Ian K said..
You all remind me of Mum. She liked to outdo the neighbours. 23" HMV left them all green with envy. And they said we'd get square eyes!

65" corner to corner! Are you sure?

Diagonal measurement

55" is the biggest that fits inside the TV alcove that's built into the wall... for when CRTs were a thing.
55" packaging also fits in the Troopy for the trip home. (+1 for the too big to steal idea)

My 2007 42" Panasonic Plasma start playing up over a year ago (randomly loses sound then reboots) Picture is still awesome, Sound (when working) awesome.
A particularly bad run of reboots combined with Boxing day sales necessitated a new 55" Panasonic OLED - Picture is AWESOME (even has Pic in Pic), Sound is ATROCIOUS!

In order to keep the "clean and bezel less" design, the speakers fire backwards and the sound bounces around behind it in the alcove, eventually "leaking" around the edges of the TV. Successfully removing all the "voice" frequencies.
Ended up getting a soundbar... and only then due to the "issue" with the kids and wife needing to use 2 remotes when TV connected to the Bluetooth Dongle* to the 2002 model Pioneer Home theatre requiring more than one thing to be turned on.

*cause technology means the TV cant talk directly to the HT via a cable.




... and since moving the old 42" TV to be bedroom, it hasn't failed once... grrrr.

rod_bunny said..
55" is the biggest that fits inside the TV alcove that's built into the wall... for when CRTs were a thing.
55" packaging also fits in the Troopy for the trip home. (+1 for the too big to steal idea)

My 2007 42" Panasonic Plasma start playing up over a year ago (randomly loses sound then reboots) Picture is still awesome, Sound (when working) awesome.
A particularly bad run of reboots combined with Boxing day sales necessitated a new 55" Panasonic OLED - Picture is AWESOME (even has Pic in Pic), Sound is ATROCIOUS!

In order to keep the "clean and bezel less" design, the speakers fire backwards and the sound bounces around behind it in the alcove, eventually "leaking" around the edges of the TV. Successfully removing all the "voice" frequencies.
Ended up getting a soundbar... and only then due to the "issue" with the kids and wife needing to use 2 remotes when TV connected to the Bluetooth Dongle* to the 2002 model Pioneer Home theatre requiring more than one thing to be turned on.

*cause technology means the TV cant talk directly to the HT via a cable.




... and since moving the old 42" TV to be bedroom, it hasn't failed once... grrrr.

My parents bought an Aldi tv that the sound was so awful that it hurt my ears. I went and bought them a soundbar just to make it stop!

The same reason, in that the speakers were so badly placed that you had to turn the volume up and then the other frequencies were painful.

They are a big, black void in your living room. They look terrible.

You want to put your hand out sideways in front of you, and have it almost cover the image. Officially.

This is is why you pick those seats in the cinema.

Bought a Panasonic SD 42" in 2006 and it has been great, preferred the picture to many of the HD screens of that generation for less $. However, it has stopped working and I am looking for a new one, probably ~55". Any suggestions? Decent sound without a soundbar world be good (the missus doesn't like multiple remotes)

Harrow said..

FormulaNova said..
It's a known thing? I turned up at my parents place, and for a change they have enough money to buy a name brand tv, and mum has bought an Aldi TV. The sound was absolutely awful and was hurting my ears. They had turned the volume up so high so that they could hear it, but even then it felt like the sound was 'bad'/harsh. Even the cheap soundbar I bought for them was a million percent better except for the fact it charges via USB and if the TV is not turned on for ages comes up with random phrases this 'the blue tooth service is now off' in a heavily Chinese accented English.

The thing that annoys me all the time, is that they do this all the time and buy 'yum-cha' brand TVs and then call me when the remotes break or get lost or they want a second one, and generally these level of TVs don't have an easy replacement. I lucked out and used a Jaycar programmable remote which is pretty good, but its still annoying to have to program this each time.

I guess you are right. The picture quality is fine, so an external sound system fixes it.

Read enough online reviews and a consistent message starts to emerge... nice picture, hopeless sound.

So, a 'bimbo TV'? Looks great but you don't want to listen to it?

rockmagnet said..

StKKiter said..
Bought a Panasonic SD 42" in 2006 and it has been great, preferred the picture to many of the HD screens of that generation for less $. However, it has stopped working and I am looking for a new one, probably ~55". Any suggestions? Decent sound without a soundbar world be good (the missus doesn't like multiple remotes)

I added a Bose 700 soundbar with smaller 500 subwoofer to my 55"Sony. Like being at the movies and the remote tunes into everything so you can get away with one remote. You do need the internet though.
Even expensive Tv's have poor sound as the speakers are small due to thinness of tv.

There is 'poor sound' and then there is absolutely awful sound. The sound on my Samsung TVs seems fine as does the older Sony LCD I have. On the Samsung it seems that increasing the volume above a certain level does nothing, but its still okay. I agree that an external system is much better.

Go for a TCL, awesome picture and good sound, no need for sound bar, great for gaming. They have built in Harman/Kardon sound bar.
They are a number 1 seller in the States, don't hear much about them here, not sure why??, but was recommended it by a mate, had the 55' , 4K for 2 years now, no dramas and haven't ever thought it could be better with a sound bar.
Good Guys had them on special for $850, normally $1350....... 2 years ago. So pretty old and outdated now, but still happy with it.