New medium size TVs - any good/bad experiences

Lounge
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It’s pretty incredible how cheap new TVs are these days.

My father - whose health is failing - has an old CRT set in his bedroom, which still has an analogue tuner, he essentially watches the Sky box output via a coaxial cable from the Lounge, but the content is fixed to what the older Sky box is displaying.

Tried a small DTV on that coaxial cable and it picks up digital stations reasonably well, so looking to get a new TV to supplement his viewing options as he’s not mobile enough to go back and forth to the Lounge to change channel.

In the Lounge he has an older 37" HD Ready Panasonic plasma which is still pretty good. The CRT TV is pretty poor by comparison.

I think I’d just about fit a 37"-40" set in the alcove in the bedroom which would be a nice upgrade for him.

Now I could get one I suspect for around £200 or so, but would prefer a 1080p or 4k set, and 4k Smart TVs are available at £350 or less these days.

For some reason I’m fancying a budget LG set, but many competitors out there.

His broadband is with Sky and is pretty poor to be honest, but if I could encourage him to learn the interface a Smart TV might add more choice as his limited Sky package wouldn’t be available over coax, though I may need to limit Netflix or other streaming quality to match the bandwidth/data cap. I could add a media box quite easily as I have some spare at home, but I think I’d like to minimise boxes/remotes.

Anyone purchased this sort of size set recently?

Main considerations:

1 - Reasonably simple user interface
2 - Avoid poor sound quality as he has hearing difficulty (are some sets better/more configurable for subtitles than others?)
3 - Reasonable picture quality and viewing angle (though it may not matter if he’s in bed) minimum 1080p panel or 4k more likley if going Smart
4 - SmartTV - not sure he’d benefit from or want a digital assitant, but Netflix and iPlayer would be handy. Some TVs are now shipping with an AppleTV app and I suspect I could set him up using Family Sharing to share my content, some of which I know would appeal to him (think UK Gold type titles)

Suggestions gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

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Have you thought of avoiding a TV altogether and getting a Computer HD monitor and sound bar? Then my reading is that it is a question of switching on/off and learning him the media box

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Thanks Ian, while it could potentially work I think the practicalities would be against it - he’s always been happy controlling TV/SkyBox via their remotes but when I gave him an older AppleTV he barely used it, I suspect as he couldn’t quite get to grips with a ‘computery’ box, so I’d prefer to have an all in one solution here.

Sound quality is a potential issue with these smaller thin TVs though I’m often surprised how good they can sound for the size - undoubtedly some will be better than others.

Thinking about it another consideration is what to put a TV/monitor on - what he uses currently will need replacing, and for various reasons I’m thinking a TV with a more central integrated stand might be better than those with ‘feet’ at either end.

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Hi @Alley_Cat, Whenever I’m choosing a new TV for myself or one of the family I find the Which magazine comparison tool extremely useful. Although I do subscribe I think if you google which TV it will allow access. One of the problems you may find is that the size you have specified is viewed as quite small these days, LG I think is normally 43 inch etc, in terms of sound quality, price, review Which will give good background.

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Unfortunately the alcove is a little smaller than I’d like and it’s the best place for a set.

While there are many sets 40" or less still available from a variety of manufacturers, it’s those 42"/43" and above that really seem to offer great value with good featuresets.

Even my 55" (Samsung) seems a compromise when I look at the cost of 65" models these days, but I’m a projector lover at heart so 55"/65" is small by comparison - another task is to clear the AV room and set the projector up again!

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If 40 inch is the upper limit I think your’e looking at Samsung, something like UE40NU7120, It gets a good review and ticks a lot of your requirements.

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Thanks glasnaim. Will take a look at that - seems out of stock in several places online. I have a Samsug myself and absolutrely hate the user interface so that’s something I must investigate in a store when looking at prospective TVs.

These sets change/get updated so quickly!

A few months ago I enjoyed a nice LG in a rental cottage - it was made this year, but nowhere to be found when I eventually looked for it but saw it had been available for a bargain price quite recently.

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I agree about LG, I have two of their OLED sets and they are great but smallest size they do is 55 inch. They do change quickly and the price drops off quite significantly so good deals to be had, but then they seem to disappear completely.
Had another look at the Which site and nearly all the 40 inch sets seem to lack retailers.

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I looked recently to buy a 40 inch set and the very few I could buy were underwhelming in terms of performance.

It’s a pain because I can’t fit in anything bigger than that without completely changing the way the sitting room works. My wife would not agree.

Best

David

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I though the LG interface on the set I used on holiday was very nice - much better than my Samsung - appreciate interfaces change but Sony put me off their products completely with their PS 3 ‘X bar’ or whatever it was.

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Yes the LG interface is good, well set out and easy to use. Had a quick google to see what’s available 40 inch tv wise, saves me searching out expensive speaker upgrades :blush:, it appears Sony and Panasonic are the main options through the likes of Curry’s but not a lot to choose from.

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Annoying as 40" is hardly tiny, but this size and below seem to be being treated increasingly by manufacturers as budget ranges.

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Don’t worry too much about 4k. Unless he has a Sky Q or BT TV box, or a download speed of at least 25Mbps he’s not going to get 4k content.

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A good point and he probably won’t really benefit from 4k content but at certain TV sizes the price differential to go to 4k seems minimal and I suspect the panels are intrinsically a bit better than cheaper HD Ready/1080p ones, though clearly won’t get anywhere OLED or similar quality.

The biggest factor is probably going to be size and what fits the space, as if I need to go much below 40" I suspect the panels won’t be as good - might just grab a bargain TV from Tesco or similar! It is unlikely to be worse than the old 4:3 CRT he has.

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If a TV ticks all the boxes and just happens to be 4k capable then fine. Just don’t rule one out because it isn’t 4k

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No, I certainly won’t, thanks.

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Argos have a Panasonic 39" Smart TV for £249 if that fits your budget

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Thanks - will take a peep - I’ve been perusing Comet, John Lewis and Richer Sounds - I often forget about Argos. Certainly within budget - one problem is perhaps a vast array of choice between £250-£350. I need to re-check the space available for it later today as could possibly get 40-43" in if it were angled or stuck out a bit, though he may feel that’s too big.

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43 inch would certainly give you far more choice, lots of manufacturers seem to now effectively use this as base size, including LG

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I’m going to pop down later - might take a large piece of cardboard cut to the size of a 43" with me to see if it’ll work!

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