Best 55" TV

[allgonepetetong]

Dear all

I'm looking to replacing a 55" Panasonic Plasma from roughly 5 years ago. What do we currently acknowledge as the best 55" tv, please?

Sound and viewing angle won't be a consideration as will be used as a monitor only sitting directly in front.
It will be used for TV series, film and sport from Sky, Netflix and Amazon and will be used mainly in the evening in a darkened room (hence me looking towards OLED)

Currently looking at 4 options
Philips 55 OLED805
Panasonic 55HZ1000
LG 55CX
Sony KD55A8

What is our preference?

thank you for advise

Barry

[Nezquick]

I've been looking at the same thing and the conclusion I reached is that the LG OLED 55CX is the one to go for. Much better operating system than the Sony (for instance) and future proof.

[Radec]

If it's for watching films and TV then the Panasonic HZ2000 as it's currently regarded as the best tv, if that's out of budget then probably the HZ1500/1000 will be your best bet

[phil-sti]

OLED

[rednotdead]

LG OLED - especially if you're coming from plasma. I changed last year from a Panasonic Plasma, spent ages looking and researching which was a waste of time. Once you see an OLED in a real environment there is no contest. One of the best purchases I've made.

[ddom]

Nezquick said:

I've been looking at the same thing and the conclusion I reached is that the LG OLED 55CX is the one to go for. Much better operating system than the Sony (for instance) and future proof.

No bbc iplayer as a native app though?

[anonymous-user]

ddom said:

Nezquick said:

I've been looking at the same thing and the conclusion I reached is that the LG OLED 55CX is the one to go for. Much better operating system than the Sony (for instance) and future proof.

No bbc iplayer as a native app though?

I’m pretty sure they have iPlayer now but not Freeview Play.

[MJNewton]

I too am about to purchase a 55" TV (different requirements to the OP but am going for the LG CX for what it's worth - will be waiting until after Black Friday though as now is not the time to buy any 2020 TV) and regarding built-in apps I decided I'll always go for a 3rd party plug-in stick for them and wouldn't therefore factor them into the choice of TV. The reasons for this are that an external device is easily upgradable, is kept uptodate and can generally (eg in the case of a Fire Stick) install a wide variety of non-mainstreams apps. This strategy also means there's no pressure to compromise on other aspects of the TV (eg picture quality) in favour of a more preferable OS/interface. I suppose really I consider the TV to be little more than a monitor (and on that front I'm not interested in sound either as I'd always use external components). Shame I'm having to pay out for all these unused features really, but it feels like a good approach to take.

[S93]

MJNewton said:

I too am about to purchase a 55" TV (different requirements to the OP but am going for the LG CX for what it's worth - will be waiting until after Black Friday though as now is not the time to buy any 2020 TV) and regarding built-in apps I decided I'll always go for a 3rd party plug-in stick for them and wouldn't therefore factor them into the choice of TV. The reasons for this are that an external device is easily upgradable, is kept uptodate and can generally (eg in the case of a Fire Stick) install a wide variety of non-mainstreams apps. This strategy also means there's no pressure to compromise on other aspects of the TV (eg picture quality) in favour of a more preferable OS/interface. I suppose really I consider the TV to be little more than a monitor (and on that front I'm not interested in sound either as I'd always use external components). Shame I'm having to pay out for all these unused features really, but it feels like a good approach to take.

When is the best time to buy? After black Friday and pre Christmas, or post Christmas? I'm in the market for two new TVs.

[ddom]

I tend to only buy TV's from John Lewis so if I can then it's Black Friday or Cyber Monday........or later this week

[RVVUNM]

I have the Panosonic which is superb.

[Harry Flashman]

Went from my old, but good, Panasonic Viera Plasma to LG OLED this year.

The OLED is amazing.

[dirky dirk]

Ive just subscribed to which lg were 7 out of the top 10

Ive got one coming in the morning from richer sounds

[anonymous-user]

Bit of a challenge this TV buying lark.

I’ll be purchasing a 65” in January. Mind made up to get an LG65GX and then I read about people needing replacement screens.

Is LG the safe place for my money? TV and Films only, no gaming.

[allgonepetetong]

Just by way of an update, I went for the Phillips 55"OLED508

I'm really pleased with it. The set itself is quite small due to there being very little frame or surround to the actual picture screen. I actually measured it and it's a full 4" smaller the Panasonic VT65 plasma it replaced with a viewing screen the same size.

The picture is quite different to the plasma, much more realistic looking especially with 4k, You look at the picture and in certain scenes it appears as if you could actually reach out and touch elements in the film, quite amazing. Having said that, I think I actually prefer 1080p content to the full 4k, it just has a more cinematic type quality than ultra realism. I guess it's just what you prefer.

I'm noticing some artifacts within the picture during fast movement though, I've played a bit with the noise reduction but without success. I think I might go for a professional calibration to get to set up properly to try and eliminate such imperfections.

On the whole, a very nice screen

[southerndriver]

I wanted to buy an OLED TV for the superior picture quality and viewing angles. I’ve had Panasonic TVs for years and find them easy to use with mostly good sound and pictures. After a lot of searching, back in Jan 2019 I bought an end-of-line LG 55 inch OLED for approx £1100 which was a good deal at the time. The picture and sound quality are excellent but the operating system is a pain. I find many operations fiddly and less than intuitive. The TV Guide takes ages to populate with programs which is really annoying whereas the Panasonic displays them instantly. I use a USB hard drive for programme recording and the LG menu options to drive this are very awkward. My older Panasonic 42 inch 4k TV is far better in this area although its picture and sound are nowhere near as good. If I was buying OLED again I would pay extra for a Panasonic over the LG.

[Sandy59]

garyhun said:

Bit of a challenge this TV buying lark.

I’ll be purchasing a 65” in January. Mind made up to get an LG65GX and then I read about people needing replacement screens.

Is LG the safe place for my money? TV and Films only, no gaming.

This Philips one is getting a pretty good write up, esp if you're looking for impressive TV sound to go with a great picture, with some anti screen burn tech as well - https://www.avforums.com/news/philips-announces-ol...