How to choose a new television. Nightmare

Winterwhite
This might help you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvO7TaeCOAY

We bought a Samsung tv when we needed to replace our old one. It came with a smart remote that will control both the TV and the freesat box. I set it up as my husband is a technophobe. It wasn't difficult.
It came with neflix, prime video and Disney + already installed. We just had to decide which, if any, we wanted to sign up to.
I would speak to someone in store to give you advice. We went to Curry's PC World and the salesman was very helpful. He listened to what we wanted our tv to do, and didn't pressure us to buy something we didn't want or couldn't afford.

I was in a similar position a year or so ago, needing to replace a very old set but mystified by the choice of Smart TVs and wary of making an expensive mistake.

I decided to buy a Samsung 32" Smart HDTV set costing around £250 just to see how I got on with the new tech. It’s fine apart from daytime viewing where very dark scenes can be obscured by reflection of my cream-coloured sofa. You may need to consider the more expensive OLED or QLED sets to avoid that. I just chuck a dark throw over the sofa!

I receive the free-to-air digital terrestial channels (DTV) (including Sky Arts) though the existing aerial and subscribe to the popular no-contract digital apps: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Now, Britbox and one or two more niche apps. These are delivered via your broadband router as are BBC iPlayer, ITVHub, All4, My5 and UKTVPlay (Dave, Yesterday and Drama) which are free.

The TV was easy to set up. Have your laptop, tablet or phone nearby as you need to register the TV and set up accounts for any apps you decide to subscribe to. It's easier to do it that way rather than with the on TV screen keyboard.

I had been a Sky subscriber for many years. With the Sky box gone, I thought I’d need a separate recording device so bought a Humax. This is also fine, although with so much digital content available on demand, I hardly use it. Apart from news, I rarely watch live DTV.

After a few weeks of using the new set, I added a basic Samsung soundbar to boost the sound quality. I don’t have a separate music system so listen to music on Amazon or Spotify through the TV and like the enhanced sound quality that a soundbar gives.

Check to make sure that the TV set you are considering has enough USB and HDMI ports for the number of external devices you need to connect.

A year on, I’m very happy with the set up. The recorder and soundbar were optional, of course. The £250 for the TV was money well spent. My last set was twenty years old, state of the art at the time and cost £1200! Nowadays, with TV technology advancing so quickly, I’d be reluctant to pay even half that for a new set.

When I look at the reviews for the Samsung, I see a lot of people have bought it as a second or third TV for their bedrooms or children’s rooms so if you opted for that, or similar, and discover it doesn’t suit, I reckon you’d be able to sell it on quite easily without too much of a loss.

I've probably gone into too much detail but by the same token know that a lot of people are as mystified as I was by newer TVs and feel a bit stressed over it all. I think even the term "smart TV" is confusing. My old set had a "smart" setting but that only meant that it could detect the optimal picture size for a particular program.

I hope you find something to suit you winterwhite.

Aldi are doing smart tv’s of various sizes. 3 year guarantee And the best thing is it’s simple to connect and has all sorts of things including Netflix so just one handset ( instead of 3).
I am a tech phobe but even zI can use it. Very pleased.

I know people often talk about the excellent service from John Lewis. It was this reason that I went to them three years back when wanting a new tv and sound bar. I was most disappointed with the 'service' there. The sound bar they sold to me has NEVER worked properly often turns itself off for no reason. Discovered that it was 'old stock', and quite old technology. Could have got far better for less money almost anywhere else.
As far as televisions are concerned, if going for a new one, you want one that will be appropriate not just now, but also will still be useful in five or more years time. Worth while taking time to get used to all new technology - you will be amazed as to how much you will wish to use when you know you can. I really do enjoy having access to Catch-up, use my daughter's Netflix account when i wish to watch a film, and also as I pay for Amazon Prime for deliveries, have access to even more films through that.
Have recently upgraded my Humax to the new(ish) Aura one (my Chrissie pressie from children). Have now ability to set this from my phone when I am away from home,
I am 80 years of old, but think modern technology is wonderful and try to keep up to date with it.

All our Televisions are Samsung, we find them idiot proof easy to set up.

My tv is a samsung.
My mum fiddled with it when she was here, and we had to just watch ITV for weeks until someone could reset it.

I've had a Samsung TV for seven years, but lately it has had two bright spots that make it look as if there are lights shining through the screen. DS1 has supplied me with his larger screen model as his partner is moving in with her even better (bigger) set. I would still prefer my Samsung if only because the sound quality is so much better.

annodomini. That sounds like fallen reflectors and can be fixed with superglue either DIY if you feel up to it or find a local repair shop. Does this help?

www.thehomehacksdiy.com/what-causes-white-spots-or-dots-on-tv-screen/

I had my Samsung repaired back in the summer, with the strict understanding that it may not last, as it's a very much older set.
So far, so good, and the repair man did say that older sets were built to last.

Some months ago a neighbour asked me to set up iplayer, Netflix etc on their tv.
I spent over an hour trying this that the other until thankfully her daughter called and wondered what I was doing.
I told her. She then told me her parents didn’t have a SMART tv. Grrrrrr.

We have got a Panasonic Vera which we find easy to use. We don’t subscribe to a TV package or Netflix etc but we use a free view box and we can record and get catchup TV. We find it suits our needs. There’s always something to watch on the free view channels.

Meant to add, bought it from John Lewis. We found them helpful.

Just bought an LG 50 inch and we love it.

DGS brought his switch over but our 2 old TV’s didn’t have the right slot so looked on Argos and bought a Bush for £169.
Unlike Violetsky we find it Totally brilliant..
Plugged it in and connected it to Wi-Fi in minutes. It has the ability to get Netflix ect. We already have prime and that was easy to log in to.

Out old TV’s are 14 and 25 years old and compared to them this is amazing.

Merylstreep your story re being helpful for your neighbours tv, made me laugh out loud. Wonderful!!

Another Vote for the Panasonic Vera. W have a 42'' which we've had for almost 10 years , and it's still like brand new.. we have all the apps we need installed on it.. including Sky Q...

I am now understand your dilemma winterwhite .
Whilst I was looking for a dress for a wedding in JLewis my DH went upstairs to get his shot of porn- the tv dept.
I found him deep in conversation with the LG salesman in front of the biggest TV in the world, only £4k approximately but you get a second , smaller, tv worth £700 free.?
I did manage to get him out of the shop?
What I did learn was that you don’t need anything but the tv to use catch up but there was no recording option.
I have no idea if this is a good thing or a bad thing?
At the moment we have a bt box that I presume we wouldn’t need any more. Trouble is that our Wi-Fi can be tricky sometimes so if I want to be certain I will be able to watch without buffering I record the programme.

We have a Panasonic Viera which we bought in the early days - about 15 years ago. It stopped working and would not switch on at all so we went and bought a Samsung Smart TV - instructions from DGD as what type we should get! It was fairly easy to set up - a lot of it was automatic and we managed to connect our Humax box, French TV box and the Blu Ray player. I like the screen as it has almost no border around it.
The Panasonic lived on the dining room floor for a couple of years as it was too good to throw out even though the repair man had said it would be no good!! To be fair the man did not see the set. Then to save arguments I sent for a new remote control —- and when used the set came on but no channels. Fast forward to a visit by stepson and it sprang to life using the old sky box. So it is back being used as the second TV! Too big for the cupboard we had the previous much smaller TV in so has had to sit on the top of the unit - I do not find this arrangement what you might call aesthetically pleasing but it can be used from time to time and I have got used to seeing it there!

IT;'s good to have the catch up, you don't need to have paid for stuff, I didn't for a long time, my various children actually set me up as a secondary user on a couple of their accounts. I've watched series that I've been glad to watch but could cope without
Love it being so thin that it can go on the wall
I got mine after looking at which, and I'm pleased with it, you don't need the most up to date one, but it's nice to know which use least electric, and which are not that reliable or which have a good picture. You can sign up for a month online access maybe

I just noticed on our new Aldi smart tv that if I have turned it on after a programme has slready started there is an arrow which makes it start from the beginning again. That’s very smart.
We don’t pay fir anything extra, though are on our dd Netflix account, and there is a special Netflix button so ping, and on it comes.
43” £259. 3 years guarantee. Suits us.

We usually consult Which but guys at Currys are very helpful as Minimoon said, and connected it up at home. We bought Samsung.
However my son recommended LG so we bought one for the bedroom a couple of years ago. really easy to set up. And great price.
It's easy to subscribe to Netflix etc. Just need to take your time and follow instructions.
We also bought a firestick for a very small very old spare tv and can get all these extras and can actually speak to it to select things, all for about £40.