What to look for when buying a TV

Ferris_Bueller

Hi guys,

Hope this is the right forum to post. I am looking to buy a new TV for the spare room ahead of the Euros this summer. It will be mainly used for chromecasting, playstation 4 and watching FTA channels/Netflix/Youtube etc. I will not have any additional channels connected to it such as Sky which I have in the main sitting room (although may look at getting a Firestick down the line).

But I have no idea what I am looking for really apart from that. When I go onto Harvey Norman/Power City/DID websites there are so many to choose from and I'm not really sure what the difference is between them all. The budget is between €250-€350, I presume I want a smart TV to be able to access Netflix, Youtube, etc. Would like at least a 32".

Completely lost when it comes to 4K, OLED, HD ready etc, does it make much of a difference? Basically what I want to know is what should I be looking out for on the above websites or, maybe more importantly, what should I be looking to avoid? Are any particular brands better than others etc?

Here are just two I randomly picked out from the Harvey Norman website, €100 in the difference, why? Akai vs Samsung.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: also, would an Android TV suit what I am looking for or what is the deal with them?

Polar101

There are very few 32" models, so if you're looking for that size, you've got a limited selection only.

Re: Akai vs Samsung, the Akai is 720p (HD Ready aka 1366x768 resolution) and the Samsung is 1080p (Full HD, aka 1920x1080 resolution), that's where the main price difference comes from. You'd want at least a 1080p TV if you have a PS4 and want to watch decent quality content on Netflix or Youtube.

Re: brands: Samsung, Sony and LG are the three most popular brands - some others might be cheaper, but might be lacking in quality or features. With the "big three" there's some differences in picture quality and the smart TV features have differences (but they all have the usual apps). Sony uses Android TV as the operating system, LG uses webOS and Samsung has their Tizen system. I think with Android TV you could install more apps, but not sure if that'd be a big thing (all have Netflix/Youtube and the like anyway).

OLED TVs have a great picture quality, but they'd generally cost over €1000. So you can rule them out.

4K is the most common resolution these days, almost all TVs (aside from the smallest ones) are 4K. 4k has four times the amount of pixels when compared to Full HD, so the picture quality would be better.

For more options you'd have to look from 43" up, but the prices generally start from €400.

So if your budget is €250-€350, that Samsung you linked might be a good choice for you. For ~€500 you'd find a decent 4K TV on sale.

One more thing to look for is the amount of HDMI ports on the TV - if you have a PS4, that takes one - Chromecast takes one, and if you have, say, a Virgin TV box, that takes one - so you might need 3 unless you buy an adapter.

greasepalm

Check what warranty come with them as can fail at an early age.

Apps can be limited on some so worth checking out.

Yes Sony Bravia 4K Oled 55" is a fantastic piece of kit and well out of your budget.

RicherSounds has a thread for questions and sales and 5 yr warranty.

Ferris_Bueller

Great, thanks for the replies lads. Very helpful having it laid out in simple terms like that. Might look at pushing the budget out a bit and getting a 43" then, will have a look around over the weekend.

NIMAN

Something to be careful of, everyone is pushing 4k tv these days.

But if you are going to feed it with rte from an aerial, or Sky tv etc, then you aren't giving it the best input to show it's capabilities.

Stick with Full HD 1080p would be my suggestion. Lot cheaper and will be good enough for your needs.