I know fuck all about TVs/technology. Can anyone recommend brands/models to have a look at. Looking around 55"
Iām happy with my 2020 model Samsung one that I bought earlier this year. I think itās the previous version of this one:
Depends how much you want to spend though. I found this is a good balance of having all the features without breaking the bank.
I can tell you to double check you can use the streaming service on the OS. Father in law got an LG and isnāt able to watch Kayo. We have a Samsung and itās pretty awesome
Yeah LG is pretty piss poor with app support, but Iām hooked up to a PC so itās not a big deal. Saying that, I got a 55" LG OLED and after going OLED I wouldnāt go back
My Samsung has native kayo, Netflix, stan, Amazon, ufc, YouTube, spotify etc apps.
Iād recommend a TV with Android TV, I just find the OS really strong and it seems to be the first to get new apps (think Paramount+ 
). I bought my 55" Sony a few years ago and didnāt bother going for a high spec model, it was pretty inexpensive (bought it on sale) and I honestly didnāt need any of the features that the higher spec models had at the time. Actually, I admit, I maybe I did. Dolby Atmos support is probably the only thing that I wish it had and thatās because I have a full Sonos set up and considered upgrading from a Sonos Beam to a Sonos Arc (which has Atmos capabilitiy) but in reality, I donāt think I really need it.
I previously had a Samsung and had issues with the panel (vertical lines) which started about 2 years out of warranty, so I personally would avoid them, but thatās only based on my own experience.
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You could consider getting him a new Chromecast, itās got Android TV built into it and has the mainstream apps available. I got one for our TV on our back patio and it works really well.
Looks like my current TV is no longer on sale, but it was sort of mid-range in last yearās Samsung lineup. 55", excellent picture quality and good refresh rate (I watch a lot of sport). My gaming is pretty much limited to FIFA and rocket league but they both look really good.
Pretty much any app you could want built-in. I mostly use Kayo but pretty sure they all perform perfectly well.
I think I paid $1700-ish so the set CountArach linked is very reasonably priced.
I have an LG, Iām sort of worried that it wonāt carry the Paramount + app
This X 1000. Those new Chromecast/Android TV devices are the bomb. Since getting one, we never use the apps on the TV or PS5 as itās so much better with Chromecast, included aggregated search, and a great little remote.
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Yeah, which is why if youāre buying a new TV Iād recommend getting that essentially built in with a Sony (or if you want to go real cheap there are Kogan, TCL and a few others that have it).
Edit: Sorry, thought you were replying to to my other reply to Paulska about getting a Chromecast.
I reckon an external Android TV (Chromecasf, or Iāve got an Nvidia Shield that Iām happy with) can be better even when the TV comes with Android TV, because manufacturers often donāt provide good enough CPU/RAM for it to run as smoothly as it can and are pretty bad at software updates.
Actually, the biggest problem I have with my TV is that it doesnāt support older codecs like avi/xvid etc so has to re-download a bunch of stuff in 264/265.
Not a huge hassle but a bit of a pain if you have a bunch of shit downloaded already.
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I second a Samsung. Great picture and has Optus Sports and Foxtel built-in, so could watch all the football I needed (though now will have to see about Paramount)ā¦ and bonus, the model I got also has Apple AirPlay. I did a fair bit of shopping around at the time, and basically anything other than the top three of Samsung, Sony and LG (just) was just not in the same league.
My Sony has updates all the time. I can imagine though that after a few years they could stop at which point an external device may be better, but so far Iāve had more frequent updates with this one than any other smart TV that Iāve owned (well, that only two other I guess, a Samsung and an LG).
Something like this would be a good buy I would think: Sony X80J 55" Bravia 4K Ultra HD Google LED TV [2021] | JB Hi-Fi (jbhifi.com.au)
To reiterate, I wouldnāt go the cheap brandsā¦. I initially got a Panasonic (which I thought would be a good brand and I was unhappy with the picture quality when watching football and the operating system was very clunky. Thankfully it kept crashing and eventually I was able to get a refund (warranty)ā¦ and then bought the Samsung - never looked back. Moral of the story is: do a test by casting a football match or two, and you can get a sense of colour reproduction and how fuzzy the picture becomes when watching fast action - the test videos they have on display are very misleading
Conversely, I am pretty happy to have gone with Hisense early last year. I picked up a mid-ish-range model (75R8), which was better (equivalent image quality, but better standard support for HDR, Atmos etc.) and a good $400 cheaper than the āequivalentā X85G from Sony.
If you want to spend a bit, and you only want 55inches, get an LG OLED. Theyāre honestly brilliant. I think nothing really comes close.
I have a 55ā inch and recently I wanted to get something quite a bit bigger. I ended with a 75 inch Sony X900h (I think) which i guess is the mid range one. Pretty happy with it. The Android tv stuff works really well and the picture is pretty good for an LED TV. It is mostly used for playing of video games and watching sport and it handles those things really well.
I reckon the 55 or 65 would probably be pretty good value.
Factor in the cost of a half decent soundbar. Totally worth it.
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Gumtree/ebay/whatever. Stupid number of lcd tvs on kerbside pickup. Carbon footprint of this stuff has got to be crazy.
#hipsterESFCfan