Source
r/northernireland•
CocoPopsKid

Buying a TV in NI

Hey everyone! Hoping someone could give us some insight/advice/suggestions on buying a TV in NI.

To cut a long story short, I’d seen a TV I was interested in (Samsung UE49MU9000) going for a good price on a UK retailer’s website; tried to purchase it, was informed I’d need to organise my own delivery over from the mainland, hadn’t realised this would be an issue, got it all cancelled, now I’m back to square one...

SO, my question to everyone is -

Have you any suggestions of where to buy a TV (cheaper than Curry’s, Argos, etc.) either locally or somewhere online which delivers here?

Much appreciated friends, thanks

Posted Jul 23, 2018, 1:57 PM UTC

137
Scorchio76Belfast•

Richer Sounds is a good place to start. Or the Sony shop on Great Victoria St, they do a good deal as well.

14
Krispiekreme•

Upvote for giving props to Richer Sounds.

7
Scorchio76Belfast•

The guys in thereknow their stuff - as do the lads in the Sony shop. I hae bought from both in the last few years.

1
TFFTN•

I like the Sony aesthetic, a living room outfitted only with their equipment would be nice.

1
ObaeWanKenobi•

Might not be cheaper but definitely check out Richer Sounds, store down on the Boucher Road as they are generous with guarantees/warranties. The exact model you're after is out of stock but the non-curved version is in stock

7
ViperGRM•

John Lewis do free delivery to NI and you also get a 5 year warranty. Richer Sounds is also a good shout - think they offer a 6 year warranty. Both these sites price match so if you find it cheaper on any other site, they will match it.

If you're in and around Belfast I would highly recommend EH Services just off Castlereagh Road. They have a great selection and they can be very competitive.

4
[deleted]•

[deleted]

3
figurine89•

AO deliver to here and occasionally have decent prices, but they do charge extra for NI delivery.

1
anonymous_jo•

Amazon deliver TVs up to 49 inch to NI so judging by your model number, you’d get it from them so compare the prices and see if that suits you.

Edit: just checked and it’s £699 and one left in stock. Will deliver here.

1
CocoPopsKidOPBelfast•

That’s the retailer I made my second attempt at an order with which I mentioned under another comment. Turned out, whilst it says they ship here, in their Terms and Conditions on their website they state no deliveries to BT post codes

Nightmare!

1
anonymous_jo•

That’s crazy, I got a 49” toshiba at Christmas and they delivered no problem. It was only screen sizes over 50” they said they wouldn’t ship.

1
CocoPopsKidOPBelfast•

That is bizarre…

Here have you a link to the currys listing? I’m having trouble finding it anywhere

1
anonymous_jo•

here, I didn’t check the delivery terms or anything but there it is.

Edit: it’s not available for delivery

Edit 2: it’s actually a different model that showed up under that search

1
anonymous_jo•

Curry’s are selling it for £568.97 btw.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
CocoPopsKidOPBelfast•

Thanks for looking into it!

1
jmkni•

Just spotted your other comment, didn’t realise you had already ordered and only realised after a couple of days that they don’t deliver here! Annoying!

1
mistralol•

| Samsung

I would never buy a samsung TV. Sorry but their smart tv's always send what your watching back to base so they can show you more adverts (yup you cannot disable these either). Not to mention they also send all audio their mic picks up back for "processing". They have a filure of a security track records and have a failure in device safty (things randomly going on fire washing machines, fridge freezers, phone's etc..). Its like they don't know how to design electronics that don't blow up.

I went though the same deal recently. Tried currys and stuff. Ended up. Do you have that in stock? Nope, This? Nope. This? Nope", What do you have in stock. Nothing really. We could order one... Well I could do that too?

Ended up in argos. Reserved it online cause they also did not have it in stock. They ran one across the country for me to pick up later in the day. This TV lasted 2 months then broke. They then sent it off for repair (refused to refund after 30 days). Took about 2 weeks. Seems to be ok now (1 month later). Some 42" 4k Hitachi TV for £350.

I don't tend to go for the latest and greatest smart TV's either cause they are basically just an andriod like system and the hardware will be outdated in 2-3 years anyway and not be able to run the updated software. So I end up with a computer plugged into it externally instead.

1
KeepThemmunsOutCarrickfergus•

their smart tv's always send what your watching back to base so >they can show you more adverts (yup you cannot disable these either). Not to mention they also send all audio their mic picks up back for "processing". They have a filure of a security track records

In Soviet Russia Samsung Korea TV watches you ?

2
mistralol•

Yes they freely admit it as well but only because they have to.

https://www.samsung.com/uk/info/privacy-SmartTV/?CID=AFL-hq-mul-0813-11000170

Basically they lift images, audio and everything to do on the tv. Your choice ;)

3
TFFTN•

In Soviet Russia Samsung Korea TV watches you ?

Used to be a pretty hard core place, not that far removed from the North.

I read somewhere that riot control used to involve flamethrowers.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
mistralol•

See other post for link. Samsung freely admit exactly what they capture. Basically audio, video and everything you watch, install and do on your tv.

Yeah I get about blocking the sites. But often the features don't work after you do that either. So there is no point in having the TV?

Personally I find it kinda crazy just how much people are willing to pay for a product that forces them to give up their privacy. eg amazon echo, dot, google, apple devices. People would object massively if the police / state put a microphone in their room. but any company. Oh no that perfectly fine :/

1
TFFTN•

I would never buy a samsung TV. Sorry but their smart tv's always send what your watching back to base so they can show you more adverts (yup you cannot disable these either). Not to mention they also send all audio their mic picks up back for "processing".

Really? I noticed one of the USB slots on my Samsung is specifically for a camera and I thought that would be a bad thing to have in the house, but I didn't know about it returning data on what I watch.

1
KetomaticLisburn•

When we were buying our TV (couple of years back) the best deal I could find in NI for it was actually from J C Campbell in Cookstown of all places.

Was like stepping back into the 90s... only with flatter TVs.

1
MockingFaith•

See if lunneys stock it.

1
a-martin97Belfast•

Currys and Argos are expensive for TVs but given you are after a Samsung, the expense is in the brand I’d say and not so much the store you’re purchasing it from. I’ve a 2016 Edition 59” curved Samsung TV, a 49” 2017 Flatscreen Samsung Tv plus a few other Samsung nick nacs such as their Blu Ray player. I’ve did my fair share of looking around to know this to be the case. A Samsung TV will be expensive regardless of where you go. Unless you hold off until Black Friday. I got my last one from Curry’s there with a surprisingly decent discount.

1
Classy56•

Curry’s on Black Friday if you can wait actually was cheaper than Amazon. I recommend the LG 4K smart tv, very impressed with inbuilt software.

1
OldNickEsq•

Amazon?

0
CocoPopsKidOPBelfast•

Right enough, I actually just tried to order this same TV through Amazon recently and when it got to the third day stuck in shipping limbo I had to delve into the Retailer’s T&Cs on their website to discover they also do not ship to BT postcodes, no mention of it on Amazon mind

1
OldNickEsq•

Getting to be a bigger and bigger problem and no support from politicians as they, across the board, will tell you to "buy locally".

2
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[deleted]

-4
BeanbagTheThirdBelfast•

Their screens look similar to the latest high-tech stuff from other brands, in the store, because they've maxed out the brightness and stuff to make it seem modern and vivid. But in reality, they're just pushing old crap past its limits, washing out colors with light, selling old chips that show weird glitches right in the best, most fast-moving, action part of your movie/game.

You've just described Samsungs QLED TV's.

You're likely getting down voted for

  1. Avoiding local stores and picking the online store with the shittest delivery drivers in existence. You can't even pick a delivery slot for such a high value item.

Richer Sounds at the back of castle court are excellent, as a number of others in this thread have mentioned.

  1. Recommending Samsung. At every price point now Samsung is not recommended. They are beaten on performance at every price bracket. They made their 2017 TVs worse than their 2016 TVs and gave them the QLED brand which just so happens to go right beside the OLED stand in most electronics stores. The KS series from 2016 had the same quantum dot display, but just didn't have the branding. It's successor was then the MU series that OP wants, while the new top end QLEDs, that would have been it's direct replacement, were priced against LG OLEDs despite performing worse.

LG UJ/K series TVs are garbage, that isn't contested, as they aren't even truly 4K, though that doesn't apply to the SJ/K series (apart from the base model one). The OLED series are on another level from those sets entirely though.

In terms of LG looking similar to other high-tech brands, in the OLED space LG is the only manufacturer of those displays. Sony and Panasonic source their OLED displays from LG.

3
kharma45Belfast•

Not all local stores are worth avoiding. Richer Sounds prices are very competitive and they offer a 6 year warranty.

Agree on LG TVs though. IPS panels in a lot of their TVs and lots aren’t true 4K with the pixel arrangement being RGBW.

2
BeanbagTheThirdBelfast•

Agree on LG TVs though. IPS panels in a lot of their TVs and lots aren’t true 4K with the pixel arrangement being RGBW.

I mentioned in my other comment, the U series LGs are the ones that have the "3K" RGBW arrangement. The S (IPS) and OLED series have true 4K RGBW arrangements.

It's not a technical issue, it's just them cheaping out on the entry level models.

1