Picking a TV is getting harder by the minute. Every year, a new panel tech appears claiming to be the best money can buy.
Even within OLED, there are now multiple different flavours to choose from, which, having tested most of them, we know perform very differently from one another.
On top of that, a number of heavyweight players' TV divisions are going through cataclysmic changes that will have an impact on the products they make.
Just this week, Panasonic has entered a deal with Skyworth to let the Chinese OEM make and distribute sets with its branding in Europe.
Sony announced plans to sell a controlling share of its home cinema entertainment to TCL as part of a separate partnership mere weeks before.
And all this hootenanny led many of the team, myself included, to lament potential negative changes to the brands, which we’ve covered for decades.
But, as the dust settled, and the final track in our woe-is-me playlist (which includes a lot of The Smiths' work) finished, we were left with one big question: how important is a TV's branding?
Tech, especially home cinema, is always in a state of flux, and you’re only as good as the last TV you made. If you don't stay on top, people are quick to forget.
For example, though we know a few of you, our lovely readers, are holding onto your Pioneer plasma TVs for dear life, we’re not seeing many youngsters call for new sets from that iconic brand.
After much debate, a smattering of speaker cable duels and a forced time-out after the staff writers took things too far on the latter (Robyn Quick knows what they did), we still genuinely don’t have an answer to that question.
Which is why we’ve decided to make it the subject of this month’s Ask The Reader column. So, over to you...
Do you care who makes your TV?
Has years of loyal service from a key TV set made it so you’ll only buy from one company? If so, which was it and why was it so special?
Or, is it more about the hardware? Would you only ever get an OLED, or a Mini LED?
Or, do you go even further and not care about any of the above, just so long as it offers an immersive, fun movie-watching experience?
Let us know in the comments section of this page or on our social media channels and forums.
Just remember to keep your comments PG-13, as we’ll be collating your answers into a wider response piece at the end of the month!
MORE:
These are the best TVs money can buy
Our picks of the best OLED TVs
We rank the best Mini LED TVs
