TV Buying Guide updated

• Visit our updated guide: TV Buying guide 2021

This is the guide that we recommend you read before choosing your new television 2021. There are many aspects that we must take into account, especially because it depends on the use you are going to give your new TV. If you do not want to continue reading you can visit our summary: The characteristics that my new TV 2021 must have.

In the purchase guide TV 2021 we present you separately the 6 aspects that we think are the main ones to choose your new TV, if it is not clear to you, do not hesitate to leave a comment and we will try to help you.

When is the best time to buy a new television?
When are televisions cheaper? wait for BlackFriday or a day without VAT? tomorrow my new TV will cost less?

•  When is the best time to buy a TV?

In summary, we recommend buying the new TV when you need it, but give yourself a couple of weeks to compare prices. The great offers do not exist and the televisions that are sold with big discounts are the ones that people do not want to buy during the year usually. There are many websites that have cheap prices every day of the year, also stores change prices every two or three weeks so we advise you to follow your new TV and wait for the periodic sale about £50 on inexpensive models up to £300 or £400 in the most expensive.

What TV suits me?

We try to clarify the most important aspects you should know before buying your new TV depending on what is advertised and what is not advertised.

Brands:

The TV market is dominated by South Koreans: LG and Samsung account for more than 50% of global sales. Other recommended are Sony or Panasonic (a little more expensive) or some like Hisnese for low budgets.

• Which is the best brand of television in 2021?

Screen size:

Taking into account the space we have at home, our advice is: how much bigger better, and once the perfect size is chosen, look a little bigger because you get used to it, and you always end up thinking that a little bigger is better.

Size (inches)	Distance (feet)

22	0,7
26	1,2
32	1,4
37	1,6
40 – 42	1,8
46 – 50	2
55	2,5
65	3

It is only an orientative table because it is important the quality of contents that we are going to reproduce, how fussy we are with the resolution, etc.

Budget / price:

Once we have chosen the screen size it is important to set a maximum budget as there is a wide range of TVs ranging from £500 to £5000 (in 55 inches). We can say that the average range of recommended televisions is over £1000 (in 55 inches) but there are some cheaper and others much more expensive. How much does a 2021 TV cost?

Panel:

Depending on the situation of our TV in the living room, one type of panel or another is more advisable. There are many different panel types and subgroups, but the main ones are IPS, VA or OLED

OLEDs are the top of the range and very expensive, if you get the budget do not hesitate. They go well in all situations of visibility and ambient light. Samsung does not offer this technology and has invented its own QLED denomination: OLED vs QLED vs LED

TVs with a VA panel have better contrast, they are better suited to watch movies in the dark, they look good from the front but lose quality if we see them from the sides.

The TVs with IPS panel have a better viewing angle, better to see from the sides ideal for large rooms, against blacks can turn black more gray if we watch the TV in the dark. More on the difference between IPS vs VA panel

In addition to this classification you can visit our post where we explain the panels of 10bit, 8bit, 8bit + FCR ...

Resolution:

UltraHD resolution called 4K is in some models for many years now, it is currently the common resolution and we do not recommend buying TVs other than 4K, the FullHD is dead! This year 2021 top 8K models are presented but they are still very expensive.

What uses are you going to give to your new TV?

All mid-range or high-end televisions are fine for any kind of use you are going to give, although if we look a little deeper we see that some are more suitable for watching cinema in the dark, or for using Internet TV platforms, for watch football, etc. We recommend you review our review of each model.

Additional features:

SmartTV:
All current TVs include Smart (almost all) and all platforms serve more or less the same, connect to online content, duplicate the screen of your tablet / smartphone, watch YouTube videos, ... Each brand has its own platform and some have more compatibility than others: for example Samsung.

3D:
3D is not available on current LED TVs, maybe it will return for 2020 or 2021.

HDR: Almost all 2021 TVs are compatible with HDR, but there are different types of HDR. At the moment it is not clear what is going to impose and our advice is to choose the TV that is compatible with more types of HDR. What is HDR and what type of HDR TV to buy?


If you have any doubts or want us to review a specific model, do not hesitate to leave us a comment.