55" 4K TVs < $1000 - recommendations?

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wazzageek

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#2227801 30-Apr-2019 10:16

One thing about the LG we used to have - the HDMI sockets where soldered onto the main board by the pins - there was absolutely no strain lugs or other mechanism to protect the connections to the main board. Admittedly, that TV got moved a lot, and over time the strain from the HDMI cables "popped" the HDMI ports off the main board - and subsequently were not working.

Given that one would expect the HDMI ports to be plugged in and out and have a small amount of strain put on them - this experience has really soured my LG experience. (That and their earlier android phones ...)

I don't know if other companies are any better, but I do know that our Samsung TV has fared a lot better with respect to the HDMI ports - whether they have strain lugs etc., I do not know (haven't opened the TV up to check).

We are going to go for a new TV at some point (4K and physically bigger) - so have been following this thread. Can anybody shed some light has to whether the 55"+ TVs have the ports connected in such a way to protect against general physical strain?

langi27

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#2227815 30-Apr-2019 10:30

Philips 55" sets with Amilight are worth a look, were rated 5 stars from WhatHifi, PB tech have a variant of that model for $1,099.

https://www.whathifi.com/philips/50pus6703/review

PB Tech

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/TVPHS730255/Philips-7383-Series-55-UHD-4K-Andriod-Smart-TV

jonathan18

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#2238359 15-May-2019 13:37

We've had the new TV for a few days now, and I'm generally really happy with it, and it certainly was decent value for money - biggest hassle has been having to re-organise all inputs (and fully re-programme the Harmony remote) as our current receiver doesn't support 4K switching!

To any owners/users of LG TVs running WebOS - are there any Kodi-equivalent apps that run on the TV? The built-in player is very basic - it does the job but has none of the style/additional information/features of Kodi.

I know Plex is available, but our NAS isn't able to run the server software; while I do run Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV, if I can get BBC iPlayer and a Kodi equivalent working on the TV itself I won't need that device as all.

Thanks for any advice.

rb99

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#2238505 15-May-2019 16:52

Possibly Emby, but might not run on your NAS also. Google your model plus Emby ?

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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jonathan18

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#2238931 16-May-2019 10:54

rb99:

Possibly Emby, but might not run on your NAS also. Google your model plus Emby ?

Thanks for that idea, but looking into it (and not surprisingly, given its age/speed!) my NAS doesn't support this. In the medium-term I think the solution could well be a new NAS, which will have to come one day... I just don't think I can justify the cost just to get Plex or similar working.

But at least I had one win last night - it proved to be relatively easy to switch regions on a LG web-OS-based TV, especially with a Harmony remote, as they come with a direct button for the service menu. Switching automatically resulted in key UK-based apps (most importantly BBC iPlayer) being installed, and they're still there after returning it to NZ. The only issue looks like updates to the apps are only possible when set to Europe/UK.

I used to be anti the idea of smart TVs, but there is a certain cleanness and consistency in having (nearly) everything accessible from the one source; it helps that smart TVs' interface and speed have improved so much over the last few years - the 'smarts' on my six-year-old Panasonic plasma are absolutely dire!

rb99

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#2238947 16-May-2019 11:20

Oh well, I never could afford a NAS, so I just have half a dozen hdds in the main PC with Emby and run it from there.

I have a couple of Fire TV boxes and a Shield which I got before our newest decent Sony Android TV, and they work well. The Shield you can see is faster just scrolling through stuff in Emby and plays more stuff directly than the FTVs (though they are older models). OTOH there's an app for UK Channel 4 for the Fires but not the Shield. The smart stuff on the TV seems to work fine, you can just see its generally slower. But yes, too many remotes...

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

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Jaxson

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#2239070 16-May-2019 12:37

My hope for the Sony android TV was that there would be more chance of keeping the apps current.

It kind of works like that, although a LOT of the android apps are not available (mostly I believe because the TV doesn't present as being touchscreen enabled).
I have however been able to side load the likes of Sky Go apps.

Inbuilt Netflix and YouTube seem to run ok.

Mostly I've got mine running kodi and sourcing off shared folders on my PC in another room.

As long as the smart TV's got a sufficiently spec'd CPU/RAM then it should be ok for basic media consumption.

Freeview plus native app is rough as, so whilst on demand is available through there, it often doesn't work very well.

Tempted to install the TVNZ app separately to counter this.

All in all yes, a smart TV nowadays is on the most part pretty darn good.

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