Guests have commented on the size of the TV when they’ve come to visit
After three years in London house sharing I decided it was time to uproot and move to somewhere with a little more space. In doing so I very quickly discovered just how many things you need in a completely empty house.
One thing that came up time and time again was a TV. I’ve gotten rid of TVs a few times over the last 15 years, always sacrificing them for shelf space – but now that I have seven bookcases and counting it seemed like that wasn’t really a good reason anymore.
I got the chance to try out Sharp’s 50GK4245K 50-inch UHD 4K TiVo Smart TV with Freely, which is currently reduced to £265 on Very. The hardest part of setting the TV up was attaching the legs, I’d recommend getting help for that part as it did make me nervous I’d scratch the screen while I attempted to balance it and screw them into place. Once that’s done though it’s as easy as placing it where you want and plugging it into a power source.
‘I tried Morphy Richard’s game changer 10-in-1 cooker and it’s really easy to use’
READ MORE: ‘I just moved house and found the best cordless vacuum for dust’
Setting up was easy, you put your WiFi password in and answer a few questions such as your postcode and then you’re in. There is a big range of pre-downloaded apps on the TV and the remote has buttons that take you straight to Netflix, Disney and Prime Video.
When ordering the TV I was a little nervous as it has pulled in an average rating of 3.3 out of 5 on the retailer with some complaints about ability to download apps and issues with sound. I didn’t personally have any issues with sound but did find myself alarmed when it switched itself on once while I was in the kitchen and suddenly heard a man’s voice. I think for the average consumer the sound quality is fine, but if you’re using it to listen to music with specific base levels then you may want to look into a surround sound system.
As I’ve not used a TV in years I don’t personally use any live TV services but I do have Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. You can sign into these by scanning a QR code on your phone, Disney+ is a little bit more challenging as it also requires a code from your email and asked me to reset my password.
I used this for a movie night and as background sound when having guests over and it was a welcome change. The TV is so big that I got multiple comments on the size and it was made clear that my friends were thinking to upgrade to something bigger. For someone who is using this to watch the latest Netflix or Prime shows and films, this works perfectly well and will impress your friends when they come over.
While I was pleasantly surprised by the TV having put it through its paces I’ve also been eyeing up the JVC Roku TV from Currys which comes with free next day delivery, is slightly cheaper and appears to do the same thing, although some shoppers have once again complained about the sound quality. Personally I think if sound quality is very important to you that it’s worth also investing in a sound system to go with your TV.
The Toshiba Fire TV is a little more expensive but also comes with Amazon Alexa – which I do use in every room – so I could also justify the extra £35.
