Do you really need to buy a new TV? While the latest specs and outrageous screen sizes may well be a temptation, perhaps you can save money (and the environment) by holding off a little longer. With some simple tips and tricks, you can level up your TV experience.
Of course, the Fomo is real. Back in the day, the only reason to buy a new TV was when the old one fizzled and died. One telly was much the same as another, and features rarely changed.
The market is very different today. Every year ushers in a new wave of high-tech flatscreens, sharper than the generation before. What was once a bland box in the corner is now a pinnacle of technology, wall-mounted like a work of art.
But I feel your pain. It doesn’t take long before that once-cutting-edge screen starts to feel a little dull around the edges. Your smart TV’s picture doesn’t seem quite as crisp as it did, and its operating system seems to be losing IQ points by the month. Apps take longer to load, menus feel clunky, and somewhere deep down, you know that a shiny new OLED would make everything better.
But would it? I’m here to tell you that it’s perfectly possible to postpone the inevitable and improve your TV experience with a little fine-tuning, and perhaps some new (cheaper) kit.
Upgrade your smart TV OS
One sure sign that your TV is running on borrowed time is its smart platform. Every telly worth its salt has a gateway to streaming services and smart home niceties, but as boffins fast-track ever smarter software, older platforms inevitably fall from favour. Streaming apps stop getting updates, and the slick interface that once impressed your mates now feels like it’s wading through treacle.
It’s frustrating, but it doesn’t mean your TV is destined for the dump. Simply adding an inexpensive streaming dongle can breathe new life into an aging set. Gadgets such as Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, Roku’s Streaming Stick or a Google TV streamer plugged into a spare HDMI port will instantly upgrade your streaming experience, with a faster interface, up-to-date services and nifty voice search.
Amazon offers both HD and 4K streaming sticks. The basic 1080p model sells for £39.99, while 4K models start from £49.99.
Amazon Fire TV Stick HD
Not an Amazon Prime subscriber? Pick up a Roku 4K UHD stick instead. It offers an equally expansive range of streaming apps and services for less than £50. A Google TV streamer, with built-in Chromecast, does much the same for £99.
Roku 4K Streaming Stick Plus
In all likelihood, your TV will have a spare USB port that can provide power to the stick, so you won’t even need to trail an extra wire to a plug socket.
Alternatively, you can really level up your TV experience by adding a Sky Stream. This diminutive box adds a full package of premium Sky channels, including movies and sports, along with embedded apps such as Netflix, Apple TV, Disney+, Prime Video, and mainstream UK broadcasters. The base subscription package costs £15 a month and includes Sky Atlantic, Netflix and Discovery+.
What’s really clever is that there’s no requirement for a dish or aerial, since everything comes via your wifi network. Unlike traditional TV set-top boxes, there’s no built-in hard drive, either. Instead, your playlist is stored in a cloud personal video recorder (PVR), which never runs out of space.
Dumb tricks that actually work
This may sound far-fetched, but if there isn’t really any issue with the tech, then pay attention to your room lighting. It might be worth moving things around to create a better viewing environment. Shift table lamps to prevent them from being reflected, and swap harsh overhead downlights for soft backlighting. A light placed behind the screen reduces eye fatigue and enhances subjective picture contrast. I see this style of bias lighting in studio mastering suites all the time.
If you hanker after a bigger image, why not get closer to your TV? Sounds daft, I know, but there’s an inescapable link between screen resolution and viewing distance.
Back in the day – I’m talking pre-HD era – TV resolution was so poor it made sense to keep your distance. But with today’s 4K UHD and even 8K TVs, pixel density is so much higher that it’s perfectly possible to sit much closer without frazzling your eyeballs.
In an ideal world, your sofa sweet spot will be the distance of 1.5x the TV’s screen size away. For a 55in TV, that means perching no more than 2m from the screen. If it feels good, sit even closer. You’ll see more detail and finer textures when watching native 4K programs.
When it’s best to watch movies with the lights on
If you like dark, dramatic movies, but are frustrated that your LED TV looks a bit gray when you dim the lights, don’t immediately feel you need to upgrade to an OLED. There’s a simple fix.
LED backlighting enables your set to display a nice, bright image when room lighting is high; but in dim, or no light, that same backlight will cause black levels to gray out, as the backlight becomes more visible. For a more natural-looking image, watch your LED telly in a room with some ambient lighting, and try to avoid full darkness. That way, blacks stay subjectively black, and won’t turn grey.
Make the most of what you have
If your TV pictures generally look a bit washed out or unnatural, it could be your LED TV’s backlight beginning to fade. Head to the Picture settings menu for a simple fix.
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In all likelihood, you’ll be watching the Standard image preset, as it will have been the out-of-the-box default on your TV when you bought it. Try switching to Dynamic or Vivid mode. This may well inject some welcome extra color and pop into your pictures.
Not all HDMI settings are equal
Picture still looking pale? Double-check your HDMI settings. If you’re watching an HDR programme, from an external source – perhaps a TV set-top box, games console or UHD Blu-ray player – and feel underwhelmed by your TV’s performance, it may be because you’re not watching HDR at all.
Take a look at the HDMI setting in the Picture or General Settings menu, which will usually be designated either Standard or Optimal (or maybe Enhanced). Set this to Optimal to ensure you’re seeing both 4K UHD and HDR signals from your source component.
Conversely, if HDR TV shows look too dark – and your TV was a Black Friday bargain-buy back in the day – then it may not have the inherent brightness to do HDR justice (despite what was stated on the box). In this case, set HDR to Standard, to enjoy a brighter overall image – and forget all about HDR (you’ll still receive 4K resolution).
Improve your TV audio with a soundbar
If your TV’s sound isn’t up to scratch, with speech increasingly difficult to discern, the easiest and most transformative fix is a soundbar.
Poor sound from thin TVs is par for the course. Even the latest models can sound awful, since slim panels leave little room for serious speakers, with audio quality inevitably suffering as a result. Adding a decent soundbar not only boosts volume but also improves clarity, expands the soundstage and restores the sense of scale that the TV speakers can’t match.
If you own a smaller telly (let’s say 43in or thereabouts), consider the Sharp HT-SB700. This Dolby Atmos soundbar is just 640mm wide, but it can play at 140W. I reckon it’s a bit of a bargain.
Sharp HT-SB700
If you own a larger TV, consider the £999 Samsung HW-Q990F. A generous 1,309mm wide, it houses 23 speakers, boasts 756W of total power and comes with a wireless subwoofer and two wireless rear speakers, for a fully immersive cinema sound experience. It sounds positively epic.
Samsung HW-Q990F soundbar
When all else fails – it really is time to buy a new TV
All that being said, there remain very good reasons to splurge on a new TV. If it’s toppled off its stand and now presents everything through what appears to be an 80s Top of the Pops visual effects filter, then recycling it is your only recourse (we’d recommend Recycle Your Electricals).
Similarly, if the design is out of the ark (I’m looking at you, chunky TV with a ludicrously wide picture bezel), then an upgrade is equally understandable. Wide bezels will never be back in style. And if you’ve really set your heart on an OLED, I’m not going to stand in your way. I love OLED screens: they’re gorgeous, and make even rotten TV programs look ravishing.
However, if you’re simply bugged by niggling aspects of your trusty, dusty companion’s performance, or simply yearn for a smarter connected experience, then money spent elsewhere can definitely stave off that next big-screen buy.
For more, read when it’s time to upgrade your laptop and how to make your smartphone last longer
Steve May is a technology and home entertainment specialist, with more than 30 years’ experience writing about TVs, hi-fis and music. From the biggest, thinnest, brightest TVs in existence, to sound systems that rival commercial cinemas, Steve has auditioned them all. When not writing about tech, you’ll find him bingeing box sets, or cataloguing his Blu-ray collection
