8 mistakes people make when buying a TV

What to watch for when choosing a TV

1. Being sucked in by the pictures on the instore TV screens

You know those very colourful scenes that all the TVs play in the store? Our technology writer Nick Gelling recommends not getting too drawn in by them. “In showrooms, TVs usually display exceptionally colourful and intricate video with the brightness and saturation cranked right up. It’s not a realistic representation of how you'll use a TV day to day,” Nick says.

Instead, Nick says it would be better to look at the picture quality scores we give TVs when we test them in the lab. Members can compare 36 models available in New Zealand using our TV test results.

2. Forgetting about speaker performance

The sound is just as important as the picture quality, but it’s tricky to gauge instore. You might feel awkward turning up the volume. And even if you do, it’s hard to pick up differences in sound when you’re in a large space surrounded by other shoppers.

We’ve done the hard work for you in our test results.

If the telly you really want to buy didn’t rate well for sound, we’ve also tested sound bars.

3. Getting the wrong sized screen

TV screens can look smaller in the store when they’re surrounded by other huge screens. It’s a good idea to know what size you’re after before you go shopping. The right sized TV will depend on how far away from it you’ll be sitting. We’ve included a handy guide to knowing the best size for the room in our TV buying guide.

4. Thinking you need an 8K TV

Nick says he wouldn’t buy an 8K TV just yet. “It’s prohibitively expensive and has very little content available, so I’d be waiting for the price to come down in a few years and sticking with 4K for now,” he says.

5. Getting confused by acronyms

You’ll come across a lot of acronyms when you go TV shopping. UHD, HDR, OLED, QLED to name a few. If you want to understand the basic meaning of the acronyms before you hit the shops, check out our TV buying guide.

6. Not checking the remote

It’s such an important part to a TV, right? But many of us first see the remote when we get back home and unpack the box. However, you can ask to see it in the store before you buy to check you’d be happy to have it on your coffee table. Does it feel comfortable? Does it have number buttons (if you still use those)? Can you easily press the buttons you’ll be using the most?

7. Buying at the wrong time of the year

“The big TV manufacturers – LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony – usually release a new range of TVs in the middle of each year. But there’s not much difference between them from year to year so we advise buying last year’s model to save money,” Nick says.

The worst time to buy a TV is during winter, when people want to be inside watching TV.

“November and December are when the big sales happen, but make sure you’re not buying just before a sale starts. We’ve found prices can be bumped up during that time to make discounts look bigger.”

8. Getting the extended warranty

When you buy an extended warranty, you’re usually paying for protection you already have under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

Learn why to say no when you’re offered an extended warranty or when it might be worth considering in our explanation of extended warranties.

11 TVs we recommend

We’ve got decades of experience testing TVs and finding the best ones for New Zealanders to buy. We’ve compared picture quality, sound, how easy the TV is to use plus lots of other factors to find 11 TVs we recommend.