Televisions

Do you have a local independent store ?
I read loads of reviews when I bought mine a few years ago, then went into my local place that I have been using for 10 years and think highly of.
Within seconds the salesman asked if I'd been readying reviews given the models I had mentioned.
He pointed me towards a less well reviewed Sony and explained that they had sold loads of the well reviewed TV's and had loads of problems. However, the one he was recommending had had no problems. He also rated it highly, saying that away from a shop display, with settings back to normal it was nicer to watch.
I took his word, and when it was delivered the guys both said the same thing and that they owned the same as me.
Obviously we've had no problems, but the point being that a local independent only stays in business if they offer good advice and service as they don't have the same buying power as large chains. Amazingly they also price matched.
I'm in Cornwall, and these are the people - https://www.hbh-woolacotts.co.uk/
I doubt they ship outside the county but it might be worth asking.
 
stevewestern said:
Do you have a local independent store ?
I read loads of reviews when I bought mine a few years ago, then went into my local place that I have been using for 10 years and think highly of.
Within seconds the salesman asked if I'd been readying reviews given the models I had mentioned.
He pointed me towards a less well reviewed Sony and explained that they had sold loads of the well reviewed TV's and had loads of problems. However, the one he was recommending had had no problems. He also rated it highly, saying that away from a shop display, with settings back to normal it was nicer to watch.
I took his word, and when it was delivered the guys both said the same thing and that they owned the same as me.
Obviously we've had no problems, but the point being that a local independent only stays in business if they offer good advice and service as they don't have the same buying power as large chains. Amazingly they also price matched.
I'm in Cornwall, and these are the people - https://www.hbh-woolacotts.co.uk/
I doubt they ship outside the county but it might be worth asking.
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Thanks Steve. I don't know of any local independents (Woolacotts don't deliver outside of Devon/Cornwall and I'm nowhere near)

TBH, I'll probably go with ao.com as I love the service I get from them.
 
I got mine from Richer Sounds - great service and advice, tend to have a mix including 'last years models'. Got a samsung from there and very happy.
 
I'd recommend Richer Sounds. Most TVs come with a 6 year warranty as standard. Also the store employees actually have a clue about what they're selling. They also do online sales.

I'd think you'd need to go for a brand with a reasonable reputation. LG are ropey now so I'd avoid them. I'd think Samsung or Panasonic are both safe bets still.
 
Whatever you buy, get it from Richer Sounds or John Lewis as you’ll get a free extended 5 or 6 year warranty.

Don’t agree on LG being “ropey”… we got an LG Oled last year and it’s a fantastic tv.
 
Another + for Richer Sounds from me
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
When did that happen?
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Recently. There seems to have been a spate of just outside of normal warranty failures and LG have been useless. Friends had the wifi pack up on the TV and LG wouldn't help at all. It was a really expensive one so they were cheesed off. Me telling them they should have bought it from Richer Sounds didn't help... Back light failures seem common as well.

I have an LG and it's been fine apart from weird software issues. It often turns itself back on after I've turned it off. Didn't do that until the most recent LG TV update. Some of the software is definitely not quite all there.
 
We have a 5 year old Panasonic smart TV bought from John Lewis with a 5 year warranty.
Bought it home, plugged it in to the virgin box , connected a powerline adapter it tuned itself in and its never missed a beat since.
 
Atm we have a 43" LG, bought about 6 years back and it's never given any trouble. If I was buying a new one I'd look at their range. Have had a couple Samsung [still using a Sammy soundbar that's about 10 years old] Had a 32" for many years, upgraded to a 40 and gave the 32 to a friend. He's still using that one, it must be 16yrs old now! The 40" unfortunately gave up after 3 years, the screen just failed for whatever reasons - hence why I went LG last time out. But as I say the samsung sound bar is still going, still producing great sound. The only reason for us to upgrade would be for a larger screen or more advanced features [the current LG only has one HDMI input for example so I have to use a splitter]
 
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I have An LG bought when we lived in Eire approx15 years old now
Still ok
 
I'd say go for a Samsung but I am biased as I like / use a few of their products.
I've never bought a TV from Richersounds but I've bought DVD players, audio amp and speakers from them in the past.
They will set up kit in a test room for you to try and I've always found the staff very knowledgeable.
I would also suggest LG but one person I know who had one that failed after 13 months and LG wouldn't do anything and another person I know who had one had a fault where it gave a blue tint to the screen.
 
Marc said:
it was purely regarding brands, Hisense in particular.
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I'd never heard of them TBH.
But a quick google revels that they have some in stock at curry's PC world over here if you fancy a mooch before buying.
( assuming they are on display of course )
 
We had 2x Panasonic 42" Plasma TVs for about 10 years but switched to a Sony 55" LCD 2 years ago. It came with a 5 year warranty, I wouldn't buy a TV without at least 5 years warranty on it. The only issue I have with it is when viewing images from a USB device they always display in chonological order, newest first & there is no way to change it short of removing all the EXIF data and renaming the files in ascending sequence.
 
troutfisher said:
We have a 5 year old Panasonic smart TV bought from John Lewis with a 5 year warranty.
Bought it home, plugged it in to the virgin box , connected a powerline adapter it tuned itself in and its never missed a beat since.
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I've had 3 panasonics including my current one.
Never had a breakdown....
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
I've had 3 panasonics including my current one.
Never had a breakdown....
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Our 2 Panasonic Plasma sets both failed after the 5 year warranty expired, we lost half the screen on one and the second one wouldn't turn on. Good excuse to buy a new one.......
 
Does anyone make a decent non-smart TV? All I want is a good screen with DVB tuner. The apps for smart tv's always seem to stop being supported after a couple of years meandering them dumb and needing to rely on plug in steaming devices.
 
FWIW we have a Panasonic 42" Plasma too.....I won't tempt fate but is >10 years old ~ fingers crossed it does what does for many more years.

It has a FireStick attached, a DVR that has the Freeview HD Channels on it and a sVHS box that I cannot recall when I last fed it a VHS cassette.

The DVR is the box I am concerned about as that I think is approx 15yo and every once is while throws a wobbly. It has recordings on it that I would like to keep but no obvious way to transfer and/or play>record to another device :thinking:

Oh, we also have a 21" Samsung Freeview TV upstairs and that has been fine. None too sure but at least 8yo ?
 
Marc, might be worth digging through Hisense - Wikipedia to see if you can discover who makes HiSense TVs at the moment.

Dave, Mrs Nod recently bought a Panasonic 32" dumb TV (from Richer sounds) and is very pleased with it. Uses it purely as a larger monitor panel to keep an eye on her Zooming students, connected to her laptop.
 
I expect there is little difference between the major brands. Visit a local store if possible to see if you like the picture quality etc. I would not touch Hisence or LG but that is just me.

Our Panasonic plasma is still going strong after 15 years, now with my mother. Not sure anyone still makes plasma.

A bit like choosing between cameras.
 
Brentor said:
I expect there is little difference between the major brands.
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You'd be surprised, Samsung use to supply the likes of Sony with display panels.
 
Not sure how many manufacturers actually manufacture panels these days. Possibly only 3 or 4 who supply all the other badges (who might make their own tuners etc. but probably buy them in too!)
 
The last large screen TV we bought is an LG and I'm not too happy with it. One problem is that it's very slow to respond to any input from the remote for several minutes when powering on and a rather more serious issue is that the screen is showing splodges that our significantly older Samsungs still aren't showing.
 
Nod said:
Not sure how many manufacturers actually manufacture panels these days. Possibly only 3 or 4 who supply all the other badges (who might make their own tuners etc. but probably buy them in too!)
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I think Sony and Samsung share a lot of the main components.
 
Bought our Samsung Smart TV from John Lewis and took it home the same day.
My daughter bought her Samsung there too, that was delivered on time the day they stated.

So two votes for JL there, branch we got ours from has now unfortunately closed (Peterborough)

They had a decent display of TV's, to our eyes the Samsung had the best picture.
LG was the other make well represented, wasn't so keen on them.
 
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Brentor said:
I expect there is little difference between the major brands. Visit a local store if possible to see if you like the picture quality etc. I would not touch Hisence or LG but that is just me.

Our Panasonic plasma is still going strong after 15 years, now with my mother. Not sure anyone still makes plasma.

A bit like choosing between cameras.
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Plasmas are long gone, replaced by OLEDs nowadays. They used too much power and were rather prone to screen burn. The Panasonic ones pop up regularly s/h on the AV forums classifieds though, still in demand due to the decent picture quality I guess.

HiSense get good reviews but I think there must be some corner cutting going on as they’re so cheap in comparison to the other big brands.
 
It's definitely worth checking out TV's in person, I load a USB stick with some downloaded high quality trailers to provide consistency when testing each brand and model. They all have their own software algorithms etc so you might find that despite similar specs the actual visual quality and style can be very different.

Also, it's worth checking out their menus etc to make sure you get on with it.

EDIT: we've got a Panasonic because I like the "film like" processing, similar to Sony which I initially bought but had to return because the Android OS was buggy and kept restarting the TV.
 
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A lot will depend on your budget and requirements too, but I've been a strong fan of Sony for a while - my last three TVs have all been from them and owned for several years before selling and upgrading to something newer (currently have a 55XH9005 as I have a PS5). However, the XH9505 range is their top non OLED TV and the 55" is available on AO for £949.

I don't have any experience with OLEDs but if your budget stretches (alongside your usage requirements) then I'd go for one of them, either a Sony or an LG.
 
I have a 58" Samsung purchased from John Lewis 5 years ago, and a 62" Samsung purchased from Richer sounds 2 years ago. No problems so far. I actually gave my 42" Panasonic plasma to a young couple just starting up. They still have it and it must be 20 years old now.

Personally I would go to John Lewis or Richer sounds and just buy what you fancy. Like monitors its very much subjective.

As for Currys/PC world I've had too many bad experiences and excuses from them, and by the time they add your extended warranty your better of going to one of my previously mentioned shops who don't argue.
 
gman said:
Also, it's worth checking out their menus etc to make sure you get on with it.
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We bought our current LG 15 years ago and haven't looked at the menus since lol
ChrisH said:
Personally I would go to John Lewis or Richer sounds and just buy what you fancy.
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Which is exactly what we did today and bought this from John Lewis. Being delivered Thursday.

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213775271_847184942889662_1541049389905756018_n.jpg
 
One thing I miss is being able to stand something on top of the telly. Something interesting on top can at least take my mind off the rubbish that's all too often on the screen.
 
gman said:
Sorry, I meant the Smart menu, although I never use mine and just use the BT box menu instead.
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We have va Sky Q box so probably won't use the smart menu either.
gman said:
Congrats on new TV.
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We've got a new TV unit on order so the new TV won't be set up until that arrives. It's going bto sit in its box in the corner of the lounge tormenting me for about a week! :lol:
 
I'd always go for Richer Sounds over JL. Mainly because last time the 2 were in direct competition, RS had the item in stock at £50 less than JL. Went to JL to see what they could do to beat RS and was met with a shrug and the information that it wasn't in stock and I'd have to pay for click and collect. Not only that, they wouldn't match the RS price.
 
Nod said:
I'd always go for Richer Sounds over JL. Mainly because last time the 2 were in direct competition, RS had the item in stock at £50 less than JL. Went to JL to see what they could do to beat RS and was met with a shrug and the information that it wasn't in stock and I'd have to pay for click and collect. Not only that, they wouldn't match the RS price.
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Well the deed is done now but I just hadv a look at RS and the same model is the same price although I notice the RS give a 6 year warranty.

I'm surprised that JL wouldn't price match given they are "never knowingly undersold". Maybe it depends who you speak to. but, if you'd pushed it, you probably would've got a different result.
 
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