Dear Massif.
I haven’t had a TV for many years but need to get purchase one for my mother who is 91, bless her.
I am not sure what to look for these days and would appreciate your suggestions.
Probably no packages involved probably just Freeview- if even that is still around?
I bought my mum (72) a new Sony Freeview set before Christmas. I’ll dig out the model later.
It’s fine but the built-in speakers weren’t up to much (she’s pretty deaf, even with her aids in) so I spent another £150 on a soundbar. Now her neighbours complain they can hear her telly through the party wall.
Note: if your mum’s had the TV aerial since analogue times, Freeview requires a wideband aerial to receive all of the available channels. Aerials are about £20 but fitting can take that up to £100 or so.
Thank you- she’s moving into sheltered housing so no idea about the aerial. May get a sounder later – many thanks!
And while I think about it, Freeview channels come and go (and move around the channel numbers), especially when Wimbledon/Glasto/World Cup are on.
Find the ‘re-tune automatically’ menu setting and turn it on. Otherwise you’ll be getting constant “I can’t see Talking Pictures TV in the listings any more” calls (he said bitterly).
I am mystified by this post, which implies that there are channels other than Talking Pictures TV. Is this true – and if so, why?
When Mrs F is otherwise occupied, ITV1HD for Devon & Cornwall Walks with Julia Bradbury. For the scenery, obviously.
Don’t tell me what 1HD means, you naughty man.
I think it was one of these:
https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-32wd756bu-led-hd-1080p-smart-tv-32-inch-with-freeview-hd-cable-management-system/p2775092
Pricey. I have something similar to this and it is very good. She is probably not particularly interested in a Smart TV except it has voice commands for changing channels which avoids messing around with the remote if there are problems and it is a lot cheaper
It was, in fact, one of these, a 43″ model (currently out of stock):
https://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kdl43wf663-led-hdr-full-hd-1080p-smart-tv-43-inch-with-freeview-play-cable-management-black/p3501749
Another vote for Sony here, though the menu system may leave an elderly person somewhat flummoxed, at least at first.
We have a Sony Bravia, and I think the screen is 43in wide. Younger bruv has a monster Sony Bravia (55 inches I think!) which is awesome, but probably more than your mum needs, and might give her a stiff neck when watching Wimbledon.
We had a smaller (39 inch wide) Philips before that, which probably had an even better picture than the Sony, but suffered from a paucity of over-the-air firmware upgrades, which left a sour feeling of the manufacturer’s ‘we’ve moved on, so shut up and buy a new model’ attitude.
I’d consider a big button remote control too. One For All make a decent one, very easy to set up. It’ll not only be easier to use, it should remove a lot of “choices” which can result in your mum accidentally doing something that requires either a visit from you to rectify or a frustrating half hour phone call.
One very sensible suggestion I read the other week, was to take a picture of the remote control, so that when you’re guiding them over the phone, you can clearly explain which button you mean.
Just been through this with my Mum (85). I got this and she’s very happy with it.
Has PRV capability if you plug in a USB stick,
To avoid a SNAFU, an OAP should get help PDQ
WTF
Thank you all for your suggestions!