How nice a TV to buy for my rental

Hi folks,

So, my listing currently has an ancient Sony CRT which has never worked very well, but it clearly deteriorating. Fortunately most of my guests don’t care about the TV - at least that is what they say, and nobody has complained in the reviews about the TV yet.

However, I clearly need to either replace the TV, or take TV off the amenities listed. I think it’s best to replace it - people do expect a TV.

I was thinking of the
Sony 80 cm (32 inches) Bravia KLV-32R422F HD Ready LED TV (Black)
which at Rs. 28990 (approx USD 415) is at the high end of the 32 inch standard Sony TVs. The cheapest Sony in that range is Rs. 22,990 (approx USD 330), so there isn’t a big spread.

32 inches is the biggest that room can take - it’s not a big room. And my take on Smart TVs is that they are not such a good idea, aside from being more expensive. See, for example

However, one can buy seemingly reasonable (but probably not very good quality TVs) for at little as Rs 10,000 to Rs. 12,000.

I suppose the main issue is whether there is significant risk of damage. Obviously, the more expensive TVs like Sony provide better image and sound quality in general.

For now, the TV is going to be on a tabletop. I’ve considered various other options, such as a wall mount, and a floor tv stand, but they all have different problems in the confined space of my room.

Feedback and thoughts appreciated.

ADDENDUM: After some feedback, I’d want to take an informal poll. If you have had a TV in your STR damaged, I’d like to hear about it. And mention whether it is/was wall mounted or on a tabletop, please.

In 2016 a smart TV wasn’t so smart. Now most TVs have this built in. I wouldn’t buy a high end TV the technology is changing and price dropping quickly. Wall mount is best if you can figure out a secure spot.

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Hi @faheem - why not ask your next few guests how important the TV is for them?

Daft question - in Mumbai are the TV channels available in local language or English? (A mix probably?)

I’ve noticed that few of our guests watch TV. I discovered this because I set the TV onto a music channel before the guests arrive. Quite often, it’s still set to the same jazz channel when they leave which makes me assume that they haven’t used the TV at all. (I doubt that guests ‘leave the place as they find it’ to the extent of setting the TV to the previously set channel!)

There’s no point spending too much on a TV that guests won’t use but in your rental room, which is quite small, a wall-mounted TV might be best.

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Hi @KKC,

I think the comments made by that article still apply in general. Do you disagree?

I’d like to do a wall mount. But the TV area is in a corner, and it’s difficult to do a wall mount there in a reasonable way. Do you mean it’s best because it’s less likely to be damaged?

And I doubt I’ll be buying another TV soon. At least not for the rental. We tend to keep our TVs a really long time. Which is another reason why it might be best to treat the Smart bit as an add-on.

Hi @jaquo,

I’ve chatted to my guests about it. Most of them don’t care too much, but some do watch it occasionally. I think it’s a very reasonable thing to have in the room for the evenings, when people come in tired from a day in the city and want to relax. Some places probably don’t need it, but Bombay (or at least my corner of it), isn’t the ideal place for a quiet evening walk under the stars.

All of the above. But I don’t currently have cable TV, just DVDs. I suppose I could get it, but most people don’t seem to care too much. But I would expect most people to stream to the TV, assuming that is technologically possible. Can one do that from a phone? A smart TV would make things easier in that department, that’s true. But I would still lean towards a set-top box or something similar instead.

Ah, but how much is too much? Cost isn’t just about features, it is about quality and longevity/durability. I generally prefer good quality electronics simply because they tend to last longer. And we’ve had good luck with Sony display devices, though I don’t know whether the quality is as good as it used to be. I’m still using a Sony 19 in monitor which I purchased in 2004. It’s playing a movie to my left as I type this.

Yes, @KKC mentioned wall mounted too. Why do you think it’s a good idea? It’s just difficult given the size of my room, and the location of the TV area.

I was thinking that maybe one of those (I’m not sure of the exact description) bracket thingies that allow you to move the angle of the TV depending on where you are in the room.

I’m not sure that made sense but I know what I mean…

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Swivel - that’s the word I was grasping for :slight_smile:

Yes, wall mounts let you do that among other things. But really, height adjustment is more useful. And the supported ones one can get here don’t do those. The adjustable height ones seem to use a gas spring type wall mount.

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Sorry, I didn’t read the article. My comment was based on 2 years is an eternity technologically speaking and I’ve just bought two new TVs in the last 18 months. The one I got 18 months ago is not a “smart TV.” I’ve now added Roku to it which makes it smart. It also only has one HDMI input which make it not a very smart purchase. However it was $130. The wall bracket was $20. The TV is a 24" so very light. A simple bracket worked for me. When I bought a 32" for my bedroom 4 months ago I bought a smart TV. As I recall all the 32" TVs are smart now. India is probably a different situation.

I have smallish smart tvs in all my rooms. They are mounted on the walls and can pivot and tilt. They are not expensive in UK, I think I paid under £250 for 32". Its rains a lot here, and people do like to watch youtube and movies in the evenings, or so they tell me. Most annoying thing is that the most popular and useful tv size, which to me is 36", is not sold in UK.

Hi @Kerensa_Baker,

What brand TVs did you buy? One can get quite cheap 32 smart tvs here. But the quality is questionable. While it may not be the case with everything, my experience has been that with electronics, you get what you pay for.

I was able to find non-Smart TVs in Amazon.com. Though they might mostly be older models - I didn’t spend a lot of time going through it. If new non-Smart TVs are no longer being sold in the US, that’s unfortunate.

Yes, India might be different. They probably have different models for different places.

They are available, they weren’t what I wanted. I went and took a look online to refresh my memory…

The non smart ones are 720p not 1080.

Yes, the non-smart 32 inch TVs have smaller resolution; 720p, as you said. That’s true here too. The term used is HD ready. But is the higher resolution important?

We have a 32" Sony Smart TV standing on its feet on the (non-functioning) fireplace mantel. Works just fine. We started out without TV but added it after a year. Hardest part is coming up with instructions on how to use the TV and Cable remotes so guests can use it and I don’t have to spend hours between guests re-programming/re-setting things so it works right again…

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It was to me. What is the point of a TV without a good picture? While it’s true that a smaller screen doesn’t need the higher resolutions that a big screen does it didn’t make sense to me to buy the old tech when the new tech is virturally the same price. And I often agree that you get what you paid for but my experience with electronics has been that the more expensive items aren’t always worth the expense. In the US the 32" TV are under $200.

Well, Smart TVs have significant problems. Here is another article about this:
Smart TVs Are Stupid: Why You Don’t Really Want a Smart TV.

It’s unfortunate that (for whatever reason), manufacturers only offer the higher resolution for the 32 inches for Smart TVs.

I suppose one option is to buy a Smart TV and simply not hook it up to the internet. Though I foresee complaints from guests if I do that. As in - why did you buy a Smart TV and not connect it to the Net? To quote that article:

Note: These days it might be hard to find a TV that isn’t a “smart” TV, so our advice is to just find the best TV for the money and don’t worry so much about the smart part of it. And definitely don’t pay a lot more money for a TV because of the “smart” features.

Two of our three rooms are smallish doubles. We have wall mounted tellys, and kept to small screens ( 24 inch) so they are unobtrusive. The model is LG Electronics 24MT49DF HD Ready. Mr Joan bought reconditioned ones from Amazon for £100, and there’s a new model out for £139 . Few people use them, but I’ve had three remote control sets go walkies!

$239 usd. Decent picture. If it is broken or disappears, it is not a large expense

I’m not sure how that is relevant. A non-Smart TV can still be connected to the Net using a so-called set-top box. And there is certainly a school of thought which consider that to be a better option.

And I’ve got nothing against the Net. Quite the contrary. I practically live there.

I don’t think it is. I’m just having random thought now. Sorry. I’ll delete.