Key Takeaways
- Shopping from home gives you plenty of research, control, and convenience.
- While the TVs in stores are optimized to look great, they may not look that way in your space.
- It takes time to understand the operating system, settings, and features at home.
Going out to shop can be a hassle, especially when you have to fight through crowds, stand in line, and speak to a salesperson to make a purchase. We can all agree that shopping online is easier than going to a store in person, but when it comes to buying a large electronic device like a smart TV, you might be understandably hesitant.
There are several reasons why buying a smart TV in-store is worth it, but it doesn’t have to be. With enough research and understanding, there are plenty of cases where you can shop for a TV from the comfort of your own home. Here are some reasons why you might be better off buying online instead of going to the store:
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1 Less pressure, more time
Big purchases require patience
At home, you have enough time and resources to do the important research and due diligence at your convenience. With over half a dozen popular TV manufacturers producing TVs in different sizes and screen technologies, with different features to cater to different types of content, sifting through them all in person can be a tiring task and much more difficult.
There’s no point starting your search in a store; there’s likely too much information to process and look through. Narrowing your focus takes time and thought, and it’s best done at home, preferably in front of your computer, where you can compare different TVs for your viewing needs and entertainment preferences. At home, you can also buy when you’re ready to buy, which means you might have to wait until the price drops.
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2 Convenience and comfort from home
Order, ship, and set up without moving
Netflix/Pocket-lint
At the very least, online shopping is much more convenient than leaving the house, going to a big-box store, and waiting around while discussing your purchase. You can be exhausted and overwhelmed, the prices may not make a difference, and if you have a specific question about a TV, there’s no guarantee that someone will be able to give you the answers you need.
If you’re buying a large TV, transporting it from the store to your home can be a hassle, especially if you live in an urban area where parking and transportation are a challenge, or if your home has stairs or an elevator. In many cases, you’re better off taking advantage of a TV delivery service, which often comes free with your purchase. You can also have a professional set up and mount it for a small fee, which includes placing it at the right height and making sure it’s safe and working properly.
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3 Television is optimized to look good
Store model sales start
If you’re going to watch a TV in person, remember that in the store you’re looking at the highest-end version of these TVs. These TVs are set up for sale, so every setting is optimized and every choice is made to make the picture look appealing. You’ll see content designed to show off the best parts of your TV, and it’s completely different from the content you watch at home.
For example, a setting of concern with QLED TVs and other models that use backlighting is contrast. These TVs cannot achieve true blacks, so there will be some shadows and gray elements, depending on the quality and characteristics of the backlight. If you go to see a QLED TV in real life, you probably won’t see a Game of Thrones episode or a haunted house movie playing on the screen. What you’ll see is content that stands out, but doesn’t necessarily explore the intricacies of how the TV works, nor will it reveal any easily noticeable flaws or shortcomings.
Some TVs will have sports programming, which is handy, but you won’t find any older SD content or reality TV, meaning that while certain content looks great in the store, it might not necessarily match how it will look at home.
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4 You need to try the TV experience at home
Your space is unique
No matter what’s on the screen in the store, and no matter how good it looks, you need to remember that you don’t watch TV in a store – you watch TV at home, and that environment is very different and can change frequently, which affects how the content on your TV is displayed.
The same TV will look different depending on where it is placed. The only way to know how it will look in person is to try it out in your space. The height of the TV, its distance from your viewing area, and the lighting in the room all affect how the TV looks. Wall-mounting or mounting it on a TV stand will also change the experience, but this can’t be accurately determined in the store. At home, you might see reflections (which you won’t see in the store) and distortions depending on your viewing angle. Sound, in particular, is a characteristic that changes greatly depending on the acoustics of the space and how the TV is placed.
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5 Television takes time to accept
There are lots of places to explore
There’s only so much you can understand and appreciate when inspecting a TV — a TV is much like a mattress in that you have to try it out for a while before you absolutely love it — but your grace period for a new TV is likely to be much shorter than your grace period for a new mattress.
To get the full TV experience and determine if you’ll truly enjoy a model, you need to test it over several days with a variety of content in different situations. That means testing how sports, classic movies, old sitcoms, and reality shows look on your TV. You should view titles on your favorite streaming services to see how they look and sound, and connect devices like Blu-ray players and games consoles to see what the experience is like.
Also, when it comes to operating systems, there can be a learning curve and adjustment period, especially if you’re switching to a new one or haven’t bought a new TV in years. TVs have a lot of features that take time to understand and set up, from customizing your home page and settings to adjusting presets based on the type of content you watch. All of this takes time and needs to be done at home.
Buying a TV takes a lot of thought and effort, but buying one for your home, no matter how big or expensive, is worth it. Once you’ve decided on a model, you should test it out in your own space to see if it’s the best TV for your viewing needs.
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