Your TV has been around for a few years and you’re wondering if it’s outdated and you should get a new one? There are several criteria to pay attention to in order to determine whether the TV is already old news or is still completely sufficient.
In the past, a good tube television lasted for decades. Nowadays, new technology is installed in the TV every year, which makes the previous year’s device look old. Updated Smart TV platforms or new standards are constantly improving the viewing experience. But when is a television really “outdated”, how do I recognize this and when should I replace the device? TECHBOOK provides an overview in this large guide.
Is my TV old if it doesn’t support 4K?
Anyone looking for a suitable television in the electronics market will almost only find models with four or even eight times the Full HD resolution, i.e. 4K or 8K. So is a Full HD TV outdated?
Full HD vs 4K vs 8K
First of all: Many manufacturers still offer current Full HD models today. However, these are not on display in specialist stores and are increasingly being pushed into the background in manufacturers’ advertising campaigns. But they are there and still represent a considerable part of the market. The resolution alone is not a sign of an old television, although it must be said that an SD resolution (720 x 576 pixels) is now considered outdated.
Even if you still have an older Full HD TV, you don’t have to throw it away immediately. While the 4K resolution is nice and sharp up close, with a few exceptions there are no 4K TV channels. Most major broadcasters, especially ÖRR, offer their programs in Full HD. However, streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Sky now often offer the option of 4K content, which can improve the streaming experience. If that doesn’t matter to you, you can rest assured: all films and series will still run in Full HD.
The size is what matters
Whether a 4K television is necessary is not determined solely by the content shown. It’s also about the size or the distance between the seat and the television. For example, if you move into a new apartment with a larger room for your television, the old television may actually seem outdated. The recommended resolution is based on this.
In general, the larger the television, the higher the resolution should be. With a normal distance (two to four meters) and an average TV size (55 inches), Full HD is completely sufficient. However, if you would like a larger television, you will notice the difference compared to 4K, especially if you are close to the television.
You can find precise details about the optimal seating distance in our overview article on the topic.
4K is currently not mandatory – although it will continue to be promoted by the film and TV industry in the next few years. If you want to buy a new TV anyway, you should consider whether you want to future-proof yourself and choose the 4K model. With 8K, the next level has already been established.
Does my TV need technologies like QLED, OLED or HDR?
Every year, TV manufacturers compete for customers with all sorts of image enhancements or display technologies. Many users no longer understand which term actually stands for what. In general, however, it can be said: A lot of things are nice additions with nice marketing names, but they are not essential.
Standards such as HDR (“High Ddynamic Ron,” e.g. German “high contrast range”) or Dolby Vision ensure high contrast and brighter colors on 4K televisions. Samsung uses QLED to describe an expensive display technology that ensures bright images with a particularly wide color spectrum. And many people may be familiar with the so-called OLED displays from the smartphone world. These are displays that do not require separate backlighting because the pixels themselves light up. Although this is a little more expensive than QLED, it also ensures particularly beautiful images and enables a flatter design.
In order to get the most out of this, you also need appropriately adapted material, i.e. films and series that support HDR. This is now the case on a large scale, but the corresponding videos can also be viewed without the technology – then with slightly less good image quality. Users for whom this is not so important should not be put off if their television does not have all of these functions – although they provide a spruced-up picture and are certainly interesting for technology and film enthusiasts, they are not a must.
Is my TV old if my smart TV apps are slow?
Anyone who has connected their television to the Internet and uses the often pre-installed apps such as Netflix, the media libraries from ARD and ZDF or Amazon Video will quickly notice that the devices are aging. As a rule, new versions of the operating systems are released every year; older ones are no longer necessarily provided with app updates. Since 2015, Samsung has been using its own Tizen operating system for many televisions, and the apps have been optimized accordingly. The Smart Hub on older devices is very slow to control these days, there are only a few apps left and they only start slowly – also because the processors in the TV are no longer up to date.
If you only take the smart functions as a benchmark, a television could be considered outdated after just four or five years. But: The image quality of the devices can still be good. With the help of steaming sticks, you can easily upgrade current and smoothly running apps at any time for just under 30 euros. The same applies here: If fast apps are important to you, then you should get a more recent model. If it doesn’t bother you and the apps still work, older models – possibly with a streaming stick – still work.