The Nyamgondho guide to buying a TV: Panel integrity (TL;DR)

Science & Technology
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Buying a TV on a budget can be a daunting task. There are many things to consider; the operating system, connectivity, brand, CPU, RAM, ROM and the panel itself among others. This thread offers guidance on selecting a good display. But first, I need to caution you from buying TVs online. TVs are one of the things you must view before buying. Here are some of the reasons

  1. Dead Pixels: Many TVs ship with a couple of dead pixels which is sign of a faulty unit. Such TVs will serve you for a few months/years before the problem escalates to something noticeable to a layman.
  2. The display of TV units could differ even for the same brand and model. E.G two TCL-T8M TVs might be calibrated differently and the image quality will differ. You have to check this yourself at the store.

However, before heading to the shop there are few things you need to check online

Phase one: Online research: Search online for information on the following before heading to the store to buy a TV.

1. Contrast ratio
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This is perhaps the most important aspect of a TV display. This number simply tells you the brightest-white a TV panel can produce and the darkest-black it can produce. It’s the most important aspect of a TV display panel. TV manufacturers know about this so they keep lying all the time. Contrast ratio can be dynamic or native (this deserves a new thread to explain details). Budget TVs like the Samsung 43" 4k RU7100 which is available locally has an awesome contrast ration of 5600:1 whereas TCL-P8M claims the ratio is 4000:1, in reality it’s more like 2000:1. The Samsung 4K TV has been tested on various forums so I am sure that contrast ratio is genuine. TCL’s contrast ratio is less which shows the TV has an inferior panel. However, LG UM7300 4k TV also available locally, has a mediocre contrast ratio of 1100:1. TVs with poor contrast ratio will tend to brighten dark scenes hence losing contrast and sharpness. The best TV in the world -LG C9- has a contrast ratio of infinity:1 because each pixel can be switched off individually hence attaining true darkness (True black). For a TV like the LG UM7300 which you can pick up at 45K for the 43" version, the pixels emit some light even when showing dark scenes. Hence instead of black, what you see is a dark shade of grey. Avoid TVs that do not provide you with contrast ratio details. Sijui Konka, mara Bruhm, ati umeshika UKA 55 inch 4K. The image quality will be mediocre at best. Wengine wanadanganya ati wanatumia a samsung display panel. But even if they did, it doesn’t matter because some Samsung TV models also have inferior display panels.

2. Brightness.

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The second most important thing is brightness. Have you ever been in a room with the windows open and you can’t see the image on the TV clearly?? Chances are your TV has low brightness. Bright TVs will still show a gorgeous image even in a bright room at midday without a problem. The TCL P8M (which many people on this forum love) has a peak brightness of 270 nits, the best TVs in the world like the samsung q90 have a peak brightness of 1280 nits. Budget TVs like LG UM7300 4k and samsung RU7100 4k have peak brightness of 330 nits and 270 nits respectively. You will struggle to view the image of a TCL P8M in a room with sunlight pouring in. Itabidi umefunga curtains. Trust me! Utakuwa unaona reflection yako kwa TV. Just look at the image I have posted above. That guy is watching TV at noon with the sun rays blasting through his wide-open window but the image is still fantastic.

3. Viewing angles.

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If you do not live alone, chances are that you have a couple of sofas in the sitting room. Some sofas face the TV directly and others aren’t - which forces some people to view the TV at an angle. TVs with poor viewing angles are not suitable for anything bigger than a bed sitter. The TCL p8M and the Samsung RU7100 TVs have very poor viewing angles and are not suitable for anything other than a bedsitter. These are average VA panels. TCL will lie to you that the TV can accommodate a 178 degree viewing angle. But if you have this TV try and compare the picture when viewing from the center and at a 30 degree angle. The image appears washed out, color fades, brightness dips and so forth. Very disappointing. The only person who is viewing a decent image is the person at the centre; the rest wanaona matope. Same for the Samsung RU7100. In contrast, the LG UM7300 has very decent viewing angles because it uses an IPS panel. albeit not the best IPS TV in the market. But very good and quite bright as compared to the TCL and Samsung 43" 4K TVs.

Phase two: Visit to the store
After selecting a TV with decent contrast, brightness, viewing angles. You can now visit a store and check for a couple of things.

1. Local dimming, grey uniformity, colour accuracy and static contrast

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I am not going to explain these these because each deserves a new thread. I’ll just show you how to check them. Once you step into a store, ask the attendant to connect the TV to the internet and give you the remote. Don’t get swayed by whatever 4K marketing videos they are displaying. Quickly go to youtube and search for “4k display test” or “Full HD Display Test”

For local dimming, play the RTings dimming test video on youtube to check whether TV can handle deep blacks and clear whites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBNQExntf7s

For Grey uniformity you can play the following video. This will help you check for manufacturing display errors in the unit you are buying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIJxh9UGyak

For color accuracy, you can play the following video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jddUiw_DJB8:126

Most cheap TVs will perform poorly in these tests. But even if you plan to buy a cheap TV, you should’t go home with a faulty unit with dead pixels, dirty screen and poor color rendering. It’s clear that all cheap TVs have compromises. If you live in a bedsitter you can grab a cheap VA panel. Like the Samsung, TCL and low level Sony. If you have more than one viewer you might go for an IPS panel like the LG so that you can watch from different angles and still be able to watch TV when people have opened the living room windows at midday. All in all. If you go for a cheap TV, you will have to compromise.

Cheap TV to me costs between 30K to 50K in case you are wondering. If possible try and save a bit and buy a TV with a price tag of 50K to 100K. You won’t regret it. The image will always excite you. Utafurahia. If you have the money get yourself a QLED or an OLED, you will really enjoy watching TV for a very long time. Most people will make a comment or two when they see the image quality.

There is a lot more to write about this. Lakini wacha niwachie hapo.

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Ala?!! Kumbe you’re alive? I thought you died of a heart attack after this infamous night :D:D:D:D

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Good to see you’re still heothy. Karibu mzee.

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As usual, you are a guru in this field. Karibu sana

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bado unafirwa mkia na @Mzee mzima

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@deorro unaUza mkundu ngapi

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Okay. Before I continue reading the rest of the thread I’d like to point something out. I want to bring the reader’s attention the details as it is in the real world. While you raise an important point, chances are unless you work in the TV industry, you wouldn’t notice the contrast ration, unless the ration is massively low. I know you will shoot down this comment but I still insist that TCL has one of the best picture clarity I ever came across, particularly the model you mentioned. I have also noticed you tend to lay towards LG in any thread discussing the best TV. This is called a mere-exposure effect, since you are familiar with an object then you perceive it as the best one out there. I probably could be suffering from the same phenomenon but I insist TCL is not as inferior as you portray it to be.

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Second time umepost kitu ya maana.

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@Nyamgondho we need your input on other similar topics

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Hizi tv huvumilia 24 hours continuous watching ya hii coronelious?

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io umbwa iwache kelele .
TV sio missile.,…jinga sana

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bayern ndani

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Very informative… lakini kubuy TV ya 50k plus na hii corona ni a no no

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waiting for oled prices to go below 100k…

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On top of that, the source of the feed matters. A 360p, 480p or 720p TV feed won’t show differently when even displayed on a 8k resolution screen compared to a FHD 1080p screen. 4K 2160p TCL screens are available locally at very budget prices. Didn’t we have this same discussion in the other thread?

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Never considered all these things when buying a new TV. I had no idea people go through such an in-depth analysis like when they’re buying a car. Then again I don’t watch much TV to begin with but this is a very informative thread nonetheless.

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One thing I have noticed about TCL tvs: Those meant for North America market have the best quality.

There is a big difference when it comes to the panel quality between tvs meant for African market and U.S market.

I have tested different TCL tvs meant for different markets and you would be surprised by the difference in image quality. Although I haven’t tried with LG tvs.

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Do we have professional TV calibrators in Kenya?

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Wacha kuonesha upissantry namna hii.

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Blali foo

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Great TV buying info, but 99.99% of Kenyan TV buyers don’t give a hoot about viewing angles, contrast ratios, sijui Nits and dead pixels. My LG um43 7340 you are bashing here shows a deep black pussy as a deep black pussy and a cherry red pussy as cherry red pussy.