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Best TV/Audio combo for £900

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  • 06-08-2020 4:24pm
    #1
    albob
    Registered Users Posts: 308 ✭✭


    Hi, 
    I am looking to buy a 55" TV plus audio solution. The ability to cast audio to the soundbar would be a plus but not a deal breaker given that I could just connect a chromecast audio. 
    Am I better off blowing the budget on the TV and going cheap on the audio, investing more on the audio that originally planned? My current thoughts are a £700/200 split on TV vs audio.
    (BTW, I have been leaning towards a Samsung TV simply because I have liked their smart interface in the past. Am I a fool? :)) 
    Regards 
    Alan


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    #2
    Richersounds.ie: DavidS
    Company Representative Posts: 4,408 ✭✭✭Richersounds.ie: DavidS


    albob wrote: »
    Hi, 
    I am looking to buy a 55" TV plus audio solution. The ability to cast audio to the soundbar would be a plus but not a deal breaker given that I could just connect a chromecast audio. 
    Am I better off blowing the budget on the TV and going cheap on the audio, investing more on the audio that originally planned? My current thoughts are a £700/200 split on TV vs audio.
    (BTW, I have been leaning towards a Samsung TV simply because I have liked their smart interface in the past. Am I a fool? :)) 
    Regards 
    Alan
    Hi Alan,

    Thanks for the post!

    You can get a great TV and soundbar for that money!

    The first TV I'd look at (it's not a Samsung!) is the LG 55SM8050 at £579. It's a great Nano cell panel with a great smart hub as well. I own an LG OLED myself and the smart hub on it is fantastic! It also comes with the magic remote and is really user friendly! It also has a Saorview and Freesat tuner built in!

    https://www.richersounds.ie/p-204676-lg-55sm8050plc-55-inch-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-smart-nanocell-led-tv-freeview-play-freesat-hd.aspx

    For a soundbar I would consider the Yamaha YAS207 at £279 - it's a previous What Hifi award winner and sounds incredible. It has a wireless sub as well as HDMI connectivity and Bluetooth to connect your phone music to it!

    https://www.richersounds.ie/p-202832-yamaha-yas207-soundbar-system.aspx

    Let me know what you think of these options!

    Kind regards

    David


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    #3
    albob
    Registered Users Posts: 308 ✭✭albob


    Hi,
      Thanks for the response. I can definitely see your point on the YAS207 as it looks like a great piece of kit. I'm less convened on the LG side of things. While the screen sounds great, I would be concerned about their smart offering. I should point out that I am based in Ireland and thus its the likes of RTE Player that would interest me. I also not for the literature on that model that the Google Assistant offering is not available in the Rep of Ireland. I don't know if that is out of date or not at his point.
    Does the LG smart offering support things like RTE Player, a decent IPTV app, etc? (It does look like SmartIPTV is available)
    Would I be correct in thinking that even if Google Assistant is supported in Ireland, it does not support Chromecast?


    Thanks
    Alan


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    #4
    Richersounds.ie: DavidS
    Company Representative Posts: 4,408 ✭✭✭Richersounds.ie: DavidS


    albob wrote: »
    Hi,
      Thanks for the response. I can definitely see your point on the YAS207 as it looks like a great piece of kit. I'm less convened on the LG side of things. While the screen sounds great, I would be concerned about their smart offering. I should point out that I am based in Ireland and thus its the likes of RTE Player that would interest me. I also not for the literature on that model that the Google Assistant offering is not available in the Rep of Ireland. I don't know if that is out of date or not at his point.
    Does the LG smart offering support things like RTE Player, a decent IPTV app, etc? (It does look like SmartIPTV is available)
    Would I be correct in thinking that even if Google Assistant is supported in Ireland, it does not support Chromecast?


    Thanks
    Alan
    Hey Alan.

    At the moment LG would not have the RTE player app unfortunately.

    I think it's only Samsung that currently offer it.

    The LG does have several IPTV apps including SmartIPTV.
    For the Google Assistant LG list on their website:
    [font=Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif]Google Assistant works-with is enabled for 10 countries and languages for LG TV (KR/ko-KR, FR/fr-FR, DE/de-DE, GB/en-GB, US/en-US, CA/en-CA, IT/it-IT, JP/ja-JP, AU/en-AU, SG/en-SG).[/font]


    Going from this is would say it is still not available in the South Of Ireland as of yet.

    Let us know your thoghts.

    Kenny.


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    #5
    albob
    Registered Users Posts: 308 ✭✭albob


    Thanks Kenny.
       
    If I was to go Sony or Samgsung in a similar price bracket I'm guessing I am losing on image quality. However, I'd likely gain on the smart functionality, at least with Sony with their Android TV support (Is that good, or a bit of a mess).  I'm used to Samsung...the better the devil I know? (My Samsung TV's RTE app no longer works but I was blaming that on its age).

    Regards
    Alan


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    #6
    Richersounds.ie: DavidS
    Company Representative Posts: 4,408 ✭✭✭Richersounds.ie: DavidS


    albob wrote: »
    Thanks Kenny.
       
    If I was to go Sony or Samgsung in a similar price bracket I'm guessing I am losing on image quality. However, I'd likely gain on the smart functionality, at least with Sony with their Android TV support (Is that good, or a bit of a mess).  I'm used to Samsung...the better the devil I know? (My Samsung TV's RTE app no longer works but I was blaming that on its age).

    Regards
    Alan
    Hey Alan.

    Some of the older TV's app do get their support stopped and then they no longer work unfortunately.

    I have had no issues wit the Sony Android operating system on our demo units here at the store, although some people have reviewed in online as running slowly.
    I'm not 100% sure if the RTE app is on the Sony's so I would need to try and find this out.
    To get the Android on the Sony you need to go it at the 8 series.

    Samsung, you can't really go wrong with them and they are to similar quality to the LG

    Samsung have the 55TU7100 priced at 599 Euro
    https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-204594-samsung-ue55tu7100-55-inch-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-smart-led-tv-with-apple-tv-app.aspx

    Or starting point for a Sony Android would be the 55XG8505 at 829 Euro (Currently out of stock)
    https://euro.richersounds.ie/p-203981-sony-bravia-kd55xg8505bu-55-inch-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-smart-led-android-tv-youview.aspx

    Let me know your thoughts.

    Kenny.


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    #7
    albob
    Registered Users Posts: 308 ✭✭albob


    Cheers for the info. I need to do some more research on the TV front to see what I am willing to give up on. Focusing on the RTE PLayer might be too much of a distraction.
    Alan


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    #8
    tazzzZ
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭tazzzZ


    albob wrote: »
    Cheers for the info. I need to do some more research on the TV front to see what I am willing to give up on. Focusing on the RTE PLayer might be too much of a distraction.
    Alan

    Don't mean to barge in on your thread but maybe consider a secondary android box for the smart functionality?? Then you can just focus on the TV's priority of giving a good viewing experience. I highly recommend the nvidia shield. And the new one has the best 4k upscaling I've ever seen. It is pricey at 150 for the base model however. Not to mention the free tier GeForce now (game streaming)... That may or may not be your thing but just something to consider.

    Also I hate the Rte player app and wouldn't give it any consideration in buying a TV. Again just my opinion.

    Good luck with whatever you go with. The lads here won't steer you wrong anyway.


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    #9
    Richersounds.ie: DavidS
    Company Representative Posts: 4,408 ✭✭✭Richersounds.ie: DavidS


    albob wrote: »
    Cheers for the info. I need to do some more research on the TV front to see what I am willing to give up on. Focusing on the RTE PLayer might be too much of a distraction.
    Alan
    No problem at all Albob.

    Let me know if you have any other questions or if you see any other sets that are of interest.

    Kenny.


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    #10
    albob
    Registered Users Posts: 308 ✭✭albob


    Hi Kenny, 
    Back to the LG telly, out of interest does it have separate turner's for Sat vs terrestrial such that I could record one and watch the other? 
    Does it natively support chromecast like the 8600 does?
    Will it allow me utilize the features of the Yas207 to its full extent?
    Regards 
    Alan


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    #11
    Richersounds.ie: DavidS
    Company Representative Posts: 4,408 ✭✭✭Richersounds.ie: DavidS


    albob wrote: »
    Hi Kenny, 
    Back to the LG telly, out of interest does it have separate turner's for Sat vs terrestrial such that I could record one and watch the other? 
    Does it natively support chromecast like the 8600 does?
    Will it allow me utilize the features of the Yas207 to its full extent?
    Regards 
    Alan
    Hi Alan,

    Thanks for getting back to us!

    The LG TV wouldn't have twin tuners built in so you couldn;t watch one channel while recording another, even on the single terrestrial or Satellite tuner. You would also need to switch between Sat and terrestrial when you want to move between them, they won't both appear on the same EPG and it's not a single button operation, there's a bit of a path to follow in the menus.

    The 8050 wouldn't be quite as high spec'd as the older 8600 so wouldn't have Chromecast built in as standard. It's also a native 50Hz panel compared to the 100Hz of the 8600. However you can use the YAS207 with it no problem either via the Optical output or with ARC HDMI!

    Let me know what you think!

    Kind regards

    David


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