Answered Sub £400 40-50in

[tellie]

Hi there,

We have an old and terrible TV (32in), and thanks to a cheeky toddler we're going for wall-mounting, so now seems to be the time to upgrade. Don't want to spend more than £400, and would like it to be at least 40in. We sit about 2m from the TV, and won't be able to use a soundbar. I have slightly dodgy hearing, so decent (for the price speakers) are important to me. I realise that we're not going to be looking at 4k or HDR at this price point!

We live in an area with terrible TV reception, and so mostly watch TV on catch-up services, DVDs, and netflix streams.

Argos has the Sony Bravia KDL48WD653 for £349 -- any better suggestions? The Hisense
H50M3300 also looks somewhat tempting!

Thanks for any help!

 

[Dodgexander]

I would look at the Samsung K5500/K5600 or even better a Second hand plasma/refurb LCD of one or two years ago like the Sony W75XC series or Samsung J6300.

You won't really benefit from UHD at that distance and SD material will look poor also so I would look only at FHD TVs.

 

[tellie]

Thanks for this! You think the Samsung K5600 is better than the Sony Bravia I mentioned?

I would go for refurb but don't really have time to go secondhand shopping unfortunately, planning to get it mounted this weekend. The K5600 is £420 in Currys, very tempted...

 

[Dodgexander]

Yes because you will likely get a higher contrast panel with those tv's. With the Sony WD650 I think you will get an IPS panel. IPS is only good when you need wide viewing angles as the blacks and contrast are worse on IPS panels.

 

[tellie]

Thanks! How much does the viewing angle apply to 'up and down' too? Since it will be wall mounted it will be slightly higher than our heads.

 

[Dodgexander]

Vertically viewing angles of VA type tv's are actually better, although you won't likely have a problem with either if its only a slight angle. You should also aim to angle the tv towards your seating position if you can find a wall mount that does that.

 

[tellie]

Just bought the 49" K5600! Very happy with it. Now for a wall mount.

 

[Dodgexander]

Congratulations, glad you are happy with it.

 

[Collapsed]

With the Sony WD650 I think you will get an IPS panel.

Are you sure? According to DisplaySpecifications it has a VA panel. I was thinking of buying this TV, but if it really does have an IPS panel, then hell no.

 

[Dodgexander]

I wouldn't always trust displayspecs, but this review: Sony KDL-48WD650 : l'un des derniers téléviseurs Full HD de Sony shows it came with a VA panel so I was wrong in this instance.

 

[tellie]

Very happy with it, thanks for the help!