Out of date with TVs - am I expecting too much of LCD?

A few years ago we inherited a Leowe 32" CRT TV - it had a lovely picture, but it did weigh over 60kg and filled the corner of the room - but alas it finally died last week

 

We cant really afford to replace it with something of the same quality but as a stop gap a friend lent us their 5 year old HD Ready Hitachi 32" - frankly the picture is horrible, dark images in particular are muddy, tone curves are rubbish. DVD is noticeably worse than Freeview too.

 

Looking at £500+ sets in the shops they seem rather better than this cheapo old set, but still not sure if we should spend some money on a Smart Bluray player (ie feed it a better signal) or start saving for a whole new TV . . . thoughts?

Cheap nasty LCD panels will always be cheap nasty LCD panels.

 

Dead giveaway are the ones that say HD Ready, usually because they were just bad and could not give HD resolution.

Those ones were crap even when they were brand new.

 

Don't waste time with it, get a decent new set and bin off the old rubbish, it was nice your friend lent it to you, but the sad truth is it was always a pile of junk, now it's just an old pile of junk.

LCD technology had come on a long way in 5 years.. much brighter, sharper, clearer image...

 

Hitachi is/was a cheap brand too....

 

Also, it likely doesn't have freeview HD built in, which will make the picture look even worse..

A few years ago we inherited a Leowe 32" CRT TV - it had a lovely picture, but it did weigh over 60kg and filled the corner of the room - but alas it finally died last week

 

We cant really afford to replace it with something of the same quality but as a stop gap a friend lent us their 5 year old HD Ready Hitachi 32" - frankly the picture is horrible, dark images in particular are muddy, tone curves are rubbish. DVD is noticeably worse than Freeview too.

 

Looking at £500+ sets in the shops they seem rather better than this cheapo old set, but still not sure if we should spend some money on a Smart Bluray player (ie feed it a better signal) or start saving for a whole new TV . . . thoughts?

A better signal source will not improve or 'solve' a lower quality panel, and Hitachi sets have long been manufactured 'for badging' and to a cost, by a third party manufacturer in Turkey. On a price-performance ratio, they are positioned towards the bottom quality tier of the market, probably only slightly higher up than the bargain-basement made-for-Tesco sets.

 

I'm not dumping on Hitachi or Vestel for the sake of it here, as our main TV is currently a 2015 Vestel-made smart Hitachi 50" LCD (bought for beer money on eBay as a stopgap) and, coming from 7 years with a 2010 very high end LG full LED model, the image quality is literally like night and day. For a same Full HD source, it's like going back to the 4:3 or 16:9 analogue "monitor-TV" HD ready panels of the early 2000s. Poor contrast, washed out and leaking blacks, etc. It's alright as a stopgap, and a lot of TV for the money and will do for occasional use when it's retired to the gaming room...but it ain't staying long-term. Image is just too horrible.

 

We are currently saving for an LG OLED TV (B7V), which we plan on acquiring in 6 months or so. If you watch a reasonable amount of TV, don't spare the pennies and get the best screen you can for your budget. TV 'smarts' and better sources can always be added on with set top boxes or dongles or higher-quality players later on.

 

£500 should get you into lower mid- to mid-range quality panels (Hisense, Panasonic, LG, Samsung). I'm confident that they'll all comfortably trounce the Hitachi panel in the image quality stakes. Just don't go looking at Loewe's current line-up, because you'd need to add a zero and some

 

£0.02 and all that.

Edited September 6, 2017 by L00b

here you go..

 

not saying buy this specific TV from here, but as an example of the sort of minimum you should look for ideally..

 

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/lg-43lj594v-43-smart-led-tv-10161611-pdt.html

 

£400 is reasonable, especially for a high-end brand..

 

Also, take into consideration that only LG/Philips and Samsung make their own panels, the rest buy from them... (unless it's some very cheap brand, they may buy from Chinese suppliers)

You didn't say what source you were driving the old TV with, is it an HD source over HDMI? Or are you trying to watch an SD signal over scart or coax?

It's probably worth mentioning that you should consider what you want to be watching on your new TV as a guide of what type of TV you should get.

 

If you want to indulge in the latest UHD films and TV then generally you buy the largest panel with the best backlighting you can afford (the larger the screen the better UHD stuff will look to the viewer)

Unfortunately that same UHD TV will not look so great if you're watching SD quality TV programs.

Go onto the techradar website and you will see reviews on All types of Tvs and the Best Value ones to buy,or go into tescos on Spital Hill they have some value smart tvs on off all the time

there is one problem when it comes to modern tv's it doesn't matter if you get 32" or a 60" or a 1080P or a 4K, if you are watching standard SD freeview tv, it will look crap. only HD channels will look the best.

 

i have a 43" hitatchi 4K tv in my bedroom that cost me £399, the picture is brilliant, looks unreal with the PS4 and Xbox One on it. but watch standard freeview channels on it and the picture is low quality, washed out and blured.

 

same goes for the 55" 4k HDR samsung we have downstairs.

 

so unless you plan on watching anything in HD with either a blu-ray player or a games console or a Sky HD box etc, then it's not going to make a difference what tv you get and at what price.

 

ideally you want to future proof and get a 4K tv with HDR. as long as you have those to features, you are set for the future.

here you go..

 

not saying buy this specific TV from here, but as an example of the sort of minimum you should look for ideally..

 

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-and-home-entertainment/televisions/televisions/lg-43lj594v-43-smart-led-tv-10161611-pdt.html

 

£400 is reasonable, especially for a high-end brand..

 

Also, take into consideration that only LG/Philips and Samsung make their own panels, the rest buy from them... (unless it's some very cheap brand, they may buy from Chinese suppliers)

 

 

I am always a tab wary with LG products now, I have had a few products, TV, DVD players and phone and all of them died not long after all warranties eneded, not a brand i will personally purchase again..

I am always a tab wary with LG products now, I have had a few products, TV, DVD players and phone and all of them died not long after all warranties eneded, not a brand i will personally purchase again..

 

Really? That is surprising... and like I said, buy from someone else, you're likely using an LG screen any way (Unless it's Samsung)

Really? That is surprising... and like I said, buy from someone else, you're likely using an LG screen any way (Unless it's Samsung)

 

I'm using Philips..