Billv84
Standard Member
Evening all,
About 7 years ago, I made what I thought was an informed, sensible choice and bought a Panasonic plasma TX-P42G30B for £450.
It's served us pretty well and, it being our first proper HD TV, we've been pretty happy with it.
My first job was in a tv shop for about 6 months, so I like to kid myself that "I know a good tv". That was almost 20 years ago, so in reality, I'm groping around in the dark.
However, I got home from work today to find that my little darling son *said through slightly gritted teeth, but he's only two, so I'll let him off* had used the tv as a target practice with a wooden ball (seriously, who buys toddlers these offensive weapons?! Thanks, Aunty Linda).
So the screen is now cracked and defunct, and won't even switch on for one last hurrah of Homes Under the Hammer for me before it goes to the tip.
My question is: what could I buy for £3-400 that will ideally give me a better quality tv and slightly better features?
I'm nervous that I could switch from plasma to LCD and inadvertently spend £400 on what I perceive to be a cr*p telly.
If it helps, our viewing habits tend to be largely focussed around Thomas the Tank Engine (obviously), but when my dear lady and I manage to catch a film or something (and stay awake), it's normally on NOW TV (I think that's only 720p?), Netflix (I think we only pay for SD), iPlayer and occasionally Amazon Prime Video. I sometimes watch sport when i can and theres an abundance of Pixar films. We don't have a Blu-ray player and we don't use it for gaming.
The Panasonic didn't have WiFi which bugged me, so that's a must. Ideally want to be able to have players available for all the above on-demand services for simplicity.
The current 43" model already feels very large in our living room so I'm not sure we'd want to go much bigger, if at all.
I've read some of the amazingly detailed reviews on this site and it's clear you guys and girls know your TV mustard, so was hoping for some guidance on what I could buy and what difference I could expect (for better or worse) over my old box of (now-broken) Panasonic dreams.
Given that we're not die-hard telly watchers and that my little ankle-biters will probably smear yogurt all over the screen and eventually break this one too, should I not worry about 4k too much or is it daft to not get one?
I read with interest the glowing review on the 43-inch Hisense H43A6200UK (which is currently on offer for £299 at Currys, incidentally). I would never have considered that brand before stumbling across this site and would probably have felt cautious about spending that little on a tv.
Any ideas on how that might compare with my old tv? Or any other recommendations for other models, given all of the above?
If you're still reading this, thanks for sticking with it and thanks in advance for any responses.
Oh, and if anyone wants to adopt a 3 foot terrorist to help invade a small country or something, just let me know.
Cheers,
Bill
About 7 years ago, I made what I thought was an informed, sensible choice and bought a Panasonic plasma TX-P42G30B for £450.
It's served us pretty well and, it being our first proper HD TV, we've been pretty happy with it.
My first job was in a tv shop for about 6 months, so I like to kid myself that "I know a good tv". That was almost 20 years ago, so in reality, I'm groping around in the dark.
However, I got home from work today to find that my little darling son *said through slightly gritted teeth, but he's only two, so I'll let him off* had used the tv as a target practice with a wooden ball (seriously, who buys toddlers these offensive weapons?! Thanks, Aunty Linda).
So the screen is now cracked and defunct, and won't even switch on for one last hurrah of Homes Under the Hammer for me before it goes to the tip.
My question is: what could I buy for £3-400 that will ideally give me a better quality tv and slightly better features?
I'm nervous that I could switch from plasma to LCD and inadvertently spend £400 on what I perceive to be a cr*p telly.
If it helps, our viewing habits tend to be largely focussed around Thomas the Tank Engine (obviously), but when my dear lady and I manage to catch a film or something (and stay awake), it's normally on NOW TV (I think that's only 720p?), Netflix (I think we only pay for SD), iPlayer and occasionally Amazon Prime Video. I sometimes watch sport when i can and theres an abundance of Pixar films. We don't have a Blu-ray player and we don't use it for gaming.
The Panasonic didn't have WiFi which bugged me, so that's a must. Ideally want to be able to have players available for all the above on-demand services for simplicity.
The current 43" model already feels very large in our living room so I'm not sure we'd want to go much bigger, if at all.
I've read some of the amazingly detailed reviews on this site and it's clear you guys and girls know your TV mustard, so was hoping for some guidance on what I could buy and what difference I could expect (for better or worse) over my old box of (now-broken) Panasonic dreams.
Given that we're not die-hard telly watchers and that my little ankle-biters will probably smear yogurt all over the screen and eventually break this one too, should I not worry about 4k too much or is it daft to not get one?
I read with interest the glowing review on the 43-inch Hisense H43A6200UK (which is currently on offer for £299 at Currys, incidentally). I would never have considered that brand before stumbling across this site and would probably have felt cautious about spending that little on a tv.
Any ideas on how that might compare with my old tv? Or any other recommendations for other models, given all of the above?
If you're still reading this, thanks for sticking with it and thanks in advance for any responses.
Oh, and if anyone wants to adopt a 3 foot terrorist to help invade a small country or something, just let me know.
Cheers,
Bill