TV recommendations

[dor]

I'm looking for a new TV for the boat.  I would like a 24" full HD screen with Freeview HD tuner.  It seems that most TVs in this size are only 'HD ready', i.e. 720p which I see as a backward step - I'm keen on full HD as 96% of my viewing is non-fiction, i.e. documentaries etc. especially natural history.

Cello do one,

Cello C24ANSMT

 

 

Which seems to make a big thing of being an android TV.  However my high spec Panasonic at home is identified by my network analyser as an Android device so maybe it is not that significant.  This Cello also has the benefit of being dual voltage.  I've had a Cello before, and it has good sound quality for a small (19") TV which is quite important as I don't want to have to run a sound bar as well.

 

Maybe 720P is ok on a 24" TV, but I have a 21" full HD tv at home and i'm can appreciate the difference between SD and HD inputs, especially if using a BD into the HDMI.

 

So does nayone have any experience of this Cello, or do you have other recommendations?

Thanks in anticipation

 

 

 

 

[WotEver]

33 minutes ago, dor said:

Maybe 720P is ok on a 24" TV, but I have a 21" full HD tv at home and i'm can appreciate the difference between SD and HD inputs,

You do realise that 720P is HD, don’t you? SD is 576. Very few screens at 24” or smaller offer 1920x1080 pixels, but if they’re HD ready they do have 1280x720 pixels so can display an HD image cleanly albeit not at ‘full’ HD. The only way to know what you’ll like and be happy with is to watch one. Cello TVs generally receive good reviews. 

 

Some bedtime reading: https://www.digitalcitizen.life/what-screen-resolution-or-aspect-ratio-what-do-720p-1080i-1080p-mean

[Richard10002]

I’ve got 2 Samsung full HD 22” TVs on the boat. I run one via a 300w inverter, and One via a 12v to 15v adapter. Full freebies, good EPG, and all the catch up, Netflix and Amazon Prime, plus other apps.

 

Go to your local Currys and see which TVs have a DC input on the back. Many are 19v, and lots of adapters will do the conversion.

[TheBiscuits]

2 hours ago, dor said:

Maybe 720P is ok on a 24" TV, but I have a 21" full HD tv at home and i'm can appreciate the difference between SD and HD inputs, especially if using a BD into the HDMI.

There is a school of thought that says the human eye can't resolve FullHD 1080P on anything less than a 40" screen - and they need to be sat no more than 1.3 metres from the screen to do so.

 

This is why most sub-30" TVs only do 720P - the rest are relying on marketing stickers to shift products.

 

I don't disagree about source clarity, but wonder what you are using as an SD input, and how good the TV is at scaling.  You probably need to sit quite close to the screen to notice a difference on a 21" viewing area.

 

I do wonder about the 4KHD thing - the only use I can see for it is to have 4 x 1080P windows as a computer monitor. 

 

Give me my Star Trek holodeck

 

[dor]

Thanks for the replies so far.  Yes I do realise that 720P is 'HD' but only half way there.  As I said, it is very clear to me on my 21" 1080P TV, from about six feet away,  when it is showing a full HD source, i.e. Blue ray, compared to SD through the tuner, it just seems to me to be a backward step to settle for 'HD ready'.  Maybe in the end that is what I will finish up with, after doing some comparative viewing in Currys.

[TheBiscuits]

12 minutes ago, dor said:

Thanks for the replies so far.  Yes I do realise that 720P is 'HD' but only half way there.  As I said, it is very clear to me on my 21" 1080P TV, from about six feet away,  when it is showing a full HD source, i.e. Blue ray, compared to SD through the tuner, it just seems to me to be a backward step to settle for 'HD ready'.  Maybe in the end that is what I will finish up with, after doing some comparative viewing in Currys.

Ask Currys to show you live TV broadcast on the system(s) you are looking at, and switch channels!

 

Freeview splits broadcast bandwidth between several channels depending on the image(s) being transmitted, so although we think of it as being SD, it is not - it varies.

 

Freeview is not broadcast at 720P, so there will be a world of difference between that and the fixed 1080P HD trailers they show instore.

 

[dor]

compared to SD through the tuner

 

Or SD from a DVD.

[Robbo]

If you want a all singing all dancing more acronyms than there are letters at that size then look at monitors.  You can find some nice UHD HDR ones.   If your keen on full HD and especially documentaries like Blue Planet then seek out HDR as well, it’s just as noticeable.

[MHS]

We bought a Cello tv a few years ago. We were very disappointed with it. It was clearly advertised as full HD, but was only HD ready.  Not a real issue once we started using a Freesat receiver which had an 1080p output. It proved to be unreliable and packed up after only 18 months. Try a (slightly larger?) Samsung, they seem to be reliable, though I assume 240v only. 

[WotEver]

7 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

There is a school of thought that says the human eye can't resolve FullHD 1080P on anything less than a 40" screen - and they need to be sat no more than 1.3 metres from the screen to do so.

More than a school of thought, it’s a fact that the human eye can’t discern the difference over a certain distance. As an example, sitting around 16 ft from the 42” screen at home we can’t see any real difference between SD and HD on Virgin. Sit in front of the TV, say about 6ft away and the difference is clear. In our home cinema with a 7ft screen fed by a protector and the difference is remarkable. Here’s a chart to show the distances/size relationship. 

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Here’s a chart to show the distances/size relationship. 

I can't see that, my phone screen is too small! 

Edited July 23, 2018 by rusty69

[WotEver]

4 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I can't see that, my phone screen is too small! 

Q.E.D.

[Psycloud]

1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Q.E.D.

After LED & OLED I fully expect the next new screen technology to be QED

[Robbo]

10 minutes ago, Psycloud said:

After LED & OLED I fully expect the next new screen technology to be QED

Well QLED is already out.

[OldGoat]

12v tvs are always a compromise, and nobody? minds a lack of quality when in a 'van - only used for holidays and weekends.

Different on a boat methinks - folks are onboard for longer.

On our boat we have a samsung 27" wide screen - mains voltage but low output inverters aren't expensive and ours doubles to power a twin tub washing machine as well.

[rusty69]

Our 24", 12v Cello is 3 yrs old now. Its ok (not sure about spec) ,maybe not as good quality as our Samsung but nothing very  noticeable to my un-trained eye. 

Edited July 23, 2018 by rusty69

[dor]

OK the update.

 

Have looked at various 24" tvs and tried to compare them.  I did go for a HD ready in the end. I normally watch from about 5 - 6 ft away and there is little in it.

 

I bought my first HD TV about nine years ago when HD was only on Freesat.  What swung it for me then was watching some Wimbledon.  The net on the SD was just a grey film but on the full HD the net was clearly a net.

 

The TV on the boat I'm replacing is a Cello, and it has doe a good job. THe DVD drive packed up after about five years, but with DVD players costing about £20 it was no big deal.  It has a good picture and excellent (for a small tv) sound.  Perhaps Cello are not as good now.

 

Thanks for the comments.  Wotever's graph is interesting.

[TheBiscuits]

32 minutes ago, dor said:

OK the update.

 

Have looked at various 24" tvs and tried to compare them.  I did go for a HD ready in the end. I normally watch from about 5 - 6 ft away and there is little in it.

 

I bought my first HD TV about nine years ago when HD was only on Freesat.  What swung it for me then was watching some Wimbledon.  The net on the SD was just a grey film but on the full HD the net was clearly a net.

 

The TV on the boat I'm replacing is a Cello, and it has doe a good job. THe DVD drive packed up after about five years, but with DVD players costing about £20 it was no big deal.  It has a good picture and excellent (for a small tv) sound.  Perhaps Cello are not as good now.

 

Thanks for the comments.  Wotever's graph is interesting.

That sounds sensible.  In a boat you are rarely too far from the screen, but you can hear crap speakers everywhere!

 

[TheBiscuits]

4 hours ago, rusty69 said:

I can't see that, my phone screen is too small! 

Hold it nearer to your face then it will look bigger.

 

 

[doratheexplorer]

You really do need to go to a good shop and look and compare.  I have an old 22" HD ready Toshiba bought from a coop, with standard freeview.  Last year I upgraded to a 32" full HD Sharp smart TV with freeview HD.  Big Mistake.   Got it home and set it up and the picture quality was dire.  Colours were faded, lots of ghosting and lacking definition.  On the HD channels it was nearly as good as my old Toshiba.  On the SD channels it was nearly unwatchable.  I reckon they made it that way to distinguish between HD and SD.  I took it back and they set it up in the shop to test it.  The staff member kinda just shrugged and said it works and that's just how it is.  They did refund me though.  I've gone back to my old 'crap' Toshiba, and will stick with that for a while.

 

Over the years a lot of 'improvements' to tellys have been anything but.  In the days of CRT tvs on an analogue signal, a decent set would give excellent resolution and colour clarity.  I remember getting On Digital / ITV Digital and was totally underwhelmed by how poor the picture was.  You could flick between the digital channels and the analogue terrestrial channels and see the difference.  The introduction of HD simply IMO brought things back to the quality of a decent CRT TV. 

 

A lot of the terms used to promote TVs these days is just marketing.  Go to a proper shop like Richer Sounds or an independent place and just look at them and see which one you like best.

[WotEver]

5 hours ago, Robbo said:

Well QLED is already out.

Samsung’s half-way house between LED and OLED. If you want OLED but don’t want a 55” screen or bigger (plus a mortgage to pay for it) then QLED is about the only player  in town.  

[Robbo]

3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Samsung’s half-way house between LED and OLED. If you want OLED but don’t want a 55” screen or bigger (plus a mortgage to pay for it) then QLED is about the only player  in town.  

And doing a google it just looks like Marketing from samsung as many LED screens already have quantum-dot stuff.  Samsung just what to highlight the fact that it does (cause they don’t have a OLED Tv perhaps!)

[Tim Lewis]

When I was researching to buy a telly for the OH's boat the perceived wisdom was that you only get the benefit of Full HD with 32" and above screens. Eventually bought a 32" Sony Full HD model and the picture is superb, when we can get a signal :-)

 

[WotEver]

1 minute ago, Robbo said:

And doing a google it just looks like Marketing from samsung as many LED screens already have quantum-dot stuff.  Samsung just what to highlight the fact that it does (cause they don’t have a OLED Tv perhaps!)

Having looked at a range of TVs earlier this year the Samsung QLED image quality was streets ahead of everything else except OLED. Not wanting a 55” screen (or a mortgage) I can’t go OLED. However I was viewing in Curry’s and I wouldn’t trust those muppets to plug in a VCR. I’ll take a trip to Richer sounds in due course. 

1 minute ago, Tim Lewis said:

When I was researching to buy a telly for the OH's boat the perceived wisdom was that you only get the benefit of Full HD with 32" and above screens.

See post #10. 

[Tim Lewis]

12 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Samsung’s half-way house between LED and OLED. If you want OLED but don’t want a 55” screen or bigger (plus a mortgage to pay for it) then QLED is about the only player  in town.  

Price is very relative, I know people who paid the same price (In pounds) for a flat screen TV  over 10 years ago as a OLED TV costs today. I recently bough a smart 32" TV for home that was a third of the price of a non HD 32" TV I bought 10 years ago.