs so it niggled me too much. But still much better than any current IPS model.

I really, really didn't want bigger than 43" for my sitting room, but I bought a 49XE9005 today.
I had a 55XE93 before that I liked a lot, just preferred my OLED, and was hoping this would be similar, it is, it is very good.


I wouldn't worry about the 4k bit, the fact is the best sets will all be 4k and HDR, they just don't put the better tech in the lesser models.
Scaling is very good now, so really not an issue.

The other option is B&O, I had a Beovision 8-40 recently, stunning image from that, but you need to go into the service menu and make quite a few adjustments in there, but it is an amazing picture and stunning sound too. Made the Sonos Playbar and a Yamaha YSP40D soundbar both sound silly.
I sold it for £300 like an idiot as I was meant to be buying a Beovision 11 at a great price but that fell through, hence the multitude of 43" TVs over the last few weeks trying to find a replacement.


If you can find a Sony 46W905 that would fit your criteria, apps are a bit pants on it, so a Rocku or similar would be needed. But 1080p, excellent local dimming and black levels, superb motion, excellent build. Sound is OK, but you can add a sub to it which transforms it from "OK for the news" to "people can't believe that is the TV".


Keep an eye on the Hughes TV clearance ebay shop, the Sony XD80 I returned today will probably go back up today/tomorrow. I paid £439 for it.
It is an excellent set with no banding, no clouding, a really nice clean image.
Might be worth a look?

Probably confused you more than helped. Sorry!
 
Thanks all especially Gizlaroc, looks like I need to do some more research & get down with the kids & up to date a bit more
 
Just been through all this myself.

Honest answer, nothing really out there these days in a 43" or smaller that is much cop.
Problem is most are IPS panels now rather than VA and just look washed out and no real depth.

The Samsung NU7400 and the Philips 6703/6753 were the best of a bad bunch.
The Philips was actually really good image wise but has some serious issues with motion, the processing kept going into a meltdown with terrible judder.
You could stick it in monitor mode and that sorted it, but you did lose a few options to tweak the picture, however still looked great.
Only problem with that is no monitor mode for some of the apps, only external sources.

In the end I swapped for the last SONY VA 43" which was the XD80.
However, the black levels on that were not as good as the Philips, and I have been spoilt with Pioneer Kuros and OLEDs so it niggled me too much. But still much better than any current IPS model.

I really, really didn't want bigger than 43" for my sitting room, but I bought a 49XE9005 today.
I had a 55XE93 before that I liked a lot, just preferred my OLED, and was hoping this would be similar, it is, it is very good.


I wouldn't worry about the 4k bit, the fact is the best sets will all be 4k and HDR, they just don't put the better tech in the lesser models.
Scaling is very good now, so really not an issue.

The other option is B&O, I had a Beovision 8-40 recently, stunning image from that, but you need to go into the service menu and make quite a few adjustments in there, but it is an amazing picture and stunning sound too. Made the Sonos Playbar and a Yamaha YSP40D soundbar both sound silly.
I sold it for £300 like an idiot as I was meant to be buying a Beovision 11 at a great price but that fell through, hence the multitude of 43" TVs over the last few weeks trying to find a replacement.


If you can find a Sony 46W905 that would fit your criteria, apps are a bit pants on it, so a Rocku or similar would be needed. But 1080p, excellent local dimming and black levels, superb motion, excellent build. Sound is OK, but you can add a sub to it which transforms it from "OK for the news" to "people can't believe that is the TV".


Keep an eye on the Hughes TV clearance ebay shop, the Sony XD80 I returned today will probably go back up today/tomorrow. I paid £439 for it.
It is an excellent set with no banding, no clouding, a really nice clean image.
Might be worth a look?

Probably confused you more than helped. Sorry!


Just looked up the Sony 43XD80 and that’s a 4K TV though right?

How would the XD80 compare to say the KDL43WE753 if I can find one which was pre 4K?
 
The WE753 is a budget IPS display.

I wouldn't want to touch it.


Don't get hung up on the 4k bit.
It is a non issue.
Have you got a retina display mac at all?
That is scaling most of the time, not an issue is it?


IPS panels have a wider viewing angle, but can't do black, hence you get a washed out looking image with them.
VA panels tend to be on the right side of acceptable for black levels, but still no where near plasma and OLED, but viewing angles are less.

The difference between the Sony XD80 and the Samsung NU7400 (VA version) is pretty massive, the Sony XD80 was also better than the Philips 6753, by better I mean how clean the image is, the motion, the apps built in etc.

There is a reason one is £400 and the other £850, there is much better tech in the more expensive one, which gives a much better image.




IPS vs VA.
If you're into your photography, imagine every picture you have suddenly has the black point rise by 20%. That is the difference, you lose the depth, the pop, the dynamic range that makes it look natural.
 
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I’d mock up 49/50” from cardboard to see if they’d be ok in your room. With practically no bezels you’d be surprised how quickly they fade into background.

I went from a 40” to 43”, no difference whatsoever. Then the 43” went kaput and I got a free upgrade to 49” and got used to change in a day or two.
 
I must say, my wife didn't notice last night that I had swapped the 43" for the 49".
We sat and watched TV for about 4-5 hours and....nothing.

I did have a Soundbar under the 43" which I removed with the 49" so it sat no higher, but still?
 
I must say, my wife didn't notice last night that I had swapped the 43" for the 49".
We sat and watched TV for about 4-5 hours and....nothing.

I did have a Soundbar under the 43" which I removed with the 49" so it sat no higher, but still?


haa I can just imagine the conversation....."has the TV got bigger?"....."No the room's just got smaller"


Thanks again
 
Keep an eye on the Hughes TV clearance ebay shop, the Sony XD80 I returned today will probably go back up today/tomorrow. I paid £439 for it.
It is an excellent set with no banding, no clouding, a really nice clean image.
Might be worth a look?

Probably confused you more than helped. Sorry!

Gizlaroc you don’t have the contact for Hughes do you? Have tried to contact them re: the XD80 you sent back but
No answer, I emailed the eBay outlet too
 
PM'd you the details.
 
sorry to jump on old thread, am looking for best contact for hughes clearance team too, if you don't mind sharing it.
 
Blimey, that was 2.5 years ago now. I don't know I'm afraid. Just contact them through their ebay account would be the best.
 

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