What to know before replacing your TV

• Buying a new television requires taking new technical criteria into account before making a decision.

• Screen size, OLED or LCD technology should be considered in addition to your budget.

• Do not neglect the quality of the sound offered, or the connection if we can afford long-lasting equipment.

Are you worried about the data sheet of the new TV you would like to treat yourself to at Christmas?

In addition to your budget, however, you still need to think twice before buying.

Screen size, type of panel, connections… are all points to consider before re-equipping.

simplifies your purchase and gives you the keys to making a good investment.

Bigger screens for XXL entertainment

The average screen size which was 42 inches until recently is now between 55 and 65 inches.

“The screens are getting bigger and bigger and consumers are re-equipping themselves with larger and therefore more expensive televisions” (see box), notes Sébastien Minaux, TV product manager at Sony France.

“On our site, we receive more and more questions about 75-inch models,” confirms Frank Ladoire, journalist for AVCesar.

If by any chance, you want to see your television in a big way, a watchword however: choose a 100 Hz panel, with a better refresh rate of the image.

Many full-size TVs entice with a tempting price tag, but are only 50Hz, with less smooth pictures.

OLED: preferred for films and series

It's not just the size that matters.

Other technical criteria must be considered.

Among them is the choice of the technology behind the image: LCD or OLED.

As a reminder, an LCD screen is backlit by a multitude of small LEDs lit uniformly permanently.

The OLED screen benefits from self-emitting diodes, which light up independently of each other.

“From January to August 2021, sales of OLED televisions increased by nearly 71% with an average price of 1,661 euros,” says TP Vision / Philips. “The OLED remains the benchmark in terms of black contrasts, with a more cinema look. And the latency time of this technology is almost zero, which appeals to

 ”adds Sébastien Minaux at Sony. An argument, certainly, but which can be thwarted by one of the weaknesses of OLED that

precisely deplore: its restricted brightness.

The reason ? Unlike LCD televisions, the auto-emitting diodes that light up OLED panels do not support bright white. These can literally kill them! To avoid these inconveniences, an algorithm (the ABL, for

) automatically reduces the brightness of the screen in the event of an image that is too bright. "This reduction is of the order of 18 to 20% for films and 60% for video games", explains Frank Ladoire. Who adds: “For video games, the panels of OLED televisions can also suffer from marking. The problem is certainly less present than before but still exists ”.

By unveiling its OLED EVO panel at CES in Las Vegas last January, LG has however shown that it is possible to increase the brightness of its screens by 20%.

A first step towards OLED TVs that are more compatible with games.

But at what price: count 2299 euros for a 55-inch EVO TV!

The LCD plays in mini version

Versatile, and suitable for video games and cinema, LCD technology does not meet these constraints.

And it continues to evolve.

After the QLED defended by Samsung, it is the mini-LED that emerges.

“It's a classic backlighting system, but it multiplies the number of diodes behind the panel.

From five to a thousand times more.

This allows for much finer control of the lighting, with higher contrasts, ”explains Frank Ladoire of AVCesar.

"With the mini LED, we also have access to a brightness that has reached records," promises TP Vision / Philips, which now offers two ranges of mini LED televisions.

We also find this type of televisions at Samsung, (Neo QLED range), LG (QNED) or even TCL (C825, X925 Pro televisions).

Not at Sony.

"It's an interesting technology but not close to being equivalent to OLED", explains Sébastien Minaux, TV product manager at Sony France.

Note that the manufacturer also found much to complain about the OLED when this type of television was not part of its range… Count 1,049 euros for a mini 55-inch LED from TCL (55C825).

The sound: better and better

There remains the question of sound.

Among other solutions, Sony no longer cuts the sound of the television when it is associated with a sound bar.

On the X95J, A80 and A90J models (the last two are in OLED), the sound of the screen is added to that of the

.

Samsung also offers the same process with some of its QLED televisions and home sound bars (Q-Symphony technology).

A detail ?

No, because the new perfectly synchronized hitch offers a much more immersive rendering.

An interesting initiative also at Philips, which has forged a partnership with the loudspeaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins.

By integrating a soundbar from the English brand into the foot of its televisions, such as the 48OLED935 (sold 1499 euros), the spectacle is total.

The idea of ​​the associated sound bar is not new (LG, Hisense, TCL also offer it), but the quality offered by the Philips / Bowers & Wilkins tandem offers a much higher rendering.

The essentials not to be overlooked

There are still a few basics that shouldn't be overlooked. In 2021, it is essential to afford a

which, connected to the Internet, offers access to streaming platforms, or even a smart TV compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. The idea here is not necessarily to choose your voice-based programs (it works, but remains binding), but to start listening to streaming music, or even to control connected objects from your sofa.

Above all, at the time of the

game consoles

launched at the end of 2020, a television with an HDMI 2.1 connection will make it possible to draw the essence of its PlayStation 5 or X Box Series.

Thanks to a boosted bandwidth (up to 48 Gbps, against 18 Gbps in HDMI 2.0), a variable refresh rate (called VRR), the

experience

will be much smoother.

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Bigger, more expensive

After record sales due to the various confinements (5 million screens sold in France in 2020), the television market has regained a more traditional dynamic this year.

"There is a rebalancing effect compared to last year," explains

Jean-Yves Fabre Darcourt, CEO of TP Vision / Philips

, to

.

If the number of sales is logically down (-27% at the end of August), the market remains very active according to the manufacturers who are betting on consumers' appetite for ever larger screens to earn more.

The average price of a television set in France is currently 550 euros, compared to 530 euros in 2020.

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