50" TV for £350-400

Gray2233 · 20 Oct 2020 at 10:00

Hey guys,

I've been tasked with looking for a TV on behalf of a family member, it's for a young lad to go with his PS5 come Christmas and the main criteria is size before all else. I realise they'd be better off spending more on a better TV or the same on a smaller TV but unfortunately £350-400 is what I have to work with, and the cheaper the better unless I can qualify the top end of the budget.

I expect TV's at that size and price range are all much the same, I've been eyeing up a Hisense model via Richer Sounds in large due to the warranty rather than anything else.

I'd be open to advice as this is far from my area of expertise.

Thanks in advance for any help!

snips86x · 20 Oct 2020 at 10:01

Hisense are worth a shot, they look very well reviewed and performance is pretty good.

Gray2233 · 20 Oct 2020 at 10:11

The Hisense model I was looking at last night seems to have disappeared from the shop! lol...

There's another at £379, but then there's Philips and Samsung models for £399 which I expect might be better.

There is a Toshiba for £329 which meets the low cost requirement, but from what I understand Toshiba has went down hill.

I'm leaning towards discounting the Hisense and recommending the Samsung, but mentioning the Toshiba as the budget option. I'm a bit lost though so as mentioned any insight on these would be great!

The only real reason I'm focusing on Richer Sounds is for the aforementioned warranty, I did find a really cheap 'Veltech' on AO but I suspect buying a cheap modern TV with a one year warranty is a bad idea.

SoliD · 20 Oct 2020 at 10:11

Earlier in lockdwon I started looking at this sort of range as something for the office and went with the newly released Hisense running Roku which I use elsewhere in the house for £299, it's been great as a cheap TV to have on in the background.

lucid · 20 Oct 2020 at 16:56

As general brand advice rather than nitpicking the individual models nd their respective specifications:

Toshiba - bottom-end brand equivalent to Bush / Alba.

Philips & Hisense - good prices and specs for the money. Good panels on the Philips. Absolute levels of brightness on both Philips and Hisense limited by the price, same as LG and Samsung.

Entry-level Samsung - should have a decent panel but the backlighting could be a weakness. Starting to look a bit underspec'ed against Hisense/Philips.

Whichever TV offers you (or he) gaming mode is going to have an advantage in terms of lower lag for FPS games.

Motion processing for watching online streamed content could be an advantage with Philips.

Look at viewing angles off axis. Some panels do better than others.

The smart features of any set will be eclipsed by the abilities of the console or a £40 4K Firestick.

Gray2233 · 20 Oct 2020 at 16:59

lucid said:
As general brand advice rather than nitpicking the individual models nd their respective specifications:

Toshiba - bottom-end brand equivalent to Bush / Alba.

Philips & Hisense - good prices and specs for the money. Good panels on the Philips. Absolute levels of brightness on both Philips and Hisense limited by the price, same as LG and Samsung.

Entry-level Samsung - should have a decent panel but the backlighting could be a weakness. Starting to look a bit underspec'ed against Hisense/Philips.

Whichever TV offers you (or he) gaming mode is going to have an advantage in terms of lower lag for FPS games.

Motion processing for watching online streamed content could be an advantage with Philips.

Look at viewing angles off axis. Some panels do better than others.

The smart features of any set will be eclipsed by the abilities of the console or a £40 4K Firestick.

Thanks for this.

After looking into it a bit more I'm starting to think the Philips model above might be the best bang for the buck.

Smart features and viewing angles shouldn't be a problem, it'll be in his bedroom directly in front of his bed (aka where he'll be sat) and he'll be using it with his PS5 which should cover any media viewing and the like.

Psycho Sonny · 22 Oct 2020 at 19:50

Gray2233 said:
Thanks for this.

After looking into it a bit more I'm starting to think the Philips model above might be the best bang for the buck.

Smart features and viewing angles shouldn't be a problem, it'll be in his bedroom directly in front of his bed (aka where he'll be sat) and he'll be using it with his PS5 which should cover any media viewing and the like.

Better off getting a 43" tu8000

Rtings says it's the best budget gaming TV to buy in the UK.

They do a 50" version too or 55" if you can afford it

Gray2233 · 22 Oct 2020 at 20:05

Psycho Sonny said:
Better off getting a 43" tu8000

Rtings says it's the best budget gaming TV to buy in the UK.

They do a 50" version too or 55" if you can afford it

Already mentioned above, it isn't for me and size is the most important factor for them unfortunately.

I'll take a look at the tu8000, thanks.

Psycho Sonny · 22 Oct 2020 at 20:39

Gray2233 said:
Already mentioned above, it isn't for me and size is the most important factor for them unfortunately.

I'll take a look at the tu8000, thanks.

Just let them buy cheap crap then.

Hisense have horrible colour processing issues on the models we get here in the UK.

If you want cheap and decent then lg or Samsung.

Avoid hisense and Phillips.