Buying a television in the eighties of the last century was enormously complex, there were many choices and you were overwhelmed with specifications. Buying a smart television in this time is still enormously complex: there is an enormous amount of choice and you are overwhelmed with specifications. How do you know exactly what to look out for, what is important? We help you separate the wheat from the chaff.
Tip 01: Smart or stupid?
This article is of course about the purchase of a smart television. But where you really had to choose five years ago between a television without smart functionalities and a television with, but the fact is that nowadays only the very cheapest televisions (think models of two, three hundred euros) do not have these functionalities. The question is, how far do you want to go? Manufacturers will try to persuade you with all sorts of clever features, such as voice control, apps, etc., and are you willing to pay much more for that? Because you can also make a “stupid” TV smart with the help of a smart USB stick of a few tens. What we want to say with this is: don’t be blinded by all kinds of super useful functions, and especially buy the television that you find the most beautiful.
Tip 02: Big, bigger, biggest
We already indicated that the more expensive televisions almost all have smart functionalities. In addition, we live in a time when televisions are produced so massively that you already have a large screen for a relatively low amount. And that’s where the danger begins: in one way or another, we tend to buy the largest possible television that allows our budget. And that is a shame, because big is not always better. Firstly, the resolution of the television also plays a role, secondly, size does not add anything at a given moment. After all, there is a reason that nobody wants to be in the front row at the cinema. For example, if you buy a 65-inch television with a Full HD resolution, then it only makes sense if you are 2.5 meters away. Even with a 40-inch Full HD television, 1.7 meters is still the optimum distance. If you are closer, bigger is really not useful and not even very pleasant.
Tip 03: Full HD, 4K, 8K?
When we talk about televisions, whether they are smart or not, resolution plays a greater role than ever. The question was years ago: HD Ready or Full HD, nowadays you can also choose from 4K and even 8K. We can be brief about the latter category: 8K is really not that interesting at the moment. You pay the grand prize for it, and you will find virtually no content that gets the most out of your television. That is now different for 4K. Most streaming services offer their content in 4K, and Blu-ray and regular television channels also have films and series in 4K. Moreover, the technology has become very affordable. That said, if you have a Full HD television in mind, then don’t stare blindly at 4K. It’s fantastic, but you won’t remember later if you watched a movie in 4K or Full HD. Full HD also looks beautiful.
If you buy a 4K television, then go for HDR
Tip 04: HDR
If you do choose a 4K television, the (digital) seller will try to persuade you to buy a model with HDR. The irony is, everything you hear about this will sound like a good sales pitch, but HDR is definitely something that we recommend if you go for 4K anyway. HDR stands for high dynamic range and ensures that images splash off your screen. But of course HDR also comes in different degrees, because of course it should not be too easy. HDR10 can be seen as the standard, if you buy a 4K TV with HDR, then HDR10 is the minimum that you can expect. This version of HDR is supported by almost all Blu-ray films, but also by streaming services such as Amazon. Then there is Dolby Vision where the images per frame are optimally presented on the basis of meta-information. Then there is HDR10 + from Samsung and HLG, the latter being specially developed by the BBC for the optimum display of television broadcasts. You understand, not all televisions support all versions of HDR. Which ones should you choose? We cannot recommend that, at the moment it is not clear which protocol will be the standard in addition to HDR10. Do you have a favorite movie on Blu-ray that you watch a thousand times? Then check which version of HDR it supports.
Tip 05: Connections
We still remember that connecting a television was a huge hassle with RF cables, tulip plugs, scart, and so on. And where people are trying to realize standards in various industries, they have succeeded quite well in the world of televisions: HDMI. Whether it’s Blu-ray players, DVD players, set-top boxes or gaming consoles, you can connect them all with the help of an HDMI cable. Do you have many such devices? In particular, check whether the television that you have in mind has sufficient HDMI ports (so with a game console, a set-top box, a Chromecast and a Blu-ray player, you already need four ports). In addition, make sure that there are also sufficient USB ports, so that you can also easily connect external storage media (or you can provide Chromecast with power without a power outlet).
Tip 06: QLED, OLED or LCD?
It seems so recently that we had to make a choice between a Plasma television or an LCD television. It has not become easier. Plasma is almost a thing of the past, nowadays it is between LCD, QLED and OLED and every type of television has its own advantages and disadvantages. LCD televisions cannot function without background lighting and are very affordable. OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) does not need that background lighting, so that the televisions can be produced with unprecedented thinness, while in addition they also offer deep black colors, strong contrasts and large viewing angles. The disadvantage is that these televisions are a bit more expensive. QLED stands for Quantum-dot Light Emitting Diode and is Samsung’s answer to OLED. Technically, a QLED is an LCD with a quantum dot coating over the background lighting. A very technical story, but it ensures super clear sharp images with a lot of detail. However, because it is a form of LCD, QLED also needs background lighting, which has consequences for the thickness of the device.
Never base the choice for your television on the apps
Tip 07: Apps
We call a TV smart when the device can do more than just transmit a signal, that is, when it actually has a sort of small computer in it. Most smart televisions also have a special section for apps. This allows you to use Netflix, RTL XL, Videoland, Pathé Thuis and so on without needing a smartphone. These types of apps are useful, but the disadvantage is that there is not a standard arsenal of apps that is supported by all manufacturers of Smart TVs. We therefore want to give you one advice in this area: never let the choice of your television depend on the apps available on the device. Not only does the set-top box of your internet / TV provider probably support many more apps, the presence of apps when purchasing your television is absolutely no guarantee that the app will still work or be available on the device in a year’s time. In addition, we still find it much more pleasant to find the content we want to watch on our smartphone and then to stream it to the television. Such a Chromecast costs less than four decades and works very simply, so it is probably wiser to invest in it.
Curved?
You probably miss one item in this checklist, and that is the Curved TV, or the television with a curved screen. The reason that we do not include this section in detail is because it is really impossible to say whether this has added value for you or not. One person thinks it is a fantastic experience, the other thinks it is the most nonsense and is particularly bothered by the fact that the curved screen cannot be concealed flat against the wall. Our tip, visit the electronics store and look for ten minutes at a flat screen and curved screen and decide if it makes a difference to you (with the knowledge that you will pay considerably more for it).
Tip 08: Voice control
More and more Smart TVs have voice control, or better yet, support for the Google Assistant. This means that in theory you no longer need a remote control and can control everything with your voice. That is of course quite impressive, but we also recommend that you do not let the choice for your television depend on these types of antics. We also call it very deliberate, because anyone who has used a speech assistant on his television will be able to confirm that it is anything but practical at the moment. The Google Assistant is one of the best speech assistants there is, but you will often come across answers like “I can’t help you with this” and that does not make your television evening very relaxed. Moreover, that assistant really only makes sense if you know exactly what you want to watch, and if you have some experience with Netflix, then you know that you are first looking for two hours for a fun movie or series, and then for an hour and a half. to enjoy. That search process, of course, does not work well with a speech assistant.
Tip 09: Wireless?
In tip 5 we have already talked about the connections, but this mainly concerns the way in which you connect your other equipment to your television. A Smart TV cannot do very much if it is not connected to the internet, and just like your PC there are two ways in which that connection can be made: wirelessly or with the help of an Ethernet cable. Almost all Smart TVs have the ability to connect to the internet wirelessly, but by no means all devices have a built-in Ethernet port. In theory, that doesn’t have to be a problem, wireless internet is a lot faster and more stable than ten years ago, but if you want to stream movies in 4K from your computer to your television, then a cable is really not an unnecessary luxury. In addition, the question is again: what functions do you intend to use from your smart television, since your set-top box (which is probably already connected with a cable) already partly fulfills the function of a smart television.
Tip 10: Remote control
It is not without reason that we keep this tip for the last time, because the remote control is often the last thing people look at. That is not very useful, because the remote control is the device that you will always have in your hands when you operate your television. In this case, however, we are not concerned with a physical remote control, because you can easily replace it with a universal remote control if you do not like the supplied model. But when you buy a television, it is interesting to see if the model you have in mind also has a remote control app for your smartphone. After all, if your television is smart, why not also operate it with your smartphone, that saves a device again. Most major manufacturers such as Samsung and LG have apps that can be used to control Smart TVs, but it is important to emphasize that not all Smart TVs from these brands support that app. It is therefore important to check whether you can operate it with your smartphone before you buy the television.
Buying tips
You now know what to look for when you buy a Smart TV. Giving a buying tip is quite complicated in this case, because, as you have been able to read, the ideal Smart TV really depends heavily on your preferences and what you do and do not intend to use. We have listed three televisions for you: an entry-level model, a “normal” model and a high-end model.
Type: Samsung UE32N5300
price: € 354
This Samsung television shows how much television you get nowadays for relatively little money. It is a Full HD LED LCD television with HDR10, 2 HDMI ports, USB, but no Bluetooth, for example. With its 7 centimeters not the thinnest television, but for this amount you do not hear us about it.
Type: LG 50UM7600PLB
price: € 649
This Smart TV from LG offers you with its 50-inch and 4K resolution a fantastic viewing experience for relatively little money. The television has 4 HDMI ports and supports HLG in addition to HDR10. USB, Ethernet and Bluetooth are all supported and in addition, this television has a speech assistant, if you would like to do something with it.
Type: Philips 65OLED934
price: € 3499
With its 65 inch this is a big deal with a television. This is an OLED device, with 4K and support for all HDR protocols that we have mentioned in this article. The device has 4 HDMI ports, Bluetooth and various other connections (including Ethernet) so that you can go in all directions. And the best part? He is really paper thin!
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