Team-BHP - The TV Thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by JithinR (Post 4867315)

Hi All,

I am planning to purchase a LED TV for my family this year. Looking for advise from fellow members (It's actually be the first decent TV in our family). I did go through this thread a little bit but with the constant updates made to TV's every year wanted to get the latest recommendation.

...............................

My requirements are the following:

TV size: 50 inch or thereabouts
Budget: Up to 70k. This can be extended though I am shocked at the prices for some premium offerings.
Full HD will be fine (not really sure how widespread 4K content is in India..again don't watch TV a lot and 1080p is fine on my phone).
Most of the content will be consumed from Netflix/Amazon Prime for me and DTH channel's for my Mom and Dad.
Planning to get a PS5 since I have got back into gaming now and the TV that is ready for this would be great.
Decent sound quality from the TV itself. I am looking more for clear audio rather than thumping bass.
HDR (and all its variations including Dolby Vision) and Dolby Audio since I kind of like great picture quality. I have not gone out for movie from the past few years.
Not sure if I need HDMI 2.1 and VRR. As far as i understand PS5 uses AMD chipset so I would need a Freesync enabled TV.
Low input lag mode. Preferably a model that does this on the fly rather than forcing me to select Game Mode. Not a deal breaker though.
I am not 100% sure but I think a VA panel will be a better fit rather than an IPS one. Our family is a small one and I can get blackout curtains to reduce ambient light in the room.

Are there any TV's in India that can meet most of these requirements if not all? I am not looking for an extreme VFM choice and would rather spend a little bit more for higher quality.

Finally, I am not sure if it's more viable to get a 1080p TV since most of the premium features seem to be only on the 4k ones and then get a gaming monitor for myself. Is this a better option?

As you have stated, HD TV is passe, 4K is now the current scene with the best features.

We got an LG 55"4k (LG-55SM8100) last Diwali for around 72K with 3 years warranty. The scheme required a 6 month EMI, but the interest was paid back after three months.

So I suggest that you
a) Look up the specs of this TV on the LG site.
b) Hunt around for best bargains available now, or wait till Fiwalu to get best deals.

My ordeal with a brand new Sony LED TV failure within in two days of purchase.

Here are the sequence of events and how helpless a consumer in India can be.

Purchased new Sony KD-65X8000H from Croma retail on 10-Aug-2020. The TV was wall mounted on 12-Aug-2020 by the Sony technician and worked perfectly for 2 days. On the second day, display faded suddenly and turned to a blank screen while watching the TV. Audio continue to work and TV was still ON.
I tried multiple reboots and change of source before registering a complaint. Except display, everything seemed to be working, including wifi.

Sony technician arrived the 4th day after registering complainant. He opened up the TV and performed a preliminary assessment. He could not resolve the issue on his first visit and had no clue what next.

I continued to follow up with Sony and Croma and all I heard was, we are working on next options. I wrote to Sony support head and Croma support via email and requested for a replacement.

Only good thing so far is, I received response from both Sony and Croma stating they have informed the concerned team. But I do not see anyone is really concerned except me as I am clueless what is happening after 7 days!

What options to do I have? Anyone been through similar situation?
Emails and phone calls are leading only to automated or standard responses like "we are working on it".

It is unbelievable a Sony TV can fail like this in 2 days. I had big respect for the brand and also decided to buy from a retail chain than Amazon. Both decisions gone wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JithinR (Post 4867315)

My requirements are the following:

Planning to get a PS5 since I have got back into gaming now and the TV that is ready for this would be great.
Decent sound quality from the TV itself. I am looking more for clear audio rather than thumping bass.
HDR (and all its variations including Dolby Vision) and Dolby Audio since I kind of like great picture quality. I have not gone out for movie from the past few years.
Not sure if I need HDMI 2.1 and VRR. As far as i understand PS5 uses AMD chipset so I would need a Freesync enabled TV.
Low input lag mode. Preferably a model that does this on the fly rather than forcing me to select Game Mode. Not a deal breaker though.
I am not 100% sure but I think a VA panel will be a better fit rather than an IPS one. Our family is a small one and I can get blackout curtains to reduce ambient light in the room.

Hey JithinR,

I have been hunting for PS5 compatible 4K TV as well but unfortunately there aren't many options available in India right now but I do hope that next year we might have many more options. Currently, this is the only VFM option available for Indians. Samsung Frame TV. The most popular and recommended LG CX is nowhere to be found and the previous version C9 is retailing at 1.5L in India. I was hoping to buy CX next year when LG C11 is launched :uncontrol

HDMI 2.1 is a necessity to utilize the 4K content from PS5. Many game companies have confirmed that their game will be playable at 4k@30 FPS as the minimum requirement and another important feature to consider is 120Hz refresh rate. Both these standard features are available in the Samsung Frame TV. The only downside is that it is a QLED panel and not OLED.

And finally 4K TV should be the way to go forward, every platform is ready to stream 4K and moreover buying a 4K TV will make it future proof at least for the next 3-4 years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sj_koova (Post 4868941)

My ordeal with a brand new Sony LED TV failure within in two days of purchase.
What options to do I have? Anyone been through similar situation?
Emails and phone calls are leading only to automated or standard responses like "we are working on it".

It is unbelievable a Sony TV can fail like this in 2 days. I had big respect for the brand and also decided to buy from a retail chain than Amazon. Both decisions gone wrong.

Sorry to hear about this. It's just bad luck. I am a big Sony fan too. Something similar happened to me way back in 2013 with a Sony TV who's panel failed in the first few days. Sony did replace the unit, replaced it with the next best model - but it took almost a month if I remember. In my case my model was out of stock for replacement or some such story for delayed action. Hope you reach a quick resolution with Sony.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sj_koova (Post 4869195)

So the wait was worth for you. I hope they do something similar for me too.
Technician hinted of replacement as he could not do anything on site.
The model I purchased was introduced in May 2020.

My experience with Sony is they do replace the product but it takes time. Way back when my PS3 fat failed they took a month and as it was out of stock in India they replaced it with PS3 slim. So, I am sure you will get a replacement of same or better model but it's gonna take time. In the meantime keep mailing them, tweeting them and make as much noise as you can on social media platforms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by srishiva (Post 4866458)

I think TCL is going to be big in future. Their Mini LED TVs are getting very good reviews and they are inexpensive compared to Koreans and Japanese.

I was looking at the review on CNEt which shows the lighting/dimming that they achieve through mini LEDs. It almost matches the image being shown and hence they are able to get good sharp images. I am still enjoying my Panasonic plasma for 12 years now and its still great. Not sure if we have to move to OLED or these mini LEDs will be able to match them.

https://www.cnet.com/news/mini-led-g...-tcl-6-series/

Made an impulsive purchase of a TCL 55 inch TV in Croma store last week. Very impressed with the quality of construction and what I get to see and hear.

Looks like they edged past LG to number 2 position in global sales. I think its time we warm up to TCL TVs.

https://www.displaydaily.com/article...cl-surges-to-2

Quote:

Originally Posted by sj_koova (Post 4868941)

What options to do I have? Anyone been through similar situation?
Emails and phone calls are leading only to automated or standard responses like "we are working on it".

Just insist on replacement. It's totally unacceptable for a product to fail within 2 days after paying so much. Also do not agree on repairing.

There have been lot of complaints against Croma, where they ship you the showroom display products.

My brand new VU TV has a small flickering line on screen, and they said replacing display card will solve the problem. I strictly rejected and demanded a new fresh piece. I got a new one within a week.

Quote:

Originally Posted by srishiva (Post 4866458)

I think TCL is going to be big in future. Their Mini LED TVs are getting very good reviews and they are inexpensive compared to Koreans and Japanese.

I was actually quite excited to note that we are seeing a leap up in PQ with the existing technologies since it should be affordable (I don't think I can afford something in the OLED range for quite some time).

But it doesn't actually seem the TCL 6 series is anywhere as good as they advertised (personally if the THX certified game mode delivers subpar PQ its not worth the trade off). The local dimming algorithm seems off as per this guy.

https://youtu.be/PqSzvWPKZAo

https://youtu.be/XrXKbQrzUcc

Quote:

Originally Posted by sj_koova (Post 4868941)

...Purchased new Sony KD-65X8000H from Croma retail on 10-Aug-2020. ...
It is unbelievable a Sony TV can fail like this in 2 days. I had big respect for the brand and also decided to buy from a retail chain than Amazon. Both decisions gone wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by promit (Post 4869026)

...Something similar happened to me way back in 2013 with a Sony TV who's panel failed in the first few days. Sony did replace the unit, replaced it with the next best model - but it took almost a month if I remember. In my case my model was out of stock for replacement or some such story for delayed action. Hope you reach a quick resolution with Sony.

Interesting. Reminds me of the 2014 42" Sony Bravia that I bought from Croma which failed within a month too!! They gave a 32" replacement TV for a week and changed the board and then it worked well until 2020. I did spend around 15k for extended warranty.