The 6 yr-old Toshiba t.v. in my daughter's bedroom has packed up so we're looking for a replacement; the maximum size for the space available is a 24" screen. There are plenty of t.v.s about but, in the race to make them thinner, sound quality seems to have gone completely out of the window. We don't want the added expense or the added clutter of external speakers, sound bar etc. I just wonder if anyone has any recommendations.
Thanks
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Not sure how good sound quality is on any modern TV. At least not until your well into the premium end of the market and possibly not even then:
www.reduxst.com/the-best-tvs-of-2014-but-how-do-they-sound/
I think that report is from US but I doubt a UK/Europe result would be any better.
Are we talking a teenager's room here?
For The Lad we went for cheap, a Logik from the electricals shed on the ring road. Size of his room was similarly or more restrictive. Vesa mount to the wall saved a bit more space. He's been fine with it but he uses headphones for music DVDs etc.
If you want pukka sound quality a sound bar or hi-fi connection seems de- rigeur.
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Agreed, Bromp. There are some surprisingly competent small speakers about these days (Sonos Play:1, Ruark MR1 to name a couple) but nothing that would fit within the depth of a modern TV.
Incidentally, an article in yesterday's paper prompted me to look up a famous George Orwell article on writing. He in turn cited a piece that referred to 'the B.B.C.', which made me wonder when that abbreviation lost its dots. Not meaning to pick on Hay but I don't think I've ever seen TV given the dot treatment; is it a generation thing?
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Don't know the answer, but I don't put dots in abbreviations and didn't in any letters I wrote in my professional role either. No one seemed to mind.
But I was pretty vociferous in trying to make sure that unless the abbreviation was in common usage, the first example had to be in plain language. And for an organisation that lives on abbreviation, some found it very hard!
I always liked this Kenny Everett sketch on the issue:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXBrAcaD9rA
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>> we're looking for a replacement; the maximum size for the space available is a 24" screen. >> I just wonder if anyone has any recommendations.
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Re space available. is that the height?
I needed a "smallish" TV to fit in a bookcase and found that most had a stand that added considerably to the overall height.
I found one with the absolutely minimum height stand a Sony 24EX32x (full 1080 but no HD tuner.)
There is probably a newer model now.
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I should add to my comment above that the speakers I mentioned both cost a fair bit more than a basic 24-inch TV. Engineering good sound is now evidently more expensive than producing a 1080p picture - a picture that would have cost four digits a few years ago.
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"Re space available. is that the height?"
Thanks for all the comments…..
The 24" I mentioned is the diagonal across the screen - that sort of dimension would fit in the space available and look 'in proportion' with the surroundings.
Things moved quickly this evening when I spotted a seemingly suitable telly on Amazon, then found the same one at the same price on John Lewis website - but with a 5-year guarantee; we can have it delivered to the local Waitrose store. It's a Samsung UE22H5600 LED HD 1080p Smart TV, 22" with Freeview HD, Black.
The reviews seem to suggest that the sound is OK - but definitely not truly awful; and I have heard some awful examples! Someone mentioned the possibility of plugging in computer speakers to help the sound along - not hifi, but better than a wasp in a jam-jar. I'll let you know if it's any good in a few days time!
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>> The 6 yr-old Toshiba t.v. in my daughter's bedroom has packed up so we're looking
>> for a replacement; the maximum size for the space available is a 24" screen.
>>I just wonder if anyone has any recommendations.
>>
>> Thanks
Which? says for 24" tellys:-
1. Sony Bravia KDL-24W605A
2. Panasonic Viera TX-L24X6B
3. LG 24MN43D
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Too late for edit.
Of the TVs above, the Sony gets three stars out of a maximum five for sound. The other two get two stars each.
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We went ahead and bought the Samsung UE22H5600 LED HD 1080p Smart TV, 22" with Freeview HD (Black - £189.95) on-line from John Lewis, and it was very conveniently delivered to our local Waitrose.
So far, it all looks very promising; it's a neat design, the picture is excellent and the sound also seems fine for a bedroom. It is billed as a 'smart' tv and, so far, it appears to be smarter than me - I haven't worked out how to operate a fraction of its facilities yet. Mind you, the manual that I've just downloaded is 239 pages long so it could take a while to get to grips with it.
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We've recently replaced an old cathode ray set with the 32" version of that Samsung TV (same supplier and delivery method). We're happy too. We're using it with a hi-fi system, but were agreeably surprised by the internal sound quality.
I didn't realise that it could record off-air onto an external hard drive. That seemed like a good opportunity to use a redundant IDE drive. Although the drive formatted and tested okay, the recording facility didn't work for long. An internet search suggests that my experience is not unique. I'm not too bothered about that, but I'm irritated that my PC can no longer recognise that drive.
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I wrote a review of our TV for the John Lewis website which included my criticism (above) of the off-air recording onto external hard drive. I've just discovered that they've published it with no changes. Full marks to them.
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Any small t.v. recommendations? - Bromptonaut
