Reply With QuoteWe have a 40" Hisense 4K in the kitchen and you can really tell a difference with the upscaling blu-ray DVD player. They also do a 43" which isn't silly money at £329.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hisense-inc...rds=hisense+4k
Eddie
Hi All, I am looking to upgrade my 32" Samsung (Model LE32B450C4) LED TV to a 40/43". It's for our lounge and sits 8-9 feet from viewing position.
I am after something future proof but at the same time don't want to spend silly money (Budget up to £550). Is 4K the one to go for?
Actually quite happy with the picture and sound quality of the Samsung 32" (LE32B450C4) - just after a bigger picture and less of a border around the tv. Can anyone suggest anything suitable in my budget please?
I have been considering the Samsung UE43KU6400 Smart 4k Ultra HD HDR 43" LED Currently £549 at Currys.
cheers
Craig
We have a 40" Hisense 4K in the kitchen and you can really tell a difference with the upscaling blu-ray DVD player. They also do a 43" which isn't silly money at £329.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hisense-inc...rds=hisense+4k
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
IMO plenty of good looking 42" 1080p TVs around, but unless you're saving a lot why not get 4K if you like the picture quality.
Did I not read that 4K is dead as a broadcast format already?
M.
Not unless you're planning to sit 3-4 feet from it!
https://stari.co/articles/tv-monitor-hd-4k-resolution
It's excellent - to future proof yourself - make sure its a 10-bit panel and also is HDR.
can't seem to get past first page on that link but yes was wondering if due to the relatively small size of the screen, viewed from quite far away, I may not notice a huge difference.Originally Posted by PJ S
They definitely look clearer in the shop but I/m not 9ft away in the shop..
I'm in the same position but with Sony rather than Samsung...
Considering one of these:
https://centresdirect.co.uk/p-12459-kd43x8309cbu.aspx
Can anyone recommend modern Sony's ours is about 8 years old but has been excellent.
The Samsung I was looking at is only 8 bit - is that bad then?
I actually looked at a similar one in John Lewis but the 8305. Looks a nice telly but got slated in Which for poor sound quality and clunky smart features. The 8309 seems to have the same review on Which and scores 61%
It really is a minefield!!
Well it's not that it's bad but in theory the colour range isn't quite as good.
However I doubt in practice anyone can tell and if you get a good deal don't sweat it.
Ok thanks - I'll carry on obsessing about the decision for a while then :)
I have a 55 inch sony 4k and couldn't see any difference in the 4k content on Netflix I have now cancelled the 4k package , nor on the 4k content on YouTube I set up my old Samsung 43 hd next to the sony
I recently went through the same process of replacing my 42 Panasonic plasma for something else of the same size.
I ended up with a 4K 49" Panasonic (with out 3D) I think it was the 50XXX700. £799 quid, but they do a similar spec machine as a 42 I believe.
Very happy, especially when watch HD and 1080 (via my Media Streamer).
6 year guarantee via Richer Sounds (whom put up with me and my questions for about 3 hours.)
The Sony was good, but not a good as the Panasonic (IMHO).
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
buy from john lewis or Costco free 5 yr guarantee and you have 3 months to return iirc, JL price match as well
you will need an internet connection that can stream at 4k speeds. I think it is at least 15mbps>? You should be able to check under the details on Netflix what resolution you're streaming at.
Anyway, I have a 58 inch Panasonic 4k AX802b. Bought it refurbished for £800. Good screen as I like to stream on Netflix, but unfortunately my internet connection barely supports a 720p stream. IMO I won't bother with a 4k TV at anything below 55 inches.
I always go for Panasonic TVs. Brilliant generally.
Still got my Panasonic 42 Plasma. It has been brilliant. Wont go to 4K till it goes pop. I would stay with the make.
Been the case for about 20 years I reckon. Just pay the small premium and get a panasonic.
4k is not such a big deal , however contemporary displays tend to neglect the 1080p market. Your good 4k sets tend to not look any better than a good 1080p set at normal viewing distances but if you are buying a new TV you may as well get a 4k one.
Resolution is about 30% , dynamic range is about 40% and color accuracy and general processing and screen modualtion precision is about the remaining 30%.
A display with huge resolution but rubbish or lumpy dynamic range will generally look crap compared to a screen with half the resolution and huge linear dynamic range.
Save some leg work ...Panasonic.
em... sort of - some models are now rebadged vestal TVs from turkey - it's worth checking the model to see if it is actually a panasonic.
Got a jolly nice 50" 4K Panasonic and the difference is remarkable. If you have decent internet then YouTube/Netflix etc offer 4K and it's lovely. The new Xbox is doing 4K disc playback of blurays I believe, so a modestly priced way in to physical 4K.
4K actually never was alive as a broadcast format. even now, some 15-18 years after launch of HD, share of HD in most cable operator bundles is only 1/5th of all channels (in their most expensive bundles). Some cable operators still offer only 10-12 HD channels, so you can try to calculate when 4k will make any dent in broadcast.
I don't see much use for 4K TV set yet, because of you have sit very close to it to tell difference between HD and 4K, and then there must be a content to actually watch.
I bought a Samsung 40" 4K from Richer Sounds. Smart TV, Networking, wifi, Amazon Prime, Iplayer, Plex, the works. Cost me £450 with a free 6 year guarantee and worth every penny.
Richer Sounds now sell the later model which has Freesat built in too.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ams-ue40ku6400
I have very good eyesight and struggle to see a notable improvement in new sets over my Panasonic ZT series plasma. The only thing that did impress me was an LG OLED but really its not worth £2k when my current one is excellent, if a little less sleek looking.
Out of interest, how does the new Panasonic range compare with LGs OLED ?
Which is what we do in the kitchen.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Amazon Prime transmits some of its programmes in 4K - so does Netflix I believe.
I havent viewed a 4K TV ut I am writing this on a laptop with a 15" 4K screen and it is stunning so I can only imagine what a big TV would be like.
The Grand Tour is being filmed in 4K, I watched an interview with the executive producer where he talks about what a massivley costly, time consuming and equipment intensive process it is to shoot in 4K. Might be a long long time before FTA goes anywhere near it.
LG always delivers better than the Samsung on the same specs levels of tv and price tag
You might want to take a look also at LG
And i am a samsung fan usually
I expect a HD tv done well will best a 4K tv done poorly so choose carefully.
I had a look at LGs when I bought my Samsung (about 6 months ago) and the general consensus was that the Samsung operating system (the Smart bit) was better than LG's. Don't know if they've updated it since
The General concenus is that anything short of 65 inch screen with 4K is not worth the bother. I watch the football on BT 4K channel on my 65 inch Panny and I can confirm its superb, so much so I even watch Liverpool on it and I support Everton
The general consensus is wrong.
Check out this deal at John Lewis............................
http://www.johnlewis.com/hisense-65k...-cast/p2761290
No not really.
Only saying what the experts say. But if you know better who am I to argue
There's always someone more intelligent than an expert, apparently.
It's definitely true to say that the eye can only resolve so much detail, so it's fair to say that if you're too far away, you're not going to be able to see the difference, but considering eg we look at a phone at about a foot, a monitor at 1.5', or a TV at anywhere from 4 to 20 feet, you can't really generalise.
btw calculations based around 1' of arc are a rough approximation (like some of the graphs on Internet sites), in that 1' is 6/6 (20/20) vision in terms of letter recognition at (effective) 100% contrast - not the same as recognition of detail, and some people can see greater detail than 1" of arc, even in terms of letter recognition at 100% contrast etc., never mind in a wider sense of resolution.
Having just upgraded from a 42" plasma to a 55" 4K OLED, I can honestly say that unless you are going to view 4K material, 4K isn't needed at all, particularly on a 43" set. SD material looks noticeably worse on a UHD set but if you have to take the plunge, I would look at the Panasonic DX600 or DX700 or Samsung 6400 set as a minimum. When I was auditioning TVs the Panasonic DX750, Sony 9305 and Samsung KS7000/8000 from the LCDs were all quite good. I've read quite a lot about Hisense and whilst they seem to offer a lot for the money, their Smart features (OS) are lacking and going by forums, owners are continually promised upgrades that never seem to materialise. Panasonic, LG, Samsung and Sony have been around a while and providing you avoid their low priced sets, you shouldn't really go wrong.
I just gave my eight year old Panasonc 42" plasma away to a friend's mother and it still out-performed the majority of current LCDs so maybe look at second hand or freecycle for an old unwanted plasma.
Last edited by doubledee; 1st September 2016 at 18:18.
What I'd like to know is if you plan to watch only freeview/freesat is there really any point in having a UHD/4K tv at all? Surely a bog standard HD TV would be a better picture without having to upscale constantly. Majority of broadcast is standard def anyway and seems to be getting worse all the time.
I currently have a 32" Panansonic that's about 10 years old, super tv it is too, I'll replace it when it's broke.
Last edited by oiljam; 1st September 2016 at 21:05.
Admittedly I don't have any graphs or charts. What I do have is the recent experience of moving from a 1080 LG to a 4K Samsung and it is a much better picture. There's an anecdote for you. Not a graph in sight.
Just a change in colour saturation from one maker to another,
Every company thinks theirs is the closest to reality, find the one that feels right for you the rest is hype and profit margin.
Most of you will no doubt disagree simply to justify what you've spent on the TV hanging above the fireplace.
If you look at what the people in the know say it makes perfect sense, where 4K is concerned the bigger the screen the more detail available to the human eye. hence why they say, a 65 inch screen is way better then a 40 inch. It's all in the pixel count more is better. Not General concenus, it's fact actually.
I think many of us upgrade TVs to a newer, better technology, better screen at the same time and get most of the benefit from that.
I changed an 8 year old early 58" panasonic out for a 4K 65" panasonic early this year. It was last years model, and a nearly 1/2 price offer justified the upgrade :)
Ive watched a few 4K movies on Amazon and they did seem a little crisper, but to be honest, its upscaling 1080 content anyway. Everything seems much better, even at my 15ft viewing distance. But then an 8 year newer panel should be better....
I wouldnt be spending £££ more at 43" though to get 4K
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This is what I use when I buy a new TV...
http://www.videoessentials.com
Some of the reviews seem to indicate that the user interface and apps etc. are a bit temperamental. Have you found it to be ok in that respect?
The Smart features are poor but that's not what I bought it for. The web browser and BBC iPlayer work well enough.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
I pay absolutely no attention to any smart featuress on a TV - a cheap smartbox (roku, amazon fire) or even games console is always going to be better supported over time.
Thanks Eddie.
Alansmithee, that brings me to another question. If I already use a BT Youview box, presumably I would connect that to the TV and bypass any inbuilt smart features? (Yes, it has been many years since I last bought a TV!)
Yes you could
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