The best TV today - Samsung, LG, Sony or Haier?

If you put the devices next to each other, then stick the logos of their manufacturers with masking tape, then it will be very difficult for you to distinguish them from each other. To date, the main task of their creators is to reduce the width of the screen frame. Samsung handled it best. However, the products of competitors are also not a bastard.

Sometimes TV manufacturers strive to stand out with an unusual stand. However, this greatly affects the cost. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the models we have chosen have a familiar design, when the placement on the cabinet is carried out with the help of two legs. Some buyers do not even take them out of the box, instead attaching the TV to the wall (this will require the purchase of an appropriate bracket). In all five cases, the help of a second person is not required, since even the heaviest Sony KD-43X81J weighs no more than 10 kg. The lightest are the products of Chinese manufacturers - this is due to the fact that their body was made of cheap plastic.

If you are going to buy a TV with a 43-inch display, and even at a not the lowest price, then it is recommended to look towards models that display a picture in 4K resolution. As you may have guessed, all five devices we have chosen can do this. Unfortunately, the screen in all cases updates the image no more than 60 times per second. The fact is that today the dollar exchange rate in our country remains too high, and therefore we did not take the risk of adding TVs with a higher screen refresh rate to the comparison. What's the point if virtually none of the readers of iquality.techinfus.com/en/ can afford such a purchase?

If we compare the screens, then the greatest impression can be obtained from the one used by Sony. Especially when viewing a picture from a modern game console or downloading a 50-gigabyte movie. Thanks for this, you need not so much the display itself, but the support for Dolby Vision.Competitors also declared only HDR in one form or another.

Interestingly, the biggest difference is between LG and Samsung screens. The first one has maximum viewing angles, which is very important with such a diagonal. The second one has some color distortions when viewed from a non-standard angle, but the display is able to boast of a greater black depth.

At one time, South Korean brands managed to shoot through the use of their own operating systems. Today the situation does not change. Samsung endows TVs distributed under its brand with firmware based on Tizen. Such Smart TV not only plays a variety of video formats, but also provides atypical functionality. For example, players will like the ability to expand the angle of view - this allows you to see the enemy sneaking up from the side. And at any time you can activate the display of the FPS counter. This will help determine how well the console or PC is handling the selected game.

LG TV uses webOS. This is the most lightweight firmware that even an elderly person can easily master. But the number of applications created for it is slightly less. And here the game functionality is slightly worse implemented.

As for the other three TVs, their manufacturers had to install Android TV. This is a double-edged sword. Such an operating system is often less optimized, which is why at times you may encounter slowdowns that the same Samsung does not have.But on the other hand, this OS is more open - you can install more applications, including using not only the company store for this. This makes it easier to bypass all sorts of restrictions that are increasingly emerging in our country.

To date, in the world of TVs, there has been a trend to reduce the number of buttons on the remote control. People watch TV less and less, so they don't need number keys. And they are gradually getting used to voice control. That's why the Sony TV remote is unpleasantly surprising. It turned out to be quite large, and it is difficult to get used to the location of its buttons. And some keys are not needed at all here - for example, the Disney online cinema in Russia has never been launched, and our rare reader has heard about Amazon Prime Video. Of the advantages of this remote control, only the presence of a microphone can be noted.

Voice control is also supported by an accessory that comes with Haier. It has almost the same number of keys. But the Chinese manufacturer decided to place a smaller number of additional buttons - here they are only responsible for launching Netflix and YouTube. You won't have to think long about the location of the activation key for the voice assistant - it is located at the very top.

Much nicer to the touch is the accessory present in the box with the BBK TV. However, the buttons on it are more heaped, which is why you do not always blindly press the right one. And there is also no microphone, and therefore you can forget about voice control.

A year ago, when buying a TV under the Samsung or LG brand for 50 thousand rubles, you were sure that you would get an advanced remote control. Alas, the situation has now changed. The two models we have chosen come with the simplest accessories. They do not have a microphone or a gyroscope. And the buttons on them are located in such a way that it is almost impossible to press them blindly. You need to forget about the convenient control of Smart TV with such remote controls. Luckily, TVs support Magic Remote or One Remote. But these are additional costs.

Of course, all TVs produce stereo sound. However, its quality is markedly different. Unfortunately, no model is ready to offer more than two speakers. To date, only devices for which they ask for a six-figure sum can boast of this.

As can be seen from the table above, three TVs have the highest built-in acoustic power. Buying any of them allows you to enjoy good sound. If you want to buy a soundbar or home theater, it's only for the sake of adding more volume. Or for the sake of increasing the richness of the bass, since absolutely every TV in this price segment has problems with this, no matter what company is busy with its release.

As for Haier and BBK, they offer average sound quality. If the device will stand in a large room, then the volume margin may not be enough. In a word, 16 watts for a 43-inch TV is still not enough.

Some of our readers are going to use the purchase without connecting other equipment to it. In this case, you can choose a model under any brand. But most often, a device with a 43-inch screen is still used together with a computer, game console, and other equipment. Therefore, we cannot help but pay attention to the number of connectors. In this regard, Sony is of the greatest interest. The fact is that only it has an HDMI 2.1 interface. It allows you to squeeze everything out of the PlayStation 5. But let's not forget that the screen used here has a standard refresh rate, so the advantage of a high-speed standard does not seem so obvious. Haier also has a large number of connectors. In particular, he also received a headphone output, which, for example, was forgotten by LG and Samsung.

Perhaps the TV from LG Electronics is the least suitable for any collector of game consoles. Two HDMI inputs and one USB port, what good is that? Even BBK looks more interesting in this regard. But the Chinese TV will receive a low score from us for another reason. A device under this brand has a modest bandwidth when connected to a router via Wi-Fi. This means that you may need a cable that plugs into an Ethernet port to comfortably view 4K content. Competitors don't have this problem.

The material is being written in March 2022, please take this into account. As of today, the most difficult thing to buy in our stores is Sony products. It used to be expensive, but now the price tag has completely skyrocketed. Are you willing to pay a six-figure sum just for having a remote with a microphone and support for Dolby Vision? Among other advantages, only the perfect interaction with the PlayStation 5 can be singled out - a game console that promises to become even rarer in our country.

Usually BBK products please with their price tag. But now its delivery has slowed down a bit, and therefore the cost has increased slightly.As a result, Samsung and LG TVs did not seem expensive. But do not forget that in the future you will spend a considerable amount on a more convenient remote control, which will also provide voice control. Do not think that you will be satisfied with the supplied accessory - it is very bad.

Sony could easily create a better TV that would fly off the shelves like hot cakes. However, this company is not used to keeping the price tag at an adequate level. As a result, the consumer is initially interested in high sound quality, an excellent display and a rich set of interfaces. But then he sees the cost, after which all interest fades. It was because of the price tag that the TV could not win first place in our rating.

Many of our readers might have thought that either LG or Samsung would win the comparison. The products of these companies are well known. Such TVs do not linger on store shelves. However, in practice it turns out that they are far from being good in everything. For example, in 2022, even very expensive models come with a frankly bad remote control. This is partly why Haier won the highest average score. It should be noted that buyers who write mostly positive reviews also agree with us, while the owners of South Korean TVs complain about the remote control.