Long term lurker, first time posting, be kind.
Moved home a few months ago and our rural location has thrown up problems of connectivity – poor aerial reception and weak broadband. Found a setup that works but it’s cumbersome and awkward. So, I’m looking for advice on simplifying our set up, and #2 daughter needing a television (give her our old one) creates an opportunity to upgrade!
Current TV is an ~8 year old Samsung UE40ES5500. Nothing wrong with the television, happy enough with picture but it has some drawbacks. Viewing distance about 11-12 feet from the TV depending which end of the sofa I’m on. TV is mounted on an old chest and screen is at approx seated eye level. Sound quality is not great.
Reception over normal aerial is poor so I’ve installed a Freesat dish and a Manhatten HD box, and that’s how we watch the ‘usual’ terrestrial channels, but we are watching more and more Netflix and Amazon Prime, and can’t see that changing.
Rural location, no chance of fibre broadband so I’m streaming TV over a 4G system (roof mounted antenna/modem to a WiFi router next to the TV). Again, this works well enough but download speed fluctuates - time of day, weather, trees – between 10mbps and 40mbps. Usually around 20mbps. Broadband not likely to improve in the short term.
Using an Amazon Firestick (excellent) to stream Prime, Netflix, iPlayer etc.. Probably signing up to Mubi or similar soon.
Firestick WiFi's to the router. TV not connected by Cat5 cable to router (but could be).
All working well enough but getting a bit cheesed off with having three remote controllers (TV, Firestick, Manhattan box) and having to switch HDMI source frequently. Would really like to simplify everything, no swapping between sources, just one remote for everything, and also get rid of the miles of cables behind.
Yes, I know, first world problems.
So, always looking for an excuse to buy tech toys I’m thinking of a new TV. My thinking:
LG range offer a bewildering number of suitable sets. There’s even a 43” NANO model, but not sure I’d get any benefit at that size over standard LCD?
LG? Panasonic? Samsung? Others?
LG 43NANO796NE 43" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV with Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa
or something like this:
LG 43UN81006LB 43" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV with Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa
Photo attached of where it will be situated.
Thoughts and suggestion please. Thanks.
Moved home a few months ago and our rural location has thrown up problems of connectivity – poor aerial reception and weak broadband. Found a setup that works but it’s cumbersome and awkward. So, I’m looking for advice on simplifying our set up, and #2 daughter needing a television (give her our old one) creates an opportunity to upgrade!
Current TV is an ~8 year old Samsung UE40ES5500. Nothing wrong with the television, happy enough with picture but it has some drawbacks. Viewing distance about 11-12 feet from the TV depending which end of the sofa I’m on. TV is mounted on an old chest and screen is at approx seated eye level. Sound quality is not great.
Reception over normal aerial is poor so I’ve installed a Freesat dish and a Manhatten HD box, and that’s how we watch the ‘usual’ terrestrial channels, but we are watching more and more Netflix and Amazon Prime, and can’t see that changing.
Rural location, no chance of fibre broadband so I’m streaming TV over a 4G system (roof mounted antenna/modem to a WiFi router next to the TV). Again, this works well enough but download speed fluctuates - time of day, weather, trees – between 10mbps and 40mbps. Usually around 20mbps. Broadband not likely to improve in the short term.
Using an Amazon Firestick (excellent) to stream Prime, Netflix, iPlayer etc.. Probably signing up to Mubi or similar soon.
Firestick WiFi's to the router. TV not connected by Cat5 cable to router (but could be).
All working well enough but getting a bit cheesed off with having three remote controllers (TV, Firestick, Manhattan box) and having to switch HDMI source frequently. Would really like to simplify everything, no swapping between sources, just one remote for everything, and also get rid of the miles of cables behind.
Yes, I know, first world problems.
So, always looking for an excuse to buy tech toys I’m thinking of a new TV. My thinking:
- Onboard Netflix, Prime, iPlayer etc.
- Similar size to the current one, so 43” (or possibly 49, but might struggle to get the latter past my wife’s Aesthetics Committee).
- Built in Freesat tuner limits choice a fair bit.
- Not interested in recording anything (gave our Humax away when we moved), nor playing DVD or BlueRay (gave our DVD player away, too).
- Can’t think I’ll get much benefit from 4K, perhps not enough BB to support it?
LG range offer a bewildering number of suitable sets. There’s even a 43” NANO model, but not sure I’d get any benefit at that size over standard LCD?
LG? Panasonic? Samsung? Others?
LG 43NANO796NE 43" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV with Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa
or something like this:
LG 43UN81006LB 43" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV with Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa
Photo attached of where it will be situated.
Thoughts and suggestion please. Thanks.