Help me buy a TV

ganesh · 12 Apr 2016 at 18:55

Hello chaps,

Our current tv has just died and gone to heaven. And so we need to order a new one, I know very little about the current market and what is best so could really do with some good advice. Nothing too gigantic as our lounge is pretty small, our current one is 37 inches but measures 43 inches with the bezel.

Budget - £300-350 max.
Size - About 48-50 inch max.
And it will be mounted on a table not a wall.

Any help is very much appreciated.

Sin_Chase · 13 Apr 2016 at 00:17

What are your requirements beyond size and price?

What tuners do you require? Do you need 3D? Smart TV functions? PVR? 4k?

You are looking at bottom of the range sets in the 48-50inch bracket with a £300 to £350 budget. Plus you will need to budget for wall mounting kit and fixtures on top of the TV price (unless you already have compatible VESA mounts in place)

Personally, you need to up your budget a bit, or settle for a pretty budget panel/smaller size.

For 48" I whittled my choices down to 2 sets:
Sony KDL-48W705C which can be had for around £449
Samsung UE48H6400 which can be had for around £460

I ended up getting the H6400 Samsung.

You can get the 40" Samsung H6400 model for around £375 or the Sony 705C 40" for around £359.

Another set worth considering is the Panasonic TX-40CS520B or the 50" version (TX-50CS520B). They are priced at around £329 for the 40" and £449 for the 50". The 40" is a pretty good deal if you want a no thrills, no 3D etc panel.

These are 2014 1080p sets, hence the huge discounts on original RRPs.

ganesh · 13 Apr 2016 at 12:59

Sin_Chase said:
What are your requirements beyond size and price?

What tuners do you require? Do you need 3D? Smart TV functions? PVR? 4k?

You are looking at bottom of the range sets in the 48-50inch bracket with a £300 to £350 budget. Plus you will need to budget for wall mounting kit and fixtures on top of the TV price (unless you already have compatible VESA mounts in place)

Personally, you need to up your budget a bit, or settle for a pretty budget panel/smaller size.

For 48" I whittled my choices down to 2 sets:
Sony KDL-48W705C which can be had for around £449
Samsung UE48H6400 which can be had for around £460

I ended up getting the H6400 Samsung.

You can get the 40" Samsung H6400 model for around £375 or the Sony 705C 40" for around £359.

Another set worth considering is the Panasonic TX-40CS520B or the 50" version (TX-50CS520B). They are priced at around £329 for the 40" and £449 for the 50". The 40" is a pretty good deal if you want a no thrills, no 3D etc panel.

These are 2014 1080p sets, hence the huge discounts on original RRPs.

Thanks for your reply.

Our requirements are fairly simple, no 3D, PVR or 4k and smart functions may be nice but i'm not sure how much they'd be used. And it will be table mounted, not on the wall.

Currently we only use the TV to plug a kodi box & PS3 into, we don't have a tv licence so don't even watch freeview.

Of the two TVs you have mentioned, how would they compare to something like this - http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2629881.htm

Is that likely to be cheap rubbish compared?

nicknack35 · 13 Apr 2016 at 16:40

Id keep away from anything with that sort of price for a 50" i got the Samsung H6400 got both the 48" and 40" Really are excellent sets for the price. Even though they are 3D you don't have to use 3D we don't use it much but it does add better clarity when watching 2D Its suppose to better Having 3D when watching 1080p movies. Not sure why but been told by a few people it does make a difference

darreny · 13 Apr 2016 at 17:13

Maybe need better brightness and clarity to counter the glasses being dark

Sin_Chase · 13 Apr 2016 at 22:55

Hitachi get's rave reviews on the Argos site, which it would do. The only independent non buyer review I can find is on What HiFi:

http://www.whathifi.com/hitachi/50hyt62u/review

Basically:

+ It's big and cheap
- Everything else

As for comparison to a Samsung H6400, there is no comparison to be had. The Hitachi is a 50Hz panel which appears to over process and create a sharp but artificial picture and has shocking sound (even for a thin LED backlit panel)

If size above everything else is what you want, go for it. But I personally would lower the size and get a better panel. The H6400 is one of the best value sets around at the moment for size/features/quality.

Psycho Sonny · 14 Apr 2016 at 00:17

ganesh said:
I know very little about the current market and what is best

Budget - £300-350 max.
Size - About 48-50 inch max.

Well £300 for a 50 inch tv will only get you some crap no name panel with very low specs. It's possible but quality will be akin to say a corsa.

To buy something good lets say BMW 5 series quality and 50" you will need to realistically double your budget.

If you want to buy top of the range like Rolls Royce like an OLED you will need to at least quadruple that budget.

Are you happy with corsa quality? Then get yourself to whatever supermarket sells 50" polaroid tv's for £300.

If you want better then add a couple of hundred at least to the budget and get the H6400 or W805/W807 Sony

xb8browney · 14 Apr 2016 at 00:21

I'd add another £100 and get an older UE48H6400.

jpaul · 14 Apr 2016 at 11:17

Take a look at panasonic outlet on bay TX-50CS520B(non vestel) £379,
they are marked refurbished but et60 one I had a year back, had no marks
.. and you have 1year guarantee

ganesh · 14 Apr 2016 at 12:45

xb8browney said:
I'd add another £100 and get an older UE48H6400.

And last night this is exactly what we did! I told my fiancé that another £100 would get us something much better and showed her the Samsung, the local currys had one in stock and within 30 minutes we were back at home with a new tv. And damn does it look good, much, much higher quality picture than our old Samsung LCD.

Thanks for the help everyone!