chinese new year is coming soon, i guess many people would like to upgrade their tv but still undecided which 1 to go.
let me share how i choose mine and i hope this might help.
*Disclaimers: This guide is f*cking bias towards my personal preference, take with a pinch of salt, thank you.*
1. Budget? I would like have it under RM3k. Remember do a price check on Lazada, those tv RRP is ridiculous, don't get slaughtered. Even online price has quite huge difference, remember sort by price.
2. Size? I would like a 55 inch. Possible within budget? Yes, proceed.
3. Brand? I think this factor plays an important role for all people. Most people will go for same brand with their previous tv brand if no bad experience.
Here are my feel towards these brands, again I must stress that this is purely "feel" from past experience, not fact.
- Sony (good hardware design, not that good in software optimization, basically won't go wrong, Sony always a safe choice for those who lazy to do comparison.)
- Samsung (their culture is to give all the best to their flagship, their entry level spec really "meh", their smart home eco-system is their selling point, so their tv operating system/software is kinda tuned to complete their smart home eco-system, for samsung flagship mobile user you will feel familiar with it.)
- LG (it has became a benchmark brand for me, "you get what you pay for". You want more bells and whistles, go for more expensive range model.)
- Panasonic (i have a Panasonic CRT TV once upon a time, spoilt in 2 years time, repaired and spoilt again within a year, no courage to try their TV any more...after that i stick with Toshiba for very long period, that's why i said brand preference is very important in choosing your next tv. maybe their new tv is good, but just like their air cond, provided that there are other choices, people might tend to go for more popular brand due to review bias or larger user base discussion.)
- Sharp (my only experience on Sharp tv is those terrible Sharp tv put in hotel/homestay room, i don't want to comment on this brand, maybe their 4K tv good price, 60 inch Sharp might around other brands' 55 inch, some models even claims it is "Made in Japan", which is a very good selling point. maybe they need do more in sales and marketing, all the eye level tv display spot in electrical shop are mostly occupied by Sony Samsung LG.)
- Toshiba (always my favourite choice for entry level tv, a working horse, nothing fancy. the 32 inch toshiba lcd tv i bought in 2010 still working perfectly till now since day 1. but in 4k era they seems out of race, worse marketing than Sharp.)
- Philips (this brand always looks good on spec but not really that good in reality. best buy for stock clearance i think.)
- Skyworth (this brand is Toshiba in disguise right? even warranty is by Toshiba.)
- Hisense (they acquired Toshiba and i guess this china brand will success to capture more and more tv market share in coming years, like how midea and gree penetrate malaysia air cond market.)
- Haier (i thought this brand is good in fridge only, no idea on their tv.)
- A&S (seriously i don't know this brand oem from which manufacturer, don't think their 4k tv is competitive, would rather choose Hisense.)
4. Short list the brands and tv models within budget that you are interested with.
Well, I am interested with these 3 brands.
Sony:
55X7000F
55X7500F
Samsung:
55NU7100
55NU7400
LG:
55UK6300PTE
555UK6500PTC
5. List all your requirements and eliminate the model which not met the criteria. (below is mine)
a) internal player must able to play hevc h.265 hdr video with no flaw.
i am not going to fork out extra money to buy a device to play hdr video.
both Samsung definitely out because no dts license if not mistaken. (please correct me if i am wrong)
i am not watching netflix 4k hdr, while hdr movie for download always comes with dts-hd audio track. (piracy issue not part of discussion here, thanks)
u might argue that i can always get a cheap android tv box for hevc h.265 video playback, erm i can tell you android tv box couldn't meet my standard in frame rate issue. maybe you guys can overcome this problem but i tried mine it doesn't play as smooth as my blu-ray player.Update: after trying numerous setting, finally i could get the frame rate right. refer here:
https://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...post&p=91412021however my blu-ray player only good for full hd h.264, therefore i set a criteria in choosing tv: the internal player of tv must be able to handle hevc h.265 hdr and dts core at least.
b) must have 4 hdmi ports.
both 55UK6300PTE and 55X7000F now of out list. 2 choices remaining and that's easy for me to make decision.
c) better gui and remote control.
LG magic remote and WebOS win hands down. The voice recognition of LG is damn good, I set to Cantonese and it can recognize both Cantonese and English. I super like the LG version of youtube, simply awesome. so my choice 55UK6500PTC over 55X7500F.
d) tv feet design.
LG tv feet height and gap suit me. perfectly put a samsung hw-k350 sound bar + external hdd between both feet under the tv.
wait a minute...you didn't see any criteria is regarding picture quality related? where are those jargon like IPS VA local dimming backlight bleeding motionflow wide gamut color bla bla bla...
yes, i don't give a f*ck at all. 55 inch 4K tv under RM3k you can't expect more superior picture quality like their one step higher range in RM4k-5k range.
btw...how you compare picture quality between Sony 55X7500F Samsung 55NU7400 LG 555UK6500PTC, please teach me. all those tv not playing same content, not located side by side, not calibrated in same setting, not getting same environment lighting, not tuned to suit your taste.
there shall not be any huge difference in picture quality for the tv in same size in same price range. i would suggest you to look more on the features of the tv versus your tv usage, and the warranty and after sales service.
last but not least...happy shopping tv...you can't have all boxes ticked if you not willing to pay more.
don't know how to choose? just follow the bandwagon...buy the best sellers in that price range.
kind reminder: if you want to buy tv from online and to be delivered to you before chinese new year...better buy it now. touchwood if any sh*t happens, return, refund or exchange gonna takes time.
6. Should be "where to buy", but i too lazy to write on this already, sorry guys.

p/s: what is most significant upgrades from entry level 43" full hd tv to 55" UHD tv? (in order)
1. Size. Really huge difference.
2. Motion. I really like the LG TruMotion "Smooth" setting for everything except gaming, must turn it off for gaming.
3. Convenient to access the youtube and my ext. hdd contents.
This post has been edited by BOTAK_WAI: Jan 3 2019, 11:38 AM