Editor's Choice Awards – Best TVs 2017 - And Discussion

[Phil Hinton]

It has been another outstanding year for television technology and picking our favourite models of 2017 hasn't been easy but here is our round-up the absolute best of the best...
Read the article.

 

[snrgruffalo]

Good overall review, just curious on the LG OLED B7V winning best oled but not winning best TV under £1500?im assuming it’s pre Black Friday madness when the LG was greater than £1500 or is it purely the 65inch for the price?
So my question is would the LG beat the Hisense if it was at the time of review under £1500?

This Black Friday has caused ny head to spin changing between the Sony 55xe9005 and the LGB7V on an hourly basis, think I will explode adding the Hisense

 

[Phil Hinton]

Yes, if the price had been under £1500 the B7 would have won that as well, but it wasn't and Black Friday pricing is not expected to last. I would get the B7 all day long at that price.

 

[PC1975]

Great idea and one that should prove helpful to members as well as help to continue to grow the site as retailers inevitably use the awards in their ads.

Suppose I should say it before anyone else does and I'm guessing you knew this was coming but best home cinema tv being a different oled to best oled tv seems a bit contradictory. I'm guesing the Panasonic has the best picture but the LG is the better all rounder in terms of picture and features.

Having a separate category for pure picture quality alone is a great idea imo and refreshing to see. If you're interested in feedback, I would say there's probably a couple too many categories. Personally, if it were down to me, I'd drop best aspirational tv & best 4k hdr tv. Or maybe change the name of the former to best high end tv which might be easier to understand. But with regard to 4k hdr - you could have separate categories for many different features and it just seems to be dissecting things a bit too far.

As I say though, great idea and one I'll be referencing from now on.

 

[Inexorable]

Great idea and one that should prove helpful to members as well as help to continue to grow the site as retailers inevitably use the awards in their ads.

Suppose I should say it before anyone else does and I'm guessing you knew this was coming but best home cinema tv being a different oled to best oled tv seems a bit contradictory. I'm guesing the Panasonic has the best picture but the LG is the better all rounder in terms of picture and features.

Having a separate category for pure picture quality alone is a great idea imo and refreshing to see. If you're interested in feedback, I would say there's probably a couple too many categories. Personally, if it were down to me, I'd drop best aspirational tv & best 4k hdr tv. Or maybe change the name of the former to best high end tv which might be easier to understand. But with regard to 4k hdr - you could have separate categories for many different features and it just seems to be dissecting things a bit too far.

As I say though, great idea and one I'll be referencing from now on.

Well said PC1975 and thank you for your carefully worded opinion, however I will be more straightforward. This rank seems to be marketing stunt, as I was scrolling down the page my eyes were getting bigger and bigger wondering what else category they will come up with to fit all the major brands TVs. Finally they fitted them all Pana, Sony, LG, Sammy....
They did "great" job for Black Friday weekend and Christmas sales, no manufacturer had been left out...everybody got their prize, everybody is happy.

 

[Phil Hinton]

Suppose I should say it before anyone else does and I'm guessing you knew this was coming but best home cinema tv being a different oled to best oled tv seems a bit contradictory. I'm guesing the Panasonic has the best picture but the LG is the better all rounder in terms of picture and features.

The Panasonic is more expensive, but the reason you pay more is for the picture quality on offer. The B7 is the best all round OLED TV as it has all the latest features, great picture quality and is extremely affordable. There is no one TV that suits everyone, so using categories we can drill down a little more with TVs for certain uses, like home cinema, gaming, all rounder etc.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Great idea and one that should prove helpful to members as well as help to continue to grow the site as retailers inevitably use the awards in their ads.

Suppose I should say it before anyone else does and I'm guessing you knew this was coming but best home cinema tv being a different oled to best oled tv seems a bit contradictory. I'm guesing the Panasonic has the best picture but the LG is the better all rounder in terms of picture and features.

Having a separate category for pure picture quality alone is a great idea imo and refreshing to see. If you're interested in feedback, I would say there's probably a couple too many categories. Personally, if it were down to me, I'd drop best aspirational tv & best 4k hdr tv. Or maybe change the name of the former to best high end tv which might be easier to understand. But with regard to 4k hdr - you could have separate categories for many different features and it just seems to be dissecting things a bit too far.

As I say though, great idea and one I'll be referencing from now on.

Thanks for the feedback.
The Panasonic is twice the price of the 65 B7, but for people where picture quality is more important than budget, this, perhaps, is a better option. Aspirational TV is a 'money no object' option for people with deeper pockets and who are keen on the most stylish solution. Best HDR is for people who want a TV which has the best performance when it comes to punchy HDR. Given LED LCD TV's particular characteristics, in an environment where there is a fair amount of ambient light - which is most living rooms, an OLED won't be able to compete.
The b7 is such fantastic value for money that when you balance the whole package, it offers the most attractive solution to most people.
Every person has different requirements, and if you don't provide enough granularity of choice, then the advice could be criticised for being too generic. These are our first Editor's Choice awards and we've put a lot of thought into the categories. We're always appreciative of feedback, though.

Well said PC1975 and thank you for your carefully worded opinion, however I will be more straightforward. This rank seems to be marketing stunt, as I was scrolling down the page my eyes were getting bigger and bigger wondering what else category they will come up with to fit all the major brands TVs. Finally they fitted them all Pana, Sony, LG, Sammy....
They did "great" job for Black Friday weekend and Christmas sales, no manufacturer had been left out...everybody got their prize, everybody is happy.

Always good to be sceptical. On this occasion, you've forgotten about Philips, who are a major brand and who have worked with us very recently, but don't feature on the list. Unlike What Hi-Fi or Tech Radar who are huge organisations with lots of money and resources, we have a very small (but technically exceptional) team and so have limited reviewing capabilities. This means we can't compete with other websites on quantity of content, but have to win on quality. The only way we can do this is by representing our community by being independent and impartial. We achieve this by presenting our test results and explaining our decisions in the reviews. If you are sceptical, then read the reviews.
It's not in our interests to favour one manufacturer over any other. It's all about the attributes and merits of the products, not who makes them.

 

[SteveeJ]

So does the result indicate Dolby Vision is just marketing hype?

 

[Steve Withers]

So does the result indicate Dolby Vision is just marketing hype?

I'm not sure I understand your question, which result? Besides, four of the TVs in the awards list support Dolby Vision.

 

[Steve Withers]

Good overall review, just curious on the LG OLED B7V winning best oled but not winning best TV under £1500?im assuming it’s pre Black Friday madness when the LG was greater than £1500 or is it purely the 65inch for the price?
So my question is would the LG beat the Hisense if it was at the time of review under £1500?

This Black Friday has caused ny head to spin changing between the Sony 55xe9005 and the LGB7V on an hourly basis, think I will explode adding the Hisense

The B7 could theoretically have won five categories on its own, aside from being the best OLED TV overall it's also an excellent HDR TV, gaming TV and home cinema TV and, thanks to the Black Friday deals, it's now under £1,500. However that would have made for a fairly boring set of awards and, as Phil and Stuart have already mentioned, by highlighting specific strengths it makes them more informative and useful.

 

[SteveeJ]

I'm not sure I understand your question, which result? Besides, four of the TVs in the awards list support Dolby Vision.

“Best home cinema tv” doesn’t have Dolby Vision.

 

[Steve Withers]

“Best home cinema tv” doesn’t have Dolby Vision.

It's still early days for Dolby Vision, it's obviously got an edge on HDR10+ at the moment but only time will tell if it will be an important feature in the long run.

 

[Har-One]

It seems like a very informative article for those of us who are always a bit indecisive. The W7 at 5K seems like a bargain. I could not believe it. It looks very elegant. I would have gone for that one on a heartbeat but loosing 10 inches seems hard. I wonder how easy it is to wall-mount. I imagine that it will need some support at the back. The glass stand at Currys is very impressive.

 

[ManGina]

The B7 could theoretically have won five categories on its own, aside from being the best OLED TV overall it's also an excellent HDR TV, gaming TV and home cinema TV and, thanks to the Black Friday deals....

However that would have made for a fairly boring set of awards.....

Doesn’t this kind of support Inexorable’s point?

 

[Bittern]

I'm watching my

Right now and LOVING IT

Well deserved and the RIGHT choice!

 

[dmw3]

Thanks for the feedback.
The Panasonic is twice the price of the 65 B7, but for people where picture quality is more important than budget, this, perhaps, is a better option. Aspirational TV is a 'money no object' option for people with deeper pockets and who are keen on the most stylish solution. Best HDR is for people who want a TV which has the best performance when it comes to punchy HDR. Given LED LCD TV's particular characteristics, in an environment where there is a fair amount of ambient light - which is most living rooms, an OLED won't be able to compete.
The b7 is such fantastic value for money that when you balance the whole package, it offers the most attractive solution to most people.
Every person has different requirements, and if you don't provide enough granularity of choice, then the advice could be criticised for being too generic. These are our first Editor's Choice awards and we've put a lot of thought into the categories. We're always appreciative of feedback, though.
.

A future category, best budget TV under 50" perhaps? In the 'what TV should I buy' section of these forums you will find many questions from users about Tvs that come in at less that 50" and a £1K budget.

It's the second room TV bracket, the main TV for those with larger than average, Joe pop down to Argos blogs budget. It's not high end but nor is it the low end of the market either. It is a section of the market that does have some good TVs and an awful lot of dross.

 

[Stuart Wright]

The B7 could theoretically have won five categories on its own, aside from being the best OLED TV overall it's also an excellent HDR TV, gaming TV and home cinema TV and, thanks to the Black Friday deals, it's now under £1,500.

Doesn’t this kind of support Inexorable’s point?

No. Steve said the B7 is *excellent* in those aspects, not the best. And these awards are for the best TVs in those particulat categories.

 

[ManGina]

Yes and he also said

could theoretically have won five categories on its own... However that would have made for a fairly boring set of awards...

But hey I’m not looking to argue

 

[Lakshmanan]

Where does this leave the Panasonic EZ952B? The AVForums review of this TV says it performs very, very identically to the more expensive EZ1002. If it is true and if you considered it’s pre-black Friday price (BF price for 65 inch is £2699), would it not be the best home cinema TV that more people can actually afford? Why hasn’t the EZ952B found a place in any of these award categories despite its superb picture quality out of the box (which saves everyone £300 worth calibration) and great colour accuracy? I really appreciate the careful consideration and analysis, but it may be of little use to forum members, especially those who are looking at buying a TV if some of the worthy products are completely omitted.

 

[Alexxxx]

Nice round up gents! Very well done! Much better than last year where you had two separate categories for LCD and OLED TVs.

Interesting that none of the fake Samsung "QLED" TVs didn't make it, except the "gaming" category, which is kinda pointless to be honest. No one in their right mind would do competitive gaming on a 65" TV sitting on their sofa, and majority of TVs this year are within 10ms or so which is insignificant. If you want to game, build a solid pc and get a G-sync monitor.

Anyways, good to see OLEDs taking off and also being competitively priced against their LCD counterparts. Now they need to start making OLED panels under 55 inches.

 

[snrgruffalo]

intriguing reading the posts in response to the article.

I am just wondering if you took it back to basics which the majority of TV viewers are at.

For example when the BBC are broadcasting the news and then switch to the local broadcast (non-HD) which gives the best image?

We can all aspire to have the best TV for Home cinema and Gaming and so on, and if thats what your primary interest is then perfect, but if its a balance of needs then an appreciation of which TV sets perform over different inputs would be good to read and it would be fresh to see over budget considerations as price keeps changing. Also a realistic view of the longevity of the different sets.

I decided to buy the new xbox recently which is great for me. But now i want a TV to see it in full glory, but if that means the other half complains that Neighbours on 5on demand doesn't look the way it use to(ignoring the acting) then i am in trouble. Unfortunately i dont have the deep pockets for a seperate gaming room or cinema room and im sure im not in the minority.

 

[MahaRaja]

Surprised to see Hisense model included in the category for best TV for under £1.5k.
I would have thought that would go to the highly rated Sony XE90 range.
I would not buy a Hisense model even if it was at half-price.

 

[ashenfie]

Surprised to see Hisense model included in the category for best TV for under £1.5k.
I would have thought that would go to the highly rated Sony XE90 range.
I would not buy a Hisense model even if it was at half-price.

I think you can apply your own personal bias to any purchase. I guess they have applied an over all view that the Hisense 65" model offers great value and build.

 

[PC1975]

No one in their right mind would do competitive gaming on a 65" TV sitting on their sofa, and majority of TVs this year are within 10ms or so which is insignificant. If you want to game, build a solid pc and get a G-sync monitor.

The vast majority of gamers play on console and tv and most people cannot afford oled so this category is entirely valid.

Noone in their right mind would think that gaming only incorporates hardcore elitist pc owners.

 

[Diagnosticz]

On an individual review price does come into play as it is also a buying guide as much as reviewing the obvious visuals. With the Panasonic having the best picture quality that is in my opinion the most important factor in this case so the Panny 1002 has to be the best Oled/TV of the year

 

[Alexxxx]

The vast majority of gamers play on console and tv and most people cannot afford oled so this category is entirely valid.

Noone in their right mind would think that gaming only incorporates hardcore elitist pc owners.

I'm not saying that. I am saying that if you want to play COMPETITIVE gaming, where extra milliseconds matter, you would get a pc with a good monitor, absolutely nothing to do with PC elitism.

Are you saying that you would see the difference between LG's 22ms lag and Samsung's 17ms lag?
As you said, majority of gamers play on a console and TV, and therefore difference between majority of TVs would be insignificant.

Now when we start talking about 100-144Hz TVs, that's a different story.

 

[PC1975]

I'm not saying that. I am saying that if you want to play COMPETITIVE gaming, where extra milliseconds matter, you would get a pc with a good monitor, absolutely nothing to do with PC elitism.

Are you saying that you would see the difference between LG's 22ms lag and Samsung's 17ms lag?
As you said, majority of gamers play on a console and TV, and therefore difference between majority of TVs would be insignificant.

Now when we start talking about 100-144Hz TVs, that's a different story.

Plenty of people play competitively on console. PC isn't the sole domain of competitive gaming.

Anyhow, that's besides the point. It is a gaming tv award and seeing as the vast majority of gamers - competitive or otherwise - play games on tvs, is an entirely valid metric.

 

[geogan]

It's the second room TV bracket, the main TV for those with larger than average, Joe pop down to Argos blogs budget. It's not high end but nor is it the low end of the market either. It is a section of the market that does have some good TVs and an awful lot of dross.

A guy in work (that knows I know a bit about TVs) was asking me what to get last week and then ended up going down to Argos and buying a Hisense 42"

 

[geogan]

I thought the categories, the explanations for them (heard in this weeks podcast) and the winners in each made perfect sense. I found myself agreeing with all your category results. Well done AVForums.

 

[Sleuth]

Shame there are no more affordable choices. Sadly all of the winners are out of my price range. It would be good to have a sub £500 or £600 winner or a 40" or 50" budget set. There seems to be some decent choices with those criteria.