TV Experts Assemble - 43", Gaming, £500+ budget?

[Mk1T]

Hi chaps,
Firstly, I have seen there are about 3 other threads in tech about TV's! However, some of these are like, well old (3 months..) haha.
Basically my current sony 32" LCD from 2010 isn't cutting it anymore! TBH I hardly ever get the chance to even watch it anyway, and I will be using standard freeview / HD whatever comes with the TV. But anyhow....

Just redecorated and want a new one!
Haven't touched my xbox 360 in about 3 years either, and I'm thinking of getting the new xbox to go with it
(The cheaper one is white, right? I want a black one, does this mean I have to buy the one X? lol)

Basically I was reading this article the other day harping on about input lag? I found my current TV a nightmare playing COD etc years ago from lag, probably what phased me out of it originally.

I don't know much about TV's, but this one I have found seems to tick ALL my boxes for a seriously cheap price, so I'm so skeptical I wondered if anyone can see why it's so cheap? Am I missing something obvious here? Is it proper 4K HD? HDR, etc?

https://www.richersounds.com/lg-43-inch-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-smart-led-tv-freeview-play.html

It has a 12ms input lag time and 60 Hz refresh rate, which from what I've read sounds alright?

Any advice appreciated, or any others to consider... it's a minefield! But that certainly seems to tick all my boxes.

Cheers lads.

 

[imprezaworks]

Tv thread. Some people seem to know stuff so maybe tag them on this thread mate.

Assume you know how to tag?

It’s @______ insert name

https://www.cliosport.net/threads/tv-upto-£500.813244/page-2#navigation

 

[TimR26]

I bought this 43” LG last month, can’t fault it but I got it for £429. It’s got four hdmi ports which is useful.
https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-an...mart-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-led-tv-10160569-pdt.html

 

[SharkyUK]

I don't know much about TV's, but this one I have found seems to tick ALL my boxes for a seriously cheap price, so I'm so skeptical I wondered if anyone can see why it's so cheap? Am I missing something obvious here? Is it proper 4K HD? HDR, etc?

https://www.richersounds.com/lg-43-inch-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-smart-led-tv-freeview-play.html

It has a 12ms input lag time and 60 Hz refresh rate, which from what I've read sounds alright?

That LG TV, I believe, uses 4-subpixel RGBW as opposed to the 'regular' RGB triplet. Hence, it likely loses colour fidelity in one or more of the RGB components per pixel. This is common on a few sets from LG, Sony and a few others I believe. They tend to use this tech on the cheaper end sets to keep down costs whilst still being able to label TV's as 4K and HDR.

In reality, it is a 4K set with HDR but the HDR performance will be average at best. In fact, I daresay that enabling HDR for gaming will probably result in input lag soaring as well hence I would not go for this set for gaming unless you're happy to play your Xbox One X in SDR. The problem is that the HDR implementation on these sets uses 8-bit+FRC (as opposed to true 10-bit). FRC is Frame Rate Control and is a cheat technology that attempts to fool the eye into believing it's seeing more colour range than it's actually capable of producing. A 10-bit tv can show 1024 shades of a particular colour, whilst an 8-bit can only show 256. Hence the tv uses FRC to quickly switch between two different colour shades to try and fool the eye rather than being able to natively display that colour. For example, a 10-bit tv might show colour X at shade level 507. However, the 8-bit+FRC tv might not have enough levels to produce that colour. It might only be able to procude shade level 505 and 510. Hence it switches between those two values quickly to make you think you're seeing some value between 505 and 510. Does that make sense? The result is that input lag can soar, colour brightness is likely to be very poor and hard-edged / clean imagery on screen can often appear softer and less-defined.

TL;DR - it's a cheapy/cheat way of simulating a premium 10-bit colour space without the costs, but falls short in reality.

It's not a bad tv at all, but I'd not be getting it for viewing HDR content (and that includes gaming on modern consoles that offer HDR support out-the-box).

EDIT: Ignore the comment I made about gaming lag soaring in HDR gaming modes. A firmware update has fixed that I believe hence it is superb for gaming. That said, the HDR quality won't be great and I think there are much better sets out there if you are prepared to shop around.

EDIT #2: I'm assuming you'd be using the 'Game mode' for gaming. If you use a different mode for gaming then forget it... the lag will be horrendous!

 

[Mk1T]

That LG TV, I believe, uses 4-subpixel RGBW as opposed to the 'regular' RGB triplet. Hence, it likely loses colour fidelity in one or more of the RGB components per pixel. This is common on a few sets from LG, Sony and a few others I believe. They tend to use this tech on the cheaper end sets to keep down costs whilst still being able to label TV's as 4K and HDR.

In reality, it is a 4K set with HDR but the HDR performance will be average at best. In fact, I daresay that enabling HDR for gaming will probably result in input lag soaring as well hence I would not go for this set for gaming unless you're happy to play your Xbox One X in SDR. The problem is that the HDR implementation on these sets uses 8-bit+FRC (as opposed to true 10-bit). FRC is Frame Rate Control and is a cheat technology that attempts to fool the eye into believing it's seeing more colour range than it's actually capable of producing. A 10-bit tv can show 1024 shades of a particular colour, whilst an 8-bit can only show 256. Hence the tv uses FRC to quickly switch between two different colour shades to try and fool the eye rather than being able to natively display that colour. For example, a 10-bit tv might show colour X at shade level 507. However, the 8-bit+FRC tv might not have enough levels to produce that colour. It might only be able to procude shade level 505 and 510. Hence it switches between those two values quickly to make you think you're seeing some value between 505 and 510. Does that make sense? The result is that input lag can soar, colour brightness is likely to be very poor and hard-edged / clean imagery on screen can often appear softer and less-defined.

TL;DR - it's a cheapy/cheat way of simulating a premium 10-bit colour space without the costs, but falls short in reality.

It's not a bad tv at all, but I'd not be getting it for viewing HDR content (and that includes gaming on modern consoles that offer HDR support out-the-box).

EDIT: Ignore the comment I made about gaming lag soaring in HDR gaming modes. A firmware update has fixed that I believe hence it is superb for gaming. That said, the HDR quality won't be great and I think there are much better sets out there if you are prepared to shop around.

EDIT #2: I'm assuming you'd be using the 'Game mode' for gaming. If you use a different mode for gaming then forget it... the lag will be horrendous!

Blimey thanks for the reply! Some great info there that a n00b like me will overlook.

Do you have any suggestions or recommendations yourself for tv's in a similar price bracket?

I have a Samsung phone, is there any wizardry I could potentially use with a Samsung TV? Haha.

Cheers boys!