Best 32" for money? Bedroom TV

Retroman09

Retroman09

Retroman09

Associate
Joined
10 Feb 2009
Posts
107
Evening all,

Just wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of the best value 32" TV for a bedroom.

I've had an old samsung 32" smart for years but took it off wall during decoration over xmas only to get broken in to and the burgs knocked it over and stood on it. :mad:

Anyway seems that its pretty hard to get a decent 32" TV now. What would people recommend and equally would it be stupid to move up to a 40inch? Wondering if it would be ok on current wall fitting arm.

Any advice welcome :)
 
The bigger TV might well end up being the more sensible option. That's got a lot to do with the volumes of products made and how it affects costs, but there's also perceived value and the likely application for a TV.

The market for 32" screens is a bit depressing. It's no longer a size suitable for the average lounge, so it's relegated to the bedroom and the kitchen / dining room and conservatory etc. In general, people spend a lot less on TVs for those locations. Add on top of that that most people see TVs for sale while grocery shopping, and the supermarkets are very happy to sell tat just so long as they take someone else's market share, so the prices of the TVs they sell reflect the low-quality ambitions of the grocery chains to get people to impulse buy. As a result, people get to see cheap and crappy 32" TV prices as the norm, so there's little room in the consumer mind for a quality product at £300-£400 when an unknown brand at £129 seems to fit the bill. It's crap, but not enough people care.

With 40"~45", there are more people still using that as a lounge set, and you've got 4K UHD panels in this size which means there's a broader appeal.

What's your budget?
 
Retroman09 said:
So I'm thinking about 300-400 for the price point.

I had seen a Samsung one which looked like a decent option
Click to expand...

Samsung is a reasonably safe bet (safer than LG, IMO). I'd definitely buy though from somewhere that provides some additional warranty cover thrown in. Both Samsung and LG run their LED backlights quite hard to generate the screen brightness, and so these are showing up as a common mode failure. I'm not seeing the same issues with Sony or the genuine Panasonic models.

On paper, there's nothing much to differentiate the Samsung 43RU70102 (£299) from the 43RU7100 @ £320 aside from maybe a bit of styling and Alexa support. The picture quality id good for the money with Standard Dynamic Range material, but the sets don't have the extra light power or additional colour range to make HDR content pop off the screen. The viewing angles are said to be quite narrow too, so the colour saturation changes quite a bit when viewed even slightly off axis

The 43RU7410 @ £399 is a step up. The panel is capable of doing dithered 10bit colour, and that should make a bit of a difference when it comes to viewing UHD material with the bigger colour spectrum. The backlight is behind the screen rather than around the edge, and this gives the TV the ability to dim portions of the picture while other areas are bright (or so the spec claims). The panel brightness is still a bit limited though, and the viewing angles are narrow too. This means that there's not enough light power to make a noticeable difference when switching from SDR to HDR material, and the colour accuracy is only at its best for viewers sitting directly in the middle. Still, those niggles aside, it's a decent telly and IMO, if you can get by with the viewing angle and plan to watch a lot of streamed HDR content, then this is probably a top contender at £400 regardless of brand.

Looking at alternatives, Sony 4K UHD will take you well over your budget (KD43XG7003/7073 @ £480-£500), or you drop down to 1080p resolution with the 43WF663 @ £380. This one is a bit of a curious mix because although only 1080p resolution, it does claim to support HDR fir TV broadcast (HLG whenever we finally get it) and HDR10 which is for streaming and off-disc content from UHD BD players. The brightness is limited though, and that's down to price. However, the viewing angles are wider due to an IPS panel rather than the VA panels used in Samsung and Panasonic sets.

The LG 43UM7500 (£360) also uses a wide-viewing-angle IPS panel. It's backlit too but lacks a dimming feature. Being an IPS panel means the blacks aren't as deep as the VA panels in other brand sets, so viewing with a little room light on might be helpful. Tweaking the picture controls could help too both with the level of black and by not over-driving the backlights which are a bit of an Achilles heel in reliability-terms for LG at the moment.

The panel does do dithered 10bit colour, there's a better step up in brightness between SDR and HDR than the other models I've listed. Also, LG throws in a lot of toys with its tellies such as a satellite and cable tuner, Wi-Fi and what they refer to as their Smart Remote. (You can look that up for yourself)

The other two serious contender brands are Philips and Hisense. Both have limited HDR brightness (are you starting to see a pattern yet?) but reasonable to good SDR performance.
 
lucid said:
The market for 32" screens is a bit depressing.
Click to expand...

Oh please don't say that. I have a 32" Panasonic that's served me well for 7 years now. Because of the way my viewing room is set up I can't really buy a replacement telly that's bigger if & when this one packs up. :(
 
/\/\/\ that's for the USA/Canada, what about a UK version of that site? Wouldn't AV forums be of any help for getting advice for TV buying these days?
 
I'l eventually be looking for one myself ... don't watch enough bed tv (30-40mins max ... do people watch a full movie) or, want the intrusion of a bigger screen in the bedroom.

I'd be looking for an IPS panel unless you always sit up facing the tv square on, in bed .
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs/sony-kdl32we613-blk.html.

.... but I could get a non-smart, for £99 and re-use a roku box, or hdmi extender from the living room
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-TX-32E302B-Ready-32-Inch-Freeview/dp/B078W5HMJC
yes it maybe a vestel but for <half the price of the sony.

Ability for the tv to turn on automatically, to listen to the radio news in the morning would be good, like the current, old philips, offers.
 
Just popped into richer sounds the 40" Panasonic LCD looks good not too huge and should be light to fit onto wall.

Guy said 32" bargain basement type TV's probably right smaller size higher end sets rare as hens teeth
 
jpaul said:
I'l eventually be looking for one myself ... don't watch enough bed tv (30-40mins max ... do people watch a full movie) or, want the intrusion of a bigger screen in the bedroom.

I'd be looking for an IPS panel unless you always sit up facing the tv square on, in bed .
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs/sony-kdl32we613-blk.html.

.... but I could get a non-smart, for £99 and re-use a roku box, or hdmi extender from the living room
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-TX-32E302B-Ready-32-Inch-Freeview/dp/B078W5HMJC
yes it maybe a vestel but for <half the price of the sony.

Ability for the tv to turn on automatically, to listen to the radio news in the morning would be good, like the current, old philips, offers.
Click to expand...

In my bedroom I have a better setup than in most peoples living rooms.

I have an articulated wall mount so I can pull the tv several feet forwards, left, right, side to side, up and down.

It holds a 55" FALD Sony XF90. It's the biggest which will fit inbetween the 2 doors (one to the hallway and the other going to the en suite). I could change the room layout to accomodate a bigger TV but I find at this distance 55" is fine anyway.

Underneath it I have a Yamaha YSP 2700 which IMO is one of the best soundbars I have ever heard. In fact scratch that it's one of the best home cinema systems I have ever heard. The subwoofer is wireless and is in the corner of the bedroom on the opposite side.

For me personally i don't watch much tv at all. Say work 8am-6pm when you account for commute, etc. Gym til 7:30PM. Dinner til 8PM. Maybe get a game or two of CSGO til 10/11 PM. Then jump into bed and watch an episode or two whilst dozing off.

My top of the range LG and Yamaha ATMOS AVR currently with a full 5.1 system (which includes floorstanders with big woofers and a BK XXLS400) downstairs is wasted unless it's the weekend or I am entertaining.

For me bedroom tv > living room. I maybe watch maximum 2-4 hours of tv in the living room per month. I do that in a single night in the bedroom.
 
@ OP As I said to many, it only looks big for a week or two then you wish you went bigger (I know some may be limited by a recess or such/cabinet).

My mothers 32" (living room) died and I got her a 43" and she said that not going to fit, but now its just normal to her and no matter what size she is that far from it she cannot benefit from HD.

The bedroom is same model as the dead 32" and both have been fixed by myself many times (same as living room one) but when it finally goes it will be another 43" for her.
 
Last edited:
obvious corollary ... how do people position themselves in bed to comfortably watch tv, over a longer period ?
... must be sitting up with back against headboard, otherwise pillow(s) just rick your neck ... but sitting up is just/more comfortable on a sofa(s) in the living room.

hotel rooms, fine, you just lounge on the bed, because there's no sofa - in the types of hotel i frequent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom