Smart tv

[Benchwayze]

I've had my Panasonic for 12 years. It's not a 'Smartie' but has never given me any problems. It's wall mounted and it serves me for now. I don't watch any live TV and confine myself to Amazon Prime via a Firestick and of course my own DVDs. Suits me. Cancelled my licence with the Beeb.

John

 

[selectortone]

OLED is susceptible to screen burn, something to watch out for if you watch the same channels for long periods.

Internet myth.

They used to say the same thing about Panasonic plasma TVs. I bought one of the earliest 42" Panny plasmas, it's nearly 20 years old now and still doing sterling service up in the bedroom. Not a hint of the dreaded burn.

I have an LG OLED computer monitor that often sits with the same screen on, also not a hint of burn. Superb screen.

I would recommend OLED, the best deepest black, best contrast and all round best affordable screen technology right now. (Writing this on a wafer thin Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e tablet with the most gorgeous AMOLED screen which for this old pensioner, who used to fix old valve CRT TVs for a living, is the most astonishing technology - out of a sci-fi movie...)

Just because it says it on the internet doesn't necessarily mean it's true.

 

[devonwoody]

I had to purchase a new 40" tv a couple of months ago for my windows 10 to use as the monitor, it cost me new £204 and it works perfectly OK. If I had wanted it to be a smart TV model it was an extra £11 but There was a 6 week delivery wait for that model. The maker was Cello at Amazon, so £215 from Amazon and if you have Prime account no delivery charge mazon return if not satisfied.

 

[lurker]

Pressed the button.
If there’s any one close enough to collect, who wants a 32” telly I have two going for free.

 

[Rorschach]

Internet myth.

They used to say the same thing about Panasonic plasma TVs. I bought one of the earliest 42" Panny plasmas, it's nearly 20 years old now and still doing sterling service up in the bedroom. Not a hint of the dreaded burn.

I have an LG OLED computer monitor that often sits with the same screen on, also not a hint of burn. Superb screen.

I would recommend OLED, the best deepest black, best contrast and all round best affordable screen technology right now. (Writing this on a wafer thin Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e tablet with the most gorgeous AMOLED screen which for this old pensioner, who used to fix old valve CRT TVs for a living, is the most astonishing technology - out of a sci-fi movie...)

Just because it says it on the internet doesn't necessarily mean it's true.

Your experience is fine, but there is plenty of evidence that screen burn can/will happen with OLED. Just because something on the internet doesn't mean it's right, but just because you say it's wrong doesn't mean it's wrong

My experience with Plasma was very different to yours, we had very bad screen burn on our second hand TV that took months to get rid of. So who is right there?

I never said it WOULD happen, just that it can happen and something to bear in mind.

 

[ScaredyCat]

Find the dumbest large screen TV you can/want.

Buy a Roku or similar to turn it into a 'smart tv'.

The likelihood of your tv getting updates is slim, but also bear in mind some tv's were cause sending data on viewing habits back.

At least with a smart box added to it you can upgrade that as and when needed for less money. You'll also be more able to move that box to a better position for receiving a wifi signal rather than either suffering from a poor signal to the tv or trying to reposition your tv for a better one.

 

[Spectric]

Hi

No one can really tell you what Tv to buy because you must see them working and compare the images, I think it is easier now because the plasma tv's are gone and go to a smaller more independant shop because they will be more helpful. When I brought my last Tv the guy moved Tv's around so I could compare and spent must have been over an hour with me. My purchase then was a 3D Panosonic plasma because nothing else in the shop came close.

 

[artie]

Cancelled my licence with the Beeb.

John

Seems to be the trend.

 

[Benchwayze]

Yes. It was painless too.

John

 

[Rorschach]

BBC seem to be haemorrhaging license fee payers. I haven't had for almost 15 years, not missed it.
They would lose a lot more if they didn't have such a successful fear campaign going with their "detector vans" and other such nonsense.

 

[NormanB]

Find the dumbest large screen TV you can/want.

Buy a Roku or similar to turn it into a 'smart tv'.

The likelihood of your tv getting updates is slim, but also bear in mind some tv's were cause sending data on viewing habits back.

At least with a smart box added to it you can upgrade that as and when needed for less money. You'll also be more able to move that box to a better position for receiving a wifi signal rather than either suffering from a poor signal to the tv or trying to reposition your tv for a better one.

Good advice. The smartest of smart TVs is only smart for the first couple of years after that the app support falls off and then they become dumber and eventually dumb. All the TV manufacturers warn you of this in their T&Cs but who reads them? Firestick or Roki is the best smart solution.

 

[NormanB]

Samsung ’The Frame’ while not the very best available in picture quality is a great looking telly and the ability to display art combined with the flat to the wall installation and neat cabling arrangement is compelling if you appreciate that sort of guff. It’s on Black Friday offer at JL at the mo saving a couple of hundred:

Samsung The Frame (2020) QLED Art Mode TV with No-Gap Wall Mount, 65 inch at John Lewis & Partners

Buy Samsung The Frame (2020) QLED Art Mode TV with No-Gap Wall Mount, 65 inch from our View All TVs range at John Lewis & Partners. Free Delivery on orders over £50.

www.johnlewis.com

 

[RogerS]

Even if you get a smart TV, can you retrofit a Roki later on ?

 

[Rorschach]

FWIW we have a non-smart TV and a Chromecast. Works very well, we can stream anything we like from phone/tablet/laptop and it was very cheap (£20).

 

[Blister]

LG every time for me , I have a 55" 1080p full HD and it's very good , Natural sking tones and real colours
I did look at a new OLED but the screen looked odd ? as if everything had a chrome ting to it
I asked the shop assistant for the remote so I could fiddle with the screen colours and set up and the answer was NO Sir sorry you can't do that , I left with £1K in my pocket , The only reason I would change my current 12 year old TV is when it goes BANG !!!!

 

[NikNak]

We've gota top of the range 58" Panasonic in the lounge that does Freeview & Freesat, it magically turns ANY tv program into 3, but its not a 3D tv But its awesome. From Richer Sounds (they give 6yr warranties)

We have a 4K Hisense 43" in the bedroom. Cheap as chips from Argos. And we have a 4K Hisense 55" in the kitchen/diner that has Dolby Atmos sound, its one of those ultra thin ones, again from Argos.

The picture quality on all 3 is/are(?) amazing. The only thing i would say is the software is a bit 'laggy' (slow) on the Hisense.

 

[ScaredyCat]

Even if you get a smart TV, can you retrofit a Roki later on ?

Yes you can. Roku are just another HDMI input device (like a dvd player) that happens to stream video. Anyone with a now tv box add on is actually using a rebadged Roku,

Their offerings are here : Roku

 

[RogerS]

Yes you can. Roku are just another HDMI input device (like a dvd player) that happens to stream video. Anyone with a now tv box add on is actually using a rebadged Roku,

Their offerings are here : Roku

Thanks SC.

Supplementary question, if I may. Is Roku better than Chromecast or effectively the same ? I do have a Chromecast but it's a bit of a faff to feed as the computer is elsewhere.

I've also got a Google Home somewhere or other in a cardboard box. But I don't think that is the same sort of thing.

I miss 405 line monochrome

 

[ScaredyCat]

Chromecast works because your phone/table/pc sends it a link which it then loads. Great for stuff you can get to via a link. Sadly not everything can be accessed like that and, as you say, it's not always convenient to control it.

Roku boxes are much, much better IMO. You can get all your streaming services, eg Amazon Prime, Disney+ along with Iplayer or youtube or loads of other free services. If you have a Plex install you can access content from that too. Controlled via a remote control (included) your phone, via an app, or any 3rd party controller that can talk to the api (eg Home Assistant) - You can also cast to a Roku if you want

Google home is the Google equivalent of Amazon Alexa - you are right, different thing.

405 line? Couldn't you cook your dinner with it whist watching it? or would it cook you?

 

[RogerS]

...

405 line? Couldn't you cook your dinner with it whist watching it? or would it cook you?

LOL...no, you cooked your dinner while waiting for the TV to warm up