Reply With QuoteLast year we went from a 10 year old HD plasma Panasonic to a 4K smart Samsung and have been very impressed so far, I don’t think you would regret it.
We have a 37 inch Toshiba Regza which we bought about 10 years ago. It was described as HD at the time and it’s been great. The picture is still good as is the sound. It’s not a smart TV but we use Apple TV for Netflex and stream from an iphone for iplayer etc. The only gripe is the remote is getting tatty and the TV is very slow, with channel listings taking a while to load. Apart from that it’s great. My wife has suggested we look for a new TV in the Black Friday sales for no other reason than the Toshiba is a bit old. We couldn’t fit anything bigger than a 43 inch TV into the space available and I’ve been reading reviews of TVs around £500-£600 which is about the most we would spend on a TV. I’m just not convinced that new TVs in that price range are much better than the one we have. They all claim 4k etc etc but when I look at the usual suspects from LG, Samsung etc in the shop I can’t say that the picture is worlds apart from our old Toshiba. Am I missing something here? Perhaps we’d need to spend a lot more to really notice a difference? As things stand I’ve suggested we just wait until the old one dies.
Last year we went from a 10 year old HD plasma Panasonic to a 4K smart Samsung and have been very impressed so far, I don’t think you would regret it.
Cheers..
Jase
I’d stick with the Toshiba* until it dies or until there are new functionalities that you’d want to have but can’t on your current set.
It’s not for the money but I try to avoid the lures of consumerism when I can. And it’s good for the planet too.
* I also have a 10 yo Toshiba and it’s still going strong
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Totally agree with all of this,, ^^^ our 32'' Toshiba (the size of a small wardrobe) packed up after 12 years, up until then the picture and features were excellent,Originally Posted by Saint-Just
''if it ain't broke don't fix it''.
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Same here. I’ve had a 11yr old Samsung going great guns but went for fancy 4K and spent over 2000 pound last week
Can’t say the difference has blew me away though
Really depends what you want to do with it - if you mainly watch SD channels - they will look terrible on any decent size 4K - also most 4K TVs in the £500-600 range aren't very good really or lack various future-proofing features. At that money, you'd be better off with a decent HD (again unless there is specific 4k content you want to consume).
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Earlier this year we ditched our sub two hundred quid from Sainsburys Philips flog off jobby. It was starting to play up... got three years out of it so time to go.
Read loads of reviews and someone in the office had one so in the end went for a six hundred quid 40" 4K Panasonic.
Now I'm not 100% sure it was the right thing to do. The reviews all said it was great and, tbh, the picture is excellent (sound is the normal rubbish but we have a 'sound-base' for that).
However it's let down in a few key areas:
1. The firefox OS is okay but it's a closed shop. You can't simply download a new app. on to it - there aren't any!
2. It won't do a freeview series record (Panasonic say that's not what it's designed for).
3. It only has a single tuner so no record one channel and watch another
Any way all I'm saying is think carefully about what features and functions you want and don't do what I did and assume that it would do it without checking (tbh I didn't think 1. was important and naively assumed it would obviously do 2. and 3.).
In terms of TV habits we never watch live TV. All we watch is Netflix, the occasional movie via iTunes and catch up TV all via Apple TV. The sound is output from Apple TV to a Musical Fidelity DAC and into my 1990s Musical Fidelity amplifier to which a decent set of Mission speakers are connected. Both sound and picture are very good even if this is all mostly old technology. We have no Sky TV as we cancelled it years ago and never missed it. Based on the replies above I suspect my best options are spend more, which for our TV habits and screen size limitations is probably a waste, or hang on until the Toshiba dies.
You yourself mention it but I would pay absolutely no attention to smart features when buying a TV - whatever it currently does, in two years, a £50 roku or chrome cast will be superior - which is why I pick off picture and picture alone.
Well said. My 32 inch Samsung is 10 years old and as good as the day it was unboxed. I'll stick with it until it goes pop
Actually I came across this problem with firefox OS much sooner than that! I wanted to watch some of the UKTV channels... then I found out the problems with the OS :-( Okay I can live with it.
I agree in a couple of years time a separate STB will probably offer more functions but if you can get the same picture off a set which has the features as well then I'd go for the one with the features.
Also my aim with technology is if I have to touch it then make it as simple and as easy as I can. So one of the reasons for the smart telly was I could ditch the Humax and the Roku.... Having a single remote and all the functions in one device does make things easier IMHO ;-)
OP, check for firmware updates on Toshiba web site. This should fix channels loading at least. Probably improve picture too.
I've a friend with an old Toshiba LCD tv, must be at least 8 years old. I've set the picture up as it should be and I'm amazed how good it is just on SD. In a shop even today it would catch my eye as an excellent TV.
Oh that is interesting. I never thought of that and will take a look. Thanks very much.
Probably a similar model as ours is LCD. That’s what got me questioning as when I look at new TVs with all their amazing acronyms and high tech claims I actually fail to see a massive picture improvement unless its on very big and very expensive TVs.
You really need a couple of things - a 4k source that makes use of HDR (bluray not streaming) and a TV that is really capable of the peak brightness that you need to notice the difference. Blade Runner 4K looks absolutely amazing when you play it off the disc on a decent TV. The big advantage for most people when you do that is the colour clarity rather than the image being particularly sharper.
We got ours specifically because we really like film and watching 4k discs off a decent player is a level above what has come before. "can't pay, we'll take it away" in SD on broadcast not so much...
Thanks, makes sense. We are not using high quality sources for our viewing so it sounds like a new 4K TV will make little difference to us. Not sure if Netflix via Apple TV is much more than standard definition. We have a reasonable DVD player but rarely use it. Sounds like to get the best results we would need to invest in upgrading our sources as well as the screen. Not fussed enough about TV to really invest in it. I probably watch stuff on my ipad more than the TV.
As said before, if you're watching regular TV, you won't get a 'better picture' as they all just upscale the 720p source.
If you have a 4K input, it'll be 'better', but it's not night and day.
My mum's got a 4K 55" TV - Looks OK on HD, but it's not better than our 37" Panasonic Plasma, which is here until it dies!
M.
I wish BBC iPlayer receives upgrade soon. Its almost 2018 and still 720p.
They are apparently testing 4k, but only on some LG models.
After a LOT of research I've just gotten a 50" Hisense H50N6800 for £569 (John Lewis). Hands down, miles better specs and picture than anything in the price bracket. Great smart interface too.
Decent review of the 55inch version here:
https://www.avforums.com/review/hise...v-review.13870
My Roku Stick Plus (which has only just come out) must be one of the testing devices because when I set it up it asked if I wanted to opt into the 4k trial...
Nice! Did you try it? Hows Blue Planet 2 looking?
Funny you should mention Toshiba as we had a CRT one in the living room which lasted about 13 years, and I had one in my bedroom that lasted 14 years. I switched to a Sony LCD tv 10 years ago and (touch wood) it's still going strong. If i were buying again I would probably stick with Sony but tbh LG, Panasonic, Samsung etc all look pretty good.
You have to be a bit careful these days - depending on the range - cheaper TVs are often made by third parties rather than who you think. I think last time I checked cheaper Panasonics are made by the Turkish company vestal.
I have been looking at a new TV for the last 3 years. I have a 10 year old Sony and I am loathed to replace it whilst it is still going strong.
Would definitely go Sony again, I was blown away by their OLED. Does some pretty good upscaling too. Bit of a different price bracket though!
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Same here have Panny VT plasma & watch a lot of HD sport.
The lag & blur on friends TV's would drive me crazy & some of those were very expensive!
The best I have seen recently were the LG oled & Panny oled.
Would probably buy one but keep the plasma just in case.......?
I think the biggest difference you’ll notice is how much smaller the bezel round a tv is now compared to 10 years ago - you can probably get a 42’’ screen in the same size box! - I scoured various audio visual mags last year, ended up with a 47’’ curved screen Samsung from John Lewis with 5 year warranty - 2 guys delivered and set it up for £500 all in! - I think all this 4K hd stuff is largely nonsense but for £500 I’m very pleased
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I’m pretty impressed with Apple’s 4K movie streams. A lot are Dolby Vision, which gives a theoretical advantage over HDR10. Quality is very good indeed, and there’s over 100 titles available already.
My dog ate our remote - a new one (remote!) cost a few pounds via Amazon
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