New TV

Swanseajack

Swanseajack

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We are using our spare room a lot more after purchasing new furniture this year. The boss wants a new TV in this room, we currently have an old Phillips 100hz flat screen, about 15 year old and was top of the range in it's day. Not HD or anything.

The current TV is run from our Sky box and we have red-eye (series link) running 4 TV's around the home, the splitter is behind this TV. I have had a look at some HD & 4K TVs and my question is, will they perform correctly running from the red - eye system, do they just up-scale? My current favourite is an LG 42" 4K TV @ £499 in Currys. LG42UB820V model number

Sorry if a bit of a noob question but I haven't a clue.

Any advice greatly appreciated.
 
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Just bought a new Telly and honestly couldn't really see the point in going 4k yet. The last telly, a Flat Screen Sony Bravia HD of some description just broke after a few years. I'm figuring that by the time there's ample (affordable!) 4k content available, the new telly will probably be ripe for replacement and decent 4k sets will be significantly cheaper.
 
afasoas said:
Just bought a new Telly and honestly couldn't really see the point in going 4k yet. The last telly, a Flat Screen Sony Bravia HD of some description just broke after a few years. I'm figuring that by the time there's ample (affordable!) 4k content available, the new telly will probably be ripe for replacement and decent 4k sets will be significantly cheaper.
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The thing that got me liking the 4K TV was the price and the picture looked good in the shop. I thought at £499 it was a good price for a 42" 4K. Also, with the furniture we have in the room 42" is about the max size TV we would want/need.
In our main room we have a panasonic plasma TV which is still excellent today, even at about 7 years old.
 
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IMHO, you shouldn't buy a 4k TV until there is enough content for it.
 
Thanks for the replies so far. It looks as if 4K needs further investigating.
 
At the moment only certain content from Netflix is in 4k. But add to that, Freeview, Sky and Virgin only broadcast in 720, not the full HD 1080. So you aren't even getting HD properly yet. Plus 8K is waiting in the wings, Japanese TV have stated that the 2020 Olympics will be broadcast in 8K.

So, what TV do you buy? Any HD at the moment, get the best deal and start saving for a 4k/8k when they arrive in an affordable package with enough content.


Edit - Actually, Sky broadcast in 1080i which is even worse than true 1080p. It's only 1920x540 for the odd lines and then 1920x540 for the even lines interlaced.
 
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Jeff Spangle said:
At the moment only certain content from Netflix is in 4k. But add to that, Freeview, Sky and Virgin only broadcast in 720, not the full HD 1080. So you aren't even getting HD properly yet. Plus 8K is waiting in the wings, Japanese TV have stated that the 2020 Olympics will be broadcast in 8K.

So, what TV do you buy? Any HD at the moment, get the best deal and start saving for a 4k/8k when they arrive in an affordable package with enough content.


Edit - Actually, Sky broadcast in 1080i which is even worse than true 1080p. It's only 1920x540 for the odd lines and then 1920x540 for the even lines interlaced.
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You've misunderstood interlacing in that reply. 1920x1080i25 has better motion portrayal than 1920x1080p25 for a slight resolution drop in the vertical. Not half.

Read the EBU link for the full picture.
 
Freeview is 1080i50 (not 25 and not 720 ;)). I have some raw streams here so can say that with certainty.

A good deinterlacer will recreate 1080p25 if it is given progressive data (think film) converted into interlaced for broadcast. Films are filmed at p24 (actually p23.976) and sped up to 25p for UK consumption.
 
Again thanks for the replies.

@Jeff Spangle the 4k TV I have seen in Currys is £499. As mentioned above

To clarify, the salesperson stated "that this TV will upscale to 4k" so is he is talking out of his a555?? If I understand correctly, upscaling is not possible and I wont see the benefit of the extra megapixels as no one currently broadcasts in 4K?
 
Swanseajack said:
the 4k TV I have seen in Currys is £499.... I wont see the benefit of the extra megapixels as no one currently broadcasts in 4K?
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It's a good price (look out for any Black Friday deals though). You won't see the benefit on any broadcast content, apart from certain Netflix streamed content. If it the deal is good, it's worth getting. All I'm saying is, don't expect too much at the moment.

That TV mentioned is a 42" yes? If so, it's a bit small for 4K. As the resolution ramps up, the viewing distances do change.

Mentioned here..

http://carltonbale.com/does-4k-resolution-matter/
 
How big is the panasonic? That could be put into the spare room and then you have an excuse to get a large one for the main room ;)
 
arad85 said:
Freeview is 1080i50 (not 25 and not 720 ;)). I have some raw streams here so can say that with certainty.

A good deinterlacer will recreate 1080p25 if it is given progressive data (think film) converted into interlaced for broadcast. Films are filmed at p24 (actually p23.976) and sped up to 25p for UK consumption.
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Nope - it's 1080i25 - the nomenclature for the number is frame rate not field rate. see: https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreports/tr005.pdf

Also, you need to look at your raw streams better, they dynamically switch between 1080i and 1080p: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/23/bbc_hd_1080p/
 
Unless you're sat a couple of feet from a 42" screen, you're not going to see any difference with a 4k set over a 1080p set. You're not going to see any significant content for years.

Personally I would spend the money on a larger, quality pioneer or panasonic 1080p plasma, if what you want is the best picture quality.
 
Can't say about the LG but the Samsung 4K certainly gives a truly superb picture on HD channels and there are lots of 4K stuff to be had via Sony, Amazon, YouTube, Netflix,Samsung etc.
 
my oh just upgraded her tv and in the end went for a normal 1080p 50" samsung for about £530 as the extra £200 for 4k did not seem worth it at normal viewing distances
 
srichards said:
How big is the panasonic? That could be put into the spare room and then you have an excuse to get a large one for the main room ;)
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The Panasonic is also 42" due to our fireplace been of center in the living room and then close to a radiator and window. 42" was the biggest we could get/fit. I have wood flooring so I didnt want to move the fireplace or hang from a wall.

We could have had a cheaper Sony, Samsung etc in a bigger size but it wouldn't fit. So we used our budget to buy the Panasonic which was a good spec and to me it had a better picture than some of the bigger screens. At the time our next door neighbour had a 50" Sony and IMO it was poor against our Panasonic. May have been his set-up?

It looks as if Im opening up a interesting discussion here, some good usefull reading and advice for me. Off to the Equipment section now as I have just sold my Fuji XT1 and Im un-decided to whether get a Nikon d750, d7100 or Oly EM1. Changing for the longer lenses available than Fuji.:D
 
There is not a great deal of UHD content around at the moment. In fact 4K cameras have only really come onto the market this year, so there is going to be the inevitable delay in programme material. It's like the early days of HD. I've looked at going UHD on my own TV. There are some good bargains around. But I came to the conclusion that technology will improve year on year. Plus we haven't seen any practical method of delivering content apart from the internet yet. (Yes I know they are working on it, ) ,but I don't think there is a suitable broadcast option available yet. If I had to buy a TV now I'd go for a good mid price HD set, and wait the 3,4,5 years until things have settled down and we have workable solutions.
 
st599 said:
Nope - it's 1080i25 - the nomenclature for the number is frame rate not field rate. see: https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreports/tr005.pdf
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It depends where you are in the world... Most sane places call it i50 (and if you are being pernickety EBU is i/25 ;)). Even Auntie Beeb calls it i50 (although they use 1080/50i which is yet another variation (http://www.bbc.co.uk/faqs/bbchd_channels_schedule).

st599 said:
Also, you need to look at your raw streams better, they dynamically switch between 1080i and 1080p: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/23/bbc_hd_1080p/
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I mentioned the streams as 720p was mentioned, as far as I know UK has never had 720 broadcast - if not for the fact that it's 720p50 - there is no standard for 720i50 (or 720i/25 if you prefer ;)) so there is no equipment for it. Didn't know they had moved to 1080p though :)
 
A little update:

After looking at some reviews we bought a Sony Bravia W7 TV and to be honest the picture was a pile of s***. Tried different setups from advice on other forums and still couldn't get a decent and consistent colour picture, I preferred my old Philips Flat Screen which we put out the back, I would have brought back in but it was soaking wet. It was also very poor against our Panny Plasma in main room, so wife returned. May have been faulty????

Had a look around again and decided to go with the LG 4K I mentioned in original post, basic auto set up yesterday afternoon and the TV IMO is far superior picture wise to the Sony we returned. Watched Dr G Medical Examiner last night which was filmed in the 90's ? and the pic was fantastic, also watched the football and agian excellent picture but the motion not as good as our plasma which was expected.

Initial results look promising for a £499.00 TV
 
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