Best 42" (ish) "SMART" TV is??

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After Shock

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As our TV is having a variety of temperamental breakdowns I've just started looking for a new TV. Now I have a headache!

So what do I want? (need)

42" probably.
Smart TV. This looks useful to have and I think it would get used.
I won't list pieces I've read but what would you buy and why?

Thoughts opinions, advice, best price, etc, etc please.


How much to spend??!! £500.00 ... ish seems a good ball park figure?!?!
 
To encurage people to buy TVs for the World Cup, my local Argos is currently offering a 42" Hitachi for £290

Youtube/ iPlayer etc built in.

Seems pretty cheap to me.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1474680.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=cgid:9626802662|tsid:41408|cid:177974702|lid:54874948373|nw:g|crid:38921564102|rnd:10133233667958724635|dvc:c|adp:1o1
 
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The hitachi one would not be that good, esp for sports. It has just a 50hz refresh rate so a ball would appear to jump across the screen, the higher the refresh rate, the smoother the action will appear.
 
Panasonic Viera's generally get a which magazine best buy recommendation, Hitachis dont !

A lot of it depends on what sort of tv you actually watch, what your eyesight, lighting is like and how much you want to pay

I got a relatively expensive one for the living room , then a Finlux deal of the day of ebay for the bedroom, a lot of price difference but not too much quality difference.

Samsung
UE40F6800 gets a best buy recommendation for around £600 if you want a 40"
 
A Smart TV is good...if you live on your own. I can't imagine surfing the net if I am sitting with the family, nor watching someone else.
 
You miss the point of a smart TV.

You dont surf on one, you view media content. Iplayer 4OD, netflix, Amazon etc etc.
 
I bought one a couple of years ago, but have since regretted not learning a bit more about it before buying.
There are several flavours of tv to choose from:-
- plasma - relatively old tech, but good picture, forgiving of sd content, great black levels, even backlighting.
- LCD - old hat now, quite bulky and heavy
- LED - most tvs sold these days, thin attractive casing, picture harsh on sd content, not so good blacks and can have patchy backlighting (actually the same tech as lcd but has LED backlight instead of more traditional lamp)
- OLED - these are the next thing, but very expensive just now. Manufacturers can't find a economical way to make flawless large screens in this tech yet.

I bought an LED tv, but I wish I'd bought a plasma. They aren't going to make them for much longer I don't think. If they are still available I think they're the thing to have until oled arrives.

Whenever the screen is dark on my LED tv, now I know about them, I can see the brighter patches pooled around the areas on the screen where the backlights are.
 
Sp!ke said:
You miss the point of a smart TV.

You dont surf on one, you view media content. Iplayer 4OD, netflix, Amazon etc etc.
Click to expand...

When do you do all this smart stuff...when others are trying to watch the thing?
 
renault12ts said:
When do you do all this smart stuff...when others are trying to watch the thing?
Click to expand...

when you cannot find anything worth watching on the channels you have, you can then search for more content that you do not want to watch :)
 
We bought my parents an LG LED smart TV last year .. I went round to set it up, and was pretty impressed. They use the built-in Wifi to watch iPlayer etc., also handy being able to play images or video off a usb stick (or even directly off a laptop, via the wifi, with the right software installed).

PS unless you've got a hard physical restriction on screen size get a bigger one than you think you'll want ;)
 
renault12ts said:
Amazon? So, you can buy stuff. Again, though, not during Corrie or Eastenders or Emmerdale or the News or Gogglebox etc etc etc...yep...I just don't get it!
Click to expand...

Amazon have their own streaming service like Netflix.
 
kingdave said:
I bought an LED tv, but I wish I'd bought a plasma.

Whenever the screen is dark on my LED tv, now I know about them, I can see the brighter patches pooled around the areas on the screen where the backlights are.
Click to expand...

LEDs are very sensitive to vertical viewing angle, most are configured to be viewed straight on or looking down at the set, more extreme angles or viewed from below (wall mounted tv) will give a dark picture with areas of detail blacked out that even turning up the brightness fails to remedy.

You may need to reconfigure the viewing angle, there should be something buried in the menus, Samsung call it 'magicangle setting' or something similar.

Best 42" (ish) "SMART" TV is??
Click to expand...

Can't specify on size but I've used a few and the samsung has by far the best menu set-up, usability and functionality, all the watch again apps are pre-installed, as is a internet browser and a you tube player, the guide learns your preferences and guide you to things that are on that you may like.

It also has free tablet/pc app that will share what you have on the computer with the TV, and unlike Roku and similar, there is no restriction on the content you can watch.

Oh, it'll also record direct to SD card or usb, I've glued a 500 Gb USB drive on the back and it'll record or pause live tv.

final bit of advice, watch out for vendors clearing older sets with no wireless capability, you'll need to buy a dongle or trail a ethernet cable (remember them) across the room. So make sure it has wireless built in.
 
If you want to stream HD content you should use wired anyway. Wireless isn't full duplex, it is shared, 'wait before send' so not suitable for streaming content or for voice over IP.

So when looking at smart TV's you should consider how to connect to Ethernet with a cable.
 
Just bought a Sony 42 inch W8 something.

Super picture quality, lots of inputs, wifi, freesat, etc etc.

Paid £699, so slightly more than hour quoted budget but, IMHO, well worth it.
 
Panasonic plasma for me - get one while you still can.
Recently replaced the lounge tv with a larger one & moved the old one to the kitchen. Went into local store with internet prices & they price matched. Trouble is I went in looking for an £800 TV & came out with a £1200 TV:doh: (it is a cracking TV though)
 
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