Hi there,
I’ve just read the Aldi TV article and obviously can’t argue with the facts: they’re inferior devices when compared to the newer and better options. But I love my 65" Aldi one from 2019! It was $529 and basically acts as the lounge room monitor for a PC. This is the third cheap TV I’ve used for the purpose after a 32" 1080 in 2010 and a 55" 4K in 2015. All around or under $600 lol.
My argument is that some (many?) of us, the size of the screen matters a lot.
I use the PC with a wireless mouse and keyboard (with touchpad) when relaxing for seamlessly interneting, youtubing and streaming. It’s a vastly superior system when compared to using smart TVs and I have always had a proper amplifier and good speakers connected. This results in great sound and a decent picture for general use with the screen now large enough to show iview or youtube in a window while doing other things.
OLED appears to have properly taken over from plasma as the best overall viewing experience for visually rich or fast-paced stuff. It will be a while though before that tech is cheap enough for people like me to consider it good value. At $529, that Aldi TV has been hilariously good value with a picture quality that I simple accept and ignore. Comparisons rightly contrast competing options for quality, price etc and I appreciate Choice greatly for that. But I believe that as a result of that focus there is little consideration given to the benefits of larger sizes of screen at bargain prices. A $700 projector can give you a wall of picture that is surprisingly good, especially after a few viewings when your eyes and mind have adjusted. Afterwards, the better picture on a TV can seem like a let down after have a wall-sized movie with that projector.
The good TV tech remains quite expensive but for a fraction of the cost you can have a big TV with a surprisingly useful watching experience, especially when coupled with a PC and decent speakers. I chose to ride the tech wave at this value level but for many those cheap TVs are the only options that are not breath-takingly expensive. Either way, I reckon they’re a legit option.
