Flat screen TV Questions.

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Hi all :D

One of our TV's is playing up. It's a 50" Samsung and there's a darkish band extending upwards from the bottom. It's not really all that bad and it's only noticeable sometimes depending on what's on TV and some people wouldn't notice it at all but of course I see everything :D

I thought this would be a backlight problem and I thought it might not be possible / economic to fix as these days depending upon the make and model sometimes you need to replace or at least buy the lot and there's the danger of cracking the panel. I'm not interested in fixing it myself so I rang a TV repair guy I've used before and he confirmed my fears... so I'll order a new one but probably after Mrs WW comes back from her travels.

Annoyingly I have a TV's which date back probably over a decade, it's the new ones that seem to conk first and this will be the second time I've replaced the one in this room in quite quick succession. The other older ones which seem to just keep on going.

Anyway, I asked my friendly repair guy what he'd recommend and he said Samsung are "middle of the road, LG are worse" and when asked what's best he said Sony Bravia. Would you guys agree? Also, this Samsung TV gives up Amazon, Youtube etc, do they all do that these days? I not too interested in TV tech so I really don't know. We have four TV's in the house and this one is the only one which gives these aps but the others are quite a bit older.

Thanks for any pointers! :D I might just go for another Samsung as at least the remote and general operation might be pretty similar to the current one.
 
Bought a cheap 43" Bush TV for the recently decorated bedroom. It's not got any aerial connection but it's WiFi for the Internet connection and HDMI to the PC.

Only really watch YouTube on it though.
 
Alan

We bought a new TV earlier in the year, and yes I would agree with your friendly repair guide. Although the Sony was much more expensive, the more natural colours and the much much better sound clinched it for me.

Yes it has a lot of apps, I'm not sure Amazon is on it, all the other are, but I have a firestick anyway so no biggie
 
Sony always used to be a top brand so you should be fine going for one of those.
 
LeeRatters said:
Bought a cheap 43" Bush TV for the recently decorated bedroom. It's not got any aerial connection but it's WiFi for the Internet connection and HDMI to the PC.

Only really watch YouTube on it though.
Click to expand...

What????

That's something I never even thought of. I'll need to check.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Alan

We bought a new TV earlier in the year, and yes I would agree with your friendly repair guide. Although the Sony was much more expensive, the more natural colours and the much much better sound clinched it for me.

Yes it has a lot of apps, I'm not sure Amazon is on it, all the other are, but I have a firestick anyway so no biggie
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Steep said:
Sony always used to be a top brand so you should be fine going for one of those.
Click to expand...

I Googled "50" Sony Bravia" and "50" Samsung" and I don't think the Sony is that much more expensive, so the cost isn't a problem it's just that I've got into the habit of buying Samsung and I hate change :D
 
LeeRatters said:
No. I meant I've got no aerial connection to it.

There is a input :)

Sorry :)
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Ah :D

The changing connections over time annoy me so I was ready to believe that some TV's don't have a TV input these days :D I have under TV boxes which use scart and of course TV's don't have scart these days so I had to buy adapter boxes which hit image quality.

I can't remember the last time I used the old aerial input apart from when using that under TV box. I have a load of pictures on it and occasionally watch one.
 
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woof woof said:
I Googled "50" Sony Bravia" and "50" Samsung" and I don't think the Sony is that much more expensive, so the cost isn't a problem it's just that I've got into the habit of buying Samsung and I hate change :D
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It was about £600 on the size we were looking at "cough" ' flagship 65" ' model - can't be doing with poor colour rendition, poor picture and poor sound.
 
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We've got a 55" curved Sony Bravia and a 50" Samsung flat one, frankly I'd be hard pushed to call the differences except in the slight size difference and the curve. The Sony is maybe marginally better in colour rendition I think. Both are excellent.
(The curved one was a horrendous price when bought just as those were trendy. I hate to remember the price!)
 
We have a Sony Bravia and it's almost gone out of the window several times! The picture and sound are OK but the user interface is appalling! Extremely slow to show the TV guide (Freeview) and to scroll through options. No way to set a viewing schedule, Extremely slow to react to number presses to access channels.

Will probably treat us to a new one soon.
 
Hmmm. Lots to think about there guys.

TBH I think a poor interface and laggy response would annoy me more than a drop in image quality, if that were to happen. We have a smaller screen JVC upstairs which is very slow and clunky and it does annoy me so a similarly clunky Sony would too. I/we sit well back from the TV and a lot of stuff we watch these days is off Youtube and I don't suppose it's shot with high end camera gear so I think something with adequate picture quality rather than cutting edge will be ok as long as the display is consistent in brightness and quality over its area.

I'm a bit annoyed that more recent TV's don't seem built to last but there's nothing I can do about that. I think I just have to accept the fact that if I get 2 or 3 years out of a new TV I'll be lucky. I think the days of a TV lasting 10 or 15 years are long gone. It's not really the money, it's the waste that annoys me.
 
Nod said:
We have a Sony Bravia and it's almost gone out of the window several times! The picture and sound are OK but the user interface is appalling! Extremely slow to show the TV guide (Freeview) and to scroll through options. No way to set a viewing schedule, Extremely slow to react to number presses to access channels.

Will probably treat us to a new one soon.
Click to expand...

And this has been Sony's bane for decades. The company will insist on their bespoke operating systems which are often crap and they protect their patents fiercely.

My first job was with a Sony Dealer TV shop, way back before the internet was invented and even then Sony were a pain to deal with. The product quality was outstanding though as were the guarantees.
 
Another Sony 4k 55" owner here. Had mine around 8-9 years and still going strong.
I also still have my Sony 40" 1080p in my office which the 55" replaced and that also still works perfectly.
I don't use any of the TV's built in OS as they are all crap and slow. Just plug an Apple TV into it.

Before the Sonys I had a Samsung and it packed up after 4 years. Never Again.
 
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Steep said:
And this has been Sony's bane for decades. The company will insist on their bespoke operating systems which are often crap and they protect their patents fiercely.

My first job was with a Sony Dealer TV shop, way back before the internet was invented and even then Sony were a pain to deal with. The product quality was outstanding though as were the guarantees.
Click to expand...

I think you guys have convinced me to go for another Samsung. All of our Samsungs have had more or less the same remote layout and have been pretty responsive. The Sony may be the "better" TV but useability and how annoying these things are does matter. I suppose I'll just have to be happy if it lasts 2 or 3 years.

I might wait until Mrs WW gets home or I might buy one sooner if this dark band triggers me too much :D
 
Big TV downstairs (49") is a Panasonic and about 10 years old (at a guess!) Usually got a Freesat Humax box input but the Freeview that's built in works fine (and fast!) as does the Humax (other than failing to boot once a month or so [that's the Humax box, NOT the TV.]) No plans to change it.
 
Our Sony is about 10 years old with no problems; the Samsung is about 5 years old also going strong. We've got two 32in Toshibas that are about 15 years old also fine but not used much now they're in bedrooms.
 
lindsay said:
Our Sony is about 10 years old with no problems; the Samsung is about 5 years old also going strong. We've got two 32in Toshibas that are about 15 years old also fine but not used much now they're in bedrooms.
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I have more confidence in older TV's continuing to live on than I have with newer TV's lasting as long. Looking at TV repair channels they seem to be in agreement that TV quality and repairability are going down with cheaper components and build and glued in parts which can lead to breakages if you try to remove them and all this leading to newer sets not being built to last as long as sets we bought years ago and being more difficult to repair. Component quality such as backlights seems to have reduced with newer ones not lasting as long. Some makers have also outsourced their manufacturing to the point their TV's are just really badge jobs. All part of the disposable society I suppose.
 
LeeRatters said:
We bought the Bush TV because it'll get limited use and it was £175 :)
Click to expand...

£175 is my favourite number too :D but I suppose I'll be paying between £300 to £700 for a new 50" Samsung. Prices seem to be all over the place so I'll have to have a look and see if I can see why. I suppose I'll also need to take note of how many plugs I need on the back.

I've just remembered that I've just bought a new remote control for this failing TV. I might leave it until after Christmas and hope to get more of a bargain in the sales. I'm watching the football at the mo and the darker band is visible but when watching other things it's much less visible.
 
woof woof said:
£175 is my favourite number too :D but I suppose I'll be paying between £300 to £700 for a new 50" Samsung. Prices seem to be all over the place so I'll have to have a look and see if I can see why. I suppose I'll also need to take note of how many plugs I need on the back.

I've just remembered that I've just bought a new remote control for this failing TV. I might leave it until after Christmas and hope to get more of a bargain in the sales. I'm watching the football at the mo and the darker band is visible but when watching other things it's much less visible.
Click to expand...

Honestly, it's usually between 15-30 minutes a day.

The other Sunday when the missus was out at a baby shower, it was wet & I couldn't get out with the camera or do jobs on the new (to me) Focus, so I think I watched some longer YouTube stuff for maybe 2 hours :ROFLMAO:
 
IIRC I thought that Samsung and Sony screens were the same (there are not many companies who make these things). Used to be Sony, Samsung all the way now.
 
woof woof said:
Hi all :D

One of our TV's is playing up. It's a 50" Samsung and there's a darkish band extending upwards from the bottom. It's not really all that bad and it's only noticeable sometimes depending on what's on TV and some people wouldn't notice it at all but of course I see everything :D

I thought this would be a backlight problem and I thought it might not be possible / economic to fix as these days depending upon the make and model sometimes you need to replace or at least buy the lot and there's the danger of cracking the panel. I'm not interested in fixing it myself so I rang a TV repair guy I've used before and he confirmed my fears... so I'll order a new one but probably after Mrs WW comes back from her travels.

Annoyingly I have a TV's which date back probably over a decade, it's the new ones that seem to conk first and this will be the second time I've replaced the one in this room in quite quick succession. The other older ones which seem to just keep on going.

Anyway, I asked my friendly repair guy what he'd recommend and he said Samsung are "middle of the road, LG are worse" and when asked what's best he said Sony Bravia. Would you guys agree? Also, this Samsung TV gives up Amazon, Youtube etc, do they all do that these days? I not too interested in TV tech so I really don't know. We have four TV's in the house and this one is the only one which gives these aps but the others are quite a bit older.

Thanks for any pointers! :D I might just go for another Samsung as at least the remote and general operation might be pretty similar to the current one.
Click to expand...
Which? magazine put LG OLED tops every time they review TVs. We have a 55" screen and it's great. We have the C1 version. We had a Sony Bravia in the kitchen..14" I think, and that was excellent,too.

I've just done a check I'm a Which? member so I can can see the reviews online.

"LG is the dominant OLED brand for OLEDs because they have better overall gaming performance and cost less. However, Sony's LED models are far better than LG's because they get brighter, have better uniformity, and usually have better contrast. As a rule of thumb, it's pretty hard to go wrong when buying a Sony TV"

Another comment

"Sony TVs generally have superior built-in sound systems, especially in their higher-end models like the Bravia series, which offer technologies like Acoustic Surface Audio. LG TVs often require external sound systems for an enhanced audio experience but still deliver solid performance in mid-to-high-end models"

Here's a comparison. Not by Which?, though.

 
JohnC6 said:
Here's a comparison. Not by Which?, though.

Click to expand...

Ta. I'll have a read of that tomorrow.

As above I think consistency across the frame will be important to me as I will notice any variation and if it's there it'll be all I can see but on the other hand I think I'll be a lot more relaxed about other aspects of image quality, it wont have to be ultra sharp. I will care about the ease of navigation and responsiveness.

Just watching the footie earlier the dark band was clearly visible when watching the City match but it was much less visible when watching the Liverpool match and it's not visible at all now when watching something which is moving and has more variation in colour and contrast rather than an almost uniformly green footie pitch so although I know it's there I doubt Mrs WW will ever notice unless it gets considerably worse. Anyway, it clearly has a backlight issue, either it's on the way out, if that's possible, or parts of it have already failed, I don't know.

Thanks all.
 
We have had our LG plasma 50" since 2012 and it is an absolute pleasure, The picture is superb and coupled with a surround system the whole experience is cinema in the front room. I think the OP's "friendly repair man" may be a tad biased.
 
My Sony is about 10 years old. It replaced a Sony CRT TV. It has always been flawless.

However,

1. I have no idea what the sound is like. I'm not even sure why they put speakers in expensive TVs. Sonos soundbar ftw.

2. I have no idea what the interface is like. Turn it on, turn on virgin box and never worry about the Sony controls. I don't even know where the remote is. It has an aerial socket but the cable fell out when I moved it and I realised I've never used it.

TVs are essentially monitors now.
 
I've got a Sony 55, which when I was looking I preferred over the Samsung as the colours seemed more natural to me. The Samsung seemed to be more vivid. I was also advised at the time the Sony was better at upscaling than the Samsung - giving a better quality picture from lower definition input. Whether this is still the case I don't know.
Whatever you decide on I'd suggest getting it from somewhere with good after sales service e.g. John Lewis or Richer Sounds. I can speak from personal experience. You may also wish to budget for a sound bar as this will definitely be a big improvement over the TV speakers
 
JonathanRyan said:
My Sony is about 10 years old. It replaced a Sony CRT TV. It has always been flawless.

However,

1. I have no idea what the sound is like. I'm not even sure why they put speakers in expensive TVs. Sonos soundbar ftw.

2. I have no idea what the interface is like. Turn it on, turn on virgin box and never worry about the Sony controls. I don't even know where the remote is. It has an aerial socket but the cable fell out when I moved it and I realised I've never used it.

TVs are essentially monitors now.
Click to expand...

I've never had a soundbar so I do want a TV with decent sound quality. I's not a hifi and I don't expect it to be, just decent sound will be fine.
 
taxboy said:
I've got a Sony 55, which when I was looking I preferred over the Samsung as the colours seemed more natural to me. The Samsung seemed to be more vivid. I was also advised at the time the Sony was better at upscaling than the Samsung - giving a better quality picture from lower definition input. Whether this is still the case I don't know.
Whatever you decide on I'd suggest getting it from somewhere with good after sales service e.g. John Lewis or Richer Sounds. I can speak from personal experience. You may also wish to budget for a sound bar as this will definitely be a big improvement over the TV speakers
Click to expand...

Sound isn't a big deal for me, as long as it's acceptable and loud enough that'll do. Downstairs we just have the TV but upstairs although it plugs into my hifi I never bother with it and actually I'd forgotten I'd plugged it into the hifi until now :D

I only buy from decent places, I wont be buying from anywhere that looks even remotely dodgy :D I do buy cheap stuff from ebay, Temu and even AliExpress but I'll be buying a TV from somewhere more ordinary, like Currys, AOL or Amazon :D

I used to be really into just about every kind of technology but since I stopped working I mostly avoid it hence me knowing nothing about modern stuff like phones and even TV's :D I just can't be bothered with any of it now until I need something new :D
 
woof woof said:
Sound isn't a big deal for me, as long as it's acceptable and loud enough that'll do. Downstairs we just have the TV but upstairs although it plugs into my hifi I never bother with it and actually I'd forgotten I'd plugged it into the hifi until now :D

I only buy from decent places, I wont be buying from anywhere that looks even remotely dodgy :D I do buy cheap stuff from ebay, Temu and even AliExpress but I'll be buying a TV from somewhere more ordinary, like Currys, AOL or Amazon :D

I used to be really into just about every kind of technology but since I stopped working I mostly avoid it hence me knowing nothing about modern stuff like phones and even TV's :D I just can't be bothered with any of it now until I need something new :D
Click to expand...
Only you can decide what is acceptable sound so it will be a question of listening to some. If you are unfortunate to have a warranty issue my experience with JL and RS has gone smoothly. If you do have a local RS most have a viewing room which you can book - it's like a living room with a sofa ! - to test out various models to give you a better idea than the warehouse environment of e.g. Currys
 
woof woof said:
Sound isn't a big deal for me, as long as it's acceptable and loud enough that'll do. Downstairs we just have the TV but upstairs although it plugs into my hifi I never bother with it and actually I'd forgotten I'd plugged it into the hifi until now :D

I only buy from decent places, I wont be buying from anywhere that looks even remotely dodgy :D I do buy cheap stuff from ebay, Temu and even AliExpress but I'll be buying a TV from somewhere more ordinary, like Currys, AOL or Amazon :D

I used to be really into just about every kind of technology but since I stopped working I mostly avoid it hence me knowing nothing about modern stuff like phones and even TV's :D I just can't be bothered with any of it now until I need something new :D
Click to expand...

Do check out Richer Sounds as recommended earlier, based in Glasgow they are a great company to deal with.
 
Steep said:
Do check out Richer Sounds as recommended earlier, based in Glasgow they are a great company to deal with.
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Worth a mention that Richer Sounds give you a free 6 year extended warranty. Likewise John Lewis do a free 5 year extended warranty.

I’ve not had a lot of luck with Sony TVs and AV equipment in the past, but then everyone has a different experience or favourite brand . We’ve currently got a 5 year old LG OLED which is still superb, but I think it would be out of the OP’s ideal budget.
 
andya700 said:
We have had our LG plasma 50" since 2012 and it is an absolute pleasure, The picture is superb and coupled with a surround system the whole experience is cinema in the front room. I think the OP's "friendly repair man" may be a tad biased.
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Still using my Pioneer Kuro KRP-500M from 2009. Had it professionally calibrated when I got it and it is still a fabulous picture.

Does heat the room mind you ;)
 
I was going to post about the Richer Sounds and John Lewis extended warranties. I had an LED Sony and it went after nearly five years, but thankfully within the John Lewis warranty. They were going to exchange to the newest equivalent model, but I was able to add a bit to it and got a Sony OLED, which I have been very happy with so far. The contrast and 'pop' with OLED is amazing. And the tech has improved since I got mine.

The TV I got uses the screen as a speaker, and the sound is a lot better than the previous TV. A lot more bass.

It can be a minefield though with different companies better with different technologies, and in different price ranges. I would say choose a technology, set a budget, and see who is the best. And if possible, go to a shop try them out. If worried about longevity, buy from where they have a long warranty, but I would do that anyway. ;)
 
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Steep said:
Do check out Richer Sounds as recommended earlier, based in Glasgow they are a great company to deal with.
Click to expand...

There's one of these in Middlesbrough or at least there was last time I looked.
 
Spotted a JL truck with it's back open outside the local RS yesterday.
 
Just seen THIS - worth a look, Alan?
 
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