Help me choose a TV

[Craikeybaby]

Earlier in the year, before I moved house, our LG 37" 1080p TV died - I had it 15 years, so that is a decent life. I borrowed a 32" from a friend as I didn't want to get a TV sized for our old living room. So now it is time to make a purchase.

The layout of the living room isn't great the network and aerial connections for the TV are in an alcove opposite the door, so the TV pretty much has to go there, angled into the room. Then next to the door there is an alcove for the main sofa.

This is the layout, with sofas in red, and TV in green:



And a photo from Rightmove (as room is currently a mess) - the previous owners had a much bigger TV:


The viewing distance is about 4m - which ChatGPT seems to think means a 75" screen, which seems humongous to me. Especially if it needs to be angled in to the room to get a good viewing angle.

Any suggestions on TV size/models/position/room layout etc would be welcome, as I have always done TV straight infront of the sofa and had the room wired to work with that, but unfortunately it will not work here.

With regards to what we want from the TV, it will be connected to either Apple TV (I'll get a new 4k one) or Freeview aerial, maybe occasionally DVD or older console. For sound we have a Goodmans Soundbase, which I think was recommended on here, probably about 8 years ago. Budget is around £600, but not fixed.

[TEKNOPUG]

Buy a different house?

Can you put the TV on the other side of the fireplace (extend the wires, move the other sofa back)?

Or even above the fireplace?

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Saturday 26th July 15:18

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Saturday 26th July 15:19

[Craikeybaby]

Unfortunately there aren’t any other houses in the location we like with a double garage - and garage is more important to me than TV.

I thought the TV would make more sense in the other alcove, but no aerial feed or Ethernet there. I have considered a smaller TV and then a projector behind the sofa on to a screen above the fireplace.

[Purosangue]

Craikeybaby said:

Earlier in the year, before I moved house, our LG 37" 1080p TV died - I had it 15 years, so that is a decent life. I borrowed a 32" from a friend as I didn't want to get a TV sized for our old living room. So now it is time to make a purchase.

The layout of the living room isn't great the network and aerial connections for the TV are in an alcove opposite the door, so the TV pretty much has to go there, angled into the room. Then next to the door there is an alcove for the main sofa.

This is the layout, with sofas in red, and TV in green:



And a photo from Rightmove (as room is currently a mess) - the previous owners had a much bigger TV:


The viewing distance is about 4m - which ChatGPT seems to think means a 75" screen, which seems humongous to me. Especially if it needs to be angled in to the room to get a good viewing angle.

Any suggestions on TV size/models/position/room layout etc would be welcome, as I have always done TV straight infront of the sofa and had the room wired to work with that, but unfortunately it will not work here.

With regards to what we want from the TV, it will be connected to either Apple TV (I'll get a new 4k one) or Freeview aerial, maybe occasionally DVD or older console. For sound we have a Goodmans Soundbase, which I think was recommended on here, probably about 8 years ago. Budget is around £600, but not fixed.

Apart from living on a cluedo board

keep the set up as previous neighbours you could probably angle Around a bit, I would go for an LG 65" OLED and buy from richer sounds brilliant company

don't be tempted to put above the fireplace you'll regret and have neck ache

https://www.richersounds.com/lg-oled65g45lw/

edit
we bought our LG OLED 65 back in 2016 so 9 years and still going strong OLED still gives the best pure black technology much better than QLED

Edited by Purosangue on Saturday 26th July 18:17

[MiniMan64]

Are you planning on keeping the fire place?

Not the most attractive thing and it’s removal would make your TV dilemma a lot easier….

[Sporky]

At 4m I'd normally suggest a 55, but I do commercial/higher Ed AV.

At home I'm probably 4-5m from the telly, and went 75, because the telly is mostly fir consoles and menu text is small.

Worth noting, of course, that ChatGPT is usually wrong (on any subject), and will admit it when challenged.

[miniman]

Do you really need anything more than mains power? We don’t use anything other than wifi.

[greygoose]

miniman said:

Do you really need anything more than mains power? We don t use anything other than wifi.

Us too, we get our tv through the internet now with an Apple TV box (other types are available) so you can put the television anywhere.

[TEKNOPUG]

Craikeybaby said:

Unfortunately there aren t any other houses in the location we like with a double garage - and garage is more important to me than TV.

I thought the TV would make more sense in the other alcove, but no aerial feed or Ethernet there. I have considered a smaller TV and then a projector behind the sofa on to a screen above the fireplace.

Mock up done cardboard to get an idea on different screen sizes in the preferred location, to give you an idea of how they will work with the rest of the room.

£600 will probably get you into a 2024 48" OLED. You could get 55, 65 even 75" screens for £600 but the screen technology and therefore picture quality, will reduce markedly

[Craikeybaby]

Purosangue said:

Apart from living on a cluedo board

keep the set up as previous neighbours you could probably angle Around a bit, I would go for an LG 65" OLED and buy from richer sounds brilliant company

don't be tempted to put above the fireplace you'll regret and have neck ache

https://www.richersounds.com/lg-oled65g45lw/

edit
we bought our LG OLED 65 back in 2016 so 9 years and still going strong OLED still gives the best pure black technology much better than QLED

Edited by Purosangue on Saturday 26th July 18:17

Thanks. That’s good to hear about the longevity of OLED.

My previous TV came from Richer Sounds, and my now obsolete AV receiver/surround sound set up.

[Craikeybaby]

MiniMan64 said:

Are you planning on keeping the fire place?

Not the most attractive thing and it s removal would make your TV dilemma a lot easier .

Fireplace is TBC, but won’t be doing anything major in that room for a few years.

[paralla]

Sky Stream, Apple TV or other wi-fi connected streaming service that uses a small puck allows you freedom to put the TV anywhere you want as you no longer need an antenna connection.

[Craikeybaby]

Sporky said:

At 4m I'd normally suggest a 55, but I do commercial/higher Ed AV.

At home I'm probably 4-5m from the telly, and went 75, because the telly is mostly fir consoles and menu text is small.

Worth noting, of course, that ChatGPT is usually wrong (on any subject), and will admit it when challenged.

Thanks, 55” was around the size I was thinking.

[Craikeybaby]

miniman said:

Do you really need anything more than mains power? We don t use anything other than wifi.

Most our watching is Freeview. WiFi would probably be OK, but generally use wired for anything that doesn’t move.

[Craikeybaby]

TEKNOPUG said:

Mock up done cardboard to get an idea on different screen sizes in the preferred location, to give you an idea of how they will work with the rest of the room.

£600 will probably get you into a 2024 48" OLED. You could get 55, 65 even 75" screens for £600 but the screen technology and therefore picture quality, will reduce markedly

Sounds like a good idea - it’s a shame I took a load of big cardboard boxes to the tip last week.

Is OLED that much of a jump in quality?

[Craikeybaby]

paralla said:

Sky Stream, Apple TV or other wi-fi connected streaming service that uses a small puck allows you freedom to put the TV anywhere you want as you no longer need an antenna connection.

Thanks - we currently have an Apple TV, how do you watch live TV on it?

[bennno]

Craikeybaby said:

Unfortunately there aren t any other houses in the location we like with a double garage - and garage is more important to me than TV.

I thought the TV would make more sense in the other alcove, but no aerial feed or Ethernet there. I have considered a smaller TV and then a projector behind the sofa on to a screen above the fireplace.

It’s a few hours work to run cables and recess in to the walls. Tv needs to be on other side of fireplace, a Samsung frame would work, needs a tiny cable to the tv itself.

[Sporky]

Craikeybaby said:

Most our watching is Freeview.

In that case ChatGPT has recommended something far too big.

If you were mostly gaming or watching 4K stuff it'd be worth going bigger.

OLED does give deeper blacks, so looks like better contrast, but QLED looks good. Whether it's worth spending the extra depends on two things to my mind; will it be HDR (I doubt Freeview is), and will you be looking side-by-side with an OLED for comparison...

[TEKNOPUG]

Craikeybaby said:

TEKNOPUG said:

Mock up done cardboard to get an idea on different screen sizes in the preferred location, to give you an idea of how they will work with the rest of the room.

£600 will probably get you into a 2024 48" OLED. You could get 55, 65 even 75" screens for £600 but the screen technology and therefore picture quality, will reduce markedly

Sounds like a good idea - it s a shame I took a load of big cardboard boxes to the tip last week.

Is OLED that much of a jump in quality?

Perfect blacks, infinite contrast ratio and most pertinent to you, wider viewing angles. It's all relative though if you are coming from a 37" HD TV and then get a 55" LED playing 4K Apple TV movies.....

But yes, OLED is superior in multiple ways, as is reflected in the prices.

[Purosangue]

Craikeybaby said:

TEKNOPUG said:

Mock up done cardboard to get an idea on different screen sizes in the preferred location, to give you an idea of how they will work with the rest of the room.

£600 will probably get you into a 2024 48" OLED. You could get 55, 65 even 75" screens for £600 but the screen technology and therefore picture quality, will reduce markedly

Sounds like a good idea - it s a shame I took a load of big cardboard boxes to the tip last week.

Is OLED that much of a jump in quality?

just found old receipt thought in region of 2K was £2,799 back in 2016


so prices about 1k less for roughly the same spec tv today

fortunately our Tv was really a gift to the family when we sold 10 of our boxer pups litter