What criteria do we use to evaluate TVs on gagadget
We usually appreciate the opportunity to watch movies or play games during our working hours and have been reviewing TVs since 2009, almost since the site's inception. From our first texts, the founders of gg have been focusing not only on technology, but also on its applied benefits for the consumer.
That's why we showcase even the traditional "advantages and disadvantages" not like everyone else, but as reasons to buy or not buy a particular device. Consumers don't care about the name of the technology - when it comes to TVs, they are interested in answers to simple questions: will the picture be clear and bright, how detailed and deep will the sound be, and how convenient is the remote control.
In the last decade, these questions have been supplemented by requests for the ability to watch videos via streaming video services and to easily search for films or TV series.
In recent years, the issue of comfortable use of TVs for gaming has also arisen. And then there are the issues of technology, design and some exceptional features for demanding users.Such as, for example, a built-in soundbar or a subwoofer, Ambilight external lighting, or the ability to control smart home devices and support voice assistants.
We never call our reviews tests, because tests involve the use of some kind of technical equipment to accurately measure some factory settings of screen panels or speaker frequency response. Usually, all these precise numbers and diagrams mean nothing to the average person, and we try to be understandable to as wide an audience as possible.
Instead, we use criteria that everyone can understand, each of which is scored from 1 to 5 points according to transparent indicators, which we report in this text. There are 9 criteria in total:
- Design: Is it unimpressive or does it have any striking features?
- Image: whether it has any advantages and how well it matches the price category of the model
- Sound: how sophisticated the speaker system is and what sound processing technologies are used
- Interface: how user-friendly it is for quickly searching for videos or controlling the TV
- Gaming capabilities: whether the model meets modern requirements for online games that require minimal latency
- Remotecontrol: whether it is easy to use on a daily basis and has any unique features
- Additional features: this section allows the TV to get extra points for features that other manufacturers do not have
- Willingness to recommend a purchase: do we have a desire to recommend this TV for purchase after the review
- Value for money: how well the price compares to the model's competitive environment and how it compares to them
In addition, all reviews are structured in an inverted pyramid format - we first reveal the main findings of the review and provide information about the main advantages and disadvantages of the TV. Then we list the reasons to buy or not to buy it and provide our integral score as a percentage of the maximum possible score, taking into account our 9 criteria.
And then there is the actual detail for those who want to know more or understand how we came to these conclusions. This helps to save the reader's time and allow them to decide for themselves whether they should read further or whether this information is already enough.
Evaluation criteria: what makes up our 5-point rating system
| Category | 1 point | 2 points | 3 points | 4 points | 5 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design | clumsy | inexpressive | no different from competitors | with features | admirable |
| Image | noticeable flaws | ordinary | image enhancement technologies | extreme brightness | next level of quality |
| sound | noticeable disadvantages | power up to 20 W | sound enhancement technologies | multi-channel sound | built-in soundbar |
| remote control | with disadvantages | inconvenient | no different from competitors | admirable | unique useful features |
| interface | noticeable shortcomings | inconvenient | no different from competitors | very convenient | innovatively convenient |
| Opportunities for games | not suitable for games | has delays | no different from competitors | low latency | separate mode with low latency |
| Additional features | none | SmartTV | integration with voice assistants | ability to watch videos from websites | unique useful features |
| Willingness to recommend a purchase | do not recommend | rather not recommend | rather recommend | desire to recommend | strong desire to recommend |
| Compliance with the price | does not correspond | there are many analogues cheaper | no different from competitors | reasonable balance of price and features |
fully corresponds |
We are confident that this rating system allows us to give the reviewer's subjective opinion an objective quality that can be easily verified by these criteria. It is clear that we are not interested in TV models that are no different from their competitors and receive 3 or less points, and therefore have no chance of making it to the gg pages.
At the same time, it is clear that a model gets a score of 5 points only if it demonstrates some noticeable advantages over its competitors or even a transition to a new technological level in its criterion. For example, a TV without a soundbar will not get 5 points for sound. Nor will a remote control get 5 points if it does not have something unique and useful for the consumer. Or a TV that does not have a special low-latency mode will not get 5 points for gaming capabilities.
We also tried to create fair conditions not only for top-end TVs, but also for interesting mid-range models. They have almost no chance of getting 5 points. But at least there are two criteria where they can count on our highest subjective score - "value for money" and "willingness to recommend a purchase", which allows such models to get a fairly high integral score. This is a percentage of the highest score.
In addition, certain models that receive a score of 4 in the "willingness to recommend" category (not the only condition for this, but an essential one) can count on receiving our editorial "we recommend" award:
Models that receive 5 points in several criteria at once (and must also receive 5 points in the "willingness to recommend" criterion) have a chance to win our highest award, the "Editor's Choice". Thus, it is used exclusively to reward devices that have significant advantages over their competitors and/or some technological innovations that affect the development of the industry as a whole. In general, these are devices that we would be happy to use ourselves. And we would definitely recommend them to others.