Answered Stuck in the world of TVs

xialoin

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Hello peeps, after many days of continuous hunt for the perfect TV I must admit I'm on the verge of giving up. I've done a ton of research which, should be a good thing as it allows me to walk past certain TV models that may look good on the outside, knowing that it's just an illusion.

Early on I came across this forum and I just wanted to point out that this community is an example of what a community should look like, so to all the users, experts and people in general that are making this happen, give yourself a pat on the back, you truly deserve it! :)

Anyways I'm looking for a TV for my bedroom in which I currently don't have one, I'll be around 2.5 meters away from it, possibly a bit more looking at it straight on. I'd like the TV to be between 49 and 55 inches. I'll be using it both at daytime and nighttime for movies, sports, gaming, Netflix, I'd say a bit of everything. I want to stay away from SD content so HD is what I'll mainly watch, I would like to try HDR on my console and UHD with Netflix but since my viewing distance is over 2.1 meters I probably won't be able to see much of a difference even with a 55 inch TV, nowadays most come with 4k anyway so it's not like I have a choice. Last week when I began my research I set my budget at £500, now that I know what the market is like I'm stretching it to £750 which I don't feel too good about, but I have a feeling it'll be worth it.

For £750 I would like to get a TV with a 10-bit panel bit depth (8+FRC but I would hope it would be true 10 if it makes a huge difference), 120Hz refresh rate, and a half decent HDR experience.

These are the options I feel I could go with:

- Samsung UE55MU7000 or UE55MU7070
- Panasonic 50EX750B

But neither of them are getting decent HDR scores which is worrying me, both have Edge LEDs and as far as I'm aware they don't have Local dimming which can affect black.

The only TV I would feel 100% happy with is Sony KD49XE9005, it has Local dimming, Direct LEDs and is getting fairly good HDR scores, if the price would drop to £800 I wouldn't hesitate, not for a minute, but do you think that's possible?

Thank you for your help in advance! :)
 
You are on the right track with the 55MU7000 series, anything MU70xx is the same tv with different aesthetics.

The alternatives would be the Sony 55XE85xx series or the Hisense 55NU87000 all have their ups and downs so whichever design/price/warranty/software you can find that best suits you.

I think it would be possible for it to drop that low, it wouldn't surprise me in the clearance sales. It is a popular TV though so you will of course take a risk waiting to see if it drops in case it sells out.

Best advice I can give is not to worry so much about panel bit depth, it actually means nothing in terms of HDR picture quality. Really if you want HDR to look decent rather than poor you are looking at the Sony XE9005 minimum.

The TVs I have mentioned beneath the XE9005 range are not good HDR TVs, that still fetches quite a premium.
 
I'll take the risk as I don't have much to lose (I'm not able to invest the type of money they're asking for it right now) besides I'm not in a rush. If they do sell out something tells me to stay away from Hisense 55NU87000, however I like the look of Sony 55XE8596 which you recommended.

That leaves me with:
- Samsung 55MU7070
- Panasonic 50EX750B
- Sony 55XE8596

All have 120Hz, but Samsung is the only one without true 10-bit, does that make such a difference? For instance the Panasonic is 5 inches smaller but it has true 10-bit. Then there's a price jump however it's understandable as Sony has both 55 inches and true 10-bit. What's important to me as well is which one would be the best in terms of dimming, obviously none of those have local dimming which is why I cross my fingers I'll see a price drop in XE90, but still does any model stand out in terms of this and HDR?

Thank you @Dodgexander I appreciate your contribution! :)
 
All have 120Hz, but Samsung is the only one without true 10-bit, does that make such a difference?
I did touch on this in my last post but it isn't really important, a 10bit panel isn't going to give you better colour than a 8 bit one. You may get less colour banding with a 10 bit source but you get next to no colour banding with a good 8 bit panel anyway through FRC. There are aspects of HDR performance that play a much more prevalent role such as local dimming and a TVs ability to get bright enough to show spectacular highlights, not to mention its ability to show colour at different brightness levels. Panel bit depth isn't important and it won't be until we start to see TVs in some years to come already reaching the limits of colour coverage in the HDR colour space.

but still does any model stand out in terms of this and HDR?
No, they all perform more or less the same. I couldn't pick one over the other. The first noticeable jump is when you hit the Sony XE9005.

I would also put the Panasonic 58EX750 in to the pot with the Sony XE85xx and Samsung MU7000 too but it tends to be more expensive and isn't really worth the extra, similar story with the MU8000 and MU9000 Samsungs.

Historically prices on TVs is at their lowest this kind of year because of the new models coming in. If you are going to find the XE9005 close to that mark it will be now with the new XF range coming out soon.

The best time to buy a TV

I would urge you if you place any kind of importance on HDR looking good to indeed consider going for no less than the XE9005, its really the minimum you need for decent HDR. For good HDR you are looking at spending even more on a larger TV!

Think not just about price drops in specific places but also price matching and price promises. John Lewis for example will price match other shops if you find the same TV cheaper there, they even price match discount offers and codes.

Then there is also voucher codes and cashback deals that can bring the price down either further. Its not uncommon for places to do 10%-20% new customer deals like AO.com and Very.co.uk although they wouldn't be my first choices to buy a TV from.

Hope this helps.
 
All have 120Hz, but Samsung is the only one without true 10-bit

The MU8000 has a true 10-bit panel, the MU7000 uses dithering to achieve 10 bit.

There's not many tv's that have true 10 bit panels at the mid range pricing.
 
Thank you for your help @Dodgexander and @Ninja Wolfman, this definitely makes much more sense now. I shall keep an eye out this spring to see if I can get 49XE9005 for a reasonable price, if not then I'll just stick to 55MU7000 or 55XE8596, I might not necessarily use advantage of HDR with those models but they will be 6 inches larger, so I'll definitely see a difference in 4K.
 
I wouldn't be so sure being able to benefit from UHD, most people can't view close enough to benefit from it even on a 75" TV. Optimal viewing distance is about 1m from a 55" UHD TV with UHD content whilst at 2m you probably can't tell a difference.

But resolution is only one part of a TV, more benefits lay in other areas.
 
Thank you for your help @Dodgexander and @Ninja Wolfman, this definitely makes much more sense now. I shall keep an eye out this spring to see if I can get 49XE9005 for a reasonable price, if not then I'll just stick to 55MU7000 or 55XE8596, I might not necessarily use advantage of HDR with those models but they will be 6 inches larger, so I'll definitely see a difference in 4K.

I'd go for the 55" models, you sometimes pay less for more per inch.
 
I would as well if money wasn't an issue, as I mentioned before I'm already stretching my budget, but if a decent deal comes along the way who knows, maybe I'll work something out lol.
 
Whilst patiently waiting for a price drop I'm still reading about about the XE90. Is it a big deal that it doesn't come with neither Dolby Vision or HDR10+
 
Not really since it will always use the HDR 10 part of that meta data anyway.

If there was another TV for the same price that supported Dolby Vision then of course it will be different, but the opposing options either aren't as good with HDR (Samsung QLEDs) or they are more expensive than the XE90 (Sony XE93, LG B7) so really you can't beat it at its current pricing.
 
Okay so HDR content will always contain the basic HDR10 that the XE90 has, but it won't be able to benefit from the quality HDR10+ and Dolby Vision has to offer, am I getting this right?
 
Okay so HDR content will always contain the basic HDR10 that the XE90 has, but it won't be able to benefit from the quality HDR10+ and Dolby Vision has to offer, am I getting this right?
Yes that is correct. And the TV also supports HLG HDR so in the future you will be able to benefit from broadcast HDR from the likes of BBC, Sky etc.
 

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