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osm
Mentor

4K TV recommendation with upscaling of Now TV content in mind

Hello,

Up to now I've been using a 1080p TV. I will be buying my first 4K TV on Black Friday weekend. Willing to pay somewhere in the region £600 to £1000. The TVs look fantastic in store when playing 4K HDR content, but I'm a bit concerned how well they will display sub 4K content, particularly 720p content from Now TV (particularly sports channels).

Is there much variation between manufacturers and between price points in upscaling performance?

Any specific recomendations for manufacturers or models?

Please note - I'm not limiting myself to the labels assigned to this post (Samsung, Sony, LG). It's just that assigning a label from a pre-created list was required to create the post, and these were the only relevant ones available. I've also been looking at TCL, Hisense and Philips.

Thanks

8 REPLIES 8
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @osm 

What size 4K TV are you looking at ?

I watched 720p NOW on a 50 to 55 inch 4K TV sitting around 8ft away with no problems.

If you are going 65inch plus then maybe consider NOW Boost at 1080p.

Should you have a NOW Sports Membership, then I would definitely get NOW Boost for the 50fps playback (though LG Smart TV's don't support NOW at 50fps with Boost unless you add an external NOW supported playback device).

Most 4K TV's do a decent upscaling from 720p to 4K (especially if you go for a smaller to mid size 4K TV).

When it comes to motion and upscaling then Sony would be one of my picks.

I own a Hisense OLED and a Hisense high end FALD LCD and their great value for the money but their upscaling and motion could be improved greatly compared to Sony, LG Samsung etc.

Also had a Philips TV and the LCD backlight failed at around 18 months into it's 2 year standard manufactures warranty cover (got the panel replaced under warranty which was a bit of a battle with Philips).

So whatever TV you decide to get I would definitely suggest getting something with a longer warranty period of 5 to 6 years.

Where I know places like Costco, Richersounds, John Lewis and Currys on (certain line models offers 5 year warranty).

I wouldn't consider buying a mid or higher range TV with less than 5 years warranty if it was me.

osm
Mentor

Thanks, very helpful.

I'll be getting 55".

I've viewed a 720p YouTube video on a Sony and Samsung 4K TV in store and didn't think it looked great (compared to viewing 720p YouTube on my 8-year old 1080p TV). But perhaps that's to be expected due to the increased scaling needed?

Also, I get the impression Now TV 720p streams are better than YouTube 720p streams.

Will consider Now TV Boost but am a bit irritated Now TV charge extra just for 1080p (not even 4K) and multi-device streaming so have been avoiding so far out of principle. Didn't realise there was a frame rate benefit though.

Is the LG 50 fps issues only present when using Now TV app built into the TV, or does it also exist when accessing Now TV using a streaming device attached to the TV (e.g. Roku 4K streaming stick)?

Any views on TCL upscaling performance? If I decide to go LCD rather than OLED, TCL seems great value, particularly CF630K, C735K, and the mini LED C835K. Probably not 5 year warranty though.

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @osm 

I have never seen a TCL in action, so I can't offer any advise either way.

HDTV Test who I respect have given a decent review of the C835 mini led in this YouTube video on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORg5dkb_ggs

If buying from Currys then TCL is only 2 year warranty.

To be honest if you are spending that much on a 55 inch mini led TV, then if it was my money and you are not against OLED or watching in an extremely bright room with a lot of windows or window reflections, then I would look at the LG55CS OLED which has a C1 panel with C2 electronics and have seen them going on the internet between £800 to £850 with 5 years warranty (not burn in warranty).

osm
Mentor

Thanks. Can LG do 50 fps Now TV Boost if streaming from a source connected via HDMI (e.g. Roku stick) rather than the built-in app?

redchiz1
Champion 2

Yes. I have a 55 inch LG and do precisely that for live football. And I am otherwise very happy with it. 

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @osm 

Yes if you plug in something like a Roku or Fire Stick into the LG television then with Boost you will get 1080p 50fps when watching live NOW Sports.

To stream 1080p Boost NOW recommends around 12Mbps down speed at your playback device.

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @osm 

Forgot to mention that the HotUKdeals website is a good source for TV prices, where you also get some useful information from owners.

osm
Mentor

Just to update this thread / give it some closure....

I ended up getting a 48" TV instead of 55" (couldn't quite fit 55" into the alcove in my room without room looking cluttered). Anyway, I went for Hisense A85H OLED, which is currently on sale at Costco for £599 with 5-year warranty and 90-day return policy.

Had it for about a week and I've been happy with it. I had read that Hisense won't be as good at upscaling and motion processing as the more established brands (also mentioned in one of the earlier responses). But upscaled NOW TV content is looking good to me so far (although I don't know if I have watched anything upscaled from 720p yet, as I currently have a Boost subscription).** Motion looks fine to me, although its possible I'm not sensitive to motion processing issues.

** I have noticed that the upscaling of SD content on the TV doesn't seem to be as good as on a Samsung 4K TV I also tried recently, but I don't watch much SD content, so not really a big deal.