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Buying a television- General tips & advice.

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  • 28-08-2014 9:12am
    #1
    Nemanrio
    Registered Users Posts: 542 ✭✭✭


    Hi guys,

    Can anyone offer advice/tips on buying a TV? What to look our for or what brands to avoid or to focus on,smart/led/plasma etc.


    Possibly there is already a thread for this?


    Was looking at buying a tv (budget €600-700)

    Manufacturers only seem to give a 1 year which I thought was a bit short considering the amount your're spending. Is the build quality good? Will they last?


    Thanks in advance. ;)


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    #2
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,816 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Smart TVs are rarely worth it - they usually don't get updates after a short period of time. Better to save the price differential and buy a Chromecast or an Android minibox to get the same or more level of content, with the ability to replace/update it without changing the panel.

    Plasma isn't worth it.

    Avoid brands who sell rebadged Turkish gear at a premium - Alba, Walker, Nordemende, Toshiba, Finlux etc.

    Most panels will last far longer than a year and you do have consumer protections even after the warranty has expired. At that price point you would have a legitimate expectation for it to last at least 3 years if not more.


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    #3
    Nemanrio
    Registered Users Posts: 542 ✭✭✭Nemanrio


    MYOB wrote: »
    Smart TVs are rarely worth it - they usually don't get updates after a short period of time. Better to save the price differential and buy a Chromecast or an Android minibox to get the same or more level of content, with the ability to replace/update it without changing the panel.

    Plasma isn't worth it.

    Avoid brands who sell rebadged Turkish gear at a premium - Alba, Walker, Nordemende, Toshiba, Finlux etc.

    Most panels will last far longer than a year and you do have consumer protections even after the warranty has expired. At that price point you would have a legitimate expectation for it to last at least 3 years if not more.

    Thanks for the reply.

    To be honest all I want it for is for watching sport/TV series mostly. I have a laptop for broadband etc.

    Any recommendations in particular? Sony,LG or Samsung perhaps?


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    #4
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,816 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Nemanrio wrote: »
    Thanks for the reply.

    To be honest all I want it for is for watching sport/TV series mostly. I have a laptop for broadband etc.

    Any recommendations in particular? Sony,LG or Samsung perhaps?

    I've two Samsungs and an LG; all old enough to be out of warranty and working fine. My only issue has been terrible layout of the input ports on the LG when wallmounting it, would have preferred to stick with Samsung but it was much cheaper and the issue wasn't obvious in the shop.


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    #5
    Nemanrio
    Registered Users Posts: 542 ✭✭✭Nemanrio


    MYOB wrote: »
    I've two Samsungs and an LG; all old enough to be out of warranty and working fine. My only issue has been terrible layout of the input ports on the LG when wallmounting it, would have preferred to stick with Samsung but it was much cheaper and the issue wasn't obvious in the shop.

    I don't think I will be wall mounting it so that shouldn't be an issue.


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    #6
    blade1
    Registered Users Posts: 12,143 ✭✭✭✭blade1


    I'd say make sure it will take a usb stick.
    Even if you don't need it now, it could come in very handy down the line!


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    #7
    Nemanrio
    Registered Users Posts: 542 ✭✭✭Nemanrio


    blade1 wrote: »
    I'd say make sure it will take a usb stick.
    Even if you don't need it now, it could come in very handy down the line!

    For playing videos/viewing photos?


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    #8
    blade1
    Registered Users Posts: 12,143 ✭✭✭✭blade1


    Nemanrio wrote: »
    For playing videos/viewing photos?

    Yes!
    Music, photos and films/videos.

    So handy.
    Someone might put them on a usb for you and then stick it in the tv and off ya go.


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    #9
    blade1
    Registered Users Posts: 12,143 ✭✭✭✭blade1


    I put all my mothers(82 years old) cd collection and some really old family photos on a usb for her after I got her a Samsung tv.
    That's all she uses now!


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    #10
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,373 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Don't be tempted by large screen sizes in the same price range.

    e.g. my housemate had say €800 to spend a good few years back. I remember saying he would get a decent 42" for that money. But then he comes home delighted as he got a 50"+ LG, but it was only 720P not full HD, and the picture quality was pretty poor. The large screen only further exposes the poor picture quality. He was saying he could not notice the difference between blu ray & dvd, I hooked up a blu ray for him and he compared the same film. So he was sort of bad mouthing blu ray as being not worthwhile, while really its since it was not a decent picture and not capable of blu ray resolution anyway. FOr the same money he would have gotten a smaller screen but a far more pleasurable viewing experience.

    As for brands my panasonic plasma is still going like new and is 10 years old. There was talk of plasmas degrading over time, not a bother on mine. Though it was a commercial model, intended for 24hr use in the likes of airports as a display screen.

    I would want several USB and several HDMI sockets on it.


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    #11
    Nemanrio
    Registered Users Posts: 542 ✭✭✭Nemanrio


    rubadub wrote: »
    Don't be tempted by large screen sizes in the same price range.

    e.g. my housemate had say €800 to spend a good few years back. I remember saying he would get a decent 42" for that money. But then he comes home delighted as he got a 50"+ LG, but it was only 720P not full HD, and the picture quality was pretty poor. The large screen only further exposes the poor picture quality. He was saying he could not notice the difference between blu ray & dvd, I hooked up a blu ray for him and he compared the same film. So he was sort of bad mouthing blu ray as being not worthwhile, while really its since it was not a decent picture and not capable of blu ray resolution anyway. FOr the same money he would have gotten a smaller screen but a far more pleasurable viewing experience.

    As for brands my panasonic plasma is still going like new and is 10 years old. There was talk of plasmas degrading over time, not a bother on mine. Though it was a commercial model, intended for 24hr use in the likes of airports as a display screen.

    I would want several USB and several HDMI sockets on it.


    Why so?

    As an aside,the lad in the shop said plasmas are becoming redundant.


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    #12
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,373 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Nemanrio wrote: »
    Why so?
    Because lots of new devices are coming out now that can use them, and it can be a pain to unplug them on some TVs. I am getting one of the android boxes mentioned earlier which is going to use one HDMI port, then I have a blu ray player and a laptop I would also use, so would want at least 3 free.

    I think some devices which use HDMI can be powered via usb too so it would be one less plug in the wall and tidier cabling.

    Nemanrio wrote: »
    As an aside,the lad in the shop said plasmas are becoming redundant.
    Probably right. I was mentioning the brand as a recommendation not really the type. Not sure if panasonic do decent LED/LCDs. Was also mentioning the fact its a commercial model, built to last. I got it in richersounds years ago, dunno if they still do commercial models but I am in the market for a new tv too and will be looking for one. Probably will get LED.

    I will be checking http://www.avforums.com/ too .

    Some tvs have resolution higher than blu ray nowadays, lads in bargain alerts were warning that the industry standard might not really be fixed, so it might be a risk paying extra for high def which will only really be used for viewing pictures, as future films might not be using it. So instead of forking out for this super HD or whatever its called, for the same money you might get regular HD but a better quality set.


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    #13
    Nemanrio
    Registered Users Posts: 542 ✭✭✭Nemanrio


    rubadub wrote: »
    Because lots of new devices are coming out now that can use them, and it can be a pain to unplug them on some TVs. I am getting one of the android boxes mentioned earlier which is going to use one HDMI port, then I have a blu ray player and a laptop I would also use, so would want at least 3 free.

    I think some devices which use HDMI can be powered via usb too so it would be one less plug in the wall and tidier cabling.


    Probably right. I was mentioning the brand as a recommendation not really the type. Not sure if panasonic do decent LED/LCDs. Was also mentioning the fact its a commercial model, built to last. I got it in richersounds years ago, dunno if they still do commercial models but I am in the market for a new tv too and will be looking for one. Probably will get LED.

    I will be checking http://www.avforums.com/ too .

    Some tvs have resolution higher than blu ray nowadays, lads in bargain alerts were warning that the industry standard might not really be fixed, so it might be a risk paying extra for high def which will only really be used for viewing pictures, as future films might not be using it. So instead of forking out for this super HD or whatever its called, for the same money you might get regular HD but a better quality set.


    Does that forum review tv's?


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