Hey, I'm looking at replacing my 50" 4K Panasonic with a 65" to suit the new lounge, which is nearly double the size of the old one. The 50 inch looks like a portable in the new house. I've always been a Panasonic customer but lately, I've seen a friends new Sony and the picture quality was excellent and colours seemed really accurate out of the box. Sony upped their game the last few years? Samsungs for me always seemed to be overcoloured and artificial; however, I haven't looked at them for nearly 4 years so may have improved. Same goes for LG - always looked decent but preferred the colour accuracy of the Panasonic at the time. To stop me purchasing Panasonic again by force of habit, what TVs would you recommend? I watch a lot of live sports and movies so a panel that can handle fast moving images and good colours/blacks is a must. Google Assistant inbuilt would be nice as it'll mean I can move the Home Mini elsewhere in the house - but not a requirement. The only constraint is a max budget of £1500.
Thanks. I was hoping for some advice with personal experience, rather than picking out random TVs that are within my price range - no offence Keep them coming though
Your noting of oversaturated colours on Samsung would be merely down to incorrect setup (or perhaps over-zealous preferences of the owner) Any half-decent Sony or Samsung would be a solid choice, even better if you can score a high-end 2018 model in lieu of a midrange 2019 model. I'd try to squeeze a Sony ZF9 or Samsung Q9F in the budget - it would be right at the top end though and would rely on finding some as yet uncleared stock. The Sony is based on Android TV so may fit the bill better, though I do prefer Samsung's OS in use. If you're using a set top box like a shield or Apple TV though, largely irrelevant. Your other option would be an, again clearance, LG C8. If you're watching lots of sports, and in a non-light-controlled lounge though, IMO opt for LCD - I find the motion handling and peak brightness of an LCD a preference over the contrast levels of an OLED, and in regular use it's not often you'll notice blooming unless you're well off-angle* (and LG's reported handling of warranty claims put me off too). *Be careful to check the number of local dimming zones if you're cruising reviews - IIRC one of the (2019?) Sonys uses the same number of zones in the 65 as the 55, so whilst the 55 reviews well, the 65 has noticeable bloom.
Cheers, Mr T. Some good food for thought. The new lounge has blackout blinds at one end and french doors at the other so I can control the light at any point of the day to almost complete darkness so that's not really an issue for me luckily. The larger sofa that I watch from is square on to the TV also, with the smaller one off to a slight angle and the TV is about 10-12ft away from either sofa. My only experiences of Samsung's perceived colour oversaturation was from my parents and friend's sets, which were left at factory settings (dynamic mode) and skin tones were akin to oompalumpas. One feature I do like with Samsung is the availability of DS Video through their apps. Having a Synology NAS, it's something that I'd love to have easy access to and no other TV manufacturers seem to have it as an app option. I'll have a look at the models you've suggested and see if I can find a deal. Much appreciated.
I may have* misspoke - Sony's ZD9 (which you won't get any more) is a corker, the subsequent 65" ZF9 is the one I was referring to in the caveat about backlight issues. The 2019 Sonys have lacklustre reviews across the board, largely on account of backlight bloom and clouding, so the last notably good Sonys may well have been the ZD9 and XE94. *definitely did
Good to know, thanks gents. Wasn't aware of a Sony app that streams from Synology. My Panasonic can stream from my NAS but just shows the videos with a random thumbnail still from the file. The DS Video app gives you the proper artwork and metadata plus synopsis etc pulled from IMDB so is my preferred option.
My gimped work browser won't show images from certain sources, so will check that out when I get home. Thanks buddy.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A screenshot of the Google Play Store open on the Synology DS video application, showing a list of the user's devices with which it is claimed to be compatible: listed are a Sony Bravia 4K GB TV, two Nvidia Shield Android TV microconsoles, and an LGE LG-H930 smartphone. In other words, you should be able to install DS video on a Bravia smart TV (or, at least, that Bravia smart TV.)
I've not used an Android-based TV before, so unsure how the apps are delivered. Presumably a tailored appstore and not full-fat Google?
Your devices only show up in the install list if they're logged in to Google Play Store - so if it's there, it has full Google Play Store access. Even if, somehow, you can't get at the proper Google Play Store app on the device itself (yet it's still somehow registered to your account), you can just use the web version as screenshotted and choose "stick it on me TV pal" from the "where'd you want it mush" drop-down.
My experience with the Google Play Store on a Sony Android TV is that you only see what is compatible with your TV, for example it won't show the Sky Go streaming app - funny that. Also, to see the full artwork and IMDB metadata etc, you will need something like Plex on your NAS to "push" that rich data out. The standard DNLA streaming service on the Synology NAS does not do that. This, of course, raises another thing - your Synology has to be capable of running Plex in the first place - chipset & CPU power are the key dependents here. I tried Plex on my old DS211J year ago. It worked but was so slow that I gave up and simply browse the filename list (which is really quick). And of course my newer, faster DS413 has the wrong CPU to run Plex. I am waiting for a decent price on a DS918+ which I will then retry Plex with.
With DS Video app and Synology VideoStation on the NAS, you don't need Plex. It does exactly the same thing though and does push rich data/artwork etc, but it's a Synology product at both ends. It also works well on lower-end Synology NAS products when Plex wont.
For simplicity's sake, just consider Android and Android TV entirely separate OSes. There's a play store for android TV just like there is for Android, however the apps within are only Android TV apps - as such a minuscule subset of the whole play store. Some apps such as Synology DS (and Netflix, and Amazon Video, and Plex, and generally most things... but not everything... you would expect to find useful on a TV) available for both. There's a fair bit of selection there, but not vanilla-Android levels. Samsung's smart TV platform has better app coverage and usability IMO. Any old Android app can theoretically be run on Android TV (because it's not actually an entirely different OS), but you will have to sideload it, and unless it's tailored for Android TV you're likely to run into display and control issues anyway.
Thanks for the advice guys. I ended up stretching the budget a bit more and going for the Sony KD65XG8796BU Very impressive picture quality so far and happy with Android OS. Will try sideloading DS Video one night this week and see how well it plays with the NAS.
You shouldn't have to sideload DS Video, it should be available in the play store, was for my Sony KDL Android TV.