However, it can be tough to decide which LED TV is the perfect model for your home. How can you be sure that a specific LED TV has everything you need?
Save yourself the trouble of endlessly scrolling through options, and check out our ultimate guide below. In this guide, we’re going to show you everything you need to look out for in an LED TV. So you can grab a display that’s perfect for you!
What Should You Consider When Buying An LED TV?
Size
We might as well address this first. When it comes time to find a new TV, most of us will start off by considering the size of the screen! Who hasn’t dreamt of swapping their TV for the biggest one possible? It’s definitely easier than ever before to grab the large TV of your dreams. But you need to ensure that you are being reasonable with your choice of screen size.
Obviously, you’re going to need to make sure that your new TV fits through the door. As well as that, however, you’ll also need to make sure it fits perfectly in your chosen room. A TV that takes up loads of floor space, and that proves an obstruction will very quickly become annoying.
It’s always important to strike a balance between screen size and available space when looking for your dream TV. A super-size 85-inch TV in a tiny room would be difficult and unsatisfying to watch. Don’t forget that you need to have plenty of space to take in the image on a larger screen. Sitting too close to a larger TV is an easy recipe for a neck ache!
You should aim to have around 10.5 feet of floor space between the sofa and an 85-inch TV. This distance is achieved by taking the total diagonal width of the screen and multiplying it by 1.5 and 2.5. Any distance that sits between the result of these sums is suitable for taking in the entire image on the screen!
To work out the optimal viewing distance for any TV size, take the diagonal width of the screen, and multiply it by 1.5 and 2.5. This will provide you with an optimal viewing range!
Resolution
Your choice of LED TV resolution will tie in quite nicely with your chosen screen size. Luckily, LED TVs are available in a massive array of resolutions. Whether you need a simple standard HD TV for a bedroom or a totally immersive 8K screen for your living room.
If you’re opting for a larger TV for your living room, we’d strongly recommend going for a 4K or 8K display. Larger screens allow much more space for the higher pixel counts of 4K and 8K displays to spread out. Stretching 1080p images across the length of a 98-inch TV might prove a little unsatisfying!
4K and 8K resolutions also allow you to sit slightly closer to the screen. The bump in pixel count ensures that you won’t be able to make out individual pixels when sitting up close!
Just make sure to keep in mind that 4K and 8K TVs will cost quite a bit more than their standard non-UHD counterparts.
How Many Viewers?
When considering which LED TV to opt for, it’s important to think about how many people will be using the screen at any one time. Though LED TVs are able to produce high brightness levels, they don’t offer the wide viewing angles that OLED TVs do.
LED TVs are illuminated by a backlight just behind the main display. Oftentimes, these backlights can only project light outwards in very specific directions. As such, if you were to view an LED TV from an awkward angle, too far to the left or right, the image might appear dull. This is because the light simply can’t reach your eyes!
If you’re planning to host family movie nights using your new LED TV, then you’ll need to make sure everyone has a suitable view of the screen. This is another reason why it’s so crucial to balance the size of your TV with the size of the room you place it in!
Make sure to take a look at some of the innovations offered by big names like Samsung, that can help to increase the optimal viewing angle of an LED TV. Many Samsung LED and QLED TVs are equipped with proprietary tech known as “Ultra Viewing Angle”. This tech helps to ensure that light from the LEDs can travel across much wider angles, to provide viewing angles similar to those of an OLED TV!
If you’re planning to have plenty of people gathering around the screen to catch the latest match, then it’s worth opting for a model with wider viewing angles! They may cost a little more, but it’s a worthy investment!
Chosen Room
One strong advantage of LED TVs is their vastly improved brightness. Unlike OLED TVs, LED TVs make use of strong LEDs, placed behind the screen, which are responsible for projecting an image out. To help choose the perfect brightness for your screen, it’s recommended to consider the amount of natural light in your chosen room.
Where OLED TVs are limited in terms of their total brightness, thanks to using self-illuminating pixels, LED TVs are able to reach incredible brightness levels. LED TVs can easily reach brightnesses of up to 1,000 nits. These high brightness levels can help LED TVs to be clear and legible even in harshly lit spaces.
Ever been in that annoying situation where light insists on bleeding through your windows and glares against your TV screen, making it impossible to watch? LED TVs can help to combat this issue!
If you have a living room that is often inundated with sunlight at multiple hours of the day, then we’d recommend going for an LED TV with a much higher brightness level. This will ensure that you can still make out every image on the screen, even during the brightest summer days!
HDR Support
Of course, resolution plays a very key role in helping to bring us closer to our favourite content. However, resolution alone won’t result in a crisp and clear image. If you really want your new LED TV to look its absolute best, then we’d recommend looking out for a model with HDR support.
If you’ve never had any experience with HDR before, you might wonder whether it’s just a simple buzzword to entice people into buying more expensive TVs. Luckily, we can report that HDR support really does make a massive difference towards improving the LED TV experience.
HDR essentially allows your new LED TV to access a much wider gamut of colours that can then be employed within images on the screen. Having access to more colours helps a TV to create far greater contrast. This, in turn, allows images on the screen to appear sharper and more defined. Individual shapes on the screen will stand out from their backdrops. This can make it much easier to follow the action in the latest blockbusters or key football fixtures.
If you’re already pushing the boat out for a shiny new 4K TV, we strongly recommend spending a little bit extra for a model with HDR support!
Energy Usage
If you’re in the market for an LED TV, you’re already in luck. LED TVs use significantly less power than other popular display types, such as OLED TVs. If you’re environmentally conscious, or you simply want to lower your energy bills, then LED TVs are the perfect option.
As you search for the right LED TV, we recommend keeping your eyes peeled for the handy “Energy efficiency” label associated with each model. These labels employ a colour-coded chart that shows just how efficient a given TV is. If a TV is ranked closer to “A”, you can rest assured that it is incredibly efficient, and will only use a small fraction of power. TVs that rank toward the lower end of the spectrum are less efficient and will use more power!
Sound Features
Planning to use your new LED TV to binge-watch the latest Netflix craze? Maybe you want to immerse yourself in the world of home cinema. Either way, you’ll want to ensure that your new high-resolution screen has a good sound system to go with it!
As you’re scrolling through your options, be sure to look out for LED TVs that offer improved sound features. If you’re willing to spend a little more, we’d strongly recommend opting for a TV with built-in object-tracking speakers. Object tracking helps to make all of your favourite shows and movies much more immersive. As characters or other objects move about on the screen, the speakers will “move” the sound in tandem. This subconsciously results in footage appearing far more life-like and immersive!
If you already have an existing sound system that you want to use, then make sure to look out for an LED TV with plenty of sound output ports so you can hook it up right away!
Warranties
Why pay thousands of pounds for a TV that isn’t built to last? You’re definitely going to want to buy an LED TV that is made from top-quality materials, and that you can be sure will be by your side for a number of years.
To help you find these long-life LED TVs, we recommend that you keep your eyes peeled for healthy warranties offered by manufacturers. A warranty ensures that, if your new TV does encounter a significant problem within a certain window of time, the problem will be resolved without costing you even a single penny.
Warranties are usually covered directly by manufacturers. As such, if you find an LED TV with an 8-year warranty, you can be sure that it’s built to last at least that long!
Price
There’s a lot to consider when hunting for your perfect LED TV. However, we hope that considering each of the above factors has helped to narrow your choices down!
The final factor to consider that can really help you to finally find that perfect LED TV is the price. Each of the factors we’ve discussed thus far, from size to energy efficiency, will ultimately affect the final price of the TV.
It’s good practice to keep a close eye on your budget whenever you are in the market for a new TV. You don’t want to spend too much for an LED TV packed full of features you’ll never use. You also don’t want to pay too little for an LED TV that doesn’t meet your specific needs!
Frequently Asked Questions
Things To Consider When Buying An LED TV?
There are quite a few things to look out for in an LED TV. Of course, you’ll want to consider the resolution and size of your screen, but you’ll also want to consider other things. Make sure your new LED TV has a wide enough viewing angle for everyone in the home! As you’re looking through LED TVs, be sure to always consult your budget!
Are LED TVs Still Worth Buying?
Though competing displays like OLED and QLED TVs offer a number of improvements over LED screens, they’re still worth buying. LED TVs are still highly popular, and they’re incredibly affordable. Where OLED and QLED TVs might cost you multiple thousands of pounds, you can find LED TVs for much lower prices!
What Is The Average Lifespan Of LED TV?
LED TVs can easily last more than 10 years! However, you would have to ensure that you take good care of the TV, to get the most mileage out of it. Be sure to regularly dust your LED TV. Many of us neglect to dust our TVs, which can result in dust building up in the internal components and impacting the function of the whole unit!
What Are The Disadvantages Of LED TV?
The biggest disadvantage behind LED TVs is that they are not great for group viewing. LED TVs feature much narrower viewing angles. This can make it tough to watch TV with a group of friends gathered around the room. If you were to sit too far to the left or right of an LED TV, the image would appear incredibly dull, or may be totally black!
