Which 55" 4K TV under £800

[Adam B]

Sorry - another which TV question

TV will be primary TV for Sky Q (80% use) with occasional Netflix (15%) and Amazon Prime (5%)
Needs to be 4K but not OLED
Budget is probably not in good OLED range anyway at £700 max

The other big limitation is we both prefer silver bezels to black

Choices seem to be :

Samsung UE55MU6400U £629
Samsung UE55MU6470U £699
Samsung UE55MU6120 £569
Sony Bravia KD55XE7073 £649
LG 55UJ670V £599

Views please gentlemen

Edited by Adam B on Monday 27th November 17:30

[ozzuk]

I'd post on the av forum, some serious knowledge on there. I recently posted pretty much same as you - consensus for me a good HD TV was better at that price range than a 4k.

[LordHaveMurci]

Any response you get will be along the lines of 'which one did you prefer when you viewed them'.

It's a nightmare isn't it, I gave up last week and ordered a £600 50" Panasonic, no I'm sure it's not amazing but for £600 I'm sure it'll be plenty good enough for us.

[Adam B]

LordHaveMurci said:

Any response you get will be along the lines of 'which one did you prefer when you viewed them'. It's a nightmare isn't it

Sure is - I have turned from an AV geek in my 20s (I even worked at Sony for a few years) to just wanting an easy decision which avoids the pitfalls of choosing a TV with a decent screen that is equipped with the right acronyms! And I don't have time to view them properly (i.e. in a specialist with light conditions that are typical of my home not a JL shop floor)

Bought a Sony KD49XD8077SU for £700 in Feb and been very happy with it - a 55" version of that would have been perfect (4K with silver bezel)

[LordHaveMurci]

Adam B said:

Sure is - I have turned from an AV geek in my 20s (I even worked at Sony for a few years) to just wanting an easy decision which avoids the pitfalls of choosing a TV with a decent screen that is equipped with the right acronyms! And I don't have time to view them properly (i.e. in a specialist with light conditions that are typical of my home not a JL shop floor)

Bought a Sony KD49XD8077SU for £700 in Feb and been very happy with it - a 55" version of that would have been perfect (4K with silver bezel)

Poorly rated though: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Bravia-KD55XE7093BU-...

[Adam B]

LordHaveMurci said:

Poorly rated though: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-Bravia-KD55XE7093BU-...

Thanks but need a silver bezel - now looking at Sony Bravia KD55XE8577 which is higher spec than the above and has had good reviews

Getting a very good price I think for this higher spec TV - £645 + £55 delivery incl 7 year warranty

Edited by Adam B on Tuesday 28th November 15:39

[anonymous-user]

I just ordered a Samsung 55 MU6400 which is being delivered by JL tomorrow.

I'll let you know how I get on with it but I did a fair amount of research and the reviews indicated that it offered the best bang for the buck for me.

[Narcisus]

If the LG is running Webos and has the smart remote pointer its fantastic ! Forget about picture quality !

[Junior Bianno]

I would definitely tread carefully before going for a 6000 series Samsung. They are entry level for a reason. I took a punt on one last year in the Black Friday sale and it looked great in the shop. When watching at home I found it very disappointing though - flat colours, washed out blacks and a lot of motion blur. Managed to return it and got the KS7000 55 and that is night and day in comparison to the 6000 series. I think it's been replaced with this

https://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue55mu7000-hdr-1...

A big bonus for me is that the styling is perfect. Very discreet and minimal. It's got almost no bezel at all, and the edges you can see are silver.

[Dan_1981]

Have a look at the Hi-sense

Not the entry level range though - the midrange stuff is pretty good. We plumped for one last year.

[Adam B]

garyhun said:

I just ordered a Samsung 55 MU6400 which is being delivered by JL tomorrow.

I'll let you know how I get on with it but I did a fair amount of research and the reviews indicated that it offered the best bang for the buck for me.

I was put off by various comments about the PLS panel (not wishing to piss on your chips as I am sure you have done more research than me and have considered this)

https://www.avforums.com/threads/samsung-or-panaso...

"At 55" the MU6400 Samsung likely uses a PLS panel so its not a contender in my view. I would be looking at the Hisense N6800 instead. In fact the Panasonic EX700 is very overpriced for what it is, both the 55" Hisense N6800 and 55" Sony XE70 are better value TVs overall.
PLS is an IPS type panel which will let more light from behind, its only worth getting PLS/IPS type panels on TVs if you need wider viewing angles.
They let more light in from behind the TV which makes for worse screen uniformity and greyer blacks.
The higher end Samsung MU7000 and higher use VA type panels at 55" "

Edited by Adam B on Tuesday 28th November 16:47

[LordHaveMurci]

EVERY TV review I read found something wrong with the model reviewed, I gave up in the end & ordered a Panasonic 50EX700B which is being delivered by JL in the morning, cost £589.00

I was sorely tempted by the 50EX750B which has much better reviews but it's £310 dearer so you'd hope it'd be better!

Also considered the MU6400 but was put off by various reviews & the MU7000 is only VA screen at 55" I think & we didn't want a 55.

The Panny also looks very nice, the R/C is st though!

[anonymous-user]

Adam B said:

garyhun said:

I just ordered a Samsung 55 MU6400 which is being delivered by JL tomorrow.

I'll let you know how I get on with it but I did a fair amount of research and the reviews indicated that it offered the best bang for the buck for me.

I was put off by various comments about the PLS panel (not wishing to piss on your chips as I am sure you have done more research than me and have considered this)

https://www.avforums.com/threads/samsung-or-panaso...

"At 55" the MU6400 Samsung likely uses a PLS panel so its not a contender in my view. I would be looking at the Hisense N6800 instead. In fact the Panasonic EX700 is very overpriced for what it is, both the 55" Hisense N6800 and 55" Sony XE70 are better value TVs overall.
PLS is an IPS type panel which will let more light from behind, its only worth getting PLS/IPS type panels on TVs if you need wider viewing angles.
They let more light in from behind the TV which makes for worse screen uniformity and greyer blacks.
The higher end Samsung MU7000 and higher use VA type panels at 55" "

Edited by Adam B on Tuesday 28th November 16:47

I read all that before but also read other reports saying what a cracking set it was. You takes your money

At least JL are great at taking stuff back if you don't like it

[Adam B]

I am sure it’s a cracking set.

The more reviews I read the more confused I got - the biggest eye opener was people saying 4K was a waste of time unless you are close (max 1 metre) to the TV - presumably this is only for the short sighted or playing PS/Xbox

Edited by Adam B on Wednesday 29th November 14:01

[MissChief]

I have a Sony kd55xe7002 set arriving tomorrow but likely won't get a proper look at it until Thursday. it's had some decent reviews and I will also be picking up a Panasonic DMP-UB390EB 4k Bluray player as well.

[ScottJB]

Facing a similar decision recently and deciding i didnt really have the budget at present for a "proper" 4k set (i.e. LG OLED) i decided to actually lower the budget and just buy the best set i could find for <£500 as a sort of stop gap.

Was looking at the Samsung 55MU6120
at around £450 mark in the BF sales but in the end i went 2nd hand and managed to pick up a Sony KDL55W905 for £300. Was a £2000+ tv when originally launched earning 10/10 reviews. Seems it was just a notch below the acclaimed GT/VT Panny plasma sets. Bloody brilliant picture and makes sense for me as limited 4k sources at present. See how long it lasts!

Edited by ScottJB on Wednesday 29th November 00:00

[boxst]

MissChief said:

I have a Sony kd55xe7002 set arriving tomorrow but likely won't get a proper look at it until Thursday. it's had some decent reviews and I will also be picking up a Panasonic DMP-UB390EB 4k Bluray player as well.

Anyone know what the difference is between that and the 7003 version?

https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kd55xe7003-l...

[Junior Bianno]

Adam B said:

I am sure it’s a cracking set.

The more reviews I read the more confused I got - the biggest eye opener was people saying 4K was a ware of time unless you are close (max 1 metre) to the tv

That's my experience. When Netflix put their prices up recently, I downgraded my subscription so I don't get their 4k content anymore. I couldn't tell the difference sitting 2-3 metres away. Same with HDR.

But it really doesn't matter. Pretty much any TV you would want is 4K anyway and the upscaling effect on HD content more than makes up for the lack of improvement on the picture from 4K - imo.

[Narcisus]

Junior Bianno said:

That's my experience. When Netflix put their prices up recently, I downgraded my subscription so I don't get their 4k content anymore. I couldn't tell the difference sitting 2-3 metres away. Same with HDR.

But it really doesn't matter. Pretty much any TV you would want is 4K anyway and the upscaling effect on HD content more than makes up for the lack of improvement on the picture from 4K - imo.

Totally about the distance for 4k. However .... When the family are out / doing other stuff I pull the chair upto the TV for 4k and gaming. It really is great. If you can do that then it's worth every penny.

[wiggy001]

LordHaveMurci said:

the MU7000 is only VA screen at 55" I think & we didn't want a 55.

I've just taken delivery of the 49" MU7000, which does use a VA screen. The difference at 55" is a refresh rate of 120hz instead of 60.

All in all, I am very impressed by the MU7000, although it was replacing a 10 year old Toshiba LCD! PQ is excellent IMHO although it does deteriorate a lot if you're not directly in front of the screen (as is the case with all VA panels to some degree).

For £749 I would definitely recommend it.

Having said that, I could see little difference in John Lewis with the MU6400 sitting right next to it. I probably just convinced myself that bigger number = better!