Compare the Best 55 Inch TVsSeptember 2018

When picking the optimal television for your house, there are several important things to consider. First and foremost: size. The size of a TV is crucial not just to the immersion, but also to how well it fits into a room. A small room may only need a medium-sized or small TV - a large 60” monster may fill the room too much, and engulf it. Conversely, having too small a TV in a large room will mean the TV gets lost in the room, and it won’t be seen as easily from all corners of the room. Generally speaking:

• 30-40” is good for small rooms
• 40-50” is good for medium-sized rooms
• 55”+ is good for large rooms

Next to size, the other important consideration is picture quality. This is made up of several different factors: resolution, colour depth, contrast and response time. Lets look at each in turn:

Resolution

This is a measurement of how many pixels make up the screen - a higher pixel density means that the image will be sharper and more detailed, and will provide a higher-quality picture on larger screen sizes. 4k is the current best resolution for consumer-available televisions, providing approximately 4 times the image quality than standard HD TVs.

Colour Depth

This denotes the breadth of colour available to display on the screen, from black to red to white to everything in between. The larger the spectrum that can be displayed on the TV, the more subtle the resulting colours will be - i.e: everything won’t be coloured in exactly the same shade of red, but instead a subtle mix, adding greater depth and richness to the image.

Contrast

This denotes the difference between the darkest blacks and the whitest whites on the screen. The higher the contrast, the more vibrant the colours will be. High contrast ratios especially favour deep blacks, making them richer and deeper. Colour depth and contrast are very much interlinked, and having a TV with high of both will lead to the best picture quality for your viewing pleasure.

High contrast vs. low contrast

Response Time

This is the time delay between the signal being received by the TV, and the resulting image being shown on the screen. This is measured in milliseconds, but can cause problems when the picture changes so rapidly that a second signal will come in before the TV can even process the first one. This leads to multiple images being displayed at once, which in turn causes blurry and muddy images while the TV tries to keep up. Therefore for extremely fast-paced action (such as F1 racing or high-velocity action movies) a low response time will keep the picture sharp and the action easily to follow!

Finally, Smart TVs (i.e: internet-enabled TVs with various steaming and app functionality) allow you to use your TV as far more than a gateway to the terrestrial channels. Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Video allow for an enormous catalogue of on-demand films and programmes, while apps such as Spotify or Skype enhance the functionality of your TV to make it capable of multiple roles in your day-to-day life.