Time for a TV upgrade...

[FUBAR]

With a bit of a living room re-jig on the cards in the near future, and having just had a relatively cheap RC weekend I've decided to upgrade my TV from my "has a niggling injury" Panasonic 37" to this:

http://www.johnlewis.com/lg-55lb650v-led-hd-1080p-3d-smart-tv-55-with-freeview-hd/p1391160
and this
http://www.johnlewis.com/yamaha-ysp-2500-bluetooth-soundbar-with-wireless-subwoofer-black/p1776543

The TV is going to be wall mounted between the windows in my front room.
I decided not to go to a 4K TV just yet, mainly because there are currently NO broadcasts on Freeview HD in 4K (I don't have sky, and I don't think even they do) and you can still not buy True 4K Bluray Discs. Also my Internet connection is still too slow to stream a video on Youtube or Facebook without me getting a serious case of 'bufferface' so I can't stream 4K content either.

The Yamaha soundbar choice was a simple one, albeit more expensive than I would have liked, aside from glowing (professional) reviews online this was the only one sold by JL that has both Ethernet and RCA (2-phono) inputs as well as Bluetooth streaming and the usual optical & HDMI connections.  Because my PC is not in the living room anymore I wanted the choice of playing music there either by plugging in my iPod or Bluetooth from other devices as well as streaming music content from my PC / NAS storage in the future.  This one is also designed to sit on a shelf, so because the TV will be above a Radiator I have to fit a shelf or Rad cabinet to deflect the heat away from the TV, it made perfect sense.  The wireless subwoofer is a common feature across most soundbars but is handy because I can plug it in behind /under the Sofa where it is out of the way.
+ Its Yamaha... they know audio stuff 

[Incursus]

[/quote]

The Yamaha soundbar choice was a simple one, albeit more expensive than I would have liked, aside from glowing (professional) reviews online this was the only one sold by JL that has both Ethernet and RCA (2-phono) inputs as well as Bluetooth streaming and the usual optical & HDMI connections.  Because my PC is not in the living room anymore I wanted the choice of playing music there either by plugging in my iPod or Bluetooth from other devices as well as streaming music content from my PC / NAS storage in the future.  This one is also designed to sit on a shelf, so because the TV will be above a Radiator I have to fit a shelf or Rad cabinet to deflect the heat away from the TV, it made perfect sense.  The wireless subwoofer is a common feature across most soundbars but is handy because I can plug it in behind /under the Sofa where it is out of the way

We did look at this one but went for the Sonos system in the end with 2x play 1's for the kitchen and bedroom.

[Roadkill]

Errr, 55" ?

Don't you think that's a bit big for your room ? . . . When I bought the TV for my lounge, the rule of thumb suggested a 37" and I went with 40" (to be on the safe side).

I sit up to 4m away from the TV and, after several years, the size is still more than sufficient (I can even tell what's going on without my contacts in !).

If you wall mount it between the two windows (ie. viewing across the shortest dimension of the room) you'll have, maybe 2.5-3m viewing distance, at most ??

Don't get me wrong, I don't follow technology so can't say what's a good telly or not but I do have common sense and that tells me that a 55" is going to be over-sized for your room.

I've got onto the subject of TV's with a few people I deal with at work (who really DO know their stuff) and they tend to suggest that, when it comes to TV's, bigger is NOT necessarily better.

I honestly think you'll be wasting your money.

Just my 2c.

[art b]

i dunno
 no one goes to the cinema and says the screen was too big, 

i have the 100 inch [why are we still using inches...?] projector screen,
 that is fecking big but great for gigs and movies...

[Roadkill]

Each to their own I suppose . . . the guy across the street has a 50-odd" telly proudly mounted up on his wall for all to see and I can watch that quite clearly from my own living room !

The cinema's a bit different - a lot in short doses . . . but try sitting in the first 5 rows, then you'd be moaning, whether it be for 5 minutes or 5 hours.

Again, each to their own . . . I'm planning an upgrade next year but it'll be another 40" (if they even still make them that small then).

[FUBAR]

Errr, 55" ?
Don't you think that's a bit big for your room ? . . .

I know what you're saying, it is considerably bigger than the 37" one I currently have, on screen size, however I offered up my current TV to the space and it just didn't look right, somehow "wall mounting" the TV made it look a lot smaller.  The other thing thats changed since we last bought TVs is that the bezel sizes are now so much narrower, both of our current sets have wide bezels, I measured the new one against my parent's 46" TV and it was about 30mm taller and about 90mm wider because their Sony has frankly comical size bezel / border around the screen.

TBH I've sized the choice of TV more to fit the space than followed any recommended viewing distances, which I did before, my 37" TV was bought to suit the space at the end of my bed in my parents place, they thought I was mad at the time but when it was in & they saw it they understood, at that time I swapped a 21” CRT for that.

I also think that we're far more accustomed to big screens these days than we were 10 years ago.  when the folks changed the TV in their living room it took me nearly a month to convince them to buy the £400 more expensive 46" rather than a 40" and they very quickly thanked me for my persistence.

I do agree that with TVs bigger is not always better, especially when you see some of the comedy sized offerings in Costco!! I think I’ve made the right choice, if I haven’t, I’ll live with it and hopefully get used to it.

The timing is right though, I was trying to watch Starwars last night and the TV died again 5 mins into the film... it will probably come back to life but its been getting more & more frequent & annoying

[FUBAR]

Again, each to their own . . . I'm planning an upgrade next year but it'll be another 40" (if they even still make them that small then).

See what you think but its worth considering that when you're watching TV you're watching the whole TV, not just the screen, (linked to my comment about Bezel sizes) i'd reccomend sizing the whole TV to be roughly the same rather than the screen, because this is the sillouette you are watching and that you see on the wall when its turned off.

[FUBAR]

I've made a mock-up today using the box from the Rad cabinet, now this is firstly not level  but is also stuck to the wall with blu-tac so is ever-so slightly further back than the TV will be. (Very soon the desk won't be there... room looks crowded at the moment with it still here)
The soundbar will sit on the Rad cabinet.

Sofa view:


From Kitchen:


From Hall:


I Like 

[Incursus]

Looks ok to me

[art b]

job done ...

condsider not mounting it too high ..as i can give you a stiff neck looking upwards,
a few people i know complain of it ...
 idealy it would be at eye level when your sitting down

[FUBAR]

condsider not mounting it too high ..as i can give you a stiff neck looking upwards,
a few people i know complain of it ...
 idealy it would be at eye level when your sitting down

Duely noted, I wanted to mount it central to the height of the windows / curtain drop, purely for my symmetry OCD satisfaction but it might be too high, I've got it stuck slightly lower than in the pics now to see what I think.  I'll spend some time this week watching the black rectangle and see how I get on do you reckon I can get a big printout of Mock the week on Dave to put on it

Edit: You know whats just struck me, with the curtains either side it makes it look a bit like the old cinemas where they pull curtains back before the film

[art b]

 

condsider not mounting it too high ..as i can give you a stiff neck looking upwards,
a few people i know complain of it ...
 idealy it would be at eye level when your sitting down

Duely noted, I wanted to mount it central to the height of the windows / curtain drop, purely for my symmetry OCD satisfaction but it might be too high, I've got it stuck slightly lower than in the pics now to see what I think.  I'll spend some time this week watching the black rectangle and see how I get on do you reckon I can get a big printout of Mock the week on Dave to put on it

Edit: You know whats just struck me, with the curtains either side it makes it look a bit like the old cinemas where they pull curtains back before the film

I'm sure CP could photoshop something on it for you..

[ianjpage]

Looks good!

[Cunning Plan]

I'm sure CP could photoshop something on it for you..

Well I had a go, but I don't think I totally understand what he wants to do. 

[FUBAR]

Well I had a go, but I don't think I totally understand what he wants to do. 

Funnily enough the thought of putting a picture of outside on the TV to make it look like a 3rd window had crossed my mind...

[Cunning Plan]

Well I had a go, but I don't think I totally understand what he wants to do. 

Funnily enough the thought of putting a picture of outside on the TV to make it look like a 3rd window had crossed my mind...

Ha! Great minds... 

FYI, we have just upgraded our TV in a similar-sized living room. We went for a 50" Samsung 6200 and apart from one dead pixel and one slightly lazy one (not that noticeable unless it is a white screen for an extended time, which, never happens really. Plus we got it at a great price by using deal-offers together), it is very good.

I came to the same conclusion as you regarding 4k TVs. We did have a 32", but as you say, the bezel sizes have got smaller, so that 32" probably worked out to 36". We wanted something that would be relatively future-proof, so if we moved and got a bigger living room, we would not have to upgrade again.

Watching movies on it is excellent as it provides a feeling of involvement, similar to being at the cinema with the big screen. Something to consider when watching a movie and having a smaller TV is the aspect-ratio and the horizontal black  bars. You may have a 50" TV, but when you are watching a movie, the black bars reduce the image to the correct aspect ratio, so if you measured just the picture showing, it maybe a 42-44" viewable area. So, if you go for a smaller size, you are reducing again the viewing area for movies.

I guess if you consider why you are upgrading and come to the conclusion for entertainment, it makes sense to 'immerse' yourself in that entertainment, so 55" should be great. (Unless you're Art and go for a 1000" projector and become part of the movie  ) .

Another point is that TVs have become very well designed in terms of aesthetics, they are now not just to watch TV, but they are part of the furniture. To some extent, with a good-looking, large screen, you improve the look of your living room, even when it is off (IMHO I guess).

The 55" will be epic! 

[FUBAR]

You're right about the black bars, I'd forgotten about that, there are a few 21:9 TVs around now but they're not cheap (Unless you want a relatively smaller PC Monitor) but the issue you then have is that all TV programs look crap.

If I put a security camera on the wall outside the house I could have a live feed for my 3rd window that's a bit though.

[Roadkill]

Still think it's a tad too big, although doesn't look as bad as I thought (I'd still suggest dropping a size of two) but -

It's also too high, I'd suggest, you're gonna get a neck ache looking at that up there.

[FUBAR]

Well I got this all installed & wall mounted yesterday, I'm really impressed, the TV looks great and the systems are easy to use so I've found so far, although I wasn't able to get the TV and the Sound bar to talk to each other properly via HDMI so I've used their optical connections instead for the sound.

The Yamaha sound bar is absolutely fantastic, and the wireless Sub fits perfectly underneath the middle seat of the sofa, all you have to do is plug it into power and away it goes, so much easier than running wires.  The "Virtual Surround" sound is amazing, I don't know how it does it but it can tell the shape of your room and where your furniture is so it can bounce sounds around the room to create the experience of a multi-speaker system, yes it was £580 but TBH I'm hugely impressed.

The wires will be put into conduit when the joining pieces I need arrive this week.

Pics:




I've also got the "Cinema Lighting" installed properly as well now so you get a blue glow behind the TV, this was added and isn't part of the TV, its difficult to photograph properly, and is more subtle than it looks in this Pic.


The only thing I will say with the TV being 55" is standard definition stuff is now noticeable, but its still ok to watch.  HD is perfect though.  If you were insane enough to want to use the Scart socket on it to connect an old Video player the image would be atrocious, I don't even know why modern TVs still have these archaic connections on them.

Now all I need is a better internet connection so that I can properly stream HD content and i'll be sorted!!

[Cunning Plan]

That looks impressive!

We were looking at a Yamaha soundbar, which was far cheaper than the one you have (£150), but we decided to wait to do some more research first before buying.

Does your SB have a separate subwoofer?

got the "Cinema Lighting" installed properly

What is this then?

The only thing I will say with the TV being 55" is standard definition stuff is now noticeable

We found this as well. The HD content is excellent, but SD is worse on a large screen as all imperfections are magnified.

properly stream HD content and i'll be sorted!!

Frustrating that in 2015, there are still so many parts of the UK without a fast internet connection, especially as you are not in a remote area, you are in a densely populated part of a city    (somewhere in MK if I remember from your previous posts).

Do you have a Chromecast?

[FUBAR]

Yeah the sub is a separate unit that links to the sound bar wirelessly, its quite low-profile so sits nicely within the frame of the sofa under the middle seat with its tube / vent facing backwards.

What I called Cinema Lighting is an LED kit i bought from B&Q ages ago, originally intended for my 1st gaming desk design until i blu-tacked it to the back of my old TV and liked the effect.  its 4 12" plastic LED strips that all link together, i plugged it into the socket just to the left of the Rad cabinet so that it is easy to switch on & off as all the other power for the TV etc is concealed.

I find that it helps as watching a bright screen in darkness can make your eyes ache sometimes (i find) so the small amount of ambient light helps, and because it's behind the screen & diffused it doesn't reflect or detract from darker sections of the film.

if I have to take the TV off the wall again for any reason i'll take a pic of the back to show you.

[ianjpage]

Looking really good

[Roadkill]

Certainly a better lay-out for the room in general.

 

[PaulS]

Looks really great 

[FUBAR]

Certainly a better lay-out for the room in general. 

Yeah, It wasn't until I moved the sofa that I realised how different it would look, then with the desk going and other cupboards moved around a bit it looks a lot better, more grown-up...

on that note Dean, i'm ready when you are with the coffee table now BTW