the snail
Guru
- Location
- Chippenham
That's what we've got, one of these
https://www.sony.co.uk/bravia/products/a80l-a83l-a84l-series
Excellent picture, and it sounds good too, probably as good as you'll get without a soundbar.
Recommendations for a non smart tv
- Thread starter yello
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
That's what we've got, one of these
https://www.sony.co.uk/bravia/products/a80l-a83l-a84l-series
Excellent picture, and it sounds good too, probably as good as you'll get without a soundbar.
welsh dragon
Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
You will be lucky to get a TV that isn't a smart TV nowadays. As for the sound, just buy a sound bar.
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Coincidently I've just been looking at Hisense. They look to be along the lines of what I'm after.
Thank you for your post, most useful.
U6 seems highly rated. Do get a soundbar though - there's no skinny tv with good sound just because you can't get decent speakers in there. Make a really big difference.
Alex321
Guru
- Location
- South Wales
Yes, that "calculator" seems ridiculous.
Though even Which? who have no vested interest give pretty much the same distances for HD TV sets.
Personally, I find my 32" set at about 8 ft distance to be absolutely fine, though it is only HD, not 4K.
Ha ha brilliant.
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
Haven't you noticed their location?
"France"
The French have taken Rockall??? Call the Navy!!!
This is the fundamental problem, modern TVs are designed to be thin and light - because that's what most consumers want - but this means that there is limited ability to fit speakers. In the good old days where a 32" CRT TV sat in a massive box, sound quality was excellent as there was sufficient space, but this is no longer the case. Older plasma and LCD TVs were also much larger and whilst there was a step-down in audio quality there it was not as big as to modern TVs.
I have a Sony TV and despite being a relatively premium product, the sound quality is very laptop-esque and whilst I could survive with it I chose to add a sound bar as we often listen to music rather than watch TV and it makes it a lot better.
If you just watch broadcast TV you'll probably be fine, it's a lot of dialogue and although the music will sound like it's coming from a laptop speaker, it's bearable. If you ever watch a feature film, you'll regret not getting a better audio system.
As for hiding cables, it really depends how and where you plan to fit the TV, presumably you will have (at least) a power cable running to the TV, so you have some cables being routed around there. We've got our TV mounted to the chimney breast and have a bracket which holds the soundbar below the TV. You can see the cables (both power and HDMI) running to the unit, but they're relatively hidden and certainly I don't notice them particularly in use, and whilst I could have spent longer arranging them, I had other things to do at the time so never got round to it.
If you do opt for a sound bar, I'd suggest getting one with a wireless woofer unit, this means the soundbar itself can be smaller and therefore less obnoxious. We've got one from Denon and was good value for money when I got it a couple of years ago as it was on offer at Currys in the January sales and I got it for less than half it's current (but still discounted) retail price, so if you do wait you can get a really good deal.
Electric_Andy
Heavy Metal Fan
- Location
- Plymouth
It is a bit of a Minefield. There's OLED, QLED, and all sorts of "standard" LED like NanoLED, UltraLED, Superman Karate LED and so on. Probably best to look at one in a shop and set your budget. I've had a Digihome (Tesco own brand I think) 4k LED for a few years. The 48" was a mere £286. Picture is good enough for me but stand it next to a QLED or OLED and it would look rubbish. All depends what you are used to.
I'd be perfectly happy getting the same brand again but in the 65". I already have an AV receiver and floor-standing speakers and a sub, so the sound is fantastic. Better than the soudbars I have heard (albeit only 1 or 2), but of course takes up more space and there's more wires. But, I can play music through it and it'll crank up loud for parties without distortion. I've seen AV receivers on FB for as low as £25, speakers I would spend at least £100, but still possibly cheaper than a new soundbar for a larger sound
I'd be perfectly happy getting the same brand again but in the 65". I already have an AV receiver and floor-standing speakers and a sub, so the sound is fantastic. Better than the soudbars I have heard (albeit only 1 or 2), but of course takes up more space and there's more wires. But, I can play music through it and it'll crank up loud for parties without distortion. I've seen AV receivers on FB for as low as £25, speakers I would spend at least £100, but still possibly cheaper than a new soundbar for a larger sound
Think of it as there are "OLED" and "not OLED" TVs.
OLED is Organic Light Emitting Diode. Each pixel is a tiny LED which can be off or on. So black areas are really black.
In contrast everything else _LED is just LCD (liquid crystal display) with LED backlighting. The LEDs (light emitting diodes) are just a bank of white LEDs behind the LCD. The light shines through the transparent panel and the pixels are switched on/off in the LCD. The backlight can only be turned on/off or brightness changed as a whole panel, so black areas still have white light behind but is blocked by the LCD pixels. The light still shines through to some extent, so you get "light bleed".
Before LED backlit LCD, there were CCFL LCD screens that have cold cathode fluorescent tubes for backlighting so they were thicker.
When they switched to making LED LCD screens the sneaky manufacturers decided to make a big thing of the "LED" branding to confuse customers into thinking they were the like the fancy new OLED screens which were still very expensive. QLED is just a variation on the old LED LCD tech.
Just been looking at the U7K. It seems stupidity huge to me (55 is the smallest) but it seems like a lot of tele for the dosh.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
To the OP, if you get a TV you will have to leave this forum. Same to all those that have posted and outed themselves.
Bonefish Blues
Banging donk
- Location
- 52 Festive Road
Also great reviews and tremendous vfm. Hard to go wrong there. But you still need a soundbar
