Television Buying Guide

Wondering which TV to buy for your home? Here's a step-by-tep guide to choosing the best TV for your entertainment needs.

1. Choose the best size TV

You’ll need to consider the size and layout of your room first. Think about the best position for your TV relative to the room layout and whether you’d like a TV wall mount for space-saving, minimalist style and family safety. If yes (and you know your wall can handle the weight), make sure you add a wall-mounting bracket to your TV purchase.

The Good Guys have a great range of TV sizes: from the biggest 88” TVs right down to the smallest 18.5” TVs which are perfect for caravans. Remember, TV measurements are taken diagonally across the screen i.e. from the bottom left corner to the top right corner. The TV size that’s right for you comes down to what you’re comfortable watching, but when thinking about the size of the TV relative to the viewing distance you can use these measurements as a rough guide:

For an Full HD TV you should sit at a distance that is three times more than the height of the TV screen.

You can watch a 4K Ultra HD TV from a distance of just 1.5 times the screen height. In other words, you can sit twice as close to a 4K UHD TV as an Full HD TV.

Television Buying Guide

2. Screen technology

The type of screen technology determines the colour richness, black purity, brightness, contrast and how much detail you see on the TV. These days there are two main types of TV screen technology:

1. OLED

OLED TVs are a fairly new type of TV and take television realism to another level, giving you the very best picture quality. So what is OLED? When you’re watching an LED LCD TV the black can look more like charcoal grey because the technology uses a backlight, whereas OLED TVs have no backlight so you see deep blacks and explosive colour on an OLED screen. An OLED TV has a pencil-thin display and gives you excellent picture quality and rich, vibrant colours. They’re perfect for playing video games and watching sport because their almost instant response time makes pictures smooth and clear so they’re not jumpy or blurry, and when you have people over to watch the game it looks great from any angle. TVs with OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology give you the best viewing experience so are more expensive than LCD TVs.

Television Buying Guide LG LED LCD TVTelevision Buying GuideLG OLED TV

2. LED/LCD

An LCD TV has a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen, and LED LCD TVs are the most common types of TV. An LED LCD TV shines light through a matrix of tiny liquid crystal cells (LED stands for light-emitting diodes) and costs less than an OLED TV.

SUHD TVs have an LED LCD display with an Ultra High Definition 4K resolution, and Nano-crystal technology that produces a wider colour gamut and richer looking colour than traditional UHD TVs.

QLED TVs have an LED LCD display with quantum dot technology, which can produce more colour volume at higher levels of brightness than OLED TVs, but not the perfect black that OLED TV can.

OLED vs LED LCD

TV Technology PROS CONS

OLED

Self-lighting pixels produce lifelike images with:

Explosive colours

Perfect black

Incredible contrast

Crisp, smooth sports and gaming

The display is pencil thin

Excellent colour and contrast at wide viewing angles

Cost a lot to make so more expensive

Less colour volume in bright scenes

OLED technology has a shorter life span

LED LCD

Cheaper to buy

The LCD screen produces high quality pictures

Has a brighter screen

Maintains colour at bright levels

Backlit LED pixels can make black look grey

Contrast not as good at wide viewing angles

Heavier and thicker than OLED TVs

Sport and gaming pictures can blur

3. Screen resolution

The resolution of your TV screen determines how sharp the picture quality will be. If you watch a lot of sport, action movies or play fast-paced games on your TV, a screen with a high resolution will give you better picture clarity. Here’s an overview of the different types of screen resolutions which are used to describe different TV options when you start shopping:

Full HD TV

A Full HD TV has a 1080p Full HD resolution that’s up to five times sharper than a standard TV, with more than 2 million screen pixels (1920 x 1080 pixels). With an FHD TV you can watch TV shows and videos produced in FHD and Blu-ray discs for a clear, sharp, immersive viewing experience on a large-sized FHD screen.

Television Buying Guide4K UHD vs FULL HD

Ultra HD TV

An Ultra HD TV gives you four times the picture resolution of a Full HD TV. Also referred to as a 4K Ultra HD TV, 4K UHD TVs have 3840 x 2160 pixels so you can enjoy stunningly clear images with incredible detail. Such a high resolution screen means you get the full colour range experience close up, and UHD TVs update the screen more frequently to smooth out motion so you can watch sport and fast-paced action scenes with crisp clarity – even on a big-screen TV.

4K UHD vs Full HD

When you’re comparing different Full HD TVs also look at the screen refresh rate (measured in Hz) – this tells you how many times per second the picture on the screen is refreshed. 60 Hz is the standard refresh rate but action movies and sport can look blurry on a screen with a 60 Hz refresh rate, so try to get a TV with at least 120 Hz for a smoother image and better viewing experience. This doesn't apply to 4K UHD TV.

UHD Premium

UHD Premium is being used in numerous 4K TVs from brands like Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Sony and others under the supervision of the UHD Alliance, which is a display technology and media industry consortium of companies which came to an agreement on what should constitute HDR, color and other specs in a premium UHD entertainment experience. In January 2016 the UHD alliance issued specifications that TV manufacturers need to meet for their 4K models to be certified as Premium 4K UHD.

Ultra HD Premium Specifications include:

High Dynamic Range (HDR) – a relatively new feature that gives you brighter whites, deeper blacks and a broader colour palette so you see even more detail on your screen.

Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) the expanded colour reproduction abilities of 4k TVs

Full Array Local Dimming (FALD) which helps to achieve better black levels and a colour depth of 10 bit

4. Other Important TV Technology

Smart TV

A smart TV has built-in internet connectivity. This means you can use a smart TV like you use your smart phone – you can use apps, play online games, Skype, Google, watch You Tube videos, watch catch-up TV, and stream TV shows and movies through your online TV streaming subscription services like Netflix – all on your smart TV screen. You can also connect your smart phone and tablet to most smart TVs so you can share content between screens.

Smart TVs are so easy to use – there’s a home screen menu that makes it really easy to access free-to-air TV channels, subscription services like Netflix, online apps, You Tube, your connected devices like gaming consoles, DVD and Blu-ray players. Different smart TV brands have different menu layouts but they’re all designed to be intuitive so you can find what you want fast. Try using different TV remote controls in store so you can find the best smart TV for you.

Smart TV’s require Internet Connectivity to operate, and to ensure you have a seamless experience it is important to ensure your Internet equipment is capable of providing the best video streaming quality without buffering. We recommend 802.11AC modems, modem/routers and range extenders to achieve this!

Super thin screen

Some TVs are thinner than a picture frame and blend seamlessly into the wall they’re mounted on, saving space and creating sleek, minimalist style.

Curved TV screens

Some OLED and LED LCD TVs have curved screens which add a modern style to your home and create the iMax cinema experience, but it really depends on your preference. If you're in two minds go to your nearest The Good Guys Store to see for yourself.

Sound technology

For the very best sensory experience, some TVs have Dolby Atmos Sound or a Harman Kardon audio system either built into the TV or in a separate soundbar that comes included with the TV.

Wider viewing angle

When the whole family’s watching a movie or everyone’s over to watch the game, some people will be watching from the side instead of straight in front of the TV. The colour and contrast they see can suffer when watching some types of TVs, whereas other TVs maintain their colour and contrast even at wide viewing angles so everyone gets a good seat.

Streamlined cables

Your TV cables are combined into one streamlined cable that connects to your other devices to keep everything tidy.

Other features

Some TVs can auto record your favourite shows, some have hands-free voice control, and some suggest new content you might like based on what you already watch.

5. Important TV Connections

When buying a television, you’ll also need to make sure you get a TV that has all the important connections you need based on how you’ll use it. Think about all the different devices you’ll want to connect to your TV – DVD or Blu-ray player, gaming consoles, a USB hard drive, home theatre system or soundbar.

Ports & Inputs

Count how many devices you’ll want to connect that need an HDMI port or a USB port, and make sure your TV has all the ports and inputs you’ll need, with one or two extra to cover any additional devices you may want to connect in the future.

TV Cables & Accessories

You should also consider how many HDMI cables you need to connect all your devices, powerboards to keep them all power simultaneously, TV antennas and antenna cables and accessories such as 3D glasses.

It’s important to think about the connections needed for a home theatre system or soundbar because today’s TVs are so thin that there’s not much space for quality built-in speakers. A soundbar really enhances your new TV experience and is easy to set up, and a home theatre system gives you the full cinematic experience at home.

6. Installation

While one person can install a small TV, trying to transport, set up and dispose of rubbish from a TV that’s 50” or larger can be difficult—it’s usually a two person job and the box won’t fit in a recycling bin. We offer installation services that ensure you have a hassle-free experience and the TV installer even shows you how to use your new TV. If you hate messy cables the installer can even conceal all the wires in your walls so you only see the TV.

Television Buying Guide

Tabletop

Your new TV is unpacked, assembled and completely setup on a table/cabinet with a tutorial on how to operate the TV whilst we also take away the rubbish.

Television Buying Guide

Wall Mount

Your new TV is unpacked, and two technicians will level and safely secure your wall mount to the wall, then mount the TV. They’ll then setup your new TV and give you a quick tutorial on how to operate the TV, and remove any rubbish.

Television Buying Guide

Home Theatre/ Audio Setup

If you decide to enhance your TV experience with audio equipment, we can connect it all for you and ensure the placement is optimised for the best sound quality and room presentation.

Television Buying Guide

Cable Management

If you have chosen to wall mount your TV, you probably don’t want to see all the cables and wires running down the wall. This additional service allows us to conceal all the TV wires behind your wall.