Three months ago I started a process that I had been brooding since the beginning of the pandemic: choosing a television to renew my old 1080p, which has definitely completed a cycle. With these purchases I usually wait for the thing to begin to show problems, but I wanted the replacement to be the best possible, and in the face of the prospect of the tele cascade for when Rockstar has to release the GTA VI or just when the last season arrives. Better Call Saul, I preferred to avoid risks. Because in those circumstances, when we talk about an emergency, anyone can. They look for a TV like someone who buys frozen mussels: they put the shovel in the drawer and let what God wants come out. It was not my idea.
Failing that, I thought there are some purchases in this life where it is worth spending some time to choose wisely and not over-budget: the mattress, the sofa, the pans … and the television.
Open Microsoft Excel, create blank workbook
A purchase like this, with four digits, must be made convinced that we are choosing the correct option, because either it is that, or we will buy a curved TV again. Not a curved TV itself, but the concept of going to a department store, letting ourselves be convinced by the commercial, buying what is in fashion at the time and praying everything we know. PS: Goes wrong.
Everything is to arrive at the moment of the purchase to shot done, without doubts that they will make us change of option at the last minute
The first step was to open an Excel to list the models you had your eye on and break down their specs along with their price, no more. The prices were those that appeared in the main stores, let’s say as base prices, beyond looking for an offer later.
Naturally, it did not make sense to rate each section evenly to get an average of all the specifications. I do not care the same about the design of the remote control or the sound system (the next purchase will be a sound bar) than the type of panel or the screen diagonal, so I will ponder: I applied a multiplier to each cell based on the importance I give to each section.
With that, I just had to rate each spec based on my priorities and tastes. For example:
OLED receives the highest score LED Full Array receives a slightly lower score QLED a lower score LED Edge an even lower score
OR:
85 inches, top score 75 inches, a little under 65 inches, quite a bit less
And so with the rest of the sections.
A fundamental nuance: my priorities are that, mine; they don’t have to match yours, dear reader, and that’s fine
Pixelated scores and evaluations to avoid influencing other people’s purchases, since it is about my evaluations and priorities.
That way I got a score out of 100 for each model. Actually it could be something else, since the “Others” section, where extras fit in that had no place in the rest (such as Philips Ambilight, for example; or native compatibility with HomeKit for me, who am a user of the ecosystem of Apple) could bring some plus. None exceeded 100, in any case: that would amount to an absolutely perfect television for my priorities, and it doesn’t exist. And even if it existed, it sure wouldn’t fit into my limited budget.So he had to choose what to sacrifice, what to give up. If it were up to me, I would have gone to a commercial area to ask the seller to take out his best 77-inch OLED, but the spending ceiling is there to respect it.
Scores ranged from 53 to 78, which was very good: some models seemed like good candidates to me, but quantifying and weighing their specifications made me see that they were bad options. That way I already had a better idea about which models were more recommended in my case, but I had to compare by prices, so with that technological Necronomicon already finished, I put each model on a double axis graph: in the X, the final score ; in the Y, the price.
Pixelated model names precisely to avoid inducing purchases based on my priorities.
In this more visual way, I was able to quickly detect which models were the most interesting. Ideally, they should be the ones as far to the right as possible (highest score) and as low as possible (lowest price), but the graph was to facilitate the decision, not to make it for me, so I had to decide between the key zone options.
The letters to the Magi consist of a lot of wishes from which they end up coming what the family budget of their majesties of the East gives. Something like this happened with my desired television: OLED, more than 75 inches, less than 2,000 euros. Choose two, the three cannot be.
Knowing that the viewing distance would be what it would be and the fact of making a purchase that will last me eight or ten years, I preferred to maintain a very generous diagonal and get off the ass with the OLED panel. In other circumstances I might not have done it and accepted 65 inches, but the existence of the Full Array panels, backlit with diodes arranged all over the back of the screen, paved the way for me: They are not OLED, but in most of the panel it works. The 75-inch Sony XH9505 was chosen.
This does not mean that it is what you have to choose, dear reader, or that you chose wrongly to pay more, or less, or to choose another diagonal or to prioritize another type of panel. It is not the intention to induce anyone to buy a specific model, but to invite them to do an exercise similar to this to determine which is the right purchase for each one.. In this process I have learned, I have caught up and I have had to think carefully about what I expect from a television and what things matter the least to me. The key is to minimize the chances of regret.
