Buying Guide for Smart TV in India

In today’s digital age, a Smart TV has become the centrepiece of home entertainment. With the ability to stream content, connect to the internet, and even control your smart home devices, choosing the suitable Smart TV in India is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

In this comprehensive buying guide for Smart TV in India, we will address the essential factors to consider before purchasing and help you navigate the vast landscape of Smart TVs.

Let’s begin !!

How to Decide the Screen Size?

This is the most important factor when deciding on a Smart TV for your home.

The most practical way to decide the screen size for the best viewing experience is to measure the distance between the TV and your viewing area – it can be a bed/couch/chair.

The size of your Smart TV should harmonize with the space it occupies. A TV that’s too large for a small room or too small for a spacious living area can compromise your viewing experience. To find the perfect size, consider the following:

• Measure the distance from your TV to the seating area.
• A general rule of thumb for a Full HD TV is that the screen size should be around 40 inches for a comfortable viewing experience. For 4K TVs, you can go larger without sacrificing quality.

Display Technology

Choosing the right display technology is one of the first decisions you’ll face. Here’s a breakdown of the three primary options:

• LED TVs: These are the most common and affordable. LED TVs use a backlight behind an LCD panel to create images. They offer good picture quality and are budget-friendly.
• QLED TVs: Quantum Dot technology enhances LED TVs’ brightness and colour accuracy. These are a great choice if you want vibrant visuals and can afford a slightly higher price tag.
• OLED TVs: OLED TVs have self-emissive pixels, allowing each pixel to emit light or turn off completely. This results in true blacks, vibrant colours, and stunning contrast. They are ideal for those who crave the best picture quality, although they tend to be more expensive.

Panels

Generally, there are two types of panels used in Smart TV in India. These are A) IPS Panel B) VA Panel. We will discuss their behavior and features down below:

Description	IPS Panel	VA Panel
Picture Quality	Excellent	Excellent
Viewing Angles	Wider viewing angle capability	Limited viewing angle capability. Viewer has to sit in front of the panel for the excellent viewing experience
Colour Loss when viewed from far corners in the room	Almost Negligible	Noticeable drop in Colour Quality
Brightness Loss when viewed from far corners in the room	Almost Negligible	Noticeable drop in Brightness Quality
Suitable Conditions in the Room	Works perfectly fine in the bright room	Works perfectly fine in the closed room
Main Advantage	Colour reproduction is excellent in itself. But, in comparison, it produces less vibrant colours than VA Panel	Black looks deeper. Hence, you will get more vibrant colours in VA Panel

Resolution

In India, Smart TV’s fall under these categories of resolution:

Description	Resolution(Pixels)
HD Ready	1366 x 768
Full HD	1920 x 1080
2K	2048 × 1080
UHD/4K	3840 x 2160
8K	7680 × 4320

Peak HDR Brightness

Peak HDR brightness is a crucial factor in determining the quality of your viewing experience, especially regarding High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. It refers to the maximum brightness a display can achieve while displaying HDR content.

Here’s a detailed summary of what peak HDR brightness entails:

What is Peak HDR Brightness?

• Peak HDR brightness is measured in nits (cd/m²). It represents the highest level of luminance that a display can produce when rendering HDR content.
• The term “nit” is used to quantify the intensity of light emitted by a screen.

Enhanced Contrast and Realism

• A higher peak HDR brightness level results in more pronounced contrast between an image’s darkest and brightest parts.
• This enhanced contrast contributes to a more realistic and immersive viewing experience, closely mimicking real-world lighting conditions.

Key Elements

• Peak HDR brightness is crucial for highlighting vital visual elements in HDR content, such as specular highlights, fine details in shadows, and vibrant colours.
• It ensures that the most subtle nuances in a scene are visible, even in extremely bright or dark scenarios.

Display Types

• OLED and QLED displays are known for achieving impressive peak HDR brightness levels, making them popular for HDR enthusiasts.
• LED/LCD displays vary in peak HDR brightness capabilities, with some high-end models offering competitive levels.

HDR Content Benefits

• HDR content, whether in movies, TV shows, or games, is specifically designed to take advantage of displays with higher peak HDR brightness.
• The expanded luminance range allows for a more accurate representation of the content creator’s vision.

HDR/ HDR 10/ Dolby Vision Support

High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology has revolutionized how we experience visual content, offering more vibrant colours, enhanced contrast, and a more excellent range of brightness.

Within HDR, there are two prominent formats: HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Here’s a detailed summary of what HDR and these formats bring to your viewing experience:

HDR (High Dynamic Range)

• Enhanced Contrast: HDR extends the range between an image’s darkest and brightest parts, delivering deeper blacks and brighter whites.
• Richer Colors: It allows for a wider colour gamut, resulting in more lifelike and accurate colours.
• Greater Detail: HDR preserves finer details in shadows and highlights, ensuring a more realistic image.
• Immersive Experience: Viewers enjoy an enhanced, more immersive visual experience akin to what the human eye perceives.

HDR10

• Open Standard: HDR10 is an open standard format, making it widely adopted across various devices, including TVs, monitors, and projectors.
• Static Metadata: HDR10 uses static metadata, which provides information about the content’s colour and brightness levels at the beginning of playback.
• Broad Compatibility: Most 4K Blu-ray discs and HDR content on streaming platforms are compatible with HDR10.

Dolby Vision

• Dynamic Metadata: Dolby Vision takes HDR a step further with dynamic metadata. It continuously adjusts the content’s colour and brightness levels scene by scene, resulting in a more precise and consistent HDR experience.
• Superior Visuals: Dolby Vision is known for its outstanding visual quality and attention to detail, providing a breathtaking cinematic experience.
• Premium Content: It’s often found in premium content, such as top-tier streaming services and high-end 4K Blu-ray discs.

In summary, HDR technology and formats like HDR10 and Dolby Vision bring an elevated level of visual richness, colour accuracy, and contrast to your viewing experience.

These advancements in display technology ensure that you can enjoy content as filmmakers and creators intended, whether you’re watching a blockbuster movie or diving into a high-definition game.

Capability of watching 4K Content

In today’s digital age, the capability of watching 4K content has become a defining feature of modern entertainment systems. Here’s a detailed summary of what this capability entails:

The capability of watching 4K content delivers an exceptional visual experience with its higher resolution, vibrant colours, and immersive quality. It’s a technological advancement and a transformative leap in how we consume and enjoy visual media.

Smart Features

Smart features are the heart of any modern TV. Look for these advancements in Smart TV technology:

• Voice Control: Many Smart TVs now include voice assistants like Google Assistant or Alexa for hands-free navigation and search.
• AI and Smart Home Integration: Some models incorporate AI technology that learns your preferences and provides personalized content recommendations. Integration with smart home devices like lights and thermostats can add convenience to your life.

Audio Quality

It is always good to prioritise the image quality compared to the audio quality in a TV.

That being said – while many Smart TVs offer good audio quality, consider investing in a soundbar or a home theatre system for a more immersive experience. Assess the TV’s audio quality in-store or online reviews before deciding.

Connectivity Options

In this day and age, it is hard to recommend a Non-Smart TV to anyone. There is a simple reason: Smart TVs have the latest technologies, affordable prices, and multiple connectivity options. So, why would you even bother to look at Non-Smart TV!!

You should look for certain connectivity options in your 32 inch Smart TV. It should have Wi-Fi capability. The bluetooth option would be a bonus. HDMI ports should be available with a minimum of 1 eARC HDMI port for faster data transfer. You can look for USB ports as well.

You could look for casting features. This feature enables your smartphone to pair with the Smart TV.

Securing Your Smart TV

Smart TVs, like any connected device, are vulnerable to cyber threats. To protect your Smart TV:

• Update Regularly: Keep the TV’s firmware and apps up-to-date to patch security vulnerabilities.
• Network Security: Secure your home network with a strong password and consider using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for added security.

Understanding Smart TV Warranties

Before finalizing your purchase, read and understand the warranty terms and conditions. Be aware of what is covered, the duration of coverage, and any additional warranty options available.

Conclusion

Overall, we have provided you with a comprehensive Buying Guide for Smart TV in India. Considering these parameters, you will come home with a brilliant product. Also, if we come across some new information at any time, we will incorporate them into the buying guide.

FAQs