Time to replace the TV/AV systems

[RogerS]

I know that there are some AV experts on here and I'd welcome some guidance, please. And apologies for so many questions....bit of a vertical learning curve going on here.

Our plasma screen has done sterling service for the last 20+ years but it is old technology. Analogue TV signal and SCART. Our house is SCART 'heaven'. Several PVRs - his'n'hers - and a lot of switch boxes. Hers is a TiVo which requires its own separate FreeView receiver but she loves it. Latest addition is a Humax YouView PVR. The aerial feed daisy-chains between them all. A real hotch-potch. So....

...we're relocating and where we are going has a small satellite dish discretely mounted near the ground. It has no Freeview aerial and TBH mounting one would be totally wrong for the building.

1) But you can't daisy-chain the satellite feed..that much I've worked out. I'm guessing that no-one has made a satellite to Freeview digital converter?

2) So I think I need an LNB with lots of outputs...but how many can one have? With satellite stuff is it a question of 'x' devices and then you need to install another dish ?

3) Stacker/destackers ? Do they help? As far as I can see, I think that all they do is minimise the number of cables between LNB and the other stuff...is that right?

As far as a new TV goes, I'm thinking to go upmarket as far as possible Ultra HDR (not interested in curved screens or 3D). LG seems to get good reviews.
but then you read that the OLEDE6 series has 'better audio' than the OLEDB6 series but damned if I can find out what the reviewers mean by 'better audio'.

Thinking about audio, the equally elderly 5.1 system has been coaxed along the way by buying used ones off eBay and cannibalising them for parts. But the DVD has finally died and we watch the odd DVD with a standalone player. The sound is stereo and TBH the type of films that we watch, 5.1 rarely seemed to offer much. So I'm thinking of forgetting 5.1 and getting a TV with a decent sound bar/woofer fed from the TV. Does that make sense ?

And given the potential complexity, does it make sense to buy the TV and Ultra HDR player from the same manufacturer ?

Many, many thanks in advance.

I do appreciate that I asked a similar question about a year ago here ! One of the very valid reasons re not going 4K was the lack of source material but I'm looking towards the future as this will be the last system we'll buy.

 

[woodpig]

Just a small point but our TV Aerial is mounted inside the loft, as it was in our last house. :wink:

 

[RogerS]

Just a small point but our TV Aerial is mounted inside the loft, as it was in our last house. :wink:

Oooh...that's a good idea. Mind you it will depend on the signal strength available.

I also had one thought to preserve SWMB's beloved TiVo and that would be simply to get a FreeSat receiver - assuming that the TiVo remote can be configured to control it AND that the TV has a SCART connector. But a quick Google suggests that only Sony TVs maintain the SCART legacy.

Thinks....no SCART also means that we won't be able to watch any programmes recorded on the old PVRs.

 

[Racers]

We have a scart on out Samsung its only a few years old (probably a life time in TV years) and it has Freesat HD built in.

We just have out TV connected to the HiFi and it sounds wonderful.

Pete

 

[bugbear]

Just a small point but our TV Aerial is mounted inside the loft, as it was in our last house. :wink:

Oooh...that's a good idea. Mind you it will depend on the signal strength available.

I also had one thought to preserve SWMB's beloved TiVo and that would be simply to get a FreeSat receiver - assuming that the TiVo remote can be configured to control it AND that the TV has a SCART connector. But a quick Google suggests that only Sony TVs maintain the SCART legacy.

Thinks....no SCART also means that we won't be able to watch any programmes recorded on the old PVRs.

If your goal is a AV system that is hi resolution in both space (4K) and colour depth (HDR), your old PVR's (indeed SCART itself) cannot be part of the system in any case.

BugBear

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - I recently upgraded our telly. I have been impressed by how small and effective Freeview antennas can now be, so my advice would be to not discount that option until you've seen what's available/possible now. I have one of these: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/one-for-all-s ... rial-n92nx

http://www.oneforall.co.uk/digital-aeri ... erial.html or
http://www.oneforall.co.uk/digital-aeri ... erial.html

and I'd be happy to have it on an external wall (and I'm fussy!). Cheers, W2S

 

[No skills]

Maplin do a scart to hdmi output converter, never tried one myself so can't vouch for them but it may allow some of the old tech to connect to the new TV.

 

[No skills]

5.1 and better systems are nice (we have one) but really they're not used 99% of the time. I will buy a good sound bar when we update our tv.

Jmo

 

[nev]

Audio: very few if any flat screens have decent audio. The thinner the screen the worse it gets. (physics - speakers need to move air)
solution: Soundbase, soundbar or amp and speakers (2 channel, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1,9.1 etc).

Multiple feeds from dish:
Quad LNB's have ..er 4 outputs. Most twin tuner freesat/sky boxes etc use two feeds. Your new tv could also be freesat or freeview. If freesat tv will need a feed.

Theres also an Octo LNB https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/dp/9792365206

If you want more you can use a Multiswitch.

Scart to hdmi converters are available http://www.js-technology.com/store/prod ... product=52 etc

And given the potential complexity, does it make sense to buy the TV and Ultra HDR player from the same manufacturer

The only possible advantage would be cutting down on remote controls as one will normally do the two items. connection wise it will just be 1 hdmi cable regardless of make.

Another thing that may influence your choice of TV , some also have twin tuners and the ability to pause live tv, Youview built in and also the ability to record to an external HDD which may make one of your existing boxes redundant.

Never buy any tv without test watching the picture format you watch most of the time. Fed from hi definition feed in the shop all will look wonderful, switch to its built in tuner and some are abysmal.

 

[woodpig]

It's nice to have high spec picture and sound but there doesn't seem an awful lot broadcast here in the UK to make use of it. I hear they've started limited 8K broadcasts in Japan. :shock:

Most TV's come with either Freeview or Freesat built in so bear that in mind when you choose a replacement TV.

I didn't like the sound bar I bought for my new TV so I swapped it for a sound box (Panasonic) and I'm well pleased with it.

 

[RogerP]

It's nice to have high spec picture and sound but there doesn't seem an awful lot broadcast here in the UK to make use of it. .......

That's what I was about to say. I struggle to find anything on TV worth keeping me from the workshop

I just have an ordinary Sony flat screen TV on Virgin cable (and a freeview aerial as a backup) with the sound hooked into my "Hi Fi" preamp, amp and speakers.

Looks okay to me and sounds great.

 

[DiscoStu]

Ultra HD requires a huge bandwidth and that simply isn't available so all ultra HD that is broadcast has the life compressed out of it. I'd be cautious about buying UHD at the moment as I'm not sure it will become mainstream just like 3D Tv was going to be 4 years ago.

One option you might want to consider given the Dish is Free Sat?

As for sound I personally don't like sound bars or I should say I'm yet to find one I like. I have separates and I use them for music as well. If you just want good sound for tv then some of the small speakers are very good (Cambridge Audio, Bose and various others). However a sound bar is probably a lot better than built in.

I bought a Panasonic TV a few years ago and I love it. I also bought the DVD / Bluray player to go with it and it does make life easy that they both work together perfectly and you can ditch a remote. I also have it so my amp switches on when the tv does and the tv volume controls the amp volume. I basically use one remote - my sky remote. It controls the sky box and tv volume which in turn controls the amp volume.

Based on what you've said I'd certainly look for a TV with plenty of inputs. Everything is HDMI now. Make sure you get HMDI that is UHD compatible as the early version are not (can't remember what version you need for UHD, but worth a check).

A mate of mine has a 4K TV and I asked him to show me some content. All he could show me was a demo on a USB stick. He didn't have anything broadcast in it.

I also think there comes a point when the human eye cannot see any more detail.

Oh and one final note, a mate of mine works in broadcast and he mentioned that whilst a lot of stuff like sports is filmed in 4K and broadcast what actually happens is that the 4K feed is filmed on a wide angle and then cropped into the action this means that there is less chance of missing action off the ball. That picture is then upscaled back to 4K to be broadcast but by then it's lost 75% of the detail.


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[mbartlett99]

We do quite a lot of unusual AV on superyachts - ultra high spec combined with the difficulties of being at sea (try streaming over over SAT) so although I'm not a specialist I can answer a few of you questions.

Firstly yes you can have as many feed of a sat dish as you like and has nothing to do with the LNB - we use multiswitchs by a company called Spaun currently running 48 tvs off one dish. They're pricey but I'll bet Maplin will do a cheaper model.

UHD Tvs are great if you have a decent amount of blu ray quality movies on a hard drive - our new boat has Samsung UHD tvs in public areas and they are noticeably better than the straight HD units. On broadcast tv the difference is not so noticeable. Definitely think the new Samsung units are top dog right now and the price has come down a lot.

Not sure what you mean on the audio front but sound from a modern TV is always crap and TBH an all in one soound system with blu-ray is so cheap these days. My Sony blu-ray does a pretty good job of upscaling DVD to HD. No idea about Samsung cinema systems though.

I would try and stay with one brand for simplicitys sake although you can get pretty good programmable remotes for a modest cost and increasingly units can be controlled from your tablet/phone.

SCART - c'mon, really? Its time to give that up.

It is an absolute mine field thats for sure and changes every minute. Google are about to unleash a solution which has me holding off deploying Sonos for my own house and thats just this week.

 

[RogerS]

Just a small point but our TV Aerial is mounted inside the loft, as it was in our last house. :wink:

Oooh...that's a good idea. Mind you it will depend on the signal strength available.

I also had one thought to preserve SWMB's beloved TiVo and that would be simply to get a FreeSat receiver - assuming that the TiVo remote can be configured to control it AND that the TV has a SCART connector. But a quick Google suggests that only Sony TVs maintain the SCART legacy.

Thinks....no SCART also means that we won't be able to watch any programmes recorded on the old PVRs.

If your goal is a AV system that is hi resolution in both space (4K) and colour depth (HDR), your old PVR's (indeed SCART itself) cannot be part of the system in any case.

BugBear

A good point and I realise that some compromises have to be made. For example, there aren't many DVDs made that are HDR. But if the basic system is up to scratch then it can render faithfully the best on offer.

We had a look at the Sony sets and with a very large screen - which the room might just about be able to handle - SD looked distinctly rough. I'm wondering if there is a setting to reduce the displayed scan area - effectively zooming out which will subjectively improve the quality of the picture on SD - just as it does when viewing a photo or image on a computer.

Incidentally I'm not sure that you are right in saying SCART cannot be part..at least when using R G B (which I always have done).

 

[Jake]

Too much focus on pixels and so-called 'definition' here. If it is really good plasma it is probably still best you can get. LCD is poor, LED lit or not. OLED is for the future unless you have mad budget.

 

[llangatwgnedd]

HDMI all the way.

 

[AJB Temple]

55" LCD Oled is now under £2k (does not have 4K though). Picture quality seems excellent having had a good look in John Lewis. We (wifey plus me) keep holding off TV replacement (from 42" LCD having binned Plasma a couple of years ago - too big and heavy) mainly due to lack of UHD / 4K content. I think it is worth looking at how screens perform when dealing with the worst signal / input - as that is what we are still watching most of the time based on the content put out by Sky.

 

[bugbear]

55" LCD Oled is now under £2k (does not have 4K though). Picture quality seems excellent having had a good look in John Lewis. We (wifey plus me) keep holding off TV replacement (from 42" LCD having binned Plasma a couple of years ago - too big and heavy) mainly due to lack of UHD / 4K content. I think it is worth looking at how screens perform when dealing with the worst signal / input - as that is what we are still watching most of the time based on the content put out by Sky.

4K is sort of here, but HDR is coming...

Given technology, I think TV/AV is an ongoing thing really, you never "buy your last".

BugBear

 

[RogerS]

Too much focus on pixels and so-called 'definition' here. If it is really good plasma it is probably still best you can get. LCD is poor, LED lit or not. OLED is for the future unless you have mad budget.

Nothing wrong with good definition (assuming one still has 20:20 vision :wink: ).

Why do you say LED's and LCD's are poor compared to plasma ?

 

[Jake]

I haven't been in the market for a couple of years, but I have not seen an LCD screen (so called LED is just (very blue) backlighting) that has a nicer picture than good plasma - they are good at looking very vibrant but not so good at looking natural. IME/IMHO etc