Question Best bedroom TV

kernowsoul

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I've been doing a ton of research on getting a new TV for the bedroom and I've managed to become less (rather than more) sure about which TV I should get so was hoping you lot could help me decide.

Firstly I have an LG OLED in the living room so have been totally spoiled by the fantastic picture quality and can barely fault it on the picture.

I'm after a 43"-50" set for the bedroom, I currently have a 50" Sony that is a piece of crap and I find the size slightly too big for the bedroom. I would be happy to get another 50" however if it means a better picture quality but would prefer something a little smaller. Budget wise I'd rather spend around the £500-600 mark but I would go up to £900ish for a tv that ticks all the boxes.

I'm not going to be plugging the tv into any sources, it will be 100% used for watching streaming from netflix, amazon and a local plex server so the TV interface is pretty important. I don't like the Sony android interface as I have it on the current TV and I find it slow and difficult to navigate so I've discounted the Sonys. For this reason I've been primarily looking at Samsung and LG sets as they both have nice interfaces.

My requirements are:
  • Viewing angle is not important as I will always be directly in front of the tv
  • Picture quality is really important
  • Smooth motion is important, but not the fake looking stuff that the motion feature give, I turn them all off
  • HDR performance needs to be good
  • The room will most often be dark so good blacks are important
  • I will only be watching TV shows and movies, no gaming or sports
  • I'm really sensitive to flickering (never had a plasma as I could see the flicker)
  • I find the soap opera effect looks terrible so anything that has these characteristics would be out
  • I'd like something with good dimming as I can often notice brightness in the shadows that should be dark
  • I care more about a natural looking good quality picture than brightens. I have my OLED in a room that sometimes has bright sun and I've never found myself wishing the TV was brighter and it's not even on the brightest setting
  • Basically I'm pretty fussy (discerning) when it comes to picture quality
  • Budget £500-900
  • Size 43"-50"
So far I've been looking at the Samsung 7470 in 43" and 50", I know that 43" is a panel lottery so steering towards the 50" which always has a VA. Also looking at the NU8000 in 49" and Q6 but wondering if they are worth the extra money. Should I be concerned that all of these panels are 60Hz given my viewing? Is the fact that these panels are only edge lit going to give a disappointing picture in high contrast scenes?

I've discounted the LG's as although they have the FALD its not supposed to be that good in the stets in my price range and the IPS panels don't have great blacks so would not be great for my dark room viewing. As far as I'm aware all of the LGs have IPS panels unless they are OLED.

I've been to see all of these screens at my local Currys but to be honest with the source material they play and the shop settings it's pretty hard see how good/bad the sets are.

If the 7470 in 43" was guaranteed to be a VA panel then I think I'd be getting it without any more thought but it looks like most of them are IPS panels and I don't want to mess around taking it back if the panel is not a VA.

If I'm getting a cheaper tv I'm going to be more willing to accepts it's faults, where as the more I'm spending the less happy I'll be with any annoying picture flaws it may have.

Are there any other makes/models I should consider? Or should I get one of the above mentioned models, if so what would you recommend?
 
  • HDR performance needs to be good
This isn't possible on small TVs. There is one 49" TV with decent HDR and that is the Sony 49XF9005.
  • I'm really sensitive to flickering (never had a plasma as I could see the flicker)
Again unfortunately pushes you towards Sony, who OLED aside are the only TVs I know of that don't have flicker.

Why don't you keep with what you have and use a smart stick or box instead? If your Sony model is one of the first android TV models it will likely be better with picture quality than the model that replaces it.

I'd either do that, or buy cheap and forget the idea of getting decent HDR and/or image flicker. You would then at smaller sizes have to choose between something with an IPS panel with no flicker like the Sony XF70 / XF75 series or something with a VA panel that will have flicker such as a Hisense A series or the Samsung NU74 series, the latter I hope comes with VA but you can never be sure. In smaller sizes and lower budgets TVs with IPS panels also tend to have better motion than those with VA. Sadly the manufacturers do not make great TVs at small sizes now.
 
Thanks @Dodgexander I feared I was after a bit of a unicorn.

I was not aware that LED panels had flickering issues, is this only noticeable with VA panels? I can't say I've noticed it before, I just checked and all of the monitors and tvs I currently use are IPS panels. Do you have a link with more info on this, I googled for va panel flicker but only came up with faulty panels flickering. Maybe it's only plasma flickering I'm prone to noticing?

Why don't you keep with what you have and use a smart stick or box instead? If your Sony model is one of the first android TV models it will likely be better with picture quality than the model that replaces it.

The tv I have is terrible, I've tried endless calibration settings on it and it has always produced a terrible picture. It was a Richer Sounds warranty replacement for a really good Philips I had quite a few years ago that got dust stuck behind the glass of the screen, they only offered a few replacement options none of which had very good reviews. It's about 4-5 years old, not sure the model number. It's also developing an hdmi fault so needs replacing.
 
Regarding the 50nu7470 vs 49nu8000, and the dimming on each tv, does the 7470 actually have better local dimming over the 8000? I think I'm looking at these 2 models really (assuming I don't have any issues with flickering perception), there's a £120 difference between the 2 sets so wondering if it's worth the extra for any benefits or if the 7470 has some advantages over the 8000 in the dimming area?
 
You are not, I also looking for a similar solution but in my case must be a 43". I can't find any acceptable solution even if I don't set any limit on the budget.

Thats exactly what I've found and why I've ended up going up to the 50" size which has a few more options but not hugely better.
 
I was not aware that LED panels had flickering issues, is this only noticeable with VA panels?
They don't flicker in the same respect as Plasma TVs but they do flicker. If you haven't noticed an issue with LCD displays you own chances are you aren't too sensitive to worry about getting a flicker free TV. Unless of course by chance you own LCD panels that do not flicker, something that is very, very unlikely unless you shopped for that in mind when purchasing them. Phones for example, with OLED and LCD screens flicker a lot compared to TVs.

I can't say I've noticed it before, I just checked and all of the monitors and tvs I currently use are IPS panels. Do you have a link with more info on this, I googled for va panel flicker but only came up with faulty panels flickering. Maybe it's only plasma flickering I'm prone to noticing?
TV Reviews: Best of 2018 - RTINGS.com review flicker and most reviews of laptop and PC displays also mention it.
Yes Plasma flicker tends to be more paramount.
Regarding the 50nu7470 vs 49nu8000, and the dimming on each tv, does the 7470 actually have better local dimming over the 8000?
Neither has local dimming. You need the Sony XF9005 to get local dimming worth having at this size.
Much like HDR they slap local dimming on any TV no matter how poor it works, in the case of Samsung's TVs its awful even on their higher end Q7FN and Q8FN QLEDs.
 
I can only really second what Dodgexander has said regarding the XF9005. In my view it really is the only option at 49" and that is the reason I went for it. For decent HDR, motion and local dimming it ticks all the boxes and I have been very impressed. Possibly the only downside is that it represents poorer value for money than it did a few days ago as the promotion with the free 4k blu ray player has now ended. I have personally not really had an issue with the interface and this was my biggest concern about the set. Sure, it is a bit sluggish but it is no deal breaker in my opinion. Besides, you could always get something like the Roku SS+ for it if it is a problem.
 
They don't flicker in the same respect as Plasma TVs but they do flicker. If you haven't noticed an issue with LCD displays you own chances are you aren't too sensitive to worry about getting a flicker free TV. Unless of course by chance you own LCD panels that do not flicker, something that is very, very unlikely unless you shopped for that in mind when purchasing them. Phones for example, with OLED and LCD screens flicker a lot compared to TVs.

I'm not really affected by the flickering on LEDs in general then. Although I wonder if this is what I can see on the iPhone OLED screen when scrolling black text on a white background I can see a weird effect on the text almost like an interlacing problem.

Thanks for all the help, I've ended up doing for the samsung 7470 in 50". I think the price vs performance is about right for me, for the price I can forgive some picture issues, where as if I was to spend £900-1000 I think I'd be unhappy with a set still having various issues.

If they made a smaller OLED tv I'd be all over it, I wish they would make them in smaller sizes. Not everyone looking for a high quality TV wants a massive tv but I guess the market for high quality smaller TVs is very small.
 
I'm not really affected by the flickering on LEDs in general then. Although I wonder if this is what I can see on the iPhone OLED screen when scrolling black text on a white background I can see a weird effect on the text almost like an interlacing problem.
It could be but that sounds more like stutter to me, caused because OLEDs have instant response times so our eyes can't cope too well with no motion blur, I know what you mean though the text seems to "jump". Some people seem to not like this about OLED TVs too.

The flicker is something that happens more on phones at lower brightness, they flicker the displays slower at lower brightness settings which can give fatigue to some people. Its strange because this happens even with phone OLED displays when it doesn't on TVs.

I think you made a sound decision with the 50NU74. Well done!
 
Just thought how crazy it is how much these tvs were being sold for just a few months ago. Almost double the price less than 6 months ago Price history for Samsung UE50NU7470 - PriceSpy UK
It really is. I don't look forward to that time of year when new models are released as we get hundreds of questions like: is x budget model from 2017 (overpriced) better than Y high end model from 2016 (heavily discounted).
 

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