My sister has sent us a gift card to a popular canadian tyre store (which famously, sells many other things), and we've decided to use it as a downpayment on a set of retreads, I mean a big screen tv. Big as in ~40-50".

Looking for recommends.  (dance)

If at all possible steer clear of brand names you've never heard of. These items will be selling on price alone and have no interest in maintaining a reputation against other manufacturers. They will be built down to a price and have such poor service arrangements that any future problem is a TV death sentence. On the other hand, the big names such as LG, Sony, Philips, Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp etc. are generally better made and better supported.

No advice on particular models. Unless your going to spend north of $2000 Canadian you aren't going for an OLED set. Same goes for Samsung's QLED sets. So you're probably looking at a standard LCD display and for that there really isn't any substitute for going to the store and having a look. 

There are two basic types: IPS (in plane switching) and VA (vertical alignment). You're unlikely to find any sets using the old TN (twisted nematic) standard unless you opt for ultra-cheap names you've never heard off (see above). The main difference between IPS and VA is viewing angle. IPS is far and away a better choice if that's important to you. On the other hand, if you always aim to sit in the 'sweet spot' no more than 10 degrees  or so off centre, then technically VA is capable of greater dynamic range, brightness, blackness and so on. Personally, viewing angle is important to me and I looked at load and loads of sets back in 2016 when our old plasma telly was getting a bit past it, and there wasn't much difference in quality between the two, so IPS would have been an easy choice if I'd gone for LCD.

But honestly, do go and look. There can be a surprising difference even between sets that are highly regarded. And if the store is serious about selling then they should let you have a play with the controls to avoid the 'everything dialed up' settings that stores favour.

Thanks!

The Samsung 43" 4K TU7100* and TU7000 are getting good reviews. I say "are" but maybe it should be "is" as they're the same TV with a different finish. The 7000 is cheaper at around $400 (less a cent). Stock isn't good anywhere though.

*various combinations of letters and numbers: UE43TU7100 (and 7000), UN43TU7100FXCZ and so on.

Currently assessing two models:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/sharp-43-4k-uhd-led-roku-os-smart-tv-lc-43lbu711c-only-at-best-buy/13339845

and

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/westinghouse-full-hd-smart-roku-tv-42-in-3999855p.html#srp


The first has a slightly wider angle of view (178 degree vs. 170) and is 4k, and is at the wrong store so no downpayment (but we will probably spend that on other things we would have likely wound up buying anyway, sooner or later)

The other is off-brand, hd1080p, otherwise nearly identical feature-wise, and considerably cheaper, given the downpayment thingy.

Generally speaking from reading Which from time to time, Samsung's panels often get good reviews. More recently, a lot of LG displays also review well. We have a Samsung screen (few years old now) and it is excellent. Good image quality, and the built in speakers are surprisingly good - so much that we've not bothered with a sound bar.

I would recommend looking online for a few reviews once you've shortlisted a couple of sets to see how they fare.

I read somewhere that soundbars can have pretty serious sync issues.