55 Inch Tv ideas.

[joeteds]

Hey all

Im looking to replace my Samsung 46 D7000 with a 55 inch tv.I would love to be able to get one of this years new models but definitely won't be able to go to the £2500 or there abouts that they will be.My budget will be £15/1600 so is there a slightly older one that ticks all the boxes and still worth getting?

Gaming and films are very important.Ive looked at a lot of reviews but still can't make my mind up.I did like the LG 55LA860W but then saw a couple of average reviews.Any ideas would be great.

Thanks

Joe.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Hey all

Im looking to replace my Samsung 46 D7000 with a 55 inch tv.I would love to be able to get one of this years new models but definitely won't be able to go to the £2500 or there abouts that they will be.My budget will be £15/1600 so is there a slightly older one that ticks all the boxes and still worth getting?

Gaming and films are very important.Ive looked at a lot of reviews but still can't make my mind up.I did like the LG 55LA860W but then saw a couple of average reviews.Any ideas would be great.

Thanks

Joe.

This thread is worth a read:

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/tvs-and-projectors/philips-55pfl8008-or-something-else-confused

Oldboy got the Samsung 55F8000 for £1700!

 

[joeteds]

Thanks Gel.I did read through that and made a choice to get it until I saw the backlight bleed and crease issues.My D7000 has the white glow top and bottom of the screen and want to avoid that this time.Unless he just got 1 from a dodgy batch.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Im looking to replace my Samsung 46 D7000 with a 55 inch tv.I would love to be able to get one of this years new models but definitely won't be able to go to the £2500 or there abouts that they will be.My budget will be £15/1600 so is there a slightly older one that ticks all the boxes and still worth getting?

Hello Joe,

Yes, there is an older model that ticks your boxes and is worth getting, the Samsung UE55ES8000 which was released in 2012, see here http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/samsung/ue55es8000/sams-ue55es8000 . It is now a discontinued item at Richer Sounds, so you'll have to move fast! It is £1500, with an extra £150 for the five-year guarantee, which I would certainly urge you to take. I personally like this set, my sister-in-law has both this and the 65" version, although you must decide for yourself. If you click on the "Availabiity" button, you'll see that it is now available only in Hull, LIchfield, Liverpool, London Holborn, Nottingham, Reigate and Sheffield, and as a discontinued item Richer Sounds won't transfer it between branches. Only Liverpool has two units, the other stores have only one left, so you really do have to be quick. Because it is a discontinued item, condition of the individual sets may vary, so check with the specific shop first.

You can read reviews of it here http://www.whathifi.com/review/samsung-ue55es8000 , here http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/televisions/plasma-and-lcd-tvs/samsung-ue55es8000-1069068/review , here http://www.t3.com/reviews/samsung-ue55es8000-review , here http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/samsung-ue55es8000-ue46es8000-201205301790.htm , here http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-ue55es8000_TV_review , and here http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Samsung-UE-55ES8000-55-46ES8000-46-40ES8000-40-Inch-3D-LED-LCD-Smart-TV-Review_333/Review.html

Basically, they all like the set, and that was at the original price of £2,500, rather than at £1,650 as it is now at Richer Sounds including 5-year warranty. A few reviews mention a tight viewing angle but I haven't noticed this with my sister-in-law's set.

Lastly, yes, Oldboy did get the successor to this set, the Samsung 55" F8000 for about £1,700, but he had to negotiate quite hard to get that price and even he himself was a bit uneasy that he got it quite so cheaply, from John Lewis. So another person won't necessarily be able to get the F8000 at Oldboy's price.

Let us know what you decide.

 

[Oldboy]

Thanks Gel.I did read through that and made a choice to get it until I saw the backlight bleed and crease issues.My D7000 has the white glow top and bottom of the screen and want to avoid that this time.Unless he just got 1 from a dodgy batch.

joeteds,

I wouldn't worry too much as the more i'm using my 55F8000 the more obvious it is that this tv is simply faulty as it has some other little issues such as the banner showing the info of channel etc appearing seemingly at random and some other slight niggles that aren't worth listing here. I've simply got a faulty set.

As for the backlight it's worth saying that it's ONLY IN 3D. During normal tv, watching movies and playing games it's never an issue or visible at any time or lighting conditions. It's only when viewing 3D discs that it becomes apparant BUT thankfully Samsung (unlike Sony) give you full control of the picture menu so you can dial back the backlight to a much more acceptable level to dial out most of the torch effect in the bottom corners, it's still slightly visible in black scenes but it's on par with my previous Sony 46HX853 which had the same slight issue.

Of course this could be down to a few factors such as the fact the tv may need a bit of a run in, the fact that it's obviously faulty, not had a 3D calibration and that I've not used 3D very much...infact I just tested it with 10mins of UP in 3D. It's also worth mentioning just how excellent the 3D is on this tv as it blows my old Sony HX853 out of the water with punchier contrast, excellent colours, true inky blacks and such a convincing 3D effect with no flicker and no eye strain. A little bleed seemed a fair trade off when considering all that but perhaps the replacement fares much better in this regard so I won't judge until that arrives.

I still think that at £1686 after cashback from Samsung that I got a real bargain and an excellent tv that apart from the fault i'm very happy with and proud to own, I've just been unlucky but have every faith that the replacement will be fault free and can't wait until it arrives on Thursday.

If it's in your budget then I wouldn't hesitate and buy from John lewis for peace of mind and a 5 year warranty.

Hope that helps

 

[bigboss]

So another person won't necessarily be able to get the F8000 at Oldboy's price.

Unless of course, the OP buys from the very shop Oldboy managed to price match with:

http://www.totaldigital.biz/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=43_51&products_id=4766

John Lewis should price match, though.

 

[Oldboy]

Im looking to replace my Samsung 46 D7000 with a 55 inch tv.I would love to be able to get one of this years new models but definitely won't be able to go to the £2500 or there abouts that they will be.My budget will be £15/1600 so is there a slightly older one that ticks all the boxes and still worth getting?

Hello Joe,

Yes, there is an older model that ticks your boxes and is worth getting, the Samsung UE55ES8000 which was released in 2012, see here http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/samsung/ue55es8000/sams-ue55es8000 . It is now a discontinued item at Richer Sounds, so you'll have to move fast! It is £1500, with an extra £150 for the five-year guarantee, which I would certainly urge you to take. I personally like this set, my sister-in-law has both this and the 65" version, although you must decide for yourself. If you click on the "Availabiity" button, you'll see that it is now available only in Hull, LIchfield, Liverpool, London Holborn, Nottingham, Reigate and Sheffield, and as a discontinued item Richer Sounds won't transfer it between branches. Only Liverpool has two units, the other stores have only one left, so you really do have to be quick. Because it is a discontinued item, condition of the individual sets may vary, so check with the specific shop first.

You can read reviews of it here http://www.whathifi.com/review/samsung-ue55es8000 , here http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/televisions/plasma-and-lcd-tvs/samsung-ue55es8000-1069068/review , here http://www.t3.com/reviews/samsung-ue55es8000-review , here http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/samsung-ue55es8000-ue46es8000-201205301790.htm , here http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-ue55es8000_TV_review , and here http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Samsung-UE-55ES8000-55-46ES8000-46-40ES8000-40-Inch-3D-LED-LCD-Smart-TV-Review_333/Review.html

Basically, they all like the set, and that was at the original price of £2,500, rather than at £1,650 as it is now at Richer Sounds including 5-year warranty. A few reviews mention a tight viewing angle but I haven't noticed this with my sister-in-law's set.

Lastly, yes, Oldboy did get the successor to this set, the Samsung 55" F8000 for about £1,700, but he had to negotiate quite hard to get that price and even he himself was a bit uneasy that he got it quite so cheaply, from John Lewis. So another person won't necessarily be able to get the F8000 at Oldboy's price.

Let us know what you decide.

I really wouldn't consider the UE55ES8000 tv personally as I demoed this tv in both 46 and 55 inch version last year when deciding between that and the Sony HX853 and as joeteds has stated he wants to avoid bleed then it's worth giving this one a wide berth as I never auditioned one without severe bleed. I went to 3 different retailers and every set I saw suffered badly from bleed that was very distracting and ruined the picture quality and was clearly visible when viewing tv and movies and far worse in 3D.

When you consider the price difference I would be far more inclined to negotiate with John Lewis and get this years 55F8000 and avoid the bleed issues from the 2012 55ES8000. Son_of_SJ suggested the ES8000 to me when I was considering what TV I would buy but I knew of the backlight issues with this TV from all the forum talk on here and other forums with uniformity, DSE and bleed being real issues with the TV, that's not to say good examples aren't out there but what I would say is that it would be a bit of lottery if you get a good one or not and with very little stock left the odds have shortened considerably.

As for my negotiations with John Lewis yes I had to defend the price I had found and the details of the offer but I got the TV for that price in the end and it only took one call from me to the store to lodge the price match then a bit of negotiation after their initial refusal to get the price match so it wasn't too hard as I was sure of my facts and knew they had to match the price under their own T&C's. If you do go for it then it's worth entering a price match request to John Lewis online too just in case you get any issues in store so you have proof that the price match is valid, that's what I done and it served me well

Yes there was a little effort involved in getting my deal but nothing difficult or stressful and for the sake of a total saving of £813 it was well worth the effort and you can find full details of how to approach getting this deal in my thread that gel linked to so you have a step by step guide of what to say and do which takes out alot of the hassle 8)

 

[Oldboy]

So another person won't necessarily be able to get the F8000 at Oldboy's price.

Unless of course, the OP buys from the very shop Oldboy managed to price match with: http://www.totaldigital.biz/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=43_51&products_id=4766 John Lewis should price match, though.

You are right as usual bigboss...the OP should have no issue getting the same deal as me as long as he follows the same steps, the John Lewis T&C's on price matching make no mention of it being store specific but you may need to fight your corner a bit. The price match is a valid one no matter what John Lewis store you buy from.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

I really wouldn't consider the UE55ES8000 tv personally as I demoed this tv in both 46 and 55 inch version last year when deciding between that and the Sony HX853 and as joeteds has stated he wants to avoid bleed then it's worth giving this one a wide berth as I never auditioned one without severe bleed. I went to 3 different retailers and every set I saw suffered badly from bleed that was very distracting and ruined the picture quality and was clearly visible when viewing tv and movies and far worse in 3D.

When you consider the price difference I would be far more inclined to negotiate with John Lewis and get this years 55F8000 and avoid the bleed issues from the 2012 55ES8000. Son_of_SJ suggested the ES8000 to me when I was considering what TV I would buy but I knew of the backlight issues with this TV from all the forum talk on here and other forums with uniformity, DSE and bleed being real issues with the TV, that's not to say good examples aren't out there but what I would say is that it would be a bit of lottery if you get a good one or not and with very little stock left the odds have shortened considerably.

As for my negotiations with John Lewis yes I had to defend the price I had found and the details of the offer but I got the TV for that price in the end and it only took one call from me to the store to lodge the price match then a bit of negotiation after their initial refusal to get the price match so it wasn't too hard as I was sure of my facts and knew they had to match the price under their own T&C's. If you do go for it then it's worth entering a price match request to John Lewis online too just in case you get any issues in store so you have proof that the price match is valid, that's what I done and it served me well

Yes there was a little effort involved in getting my deal but nothing difficult or stressful and for the sake of a total saving of £813 it was well worth the effort and you can find full details of how to approach getting this deal in my thread that gel linked to so you have a step by step guide of what to say and do which takes out alot of the hassle 8)

I'll bow to Oldboy's greater experience with the Samsung 55ES8000 from last year. Maybe my sister-in-law was just lucky to get a good set.

 

[Oldboy]

I'll bow to Oldboy's greater experience with the Samsung 55ES8000 from last year. Maybe my sister-in-law was just lucky to get a good set.

It's good to hear someone got a good example though and if you get one then they are well worth consideration but it is a bit of a lottery unfortunately which is a shame as it's still a good TV. I had to go by my experience though and I really wouldn't consider one over a 55F8000 which is far more likely to suit the OP.

If you could see the ES8000 before you buy then perhaps it may become a contender? At least you could check for the bleed etc before you decide what to buy