How to choose a TV for your home from Jeff Jackson's blog

A television is a household device that is available in the vast majority of residential premises. The advent of the Internet and modern technologies have significantly changed the TV market, making them more “smart” and functional devices. Unfortunately, this has also significantly affected the price of the models currently being produced, so buying a good TV now can turn out to be a round sum. Such devices will serve for many years, so it’s better to make a responsible choice once and enjoy than to save or overlook, and then suffer. However, it is worth noting that in the case of TVs, saving can be extremely rational and is unlikely to change the viewing experience, because in this environment you can find a huge number of useless marketing “lures” and tricks. In this article, we will try to understand.

Even before visiting a regular or online store, without leaving home, you need to decide on the size of the future TV. It is advisable to take a tape measure and independently measure the desired diagonal of the device on the wall. We multiply the resulting value by 3 and get the distance at which it will be convenient and safe for you to watch your favorite movies or TV programs - this is based on the recommendations of doctors, coupled with practical observations, because this way you can perfectly examine detailed objects, and your eyes will not run from corner to corner, gradually getting tired. If this distance fits in the room, then great. If there is not enough space, then you can multiply not by 3, but by 2.5, but no less. 

Otherwise, it is worth gradually reducing the desired diagonal until the distance fits into the room with a small margin. It is from this distance that you should further evaluate the TV if you decide to watch the selected model live. Next, we divide the resulting diagonal in centimeters by 2.54 and get inches - so it will be easier for us to further select the desired size, because the diagonal is indicated everywhere in inches.

Here, it would seem, everything is simple, because the higher the resolution, the better. This is true, if you do not take into account the cost of TVs with different picture clarity, and it affects the cost quite strongly. There are 3 main resolutions for modern TVs: HD (1280x720), FHD (1920x1080) and UHD (3840x2160). There are also intermediate resolutions and separate resolutions for non-standard aspect ratios, but they are much less common. It is worth deciding on this indicator, based on both your financial capabilities and the purpose of the purchased device. If a TV is purchased exclusively for watching broadcast TV programs, then Full HD will be enough for you at any diagonal, because most channels broadcast either in Full HD or in lower resolutions,

If the TV is purchased solely for watching series and blockbusters in a cinema atmosphere, then it makes sense to think about UHD resolution (4K). For small diagonals, Full HD will still be enough, however, on larger displays, “blurring” and lack of detail can be noticeable, which can significantly harm the picture. In addition, 4K models are most often equipped with more modern matrices with excellent color reproduction, so everything here goes together.

As for the aspect ratio, then everything is somewhat simpler. Until recently, it was possible to find TVs with a 4:3 ratio, so analog television assumed just such a resolution. Now the standard video format is 16:9. This applies to both digital television and films, series and other video content. If you plan to organize a home theater, then you should take a closer look at the ratio of 21:9.

The most common and affordable matrix is ​​​​LED, which means “light emitting diode”. This technology is used in almost all TVs and has a lot of more technological branches. One of these is OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode). If the LED matrix has the same brightness for all pixels, then the OLED is able to control the brightness of individual pixels. In this case, this allows you to show rich blacks and improve color reproduction in general. There are also separate technologies with the same basis. For example: AMOLED, QLED, ULED. If OLED, as a modification, still has good reasons to overpay a little and get a better picture, then all the rest are more marketing products, for which we do not recommend paying.

If you want to get the most juicy and colorful image for watching movies, then you can take a closer look at High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology. It makes the color reproduction of the screen as realistic as possible, but it is supported mainly by displays with a resolution of 4K, besides, not all films come with this technology, so it is worth considering only in the premium segment and with a large budget.

Color rendition and clarity are all good, only now we will watch video on TV, not a slide show, so the smoothness of the picture is also a key factor when choosing. Regardless of other parameters, the standard frame rate for TVs is 60 Hz - this is quite enough for both TV shows and movies. In budget models, this figure may be slightly lower, but we do not recommend considering models with a frequency below 50 Hz. There are rare models with a frequency of 120 Hz, but neither movies, nor TV shows, nor the same videos on YouTube support so much, so it makes sense to take them either for purely professional tasks or for games, but in domestic conditions you definitely don’t need so much, don’t talking about 144Hz and 240Hz as you can read in Samsung TV manuals.

Definitely not. The curved screen can definitely be classified as a flashy marketing technique that has not found any practical use in life. A curved screen is not only a lack of benefits, it is also extremely inconvenient, because only one viewer, located exactly in the center, can fully watch such a TV. When watching a movie on such a device, a company of friends or a large family will experience significant discomfort: glare, color distortion and other features of curved geometry.

At the moment, not the most relevant factor, especially if you choose a TV from the middle and high price segments. Smart TV is available in most modern models, but if you choose a model mainly for watching movies, TV shows and videos over the Internet, then it’s still worth checking for an operating system. If you don’t know if you need this system, then know that you can always buy and connect a set-top box with the same functionality. Some more technologically advanced models support not only the OS, but also smart home technologies. To pay extra for it or not is only your business and depends on what you buy the TV for. Read Samsung TV remote manual.