We present to you which are the main technical characteristics and we give you tips so that you can choose the best TV that suits your budget and your needs. For us, these steps that we show you below are the ones you must follow when you go to find a new TV. Some of these features are not advertised so you should turn to blogs like this one to read the reviews of some models. If you don't want to read our guide, you can visit our post: What TV should you buy in 2021?
Budget
The money that you are willing to spend is not a technical characteristic, but it is for us the first step, we must set a budget to know what we can aspire to, you will always find a TV that is a little better or a little bigger and a little more expensive, so setting a budget is the first step for us.
- More info: How much does a 2021 TV cost?
Screen size
The size will be defined by the gap we have in the furniture and by the distance at which we put the sofa. As a guide, the minimum recommended distance for viewing distance are:
Our advice is that once the budget is set, we buy the largest TV possible, since the rest of the speciations are important, but what you will notice most in the end is the size of the screen.
- More info: What screen size to choose?
LCD-LED or OLED panel
OLED TVs are the best of the moment, but they are very expensive. There are some LCD-LED TVs that measure up, like Samsung's high-end QLEDs, but they are no cheaper than LG's OLEDs. For us if the budget is high: more than £1500 in 55 ", we have no doubts and you should choose an OLED TV.
- More info: Difference between LED vs OLED TV
IPS or VA panel
If the budget does not reach you for an OLED TV, which is the most common, we believe that it is important to choose between an IPS or VA television.
TV with VA panel: They offer good contrast and deep blacks, while the viewing angle is reduced. Recommended if you are going to watch TV more or less from the front, if you like to watch movies with the lights off, ...
IPS panel TV: They offer a wide viewing angle but the contrast is somewhat poor and with the lights off the blacks can be seen somewhat gray. Ideal for large rooms, large families, ...
- More info: Choose VA or IPS panel
EdgeLED, FALD, DirectLED backlight
This is a very important aspect for the contrast and for the uniformity of the image but there is not much to choose from, our budget will define the type of panel that the TV has, since EdgeLEDs are what low-end TVs mount. , some DirectLEDs and only the mid-high range include a FALD panel, which would be ideal.
Refresh rate:
Although many brands advertise 2000Hz or 4000Hz data there are actually only native 50 or 100Hz televisions, obviously if the TV is 100Hz better than better, fast moving images like sports or action movies will look smoother. Only the high-end models have native 100Hz.
- More info: What are Hz on an LED TV?
Brand
Currently there are a few brands available in stores, but for us there are 3 recommended above the rest: Samsung, LG and a little behind Sony (although it has a highly recommended model). If you want to look for something cheaper we recommend Hisense or Xiaomi, and if you are looking for the cheapest televisions of 2021 you should look for white brands such as: OK from MediMarkt or Selecline from Alcampo, brands that we do not recommend
- More info: Which brand is better?
Other aspects to consider:
Color depth in bits: there are 8-bit, 8-bit + FCR and 10-bit televisions, this will allow us to reproduce more colors. It is an important aspect but we do not think it should influence the majority of buyers.
HDR: improves the quality of 4K content, some brands opt for DolbyVision and others for HDR10 +. Another aspect that should not decide your purchase.
SmartTV: Before it was one of the main characteristics to take into account, but today all televisions have a good platform to access Netflix, they have Wi-Fi, ...
Resolution: "All" the current televisions are 4K (UltraHD), in some models of small size, 32 inches and less, the resolution is FullHD or HDReady. There are also 8K TVs in 2021, but they are very expensive or have other inferior features or other similarly priced TVs. It is not worth buying an 8K TV at the moment
Conclusion
There are many aspects to take into account when choosing a television but in reality the most important thing is the size and the budget since this will mark what image quality you can aspire to. Better a native 100Hz TV than 50, better a FALD TV than EdgeLED, ... but this is a never ending. In general, for average users they have plenty of a mid-range TV, from Samsung or LG with a good Smart to watch Netflix and with a price of about GPB600 in 55 inches. If you have questions about any of these aspects or about a specific model, you can leave us a message in the comments and we will try to help you.
