Advice on buying a new TV

[GreatGrump]

My old Panasonic Viera LCD has given up after 13 years of noble service, may it rest in peace.
That means I am now in the market for a new TV, but I have no idea what is a good product, or what places are best to buy from in terms of service and warranties.
My budget is at most £400, looking for at least 32inch (but ideally 40 as my sofa is a bit further away from the screen), going to use it mostly for gaming on all gens of console from PS2 to PS5, and i'm UK based.
Any guidance would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[C6 Driver]

You can't go wrong with LG. I see your budget and that's like close to $500 USD. You could probably move up to 50-inch 4K TV, w/ money left over.

LG - 50” Class UQ75 Series LED 4K UHD Smart webOS TV
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[sesselpupser]

Whatever you buy, I strongly recommend John Lewis. If you can wait until Black Friday (November) you'll definitely be able to get something better than if you buy today.

I bought a Samsung MU6400 for £400 from JL back in 2017 or so and was very happy with it, but within a week I noticed some hot spots (damage to one of the filters on top of the LCD) and asked them to replace it, they arrived on the wrong day so I was at work and they refunded me £50 by way of apology. Then Black Friday happened less than a month after I bought it and they automatically refunded me another £50, so I got £100 off even though the sale price was £350.

As for which to buy, honestly at that price they're much of a muchness, I'd suggest looking at all the TVs in that price range and making a decision based on reviews of the quality of the software/user interface because they're all going to be LCDs and I don't think any will have good HDR, VRR or 120Hz capabilities, though I could be wrong.

I don't know what other makes are like but Samsung TVs are packed full of telemetry features that tell Samsung what you're doing at pretty much all times, it's creepy and if I'd been aware of that at the time I wouldn't have bought one, although I could make a DNS sinkhole (a Pi Hole) to break it and haven't yet.

 

[Sprite]

Hi @GreatGrump

I agree with @neema_t for John Lewis and their excellent customer service.

I picked up a new TV last year and was going to go with them, but in the end I used Marks Electricals as I got another 10% off and they’re doing the same offer now.

Don’t discount TCL either, while not a big named brand they’re putting out some cracking TVs.

I’d personally work out what means the most to you in features. If it’s gaming then things like 4K 120, ALLM, with Dolby Vision or HDR 10. Then work out which TVs support this and then read reviews if you can find them.

RTINGS is a good place to start or lurk on the AV Forums and see what owners of the sets are saying.

Last but not least is price match. Find the set you’re after on Price Spy and see if you can get it cheaper, then contact the company to make sure they have stock. If they do then John Lewis, Richer Sounds etc. should price match.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

We got this samsung au9000 recently from argos for the bedroom, a nice little 43" for £400 (I did get it for £340 with 15% discount but) it has 120hz & vrr however the hdr isn't the brightest compared to more expensive tv's in the qled range.
There's also the 50" version for £430 in the picture.

Regarding the Samsung spyware it can be disabled by not accepting the privacy policy (not all of them anyway) & locking all channels or putting an age content restriction on them to stop advertising, it's a bit fiddly to do but it's what I've done with all mine.

 

[Fezzik]

If you have a Richer Sounds in your area, can absolutely recommend popping in to have a look. They will let you demo a few TVs instore, usually the staff really know what they're on about, plus the 6 year guarantee.

 

[BloodRaven]

Buy the absolute best one you can afford. If your budget is $500, then spend every penny of it on a TV. But if you can wait on a sale, then start putting extra money with it to buy an ever better (and bigger) TV. I went from a 40" HD non-smart TV to a 50" UHD smart TV. And am glad I waited until it was on sale. I paid pretty much the same for the bigger/better TV than I did my original one 10 years ago. And my old one got relegated to an extra room. The TV that was in there got sent out to my shop and is hanging from the ceiling with my Apple TV hooked up to it (that TV isn't a smart TV, either).

 

[DG_Silva]

I agree with @Fezzik, Richer Sounds are the company to go for; the staff really know their stuff, 6 year guarantee is excellent, there should be a store near you, and can recommend kit you maybe hadn't considered.