[tomtom]

(partly inspired by Jaspers new thread..)

As its World Cup year and our existing TV is getting a little wonky its maybe time to get a new one (it sometimes switches itself off during period drama's which causes MrsTT lots of grief - personally I think thats a great feature but I have to suffer the verbal consequences).

Its about 8 years old, so not having looked at tellys since then whats the latest shizzle/spec/stuff etc... I assume they are all 1080p now, most have a wireless connection so (mrsTT) one can look at FaceCrack etc.. on it etc.. (aka smart TV?). Is there anything else worth having? is 4K something to think about or not worth it? We've a youview box for recording stuff so thats not needed...

Plasma? LCD? OLED? OMG?

Presuming no-one has made a TV that will make me climb 8A - are there any other features/things worth getting?

[Jim]

LED everytime for me. more energy efficient and much thinner.
All my TV's are LG and they all seem good.
Worth trying to hard wire the TV onto the network IMO unless its a portable

[Bubba]

is 4K something to think about or not worth it?

Not worth it yet.

Worth trying to hard wire the TV onto the network IMO unless its a portable

Agree.

Alternatives to smart TVs include Xbox/Playstation/Roku/Chromecast/etc and they're probably all better and will get more frequent upgrades/improvements than your TV's firmware will.  I'd prioritise a good quality display with lots of connectivity over the "smart" software features that come with the TV.

[tomtom]

Thanks both. Yeah not too fussed about smart shit as youview box does most of that...

[slackline]

Make sure to update your firmware when this problem is fixed.

Timely review of TVs on The Register.

[SA Chris]

We've got a smart TV, but a part from the usefulness of having Iplayer straight off the TV youtube and Vimeo straight off the telly it's not that great. Things are a pain to type, would never use it for Facebook or anything. You can access netflix straight off the TV (if panasonic) or lovefilm online (if samsung).

[tomtom]

Taa. The problem I have with buying tellys is testing the sound...

The last one I bought (21" LG) looked great and sounded OK in Dixoles, but when back home sounded tinny and shit. The one before that (sony Bravia) I bought online but it had ***** for the sound... If you try listening to the sound quality in a huge store its hard to make a reasonable assessment.

Also - why the f*ck do people want a 60" TV?? I just want a 34" one and it seems they're a bit of an oddity now with the main decent players starting at 40"... FFS - its to go in a decent sized room and I dont want the bloody thing to dominate everything else in the room... I'm not blind, and I prefer to keep images of Rooney and his c*nting team mates less than life size. Christ that would be disturbing... the potato headed granny banger looming at life size in 4K mega vision accross the front room..

Grr. Rant over.

[SA Chris]

Most new tellys have shit sound. We got an LG soundbar for ours which you can play music through via smart phone or tablet too.

[mr__j5]

Definitely agree about screen size.

My lounge is about 3.5m square and I have a 26" TV.

Even with that, if I was too sit much closer to it, then all I can see on SD broadcast content is compression artefacts. I hate to think how awful it would look with a 40+" screen.

[cheque]

Most new tellys have shit sound.

Get the sound out of your telly and into your hi-fi. I had to get a DA converter for mine (didn't mind 'cos the telly itself was such a bargain- my advice is ask Richer Sounds if they have ex-demo loan ones in the basement) so try and get one with analogue outputs you can just stick into your amp with a phono cable. 

[tomtom]

Most new tellys have shit sound.

Get the sound out of your telly and into your hi-fi. I had to get a DA converter for mine (didn't mind 'cos the telly itself was such a bargain- my advice is ask Richer Sounds if they have ex-demo loan ones in the basement) so try and get one with analogue outputs you can just stick into your amp with a phono cable.

Hmm.. good option actually - I have a pair of Cambridge speakers with a DA inside (sound fantastic using the USB from PC) which I should be able to hook up in a sensible way... would this be using an optical out (novice question..)?

[cheque]

Depends what sockets are on the speakers- if they only have a USB input then they're unlikely to be able to work with a digital audio signal from a telly.

[tomtom]

Depends what sockets are on the speakers- if they only have a USB input then they're unlikely to be able to work with a digital audio signal from a telly.

Suspect not then

[slackline]

Depends what sockets are on the speakers- if they only have a USB input then they're unlikely to be able to work with a digital audio signal from a telly.

Suspect not then

But if the TV has USB Audio Out you'll be ok (perhaps worth adding to the list of considerations when shopping around)

[tomtom]

Depends what sockets are on the speakers- if they only have a USB input then they're unlikely to be able to work with a digital audio signal from a telly.

Suspect not then

But if the TV has USB Audio Out you'll be ok (perhaps worth adding to the list of considerations when shopping around)

TBH I'd rather not have any extra stuff around the tv.. I like decent sound, but I'm lazy - and not that fussed about getting it perfect etc... would be nice if sound was fine just from the TV (not too unreasonable you might think!!)

[slackline]

I guess sound is compromised against the drive to have thinner and thinner flat-screen TVs as its assumed people buy separate audio systems a clever marketing ploy to get people to buy separate audio systems.

[Plattsy]

Could you connect the TV to the speakers using an phono RCA to phono RCA cable from audio out (TV) to line input (speakers) or 3.5mm to 3.5mm jack cable from headphones out to MP3 in?

[SA Chris]

I guess sound is compromised against the drive to have thinner and thinner flat-screen TVs as its assumed people buy separate audio systems a clever marketing ploy to get people to buy separate audio systems.

Yeah I think with big thin flat screens there's not much room for a speaker of any significant depth to produce a decent sound.

Tomtom, go have a look at a few TVs at your local shops and see what outlets they have, they vary massively from model to model.

[Jaspersharpe]

I got a soundbar with mine. As tvs get thinner, the sound gets worse so I bought this......

http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/orbitsound/m10/orbitsound-m10

...as it sounds great, looks good and isn't massive like a lot of them. Also the bluetooth means I can stream all my music directly to it through phone. You can stick the subwoofer anywhere in the room so it doesn't need to be taking up space/be obtrusive.

Having not bought a new tv for about 8 years it seemed sensible to do it properly rather than trying to make do with rubbish sound and then having to man up and buy something at a later date.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[Jaspersharpe]

Re the size issue. The Panasonic I've bought is smaller and much thinner than my current Panasonic plasma despite the fact that the new one is 42" and the old one 39".

[lagerstarfish]

is that because they now measure using French Inches?

[chris j]

Could you connect the TV to the speakers using an phono RCA to phono RCA cable from audio out (TV) to line input (speakers) ...?

You would think so, left and right line out on TV to left and right line in on the speakers would look like the simplest way to do it. Or am I ridiculously behind the times and TVs don't come with simple audio line out sockets anymore?

[Jaspersharpe]

is that because they now measure using French Inches?

It's because the new one is all screen.

[nai]

The Panasonic (650B series) is a good shout with Richer Sounds WC discount offer and Panasonic's cashback it becomes a decent deal.

EDIT: corrected model no

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Could you connect the TV to the speakers using an phono RCA to phono RCA cable from audio out (TV) to line input (speakers) ...?

You would think so, left and right line out on TV to left and right line in on the speakers would look like the simplest way to do it. Or am I ridiculously behind the times and TVs don't come with simple audio line out sockets anymore?

Panasonic dropped it a couple of years ago. Hdmi audio return or optical only. Not sure about others.