# Which 43” tv



## Soapybubbles

My tv went in the blink last week and so looking for a replacement

I wonder if there are any techies out there who can give me honest opinion on choices.

Budget £500. 
It's for the bedroom,I do not have sky etc up there only a tv aerial connection so need built in free view.

I also need it to have screen mirroring so I can use my iPad to mirror my sky go app and also my bt sport app to it.

Most have built in Netflix which I also need.

I see some provide 5 year warranty but others only 1 year.

It's not a deal breaker but 5 years would be more attractive to me and could sway my decision.

I have a few in mind and here are some I was comparing on the web.










Any input is greatly received

Fraser


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## GeeWhizRS

Have a look at Richer Sounds, you get a decent warranty from them.
https://www.richersounds.com/tv-projectors/all-tvs.html?price=400-500&tv_screen_size_breaks=1362


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## Chrislazski

+1 for richer sounds. I bought a tv just before Black Friday and the said if it was cheaper in the sale they would refund the difference which it was and they did. Excellent company to deal with.


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## nbray67

Just a note around Samsung LED tv's.

We have a Samsung 55'' LED tv that now has light shadowing on the panel when the picture has a white/light background.

Bought it from Curry's in 2016 x £799 which came with a 5yr guarantee at that price bracket.

When I've googled the issue, it seems Samsung LED tv's have this problem and Curry's seem to haggle over the warranty repair due to screen burn.

I've emailed them the problem and awaiting a reply but just thought I'd share what's happened to ours as your pic shows Samsung tv's.

See this about our model UE55JU800 - The pic showing the ITV symbol is what I'm referring to.
https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/TV/TV-Screen-has-dark-section-at-bottom-of-screen/td-p/169713


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## spooky128

nbray67 said:


> Just a note around Samsung LED tv's.
> 
> We have a Samsung 55'' LED tv that now has light shadowing on the panel when the picture has a white/light background.
> 
> Bought it from Curry's in 2016 x £799 which came with a 5yr guarantee at that price bracket.
> 
> When I've googled the issue, it seems Samsung LED tv's have this problem and Curry's seem to haggle over the warranty repair due to screen burn.
> 
> I've emailed them the problem and awaiting a reply but just thought I'd share what's happened to ours as your pic shows Samsung tv's.
> 
> See this about our model UE55JU800 - The pic showing the ITV symbol is what I'm referring to.
> https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/TV/TV-Screen-has-dark-section-at-bottom-of-screen/td-p/169713


Got a 55inch Samsung with the same problem. Last Samsung tv I'll be buying

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk


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## ianrobbo1

It's big item purchases like this that I have found Which magazine to be invaluable where comparisons and the reliability issues are about, it may be worth joining, though they are often pretty far out as far as prices are concerned, I'm also another supporter of Richer sounds.:thumb:


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## Vossman

John Lewis also give a free 5 year warranty on TV's, we had a Samsung tablet from them that was in the last month of warranty when it went t*ts up, they didn't argue or want to test it, just replaced in store.
They do sometimes have a bargain and I think they now do price match.


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## nbray67

spooky128 said:


> Got a 55inch Samsung with the same problem. Last Samsung tv I'll be buying
> 
> Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk


Ha ha, exactly what I said spooky.

We tend to buy Samsung in truth but with this TV and an expensive Sound bar that went faulty 2mths out of warranty, it'll be the last we buy in the Samsung home tech stuff.


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## Cookies

nbray67 said:


> Ha ha, exactly what I said spooky.
> 
> We tend to buy Samsung in truth but with this TV and an expensive Sound bar that went faulty 2mths out of warranty, it'll be the last we buy in the Samsung home tech stuff.


I have tended to stick with Sony or Panasonic over the years, and they've always been faultless. Any TVs I've owned have been shipped off to relatives and friends purely because I fancied an upgrade.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## nbray67

Cookies said:


> I have tended to stick with Sony or Panasonic over the years, and they've always been faultless. Any TVs I've owned have been shipped off to relatives and friends purely because I fancied an upgrade.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


Yeah, Sony next when this one needs upgrading.

The shadowing on the current one is only noticeable on light backgrounds so it'll do for now.


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## Cookies

nbray67 said:


> Yeah, Sony next when this one needs upgrading.
> 
> The shadowing on the current one is only noticeable on light backgrounds so it'll do for now.


I had an LG a few years back, and on a white screen, the ghosting was awful. It was shipped off to use in our room in my in-laws house.

Have bought my last few from Richer Sounds, and the 5 year (now 6 year) guarantee is genuinely excellent.

I bought a Canton DM50 sound base about 6 years back, and one night two years ago it just wouldnt switch on. Brought it into the store (ah them were the days), they swapped it for the new DM55 model, with a 6 year warranty. Excellent service.

Cooks

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## roscopervis

I did a lot of research into tv's recently as our cat knocked our old one off the stand and broke it. There is not much I don't know about them now, thanks to my ADHD hyperfocus.

First thing you have to decide is will you be watching head on or will there be a lot of side on watching too? This will decide the type of panel you will want to go for - VA or IPS LED. VA panels (The Samsung's typically) have better black levels and thus contrast but at the expense of bad off axis colour shift, so they look bad when viewed from the side. The IPS panel tv's (LG's at this side, some Sony's) have less contrast, but keep a better picture from a wider viewing angle. Decide which type you want first.

At 43" you won't get the high 120hz refresh rates and multi zone dimming that bigger screens get, so they will all be edge it and have 60hz panels. 55" is where the good stuff happens.

One thing also to bare in mind with Samsung is HDR. They do not support Dolby Vision HDR which is the type Netflix uses. That means that the HDR defaults to HDR10 which is bog standard. Instead, Samsung goes with HDR10+ which looks good, but only some programs on Amazon Prime use. If I were choosing now, I'd be looking to get a TV that supported Dolby Vision HDR.

Another HDR issue to be aware of that will apply to all 43" TV's is brightness. To properly show off HDR, a TV has to go bright. The problem is that even the Q60 only gets up to about 450 nits of maximum brightness. To realistically show off HDR you need to be getting to around 700 nits and 1000 nits is the standard which a high end TV should be reaching. The cheaper TV's up there are all lower than the Q60 in terms of brightness and the Samsung's listed also have less colour gamut (range of colours) too.

I would seriously consider the HiSense B7500 if you want a VA panel. They use the same panels as the Samsung's and the picture quality is on par with the 7470 Samsung but has Dolby Vision support for Netflix.

If you want IPS, the LG 7400/7500/7600 are solid. They don't have Dolby Vision either, but HDRPro or whatever they call it is ok.

If you need a long warranty, buy it from Richer Sounds or John Lewis.

I went for the Samsung Q60 43". The Dolby Vision HDR thing with Netflix is a major issue I think. I couldn't go bigger than 43". If I could, I would have gone for a 50" Hisense UB7 and I'm more convinced in hindsight.


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## Mcpx

Echo what others have said about Richer Sounds, 6 year guarantee, excellent staff and often very good prices too. 

I have found smart TVs to be a bit flakey in their smart implementation with my current Hisense being useless, often disconnects from WiFi and apps vary from slow to useless, the Hisense does have beautiful picture quality though. All of my TVs now have Fire Sticks on them, much much faster than any smart tv and more versatile. 

My last purchase was a used 42 inch Phillips for my daughters room and it is very very impressive, for an older non 4K screen the image is very good, the built in sound is good enough to get away without a sound bar, and it also has Ambilight, which sounds gimmicky but is actually pretty awesome in a darkened room. My next tv will be a Phillips.


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## nbray67

Update on our Samsung 'shadows' on the screen when it has a light background.

I had to go into PC World last weekend and speak with their Knowhow team as the current wait time for Knowhow over the phone is 1hr+.

They rang me within 72hrs as promised but basically said, the screen damage was due to accidental damage and would've been caused by too much pressure on the screen when wiping it down, being hit by a ball/teddy bear, being knocked when moving etc etc!!

No matter how much I said that's crap, the guy on the other end said they would take it in but his opinion, 19yrs experience btw, would suggest accidental damage which their basic guarantee won't cover.

No loaner TV while it's away and it's our main TV so away for a min of 5 working days, with the slimmest of chances, basically nil, that it'll be repaired.

Told him the web is full of Samsungs with the exact same fault to which is reply was, no, it's full of Samsungs with accidental damage!!
Instructions say to gently wipe over the screen with a dry lint free cloth which is what I've always done, but no, according to this guy, I've damaged the screen by doing this!

Not that he was bothered but I basically said that it was a con and that's our last ever TV purchase from Currys and most definitely our last Samsung.

Our next purchase will be via Richer Sounds or John Lewis but I think we'll look into a guarantee that covers accidental damage, even though we know we've never damaged our current Samsung.

Rant over.


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## Cookies

nbray67 said:


> Update on our Samsung 'shadows' on the screen when it has a light background.
> 
> I had to go into PC World last weekend and speak with their Knowhow team as the current wait time for Knowhow over the phone is 1hr+.
> 
> They rang me within 72hrs as promised but basically said, the screen damage was due to accidental damage and would've been caused by too much pressure on the screen when wiping it down, being hit by a ball/teddy bear, being knocked when moving etc etc!!
> 
> No matter how much I said that's crap, the guy on the other end said they would take it in but his opinion, 19yrs experience btw, would suggest accidental damage which their basic guarantee won't cover.
> 
> No loaner TV while it's away and it's our main TV so away for a min of 5 working days, with the slimmest of chances, basically nil, that it'll be repaired.
> 
> Told him the web is full of Samsungs with the exact same fault to which is reply was, no, it's full of Samsungs with accidental damage!!
> Instructions say to gently wipe over the screen with a dry lint free cloth which is what I've always done, but no, according to this guy, I've damaged the screen by doing this!
> 
> Not that he was bothered but I basically said that it was a con and that's our last ever TV purchase from Currys and most definitely our last Samsung.
> 
> Our next purchase will be via Richer Sounds or John Lewis but I think we'll look into a guarantee that covers accidental damage, even though we know we've never damaged our current Samsung.
> 
> Rant over.


Sorry to hear that Neil, but I'm not at all surprised. I had a similar experience of the Currys/PC World warranty a number of years back, and it is genuinely not worth the paper it's printed on. Apart from 'disposable' items, I'll never buy anything of value from them.

Is it worth having an independent TV engineer look at it?

Cheers

Cooks

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## nbray67

Cookies said:


> Sorry to hear that Neil, but I'm not at all surprised. I had a similar experience of the Currys/PC World warranty a number of years back, and it is genuinely not worth the paper it's printed on. Apart from 'disposable' items, I'll never buy anything of value from them.
> 
> Is it worth having an independent TV engineer look at it?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Cooks
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


Cheers pal.

We can live with it as its hardly noticeable but when you know it's there, you get drawn to it, but only when the background is a light colour so not often but there if you get what I mean.

I'm going to try Samsung live chat after 9am and explain my disappointment in such a frail product and lay it on thick with them just to push it as far as I can.

I hope I don't drop it during the house move should it all go through! :lol:


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## BrummyPete

Cookies said:


> I have tended to stick with Sony or Panasonic over the years, and they've always been faultless. Any TVs I've owned have been shipped off to relatives and friends purely because I fancied an upgrade.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


Same as me, have a Panasonic I use for gaming, great TV, I like Samsung products but find their TV line isn't up to par

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk


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## Gas head

I Stick to Panasonics, I don't think there are many screen manufacturers though basically Samsung and LG supply most of the tv manufacturers whatever the name is on the front that's what i was told the last time i bought a tv, next will be a Loewe


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## packard

For me it would be John Lewis or richer sounds for the warranty. However both now do state what levels of pixels are expected to fail and won’t be covered by warranty.

I have both Sony and Samsung, remote easier to use on Samsung as is the interface. Both have similar spec and tbh I can’t tell much between them when watching both on 4K.

You could look at this way, spend £300ish have it a few years then upgrade if you feel the need a 4K TV always sells on Facebook or gumtree..


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## MDC250

Vossman said:


> John Lewis also give a free 5 year warranty on TV's, we had a Samsung tablet from them that was in the last month of warranty when it went t*ts up, they didn't argue or want to test it, just replaced in store.
> They do sometimes have a bargain and I think they now do price match.


Would never, ever buy from JL again. TV packed in within 3 weeks of buying, this was a good 11 years or so ago. They offered a non comparable set as a loan whilst other one was to be sent back for repair. Manager in the TV Dept hung the phone up on me. Called back different manager, made clear I was coming down with the old set that day and if I wasn't walking out with a new one they wouldn't be making any more sales that day as I'd be there kicking up a stink.

Rocked up 2 hrs later set boxed up with a Letter of Claim by way of hand delivery. Wasn't needed got a full refund (originally paid for in wedding vouchers so result there), the DVD player swapped as that was playing up and went over to Richer Sounds. Same TV for less money with better warranty. Still have the same set today as it goes (Samsung Series 6).

Got a new main TV from Currys day before lockdown (Samsung QLED). Sales guy basically matched the RS price and discounted their extended warranty to broadly match RS who didn't have stock local to me.

Are Currys any better than JL? Maybe not but JL's original handling has meant I'd never give them another penny.

For no questions asked and hassle free returns,can't beat Costco IMO.


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## James_R

I've had my last two main tv's from Richer Sounds. (panasonic)

1st one was about 1 month away from the end of its 5yr warranty and it started to develop half moons on the bottom of the picture.
They collected it, left me with a loan set, then called me a couple of days later to say it couldn't be fixed, go in to the shop and pick a replacement.

I went in to the shop, asked what the score was, manager said you can pick anything up to the same value as your original tv. 
I asked if I could add cash to it and get a bigger better one.

No problem, tell me what you want.
Picked a bigger better Panasonic, took it home.

That was in 2012.


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## NorthantsPete

Still got my samsung plasma..they said it lasts 3 years...its going strong 11 years later, add good as it was new.


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## MDC250

Forgot to say. Have had a couple of minor repairs on the old set. Chap I take it to keeps offering to take it off me and for me to pick a bigger screen from what he has in at the time. Says to me the set is still worth keeping. 

Sure he said to me that newer sets run a setting or two too high on default and he always knocks it back or they are effectively overdoing it.


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## NorthantsPete

yeah, like older cars, they have less shortcuts less cost savings, less Renault bits in them....

I bought the last of the plasmas as I didnt like LED technology... glad i did, in winter it helps heat the room too.


Also, 99% of people run their LED at max brightness, gives me a headache, turn it down a bit and you wont be burning, ghosting or anything.

Sony phones were also well built, while everyone chases stats, the sony will outlast the samsungs, the samsungs are only just becoming less bloat filled, hated them in the past, still wouldnt buy a flagship, benefit reward vs cost is pants after about £100 on a phone, camera is the only thing.

My Samsung LED in the bedroom is slow as cr*p, from new the menu system takes an age to boot, try to get ont he wifi and it fails, you have to turn it on, then wait. Rather just use a roku.

When the big tv goes, Ill probably buy something oldskool like a Sharp, a Sony or LG


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## roscopervis

The issue is that Samsung's review well - when new, the picture etc is very good, but I agree that they are not very reliable. The one in my story above was 4.5 years old when the panel broke. It was bought from John Lewis and they were very good, but they just repaired it - sent a Samsung engineer to my house to put a new panel in the old shell. That must have cost a good chunk, but my TV was fixed (until fat cat knocked it over a few months later).

I'm increasingly impressed by the higher range sets from HiSense and now TCL and would aim for those at a similar price to Samsung.


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