Episode 3 What to Buy and Why

Hello and welcome to the world-famous Blackpool Illuminations for the show

that asks the top professionals what you should be spending your money on.

I'm Cherry Healey and in this series,

I'll be visiting iconic locations across Britain to ask

the country's best experts to show you how to shop like a pro.

From cosmetics to power tools,

trainers to bullet blenders,

our experts will push the most popular products to their limits,

to help you choose what to buy and why.

Tonight, we're talking TVs -

4K, HD, curved - so many to choose from but what do they all mean?

Our experts will tell you which is the best value for money.

Well, that's not brilliant,

cos the sound just seems to be coming from behind the television.

Also, Naga Munchetty jumps into bed to investigate

whether bedding thread counts are accurate...

Or are we having the cotton pulled over our eyes?

..and some decorators share their money-saving tricks of the trade.

To stop your lenses getting smothered in paint,

simply put some cling film over the top.

If you want the inside track on the latest products

from the people really in the know, then look no further.

This is What To Buy & Why.

Here in Blackpool, the Illuminations have been an annual fixture since 1879.

Back then, the display consisted of just eight lamps,

but it's fair to say things have moved on quite a bit since.

Now, more than 3.5 million visitors descend on the town each year,

to enjoy Britain's most popular free light show.

And this year, for the first time,

the centrepiece of the Illuminations is the Tower itself,

thanks to this stunning projection show.

It was created by tonight's experts,

husband-and-wife team Karen Monid and Ross Ashton.

With over 20 years' experience designing spectacular audiovisual presentations,

they're the perfect people to test TVs for us.

How on earth do you get something that big to be that clear?

Above our heads, we have 14 high-power video projectors.

It's quite a big system we've got in here.

It's pretty powerful. The sound is incredible as well.

It just booms out.

The image and the sound work very closely together,

so they are interlinked

and then it creates a very complete experience for people.

So you really know your way around audio and visual?

We like to think so, yes.

It must be a nightmare for you when you go shopping for a telly.

THEY LAUGH

But that's exactly what I'm going to make them do.

FRENCH POP SONG PLAYS

This is the world-famous Empress Ballroom.

Normally it hosts international dance championships but today,

it's home to, well - a bunch of the very latest tellies.

Despite the move towards online viewing,

95% of us still own a TV

and over 9 million new sets are sold every single year.

But buying a television isn't as simple as it used to be.

There's all sorts of different formats available,

all sorts of different prices and lots of different sizes.

It's a minefield.

Luckily, our top audiovisual engineers have come down from the Tower

to help us decide which type of telly represents the best value for money.

If you look at that one over there...

On the high street, there are three main formats

but which should you go for?

HD...

..4K...

..or curved 4K?

So what are the main characteristics of an HD television?

So up until very recently, this has been the cutting edge

of what you can get in your home as a TV.

Not that long ago, HD was special but a bit of an expensive purchase.

Things are moving incredibly fast.

-And the price is constantly, I think, moving in the right direction for the consumer.

-Yeah.

-And the picture is great. It looks fabulous.

-Absolutely.

The next option is 4K.

And what does the 4K refer to?

Well, 4K means that there are more pixels then you have on HD.

You've actually got four times the number of pixels.

-So if you took any quarter of this screen...

-Yes.

..then you have the same resolution as you've got in that entire screen.

As someone whose face is sometimes on the television,

I find that terrifying,

because people can see every blemish, every makeup mistake...

-Yeah.

-They can be pretty unforgiving.

-Wow!

-Yeah.

I must remember to exfoliate every single night from now on!

Currently, most programmes are televised in HD

but it's thought this will change to 4K within a few years.

So that's something our experts need to take into account.

There is the idea of future-proofing yourself, for in the future

when we will start broadcasting in 4K.

I'm going to have my television for an average of about seven years.

-I'm future proofing it...

-Yes.

..so that I'm not going to have to replace it in two years,

if everyone starts broadcasting in 4K.

Right now, the content you can get that's truly 4K is generally

through streaming services, so for films or for sport.

4K TVs do cost more than HDs, though,

and the latest format to hit the shops,

the curved 4K, is even more expensive.

They take a little bit of getting used to.

-It's quite an unusual effect.

-Yes.

The theory is that because you're curbing the extremities in,

instead of the image being stretched into the corners,

it's been pushed towards you

and this is supposed to give you a better viewing experience.

But while the cheapest 4K is £300,

the curved 4K start at around £700.

That leap in price is huge.

I mean, it's a holiday for me and my kids.

As a consumer, you need to really make a decision about whether that extra money is worth it.

So which format will they save and which will they eliminate

to help us choose what to buy - and why?

You've had lots of time to discuss it. Which one is going first?

BOTH: HD.

Buying a TV is an investment buy and HDTV, you know,

might be more obsolete in two or three years' time.

So which is the next television that is going down?

BOTH! The curved!

In the interest of getting something that's going to be

value for money, we think that that has more of a limited appeal.

-It's more niche.

-Yeah.

-As the experts, you would spend your money on the 4K?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

It's ready to take 4K and can already deal with the 4K

that's currently streaming into people's homes.

It will be something that will last you seven, eight years.

4K's not going to go away. A better picture is a better picture.

So now we know which format to choose, there is another vital question -

what size telly should you buy?

Many of us waste money on a TV that's too big.

So later, we'll tell you what you need to know.

# Just about to lose my mind... #

In this series, we want to introduce you to top professionals who

really know their stuff -

passionate specialists with years of experience, whose ingenious

shortcuts and money-saving tips could make us all smarter shoppers.

My name is Daniel. I'm head butler here at the Lanesborough,

one of London's most prestigious hotels.

If you drop wax on your clothing or carpets,

there's an easy way to get rid of it.

All you need is a brown paper bag,

an iron - put it over, press it.

The wax is gone.

Stick it in the wash and it's as good as new.

I'm Glynn, kit manager of Leeds Rhinos.

It's up to me and my team to ensure the kit is gleaming for the next game.

Grass stains are hard to remove but by no means impossible.

Soak the shorts in water for around 15 minutes, add some white vinegar.

The acid should start to break the grass stains down.

Scrub with a toothbrush.

If needed, add some detergent.

Put the garment in the wash - the stains will be gone.

I'm Will. I'm a furniture restorer.

There is a cheap and easy way to restore the French polish finish

to your furniture, using products you can find around your own house.

Simply by applying some baby oil onto

the surface of the furniture, along with methylated spirits

and a clean cloth, working it in the direction of the grain

of the wood, will leave you with a lovely, shiny piece of furniture.

Still to come here in Blackpool...

We find out how the Illuminations have slashed their electricity bills

and how you can do the same at home.

But first...

Our reporter Naga Munchetty investigates if we're getting

the full picture when it comes to the quality

of one of life's unavoidable purchases - bed linen.

Check the packaging and you'll find, aside from the size, pretty much

the only thing prominently displayed is the thread count of the cotton.

This can range from 100 to 1200 and it tends to be that the higher the number,

the more expensive the product.

Does anyone understand what those numbers really mean?

'I've come to Covent Garden to ask.'

If you were buying linen, which would you buy?

-Er, 1000.

-Why?

Better quality, I suppose.

-Probably the 1000.

-Why?

-You're going to be more comfortable, I think.

If it's a higher thread count,

doesn't it mean that it's better quality?

'That's an assumption many of us make

'and it seems to completely determine which linen we buy.'

It's like a science behind it that says it's definitely better.

'But is it right?'

Where better to find out than Derbyshire

and one of Britain's oldest textile mills.

Now a working museum,

material has been produced here for more than 100 years.

Over to head weaver Andrew Martin.

Weaving is actually interlocking the threads together,

from the back to the front and the left to the right.

The thread count is literally the number of threads in a square inch of cloth.

The more you get in, the better quality the cloth is.

So the people I met in Covent Garden were right.

The higher the thread count, the higher the quality and that's why we pay a higher price.

But how do you and I know if the numbers we're given are accurate?

Should we trust what the packaging tells us?

Or are we having the cotton pulled over our eyes?

To find out, I've brought eight high-thread-count sheets

sold by the biggest bedding retailers to Leeds,

where they'll be examined by leading textile analysts Shirley Technologies.

Ian Strudwick and his team count the threads in a sample square inch of each sheet.

It's a laborious, meticulous process but one that turns out fascinating results.

So, Ian, what have you found?

In four cases, the thread count is calculated on an incorrect basis,

which are from Dunelm, John Lewis, Debenhams and House of Fraser.

House of Fraser's Luxury Hotel Collection sheet is

marketed as having a thread count of 1000.

Yet Ian's test revealed the thread count is 780.

Dunelm's Dormer sheet has 452.

And John Lewis's Egyptian Cotton sheet just 402.

Whilst on Ian's count, the Sheridan Palais Lux sheet sold

in Debenhams as having a 1200 thread count has just 346.

So what's going on?

The term thread means one individual shot of yarn

inputted into the fabric.

In the four cases, what we're finding is that there are multiple

individual threads which are then twisted together to form a yarn.

Ah, so you could have three or four threads and then they twist them

together and that's one yarn but they're saying that's four?

That's correct.

Take the Dunelm sheet. Technically, 1,000 threads are present.

But it will feel little different from one with 452.

So why do they do this?

Why not just use single threads all the time?

It's harder to weave, it's more delicate and it takes longer

and is less efficient than

if you twist those four individual ends into one yarn.

And then weave it in as a fourfold yarn.

It's just a simply more cost-effective weaving process.

Yet they're still charging us extra.

All four retailers deny misleading customers,

maintaining their products are high quality

and that the use of twisted yarns is an established practice.

House of Fraser says as there is no legal definition of thread count,

it stands by its numbers, as does Dunelm and John Lewis.

Sheridan, the makers of the Debenham sheets,

says using this technique is the only way to make sheets with

thousand-plus thread counts of sufficient quality.

As a result of our findings,

John Lewis has decided it will now make clearer that its sheets include twisted yarns.

It's very confusing, isn't it?

Of the other four sheets we tested,

the thread count of two was spot-on, one was slightly overestimated,

one was dramatically underestimated,

saying it was 645 when in fact it was almost 1000.

So what have I learned from this?

Well, I'm going to take Ian's advice.

I'm going to buy what I can afford, what feels good,

and I'm not just going to focus on that thread count.

Back in Blackpool, we're testing TVs.

We typically keep tellies for seven years.

So our experts have decided the best value format for the future is 4K -

which poses another question.

How do you know how big a telly to buy?

Well, it turns out it's all about the size of the room you're going to put it in.

And because bigger TVs cost more,

you don't want to waste money on a set that's larger than you need.

The right size depends on the distance between where you sit

and where the TV will be placed.

If you're six feet away,

the space can comfortably take up to a 26-inch television.

If you're perched about nine feet away

get yourself anything up to 39 inches.

13 feet away means a 46-inch telly

won't have you straining your eyes to watch.

If your sofa is 15 feet away,

you can comfortably view a 55 inch set.

And if you live in a palace and luxuriously sit

17 feet or more away, then go as large as you can afford.

Now that's what I call a big telly.

So now you know about the format and the size,

can you get away with picking a cheaper model?

We'll be back with the answer a little later.

But first, we're heading outside to the Illuminations.

The displays run the length of the seafront, using more than

200 miles of electrical cabling and more than a million light bulbs.

But here's the thing.

Even though this display is becoming bigger, brighter

and more elaborate, the electricity bill is going down.

How can that be?

I've been invited behind the scenes to the factory

where it all happens, to find out if we can make similar savings at home.

I've been with the Illuminations 26 years now.

Richard Ryan leads a team of engineers that work

all year to design and build the show.

My interest started when I was seven.

So it's some form of illness for me.

That's pretty sad, isn't it?

No, it's not. It's wonderful.

It's wonderful because the Illuminations are so magical,

and I love that you are so passionate about it.

Like any job, there are days when you wake up and you go,

"I don't fancy this."

But there are far more days when I think,

"Brilliant, let's get stuck in and do something."

With this level of enthusiasm, surely Richard's the man to

shed some light on their falling electricity costs.

These are the old lights.

This is traditional Illuminations.

The big problem with those from an energy point of view is basically

when it's on it's kind of warm here, you can warm your hands on it.

Therefore, five times the cost of running it.

They look amazing, but they cost a fortune to run.

That's the problem with them, basically.

But technology has very much changed.

So on this desk there are four different types of lamp.

This is an old school filament lamp, they're almost obsolete now.

And this one here is a halogen lamp.

This is sort of the next generation.

So that's pretty widely available. I recognise that.

In the supermarket those are the cheapest.

Yeah, but they don't tend to last as long, you see.

So a lot of people have gone to this type,

this is called a compact fluorescent.

To me, that's an energy-saving light bulb. Is that the same thing?

Yeah. It was sort of one of the first types of

energy-saving light bulb, but on the left

this is the way we've gone in the Illuminations.

All these lights behind us here, these are all LED.

I remember when the LED light bulbs first came out,

they were very, very expensive.

As with all new technologies, they're expensive at first

and gradually they'll come down.

You know, if you compare the brightness of this.

I mean, if you look at them all together,

60 watt, 33, 11, 5.

That's five watts?

Which one do you think is the most efficient?

Well, that is five watts,

it came on immediately, it's as bright as the others.

-That's incredible.

-You've got your answer, haven't you?

And that's precisely why the Illuminations have switched to LED.

This is an example of LED.

It's using a fraction of the power.

It's not warm at all.

No, most of the energy that goes into making that flash

literally turns it into light and not heat.

By switching from the traditional bulbs to LEDs

how much have you saved?

We've cut our consumption by a third.

A third? That's a huge amount of cash.

You can take it into the domestic environment and save yourself a fortune.

On average, we have 34 bulbs in our home.

Using halogen will cost £203 a year.

Energy-saving CFL bulbs, just £72.

But switching to LED will see your annual lighting bill slashed to just £48.

There is an initial outlay for the bulbs - around £5.50 each.

But, given the savings, you'll quickly recoup the costs.

So I'm using energy-saving light bulbs at the moment.

Should I go out tomorrow and replace them with LED light bulbs?

Am I going to save a lot of money?

I think that what you should do is let those fail, and when they fail

replace them with those.

And then gradually you'll see your bills will start to drop.

And you're going to save the planet as well.

So what's better than that?

Question.

Most of us shave,

so why are women's razors routinely more expensive than men's?

On average, disposables are about 20p more.

For reusables, it's £1.

Yes, we get fancy smells and moisture strips,

but does the extra cost make female razors better?

MUSIC: Judy Is A Punk by Ramones

Let's find out, with the help of the Harlequins Ladies Rugby Team.

Each of our volunteers will shave one leg with a woman's razor...

and the other with an equivalent, but cheaper, men's.

-I do feel like I need to be more cautious with this one.

-Yeah.

So, what's the consensus?

I found that the shave feels pretty much the same afterwards.

It seems to take longer to shave with the man's one than

the female one, but it does the exact same thing, really.

The men's razors did have a close shave,

but I'd probably pay the little extra to have the women's one,

just for a bit more comfort.

I wouldn't be opposed to buying the men's razor.

It really isn't that much of a difference.

So it's three to one in favour of saving some dosh

and switching to men's razors.

Guardian beauty columnist Sali Hughes thinks they've reached the right conclusion.

You're paying more money for all that stuff

they stick on it to entice you to buy, and you simply don't need it.

I think women would rather a product that worked and cost a decent price.

And anyway, whichever marketing person decided that as a woman

I want everything to be bright pink is completely deluded.

Now, top tips from our decorators

to help you get more value out of the gear you buy.

I'm Helen and I've been in this business longer than I care to mention.

My daughter's in it now.

I followed my mum into the business,

so you could say I'm a chip off the old block.

When you're using emulsion paint and you're not quite finished

and you want to keep the brush, pop it in a plastic bag...

wrap it up, and that should keep for a good few days.

If it's really airtight, then you can keep it for a good few weeks.

If you've got some old, lumpy paint, don't throw it away.

Simply put a pair of tights, old tights, over a pot, pour it through

and you'll have lovely smooth, creamy paint, no lumps,

ready to use again.

When preparing woodwork, you'd usually use sandpaper,

but if the woodwork is next to glass,

the sandpaper will scratch it,

so the best thing to do is use wire wool.

It will do exactly the same job, but it won't scratch the glass.

If you've got paint on your white fittings, this is a great way

of getting them off, even if it's been there for months.

Methylated spirits on an absorbent cloth,

wipe it away, and great. Bob's your uncle.

All off.

Back inside the Empress Ballroom, it's round three of our TV tango.

Earlier, our audiovisual experts,

Ross and Karen, decided what format you should be spending your money on.

4K's not going to go away. A better picture is a better picture.

4K was the clear winner.

But what kind of cash are we talking?

Does spending more guarantee you'll get a better TV,

or can some of the cheaper models

deliver a viewing experience that's every bit as good?

We've selected three 55-inch TVs from across the price range.

A Hisense at £699,

an LG at £1,099,

and the most expensive we could find,

the Sony Bravia, at £1,899.

Now our experts are going to compare the sound and picture quality

of each set, to decide which one to buy and why.

It's the cheapest one that we have in the test.

First, the Hisense.

I think the colours look a bit false and not very naturalistic.

I mean, you're getting a 4K television for that money.

For the price you are getting a very nice image.

Sound expert Karen is assessing the audio.

Let's turn it up and see what the speakers are like.

'It's his first chance to mate...'

Well, that's not...

Well, that's not brilliant

because the sound just seems to be coming from behind the television.

So if this was against your wall the sound would just hit your wall.

Next, the mid-priced television.

The LG.

Image, for me, looks a lot more naturalistic.

I think the colour depth is absolutely fantastic.

It's a really nice image.

'It's time to separate the men from the boys.'

OK, well, this one's not much better.

It's not got a lot of power to it.

Because it's thin they're trying to install small speakers into it.

So the quality of the speakers in both of these don't really match the picture.

So, finally, the most expensive television - the Sony Bravia LED.

Again, very naturalistic colours.

Not much to choose between these two.

Right, this one is quite interesting because the speakers seem

to be mounted on the front and coming towards me.

A much better quality of sound.

And it works much better with the picture as well.

The sound is now coming from the picture,

and I can hear it much more clearly.

So it's decision time.

You've had a chance to fully interrogate the televisions.

Which do you think gives you the best value for money?

Is it our most expensive set, the Sony, at £1,899?

I think the increase in price is probably more to do with

the audio than it is to do with the picture quality.

How about the budget option, the £699 Hisense?

I'm tempted by the cheaper one,

but if you had that bit extra to spend I would go for the mid-range.

So the £1,099 LG is our experts' top value TV.

I think you can get the mid-price set and you can

do what you want with the audio, at a far more reasonable cost.

So, follow Karen's advice

and get good external speakers or a sound bar for as little as £85.

Far less than the extra £800 you'll pay for the Sony.

So we have a clear winner.

Yes, the LG, the mid-priced 4K.

In response, Hisense said,

"This is an entry-level set,

"so shouldn't be compared to more expensive ones."

But it's confident its products stand up to competition.

It says, "The downward speakers improve audio by reflecting

"sound off solid surfaces."

Sony says its TVs provide clear pictures, no matter the definition.

And their enhanced audio gives a more immersive,

lifelike listening experience.

Job done.

Popcorn time, obviously. Yeah?

That's it from Blackpool.

Next week we'll be in the West End's biggest theatre,

and home of the English National Opera.

Their wardrobe department test the latest steam generator irons.

So the fiddly bit. Ah!

We ask the prop builders if you can get away with buying a power drill...

..that costs less than £75.

Just hanging in there.

And we'll have more invaluable tricks of the trade.

If you've got a pair of shoes at home that are too stiff and pinch,

a few seconds with a warm hairdryer

will soften the leather, making them much more comfortable to wear.

MUSIC: I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock Of Seagulls