Answered Looking for a 55" 4K TV

bl4desman

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Hi,
I am looking for help in buying a TV and I've had some great advice from AV Forums in the past.

I'm helping my dad find a new 55" 4K TV to replace his 42" Panasonic Plasma. He has a SONY HD AV surround sound system, which I think he could still use that by playing the sound feed from the tv. So the quality of the TV's built in speakers isn't a problem. He watches a lot of football and F1, so I need to make sure that the TV can cope with fast moving footballs etc. My mum watches movies on Netflix and soaps. They have a Sky HD box, but the only 4k feed they will have access to is Netflix. At a later date, they will get a 4k bluray player. He has a Google Home which I have seen links with a lot of TV's and my mum likes to use her Chromecast, which plays in HD. Their viewing angle isn't especially wide and they haven't had any viewing angle issues before.

His budget is £1000 to £1300, so we have been looking at:

Panasonic TX-55FX750B @ £1059
Sony BRAVIA KD55XF9005 @ £1,167 with a 4K Bluray player
Samsung QE55Q7FNA @ £1299

All have a 5 year warranty.

Am I looking at the right models to get him the best viewing experience? Or have I overlooked any?

Thanks for any advice, Matthew
 
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Hi,

Sorry to hijack your question, same question as above although I am prepared to stretch my budget if there is valid reason up to £2k. TV is for watching sport, Sky Q , Netflix.

Thank
 
Motion is a somewhat complicated topic with most of the differences between poor motion on low end TVs and good motion on high end TVs not being how they handle it out of the box without changing anything, but how they can use different motion settings in the TVs menu to improve it. To spend 50% more on a TV expecting its motion to be better than a cheaper model without changing anything in the TVs menu would be a mistake.

If you are looking for the best out of the box motion improvement I would try and aim for an OLED like the LG B8 which should hopefully come into budget at black friday.

But even then, its important to understand that some setting up is required to get the best motion on a TV and it is often the case that the motion settings you use for sport are not the same for other content, which may mean having to enter the TVs settings to change them or select a different picture preset depending on what is being watched. - Since it seems the TV isn't for you, I am not sure if this is an issue or not, if it is you may consider just spending a lot less than you currently are.

More about that here: Explanation and Best Buys for the Motion sensitive 2017 Edition
 
Thank you for your advice. I don't think swapping presets would be a problem. The link will also help me with setting up my TV :) My parents are going in to John Lewis this week and will be looking at the LG B8 to. Hopefully that will drop within budget. If not, how would the 3 TV's on my list cope with 4K/HD movies and SD/HD TV? Or are they pretty similar?

Thanks
 
Panasonic TX-55FX750B @ £1059
This isn't really a good option to go for unless they need wide viewing angles. It doesn't have the same contrast ratio as other TVs, especially compared to a TV like the LG B8 or Sony XF9005. Otherwise for viewing with the lights on or during the day it is fine and its picture processing will be good. HDR poor though.
Sony BRAVIA KD55XF9005 @ £1,167 with a 4K Bluray player
This would be my choice if they don't want the B8 or its out of budget, it has decent HDR. Its picture processing like the Panasonic is very good.
Samsung QE55Q7FNA @ £1299
This is very overpriced for what it is, I wouldn't go for this unless it was closer to XF9005 price which overall is a better TV.
 
That's great. Fingers crossed for the B8 but if not, I think he will go for the Sony. The viewing angle isn't bad. I've relayed everything to my dad and I'll see what happens on black Friday. I really appreciate your help :)
 
Thank you to everyone who’s contributed to this thread; it’s cropped up just in time to help me make a decision whether the time is right to get a new 65” or 55” TV ~ to replace a 42" Panasonic ST30 plasma. Budget is as per BM0007 in post #2.

What’s critical to me is for a TV to be able to handle the motion in F1 and Moto GP. I’d rather stick with the 42” plasma for another couple of years than get a bigger TV now ~ and find I’m driven to distraction by judder.

So, I’m not so much looking for a shortlist of good TVs, as any observations on whether my suspicion I’m best sticking with the plasma for the time being is right. Any pointers from anyone who's had a similar dilemma would be welcome.

Cheers all.
 
Hi @Pete R there has been a lot of discussion on that matter before, it really depends. Most people are happy with OLED and LCD motion.

What I will say though is you will find the need to change motion settings on them, its not going to be a set and forget experience like it was on Plasma to get the best motion.

There are differences in how each technology displays motion and differences in the side effects and pros to each, OLEDs for example have no motion blur like Plasma's, but they are more prone to stutter. LCDs on the other hand have more motion blur but more options to reduce stutter.

Judder itself is different from stutter and comes down to how well the TV handles different kinds of content, some manufacturers seem better than this than others with Sony usually getting the most praise.

Info in the past:
Explanation and Best Buys for the Motion sensitive 2017 Edition
Thinking of replacing your plasma?
 
Thank you Dodgexander; your insight is much appreciated!

I've come to the conclusion that I'll sit tight with the plasma ~ until it gives up the ghost or, for whatever reason, I become unhappy with it. I'll let those be the circumstances that dictate when I should get a new TV ~ as opposed to getting a new one now just for the sake of a larger screen. I suspect that subjectively, when that time comes, I'll be chuffed with whatever I get as a replacement.

Cheers
 

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