New TV / Monitor

[Kalle]

The "monitor" in my office packed up and I need a new one.

for the past 5 years or so I had a 52" TV from Proline as a monitor on my Mac.

I don't want anything smaller so its probably 55" or bigger. Full HD is sufficient, UHD is not required.

Uses: Mostly normal office work and from time to time a movie. No TV.


Now I'm looking at a

https://www.makro.co.za/electronics/sinotec-55-140cm-full-hd-led-tv-300162EA

or even

https://www.makro.co.za/electronics/sinotec-65-165cm-smart-full-hd-led-tv-300805EA

How bad is that Sinotec?

Anyone around here with Sinotec experience?

It comes even with a 5 year warranty. What happens if it breaks after 4 1/2 years and they can't fix it?


Can I disconnect / take out the TV receiver to get around the TV license?

Or should I rather buy a big brand like a Samsung LG or so?
But they come usually only with a year or two warranty and no one can repair these things anyway.

 

[SZN]

We bought a 40 inch Sinotec from Makro for my uncles business to use as a display for C Track/CCTV.

The quality is decent for the price. It was on special for around R4000.

The one we got was a pretty low end model but the picture quality is quite good. It's full HD, and if you sit quite far back you don't see any pixelation. If you sit up close though it's definitely something you'll notice. You're probably use to this though.

The 5 year guarantee is a huge plus. Samsung/LG/Sony don't even come close with their guarantees. That shows you that the Sinotecs are built to last.

Personally I always prefer having an actual PC monitor instead of a TV, it always seems better overall to me. But at the size of screen you're looking at, a TV is really your only option.

The only thing I'l say is look out if the TV has a "PC mode" input (usually via HDMI), this optimizes the display to be used as a PC screen (for office work) instead of a TV. It makes a big difference in my opinion, but obviously this will vary per TV.

 

[Sosio]

I recently bought one of the 55" guys for my main TV a few months ago.

Quality is decent for the price, haven't had any real complaints with the TV thus far.

The menu on the TV itself is very limited and so are the features of the TV, but it depends on what you want to do with it and what you need.

I haven't seen a "PC Mode" on the display options regardless of what input you select. And the TV doesn't support CEC from what I've played around with, something that irritates me a little but thats only due to my intended use to control a raspberry pi with the TV remote.

You need to remember that you get what you pay for. This is a low end TV, no SMART no fancy features etc, if you want those you will need to shell out a lot more. This TV works fine for Movies/Series, not sure about "office work" like docs and spreadsheets I would personally use a proper monitor for that (from what I've seen monitors have much better resolutions that TVs so office stuff works better, but the better resolution comes with a hefty price tag).

If you were to go for a big brand like Samsung you will get a better quality screen, best will be to go to makro or somewhere and see if you can compare the TVs there, you will clearly see the difference I think.

 

[Kalle]

I did put a few test images on a USB stick and went to Makro. The Sinotec failed VERY badly and I ended up with a Samsung for R 15,000.

I actually didn't expect that a new Sinotec TV could be MUCH worse than the 5 year old one! You get what you pay for.

And my Mac doesn't support CEC anyway.

 

[PostmanPot]

Yes, stay away from cheapies especially for PC use.