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TV purchase (50”-55”), it’s a bloody minefield to the uninitiated

Somafunk

Somafunk

pfm Member
Attempting to purchase my first tv, for a close friend and her young son who’ve had an extremely rough couple of years since her husband (also my close friend) died of cancer. I’ve recently found out by accident/slip of the tongue that their current tv has had a melon sized bloom of orange/red in the middle of the viewing screen for the previous 6months and they’ve put up with it as obviously money/bills/living expenses take priority over fripperies.

I’ve been looking at the selection on richer sounds as I like their 6yr warranty of repair or replacement and I’ve always had excellent customer service from them in the past.
I’ve narrowed the choice, max budget of £500 down to the following and read advice from avforums but being a newbie to this TV game is a steep learning curve, yeah I’m a Luddite - never owned/bought a tv so don’t know what I want nor what I need or even what I should be looking for etc....etc.

https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs/hisense-55a7100ftuk.html

https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs/samsung-ue55tu7100.html

https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs/lg-55un70006la.html

Can anyone offer simple pointers?, or are all tv’s in this price range much of a muchness and it’s ultimately down to style?. Their current tv (think it’s 49”) must be getting on for 10 years old anyway so I guess any tv I choose would be a massive improvement but I want something that’ll last them a good few years, needs Netflix/YouTube/prime/free view etc. Not that fussed bout the sound quality as both mum & son share a month for their birthdays so I’ll get them a decent sound bar later on in the spring as a joint present.

Any advice appreciated, even if it’s to pull my finger out my arse and just buy something :D
 
I bought the 43" version of the Samsung for my MIL about 3 months ago. Picture is reasonable and sound was better than expected. All the normal Netflix and YouTube stuff. You won't go wrong. I don't know anything about Hisense, LG are a decent make but I have never owned or purchased one.

Ultimately picture quality at this price point is a bit harsh but that is really down to the technology. For £500 you will have a decent big telly, got for it!
 
Much of a muchness, safest choice is the Samsung - generally a slicker TV to use interface and Apps wise. Richer are good to deal with likewise Costco both offer good warranty service.

Sammy might have half price or free soundbar offer check the Samsung site.

Hisense are decent all round and a bit cheaper. LG had some gaps in their on demand services but they should all be there by now.

Good info here you can jump to the size and summaries by size and target market:
https://www.avforums.com/threads/new-my-best-value-tvs-2020-2021-edition.2325951/#post-28625711
 
Stick to Samsung, LG, Sony and maybe Phillips. Unless you are a super afficionado they are much of a muchness.

I bought a Samsung 43" TV 2 weeks ago. Ruddy marvelous thing. AO have very good service - bought a few things from there now.

Back in the lockdown phase 1 I bought at 49" LG. Simple stunning picture. From Currys - and their shop was useless. The TV in the shop, we were staring at it was 'unavailable sir, there is no stock'. "Well, can I take this one".....'No, not available'. I went home, onto the website and had it arrive 4 days later.

Be aware..a LOT of current TVs are simply unavailable at present, so you can only choose what it is in stock.
 
You can't really go wrong with Samsung or LG. Hisense is a newish cheapo brand with no track record so for the small price difference I wouldn't go there.
 
I like LG TVs. I like Richer Sounds. I doubt the person you speak of will be much interested in the minutiae of picture quality or sound or whatever. Good on you by the way.
 
Hi,

I have had both Samsung and LG bought from richer sounds and have been happy with both. My last samsung was the 'which' best buy under £500 and the current LG is some manner of OLED which was expensive (for me) at about £900.

But I agree it is a minefield, and I have no idea what all the nonsense means, however save to say Richer sounds best 500 quid telly will be more than adequate. I also find richer staff refreshingly honest and pleasant to deal with.

S
 
Amber Audio : cheers, dunno how I missed that thread on av forums but on browsing I see the the Hisense 55UQ7QFT (who the feck names these things?) https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs/hisense-55u7qftuk.html got top recommendation and is 2020 av award recommended, over budget but it seems a quick & easy sensible option to save diving ever deeper into my av quagmire procrastination (3days of indecision and counting.....) and it’d fit on their current tv unit (saving me buying a new one to fit the tv) as the majority of 55” tv’s have leg supports that are very wide.

JensenHealy : Currys?, not a chance I’d shop there again - I imagine many on here have their own horror stories of woeful customer service.

Cheers all, think I’ve made a choice, I’ll call them tmorn.
 
Another rabid Richer Sounds fan here. Our three-year-old 77"LG OLED TV recently started to play up, the picture flickering madly. A six-year warranty came along with the set so 'phoned Richer Sounds that afternoon, and the following morning the engineer turned up, diagnosed a failed panel, and took the set away. The fella at Richer Sounds suggested I contact my local branch to see if they'd lend me a set, so after a quick call to their Cambridge branch and their manager, I ended up with an ex-demo Hisense 55" U7QFTK LED TV the following day, bought on a sale and return for a full refund when my other set returns. Apart from the tiny screen (well, we do sit 20 ft away from it) the Hisense is remarkably good, excellent build quality with all the on-board apps., good operating system, and a great 4K picture with all the latest codecs.
 
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Somafunk said:
Amber Audio : cheers, dunno how I missed that thread on av forums but on browsing I see the the Hisense 55UQ7QFT (who the feck names these things?) https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs/hisense-55u7qftuk.html got top recommendation and is 2020 av award recommended, over budget but it seems a quick & easy sensible option to save diving ever deeper into my av quagmire procrastination (3days of indecision and counting.....) and it’d fit on their current tv unit (saving me buying a new one to fit the tv) as the majority of 55” tv’s have leg supports that are very wide.

JensenHealy : Currys?, not a chance I’d shop there again - I imagine many on here have their own horror stories of woeful customer service.

Cheers all, think I’ve made a choice, I’ll call them tmorn.
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Wife's boss asked for advice and bought that Hisense as he wanted lowest cost - best value set. Hisense have garnered a good rep in a short time and stand apart from the rest of the no name/weird name crowd. Samsung are dearer but slicker to use I've found. LG excel at the top end of the OLED market but are being caught up by the other big guys.
 
Amber Audio said:
Wife's boss asked for advice and bought that Hisense as he wanted lowest cost - best value set. Hisense have garnered a good rep in a short time and stand apart from the rest of the no name/weird name crowd. Samsung are dearer but slicker to use I've found. LG excel at the top end of the OLED market but are being caught up by the other big guys.
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Couldn’t agree more.
Hisense are a massive less well known brand and are better value for money than most of the bigger names. And with a 5 or 6 year warranty you will not go wrong with any of their 55” models.
 
A couple of years ago I got a Sony Bravia 55” from Argos for £500. Granted it was the previous years’ model but had retailed for £1500. Excellent tv.
 
Somafunk said:
Currys?, not a chance I’d shop there again
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D.S.G.'s Currys? Their retail expertise went into a Korma many years ago; roughly when my daughter left their employ.:)

Ali T said:
A couple of years ago I got a Sony Bravia 55” from Argos for £500.
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My sister/bro.-in-law bought a 55" Sony last autumn and had it installed (local firm). Four engineers' visits later and a few weeks AND a different set and all has been fine since. As a lifetime died-in-the-wool Sony man (50 years), I was disappointed. It kept turning itself on during the early hours and waking them up plus there were interface complications. Maybe tellies are just too complicated nowadays and thank heavens my 40" from 8 or 9 years ago WITH RCA OUTS is as sharp as ever, though crappy sound as usual (speakers in the back? what were they thinking?)

They did try Richer Sounds but for some reason (installation?) they chose the local firm.
 
No problems with mine. Shame they had problems but I daresay such things are fairly rare in general. I did visit an AV forum and found some downloadable test cards and how to adjust the settings for setting up for the best picture which made a real improvement. I guess this would be the case for any make.
 
Mike Reed said:
D.S.G.'s Currys? Their retail expertise went into a Korma many years ago; roughly when my daughter left their employ.:)



My sister/bro.-in-law bought a 55" Sony last autumn and had it installed (local firm). Four engineers' visits later and a few weeks AND a different set and all has been fine since. As a lifetime died-in-the-wool Sony man (50 years), I was disappointed. It kept turning itself on during the early hours and waking them up plus there were interface complications. Maybe tellies are just too complicated nowadays and thank heavens my 40" from 8 or 9 years ago WITH RCA OUTS is as sharp as ever, though crappy sound as usual (speakers in the back? what were they thinking?)

They did try Richer Sounds but for some reason (installation?) they chose the local firm.
Click to expand...
Joe average household don’t care what a TV sounds like in the main, just that it looks good, mega bright and no cables/speakers visible. Soundbars have moved the bar on a bit as have some TV shows/Internet sites but in general it’s low on the average buyers priority list, once you get to mid high end different story and folk are pretty clued up nowadays. Sony TV’s according to my pal who runs a TV install outfit went through a bad patch and needed more interventions than average plus their OS was behind Sammy for a log while when they went full on Android - think main issue was speed of operation not the pic/sound quality.
 
I have an LG TV ( bought in June 2020 ) very similar to the one on your list and it's excellent . Another vote for Richer Sounds here .
 
There are various on Freecycle, I see one or two a week

My Panasonic 50" plasma came from Ebay £110. Two or three grand when new
Had it a few years now
 
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