Anyone who is going to buy a new TV today will easily end up with a 4K TV. This is not difficult, as you can already find 4K TVs for less than 500 euros. If you don’t know much about TVs, you can make mistakes very quickly here and buy a 4K TV that isn’t as good as hoped.
The average consumer sees a 4K sticker with a price tag of less than €500 and makes a choice accordingly. This is an option that can cost you dearly afterward, because 4K is not the other. To ensure you get the right 4K TV at home, we’re listing the biggest pitfalls here.
Before we start: Don’t panic, you don’t have to spend thousands of Euros to buy one of the best 4K TVs, because there are cheap 4K TVs out there. You just have to know what to look for.
1. Distinguish the different panels
The first crucial difference between different 4K TVs is the type of panel they use. There are LCD screens, OLED screens, Quantum Dot screens, and many more subdivisions of each category. It’s very easy to lose sight of the wood of the trees here, since something like “Quantum Dot” naturally sounds very premium, when in fact this isn’t always the case.
Before we even begin to differentiate these panels, we have to say that LCD screens (and variations of them) are generally lower quality. We all remember this An episode of Game of Thrones where it was so dark you couldn’t see what was going on. You have this particular problem with LCD monitors. They are less able to handle black values, so you can’t always see what’s going on on the screen, even in a completely dark room.
Now some TV makers have tricks to hide their LCD panels from the outside world. Samsung does this, for example, with its own inventions “QLED” and “Quantum Dot”. For example, you have the more expensive Samsung S95B and the cheaper Samsung Q60B. Both devices use QLED and Quantum Dot technology, but they differ significantly in price. You can see why when you look beyond the language of marketing. The S95B has an OLED panel and the Q60B is an LCD panel.
When you start cutting out all the LCD panels, you quickly come to the conclusion that it’s not easy to find a cheap 4K TV with a different type of panel. For example, the cheapest OLED TVs easily cost €1,000, which doesn’t fit every budget. If you have this budget, we recommend that you cut out all LCD panels and focus on OLED panels.
2. Weak uplift
The second point that may not immediately come to mind is upgrading (or promotion). You can buy a 4K TV, but not all of the content you watch has pristine 4K quality. For example, you only have native 4K on the most expensive Netflix subscription, the old Google Chromecast supports 1080p max and the Belgian streaming service Streamz, which also offers content from HBO Max, supports 1080p max. Those who still watch linear TV do so in 1080p, too. Additionally, services that support 4K don’t always give you 4K resolution. If your internet is too slow, the streaming service can automatically switch to 1080p.
So what’s the point of having a 4K TV if the content isn’t available in 4K? This is where upgrading matters. A 4K TV has a processor, just like your phone, laptop, and even washing machine. And like all other products, you have fast and slow processors here. You may already feel it coming: Cheap 4K TVs often have a slower processor, so their upscaling is lower quality.
For example, the Philips OLED807 gives you an impressive upscaling that upscales 480p content to reliable 4K resolution. If you look at cheaper TVs, you will often see a disappointing upgrade. Especially if you have purchased a much larger 4K TV, this will quickly become noticeable and ruin your viewing experience. The cheapest 4K TVs that are surprisingly good with their upscaling are those from LG. The brand has a good habit of introducing its new entry-level models (ex A2 OLED) with the previous year’s flagship image processor.
3. Slow program
Something related to the upgrade is the full software experience of the TV. The same wizard that takes care of the upgrade also determines how quickly you can navigate through the interface. This might sound stupid, since you’re usually sitting in front of the TV and not scrolling through menus left to right like on your phone…until you want to search for a movie on Netflix and have to wait a few seconds for the character entered to appear in the search field.
This is a problem that you can easily solve with a small additional investment of €50. We are of course talking about streaming sticks and dongles, such as Google Chromecast. No matter how slow your TV’s processor is, Chromecast works on its own and is not affected by it. If you don’t mind controlling your TV with your phone, this is a great solution.
4. Insufficient (or outdated) connections
Finally, we come to the underrated aspect of 4K TV which is the connections available. Then we mainly talk about HDMI connections. Depending on how much equipment you have in your living room and what equipment you have, this point should be at the top of your list. There’s nothing more annoying than pulling cables in and out all the time because you can’t plug everything in at the same time. In addition, the HDMI connection is not actually made to include other cables constantly. If you change cables often, it may shorten the life of this HDMI port.
Most 4K TVs now have at least three HDMI connections. For example, you can connect one PS5, one Chromecast, and one Nintendo Switch. If you decide to buy a speaker after which you want to connect it to HDMI, then you really have a problem. This is a problem that mainly appears in a home with gaming consoles. If you have a Chromecast and a speaker with HDMI, you still have a free connection.
In addition, not only the number, but also the type of HDMI connections is important. Let’s go back to our speakers for a moment. Some speakers support something called HDMI(e)Arc. Long story short: this ensures that you can operate the soundbar with your TV remote and is essential for features like Dolby Atmos. However, this is something that is not built into the HDMI port as standard. If you have a soundbar with an HDMI (e) Arc, check if it says so in your TV’s specifications.
Finally, we should mention for the sake of completeness that we have had TVs with a higher 120Hz refresh rate since the introduction of the PS5 and Xbox Series X. This indicates how smooth the picture is. This is something the monitor should support on the one hand and something the HDMI port should support on the other. For example, the LG OLED C2 has four HDMI ports that all support 4K/120Hz. The Philips OLED807 should then do two 4K/120Hz outputs. If you have both new consoles and also want to connect a gaming PC to your TV, be sure to pay attention to the number of HDMI ports that support 4K / 120Hz.
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