How do I pick the television that’s right for me?
AThat’s not an easy question to answer at the best of times, but Guru will tell you the main thing you shouldn’t do: don’t buy the TV that looks the brightest or most colourful in the shop. People in the business of selling you TVs are notorious liars, particularly ‘TV Steve’ at GaGu’s local electricals superstore. Steve will overdrive the heck out of that one screen he needs to shift this week, dial back the others, and sell them to chumps by the cartload. If you’re visiting a showroom, at least ask to fiddle with the remote control and check out the picture settings yourself, and bear in mind that a consistently-lit shop is a very different environment to your living room.
Presuming you’re not actually hitting up bricks and mortar retailers anyway, Guru would happily draw you a tedious flow chart to help you decide, but (since T3 refuses to print his flow charts) it all boils down to one simple question. What is the thing you care about most? Are you a gamer, a movie buff, an audiophile? Do you care about an eye-searing TV that can blast through the light from your living room window? Do you just want the cheapest TV you can find?
The answer to all of these questions, reader, lies in your heart. Follow your heart to the TV that suits you best. Spend on HDMI 2.1, low latency, variable refresh rate and all the rest if you want your new console to shine on that new screen. Look for filmmaker mode if you like a movie, and check for as much HDR support as you can get. Philips’ higher-end TVs have great speakers with them, though you should branch back and look at your second-choice killer feature if you already have a soundbar or receiver setup. And if you want cheap, buy cheap. The low end is getting pretty damn good.