New telly advice .

[Evans Electric]

I am also similar to OnOff    in that I am prone to try repairing  everything that malfunctions  .

However we may be looking at a new TV  as  our ancient LG  flat screen   from the "Jurassic range"  seems to be  having off days where it comes on fairly dark  & takes ages to brighten up .  Seems to have improved a bit by switching to the "Sport" mode .        Probably 20+ yrs old like OnOff's .  

Looking around Curry's  , some DO  seem to have a better picture than others ...some are bigger than our house .      One thing  is the sound quality ,  which on some sets  is  worse than a 1960's  transistor radio .          OK  we can  play the sound through the  DVD player  but some films have a wonderful sounding music track   with the speech  muffled .  

My neighbour has a "Smart" telly  ...which naturally is the best in the world  ..  they connect to the internet I presume  as he gets Youtube on it . 

I quite fancy that .  

Thing is ....is there much difference in the makes these days ?      This LG has been trouble free  .  I'm drawn towards the known brands ,  Sharp ...Hitachi ...LG... Samsung....   Panasonic ...Sony..Toshiba  ......  Philips   

 

[Murdoch]

We have 3 Sony TV's in the house  - 9 years old, 6 years old and 4 years old.

Not the cheapest but we like them - you get what you pay for - our newest is an "android" TV so has the apps for things like Amazon and Netflix  and catch up channels etc

All 3 are connected to our house CAT5 set up .......

 

[Evans Electric]

Hmmm  there always seems to be an air of  quality around Sony .  

I've been told many times that TV screens  come from  only two manufacturers  ,  don't know the truth of that . 

 

[kerching]

We have two LG and one small BUSH

dining rm LG about 6 years old. It's a THICK TV but we made it SMART with addition of a Talk Talk box. So you get Netflix, Catch-up,etc  hardwired to network.  Also connected to a DVD player that gives us surround sound

lounge SMART TV wireless about 4 years old  Also,connected to a BlueRay Samsung which has a hard drive for recording

bedroom. Smart wireless

all,work fine apart from the lounge one randomly switches off for no known reason.    Comes back to life on its own after 10 seconds

 

[Geoff1946]

I upgraded to a Smart Samsung about 5 years ago and I'm very happy with it. 

I found when searching that ALL sets (at that time ) had the speakers on the back which I considered a retrograde step relative to my old set, especially as we have it in a corner. I therefore added a soundbar from the outset, rather than expecting disappointment.

I also find the "air mouse" which came with the Samsung hard to use, and I'm told newer sets have an improved conventional hand control instead.

The 3D glasses which came with it are in a drawer where they went the day after trying them.

I'm not keen on the supplier you mention  following poor experience with them. We have a Richer Sounds branch in Preston, who I found helpful with advice, not talking to me as though I am stupid, and with a good range of sets at decent prices. I'm not sure if there is one near you.

 

[ProDave]

Sound,  ALL tv's have carp sound. The physics of trying to get "speakers" into a box no larger than the screen and as thin as possible mean you will not get decent speakers in there.  Buy a sound bar or better still a surround sound system, and treat the visual and audio bits as separate items.  It will transform your viewing having decent sound.

The "smart" bit of tv's always seems to be criticised, it either does not work well or does not get updated so stops working after a while.  Best to just buy a good dumb tv and a fire stick.  the fire stick is cheap (I paid £20 for mine when on offer a couple of months ago) and is far more likely to get updated or just buy a new one if it gives up.

I will stick to my now 10 year old Plasma sets until they become unrepairable, or someone gives me something more modern to fix.

 

[Murdoch]

Looking around Curry's  , some DO  seem to have a better picture than others ...some are bigger than our house .      One thing  is the sound quality ,  which on some sets  is  worse than a 1960's  transistor radio .          OK  we can  play the sound through the  DVD player  but some films have a wonderful sounding music track   with the speech  muffled .  

My neighbour has a "Smart" telly  ...which naturally is the best in the world  ..  they connect to the internet I presume  as he gets Youtube on it . 

I quite fancy that .  

Thing is ....is there much difference in the makes these days ?      This LG has been trouble free  .  I'm drawn towards the known brands ,  Sharp ...Hitachi ...LG... Samsung....   Panasonic ...Sony..Toshiba  ......  Philips   

Do you have a size and price range in mind? 

 

[Sharpend]

Just a word of warning, don’t know if it’s relevant to TVs or not but we paid £800 for an all singing all dancing marantz stereo 24 months ago and this year I have lost all my internet radio stations as now we apparently have to pay a subscription to have access!! So it’s only any good for playing discs or Bluetooth to phone for music.
So modern Smart devices may set you up for a future fall, I suspect it’s more to do with a guaranteed replacement down the line by the mfrs?  Or a regular subscription? 
 

as for TVs we have an old Panasonic Plasma which is still going strong. Nothing overly fancy but reliable all the same and we have sky/netflix/ occasionally prime to watch what we want. 
we just bought a new flatscreen Panasonic for the bedroom which is a smart tv, ideal as I like to watch a fair few YouTube offerings. 
personally I would stick with a Panasonic or Sony for reliability. 

 

[ProDave]

Just a word of warning, don’t know if it’s relevant to TVs or not but we paid £800 for an all singing all dancing marantz stereo 24 months ago and this year I have lost all my internet radio stations as now we apparently have to pay a subscription to have access!! So it’s only any good for playing discs or Bluetooth to phone for music.
So modern Smart devices may set you up for a future fall, I suspect it’s more to do with a guaranteed replacement down the line by the mfrs?  Or a regular subscription? 

Who is trying to charge you this subscription?

I have a Raspbery Pi Music box that I use to stream internet radio without any subscriptions whatsoever.

 

[Sharpend]

It is the company that provides the service to Marantz, and I assume that I am not able to update/change the firmware to use a different service then they have you over the barrel with your arse out! 

 

[Sharpend]

https://marantz-uk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7095/~/internet-radio-service-by-vtuner

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Our main TV is a reasonable.. not very smart Samsung...

(got another dumb Samsung & two smaller TV's which TBH aren't used much as a fair bit is watched via PC/tablet) 

we also have a BluRay player that has wired internet connection that can do you tube iplayer etc...

Both are getting on a bit now but work OK with decent sound & picture...

However..  as the kids were getting bored with less viewing options when visiting at Christmas etc...

They more recently bought us a FireStick, inc Netflix and just at the start of lock down, one of my daughters who's currently living back with us, purchased Disney+...

giving even mores options of what to watch...

So as  ProDave suggest a decent Dumb TV with a Firestick, (providing your wireless signal is OK near your TV), is an option worth considering.

I think some of our "brand loyalty" to the Samsung's was just because the controllers are identical....

So if you've mislaid the one remote you just go and nick the other till you find it!!

Nothing to do with any features or quality over other brands!

Guinness

 

[Evans Electric]

I'm not keen on the supplier you mention 

Neither am I TBH  but there seems to be shortage of such suppliers in this area ,  I'll look closer at that .      Their rival was Comet who went bust  leaving  Currys & PC World   ,same company.              They have youngsters on commission roving the floor ,  patronising , jumped up tossers with pony tails & designer stubble .  I went to buy a DAB radio ,  I imagine having little commission  attached ,  the tosser said just take one thats boxed to the till ...I said I want to hear it ,   we don't do that , he says  , so another lost sale . 

They see a paid up member of The Old Pharts Club wandering round and generally ignore you .

e just bought a new flatscreen Panasonic for the bedroom which is a smart tv, ideal as I like to watch a fair few YouTube offerings. 
personally I would stick with a Panasonic or Sony for reliability. 

Taking that on board  Sharpie . 

Do you have a size and price range in mind? 

£800  ish .....  size  ..... I've seen some that overpower a room  ...another neighbour had one as big as his front windows  ,  asked me round to watch the  England match  once  , it was all encompassing ... they put me on as a sub in the second half !!!!     We were moving our heads  L & R  like watching tennis .

So I need to measure the existing one ,  possibly go up two sizes ...I might even knock a frame up  & place it in the room .  

 

[Evans Electric]

Comes back to life on its own after 10 seconds

That sounds like Andy  after five pints of Newcastle Brown  Guinness

 

[Murdoch]

£800  ish .....  size  ..... I've seen some that overpower a room  ...another neighbour had one as big as his front windows  ,  asked me round to watch the  England match  once  , it was all encompassing ... they put me on as a sub in the second half !!!!     We were moving our heads  L & R  like watching tennis .

Yes, me too. Seems people want their lounge to resemble a cinema

We went from 40 to 47 in our lounge - the size increase was massive and certainly no bigger in the future.

I want to add a sound bar to ours, but the misses says the sound is good enough

 

[ProDave]

Don't get me started on Curry's / PC world or whatever they call themselves

Building our new house we wanted all the white goods for a new kitchen.  We had already a few weeks ago called in there and seen the fridge / freezer we wanted and noted the details and the price.

So we go in, with a shopping list of :  Fridge freezer. Built in Oven.  Matching built in microwave. Gas hob.  Island cooker hood.  Built in dishwasher. boiling water tap.

Now you might think with that as your shopping list, someone might show some interest in you and try to help.  Sadly no.

First thing, they now had a "sale" on.  Only the "sale" price of the fridge freezer was £50 more than the normal price was just a few weeks ago.  No they would not budge on that.

They did not have a single built in microwave, island cooker hood or gas hob.

We left without spending a penny.  Got the Fridge freezer for a lot less from AO.com  All the rest fame from Howdens with the kitchen, Howdens had a much better selection of white goods thand that excuse for a shop had.

(Of sorry you did get me started)

 

[Sharpend]

So based on forum experiences we should avoid Curry’s/pc world and the big orange diy shed, any other takers? 
 

 

[Murdoch]

So based on forum experiences we should avoid Curry’s/pc world and the big orange diy shed, any other takers? 
 

Well actually we went to Currys to look at fridges and came home with our biggest TV

Result

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

So based on forum experiences we should avoid Curry’s/pc world and the big orange diy shed, any other takers? 
 

Currys are ok as a showroom to go and physically view a product.. e.g. open fridge/oven doors.. look inside...

Poke and prod bits to see how bendy the plastic parts are..

Then once you've checked the in-the-flesh product..

go home and order online from somewhere like AO..

typically for better price and faster delivery!...

Just thinking back our last Tumble drier..   Fridge/Freezer... Oven....    two were from AO, one from John Lewis...

Currys can be ok for smaller off-the-shelf products..

e.g.  iron, coffee maker, vacuum cleaner...

But from past experience since they combined to single Curry/PcWorld stores,

larger appliances tend to need to be ordered as most stuff is just a shop-floor display item.

So even if you have a large enough car/van, rarely can you go and buy it and drive away same day!

Guinness

 

[Evans Electric]

Well actually we went to Currys to look at fridges and came home with our biggest TV

Ha  !     We went out for some wallpaper once ...came back  with a    1600 cc  Ford Escort     :C