Looking for new 43" or 50" TV, need help...

RQuick

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Hi, I'm looking for a new TV after my trusty 2009 32" Philips set died recently, I'm currently on the pulling-my-hair-out-because-too-many-options stage, so could do with a little help and/or advice. I'm currently somewhat housebound so simply going to a store to check them out before buying is just not an option, unfortunately.

My budget is only around €400 (which would be around £360, currently), in terms of size 50" would be the absolute max, and even that is a little big for where it'll be so 43" would be large enough really, It'll be in a fairly small room and usually I'll be a little under 2 metres from the screen, give or take.

To give an idea of my usage and requirements; the vast majority of what I watch (or play) is in 1080p, with some 720p here or there, I do plan on watching some 4k material and hope to eventually get a ps5 which will serve to play UHD blu-rays, I do game on console (and at 4k once I get a ps5), hdr would be nice but not essential (and I know decent hdr will mostly be out of my price range), don't watch much sports and usually just disable most "motion blur" options, will most likely never connect the TV itself to the internet so smart features and apps are really a none issue too.
Mostly view the TV straight on but as I sit pretty close I think viewing angles might be an issue with larger screens, others will probably be viewing it from an angle on ocassion (but they're not the ones paying for the TV ;) ).
Will probably be getting a raspberry pi to use with the TV for some light PC usage (and I'll likely be using that for any standard definition content viewing).

I think I've mostly narrowed it down to either the Hisense B7500 or an LG UM7***, depending on VA or IPS, so my biggest question is really just how bad are the viewing angles on VA sets?
I have a good idea of what IPS is like, including the poorer contrast and blacks, I know I could live with that, the superior contrast and blacks of VA would certainly be welcome but I really don't have a good idea of just how bad the viewing angles are.

About the LG sets, do the current UM7*** series IPS sets use the "RGBW" pixels their earlier 4k sets did? I'm get mixed information about that when look I it up.

I do have a few other more generall questions, too:
24p playback; I remember before when I was looking for a new TV (back in the dark ages) that a 120 Hz refresh rate was needed to properly play back 24 p content, and I understand why, but what I read now suggests that's no longer true, that most decent 50/60 Hz sets can basically operate at either 24 or 48 Hz to play 24 p perfectly, is this accurate?

Screen coating; I understand the drawbacks when it comes to reflections, but I much prefer "glossy" screens rather than ones with matte coatings, I find the latter noticably dulls the colours and blurs the screen a bit, but unlike with computer monitors I can't find much info about the coatings on TV screens, are they generally glossy, and/or is there much variation of them between manufacturers?

Upscaling; most of my content will be 1080p for the forseeable future, with some 720p stuff too, I know I'm not going to get the very best upscaling at this price range, but I was wondering if any of the brands have a simple linear upscaling option, i.e. each pixel in a 1080p image is simply displayed in a square of 4 pixels @ 2160p, and a square of 9 pixels for a 720p image, basically with no interpolation at all?
I'm so not concerned with SD stuff, but to me this seems ideal, basically displaying a 1080p source on a 2160p screen exactly as it would appear on a 1080p screen, and would really like to at least have it as an option, if possible.

Sorry for such a long post, and thank you very much to anyone who actually gets through it all, and for any suggestions or other responses.
 
With a limited budget you are going to have to be realistic when it comes to your expectations, TVs will be bottom range models, which means things in particular like motion and HDR are not going to be great. In games it shouldn't matter so much provided you either play a game that lets you tune HDR brightness levels down, or you disable HDR completely, but there's a distinct choice you'll have to make between panel types based on your own preferences. VA panels like you say have better overall picture quality in terms of blacks and contrast, but they also have more motion blur and worse viewing angles. For fast paced games and to those who don't like motion blur, going with a TV using a IPS panel is better, but if you don't play fast pace games and don't mind some blur, VA is better.

The viewing angles of most VA panels is between 20-30% either side (or a 40-60 degree cone from the centre of the TV). Since you view 2m away you don't need to worry about viewing angles from sitting too close, but you will have to worry if you don't view the TV head on, or at least at a small angle.

I'm not certain regarding RGBW on LG models like the UM70xx models or the UM71xx models. If they are similar to the UM6900 reviewed in North America they may have RGBW, but as long as you stick to the recommended UM7450 above you should be okay. Its best to go for those models or above anyway since they are the first in the lineup to come with the smart remote.

24p film playback - It depends on the TV. Low end Samsung models can't do it at all. LG models can do it from external and internal apps. Most other models (including Hisense) can only do it from external devices and not from the built in apps. A 120hz panel will still do it better, but isn't required to avoid judder.

Almost all TVs coating nowadays is semi-gloss. Some TVs are glossier than others, but its a rare occurrence to see a TV with a fully gloss screen. If that is important to you, you should consider the 40" Panasonic GX800. Since lower tier TVs don't come with the same anti reflection filters higher end ones do this is another distinct difference between panel technology, TVs using IPS panels like LGs at 43" are a lot less reflective than TVs using VA panels like the Hisense or Panasonic.

Upscaling - Again its not going to be fantastic on a low range model, but this should be offset somewhat by the fact you will view very far from a small TV. At your viewing distance I wouldn't worry so much about it. If you were to rate different manufacturers upscaling then the likes of Sony/Panasonic/Samsung do have a slight edge over the others, but its not a deal breaker, upscaling on all TVs is pretty good.
By default if a TV receives a 1080p signal it will not map each pixel x4 automatically. Some TVs (like Panasonic) can engage a mode that overrides the upscaling of the TV so it does this instead, however it is supposedly at the loss of picture quality. I don't even notice a difference on my 65" TV when I use it and when I don't, so its really not a big deal. Upscaling is very subjective too, I've had people remark on how impressed they have been with the upscaling on TVs that aren't considered to be the best upscalers and I've heard people unhappy with very good upsczling too.

You will have to accept though more pixels will make for a blurrier presentation of lower resolution content, in particular if that content isn't high quality. Good quality HD content will look very good, not so much the case with lower quality HD. When you own an UHD TV you'll see what I mean, but it kind of brings the worst out of poorer quality material making you want to use as less of it as you can.
 

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