OT: Buying a telly.

[Vortex11]

This morning I want to the local Currys shed to look at televisions. Specifically I went to look at the latest generation of "4k" Ultra HD TV's. There's a surprisingly wide choice.

I became sufficiently interested to ask to see a particular set with an aerial (or satellite) connected. Not an unreasonable request you would think.

The incredible response: "Sorry we can't demonstrate any televisions here with live broadcast. Store policy dictated by head office" (or words to that effect).

Was it a rogue sales assistant? Am I getting old? Am I missing something? Do Currys really expect customers to part with a 4 digit sum of money with out a proper demonstration of the product?

D

[spuorgelgoog]

The tellies look most impressive when fed with a high resolution slow-moving image with limited colour palette.

They will look less impressive with live video at lower (broadcast) resolution with rapid motion and flesh tones.

Perhaps you could take a Test Card DVD with you :-)

Owain

[Bob Minchin]

Note the Curry's prices for ones you like the look of and then go to John Lewis where you *should* get better service and a demo plus never knowingly undersold price match.

the was comment on radio 4 yesterday about the Dixons/Carphone merger which will include currys. The commentator felt that poor(er) customer service would be the key aspect to affect the punters.

[tony sayer]

In article , Vortex11 scribeth thus

Just walk, or better still run!! when we wanted a new TV I was amazed at the Wally's they had there selling them as well as one or two other high street outlets.

However went to John Lewis and there was a young "ish" lad who did know about what he was selling and did demo a Sony (Bravia) that we bought from there and I was allows to play around with it as much as I wanted and we prolly could have got it a few quid cheaper online but it was well worth that to see it demonstrated and we've been very happy with it since:)...

[Adrian C]

Avoid a shed?

There are specialist retailers of such equipment.

Just had a google looking for who looks like the AV equivalent of 'The British Audio Dealer Association'.

Looks like could be this bunch.

Clarity Alliance.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Been like that for some time. They only show material specially selected not to show any artifacts or flaws. Ie, nothing like the things you'll likely watch at home.

Oh - regardless of cost, the sound will be s**te. So they can sell you a 'sound bar' too.

[Tim Watts]

Yes - they are morons. Not just them - most "sheds" like them.

Best way - check it out in store. Buy online and invoke the DSR right to return if the TV reception is no good.

It's a small risk - paying the return carriage - if the rest of the set is good, the TV is not so likely to have problems.

My advice - look at Samsungs first - I have 2 plus a monitor (oldest around 7-8 years old) and they have all been excellent.

[Dave Liquorice]

What are you going to watch that is 4k? AFAIK there are no native "domestic" 4k sources. Wouldn't expect there to be plans for the broadcast platforms to upgrade to 4k, I'm not aware of any outside broadcast trucks or studios being built/re-equiped that will be fully

4k capable. Programmes are genrally made by default in the "next generation" format a good couple of years before that format really comes on line.

Would they allow you to play your own, thus known, blu-ray disc?

[The Other John]

Have you got a Richer Sounds near you? They are happy to demo, have knowledgeable staff, good prices and a good returns policy.

I have no connection with the firm, just a satisfied customer.

[Vortex11]

One of the 4k claims is much improvement in "upscaled" HD. Something I want to see for myself. Can't judge without seeing it. Clearly thats not possible in Currys....so John Lewis it is....next time I am passing one.

I believe Netflix have committed to UHD and SKY have an active development project.

To me it us utterly unbelivable that Currys can expect to get in store orders for TV's they cannot demonstrate.

D

[John Rumm]

Or a branch of Sevenoaks sound & vision, or Rayliegh HiFi...

[Andy Burns]

Where are you going to get 4K material to watch? No UK broadcaster is transmitting any, no DVD/BluRay will contain any, perhaps you could move to Japan?

I must admit while I was in DixonsPCWorldCarphoneWarehouseCurrys the other day, I got sucked into looking at the 50-60" inch TVs, and was quite impressed by some of them, but they were displaying 4K material from a USB stick.

[Adrian C]

A little write up of the UK 4K situation.

Sony look set to muddy the water with 4K mastered 1080p blueray discs, but 4K will be on physical media, internet and eventually satellite.

How about just waiting for 8K?

My coat... etc...

[Bob Eager]

+1

[tony sayer]

Do yer reckon It'll brighten up the next instalments of Jamaica Inn;?...

[Vortex11]

I concur re Samsung.

As it happens our primary TV today is a Samsung. The first generation of their LED TV's. Unfortunately the "smart" features in those days did not include Catchup TV as we know it, and the DNLA etc all very clunky.

Part of the appeal of 4k is for use with photos. I have a QNAP NAS with thousands of photos and home movies that we never look at.

4k contenders today are Sony; Samsung, LG and Panasonic.

Sony don't have the catchup players. LG nasty (to my eyes) aesthetics so the shortlist would be Samsung and Panny.

Samsung offer flat and curved options and probably for me the killer interesting feature which is the so called "one connect" box: a single

3 metre long umbilical between the panel and all the connections.

D

[Dave Liquorice]

How is that going to be delivered? 8k aka UHD aka Ultra High Definition has a native bit rate of 144 *Giga* bits per second...

Yes you can compress it, maybe as low as 600 Mega bps. But that is still roughly 10 times faster than current domestic fibre delivery speeds.

They have got it down to 40 Mbps over sattelite but that is a heck of a compression ratio. What is the point? Blu-ray runs at 40 Mbps... It's like the current "HD" streams at around 2 Mbps, better than SD but nothing like seeing the same programme at 10 Mbps(ish) from DSAT or from DVD/Blu-ray.

The great unwashed don't care, understand or be able to see the wool being pulled over there eyes.

[Robin]

The "4k" sets I've seen in John Lewis look better than HD sets alongside them when fed from the same HD sources. Whether the improvement is worth the additional cost is of course another matter. But I don't see that a 4k set is pointless even if there's no readily available 4k source material.

[John Williamson]

More to the point, will it improve the sound?

[John Williamson]

How are they improving the signal? Upscaling technology has been round for a long while, and upscaled SD looks a lot better than without the upscaling., but not quite as good as native HD.

Even in the days of CRT sets and PAL tapes, some sets used equalisation on the video signal to improve edge contrast, and that looked better until it was applied when you copied a tape with it engaged while editing, and applied it twice.