druddle

I bought a 32" Toshiba widescreen and picture is awesome (its a 50Hz). It has bog standard stereo speakers. I use a Denon Hifi amp and Mordaunt Short fronts, Boston Acoustics rears for surround sound.

If you want surround sound, keep it seperate from the TV. It may cost more in the long run (cables can be hideously expensive) but will be worth it.

One thing to bear in mind - a 32" tv is quite deep - check that you have the room for it.
Dave

[Edited by druddle - 4/3/2002 4:08:44 PM]

sillysi

I used to have a 32in Toshiba widescreen with Dolby Digital built in. The picture was rubbish and the speakers not up to much. Have just gone for a 28in Philips widescreen @ £386 with a Sherwood AV receiver (Dolby Digital, DTS & 6 channel input) @ £179 with a Mission Cinema 72 speaker pack @ £279 from Richer Sounds. Total cost comes to £844. The Tosh' TV was £1600 !! Believe me the sound is out of this world no way would you touch a TV with built in surround sound after hearing a set up like this. Richersounds will even demo the set for you.

Regarding 50/100 Hz. Many experts advise not to use a 100Hz with any digital brodcasts such as DVD as it can cause problems with the picture. I experienced this with the Tosh' which was 100Hz.

[Edited by sillysi - 4/3/2002 5:15:47 PM]

Wheelman

Now I'm most definately on my way out of the marital home I want to get a new TV. How on earth do you choose? I want widescreen, I quite like the built in digital decoder idea but is this a waste of time with the potentially imminent demise of ITV digital? I don't think I need anything bigger than 32" but flat screen seems a good idea. I would like cinema sound eventually, does this impact my choice? Would like to keep costs reasonable, do I have to spend £1000?

As ever I expect there are some experts out there in Scoobyland so let me know what you think boys and girls.

Chris T

I bought the sony 32" - not a flat screen (way more than 1k)

then bought the sony 5.1 digital sound box - has an optical sound feed cable thing - so there you go

BTW - I only ever buy sony - so don't ask me whats the best make
of TV - all I can sayis - its awesome.

Ps need about three people to lift the buger though

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Sony all the way here too

Still very happy with my 28" Widescreen Wega, crystal clear to the very corners But even mine weighs a tonne and has a huge depth.

Gordo

Don't get a TV with a digital decoder or fancy sound system IMO. The government is going to have to backtrack on turning off analogue (what choice does it have when still only 50% of the population can get the soon to be gone Ondigital signal?).

sound systems on TVs do nothing more than push the price up (Dolby, 'surround' speakers etc).

I bought a Philips 32" widescreen a couple of years ago ('blackline' - tube terrific, sound rubbish as its basic Nicam). Not sure on current prices but I'd imagine less than £500.

Next go to Richer sounds and buy a what hifi rated AV amp (a Marantz or similar) with a centre speaker, two surround and two rear (deals to be had on the Eltax range). Programme the TV so it's sound is always off when you turn on and run the sound through the surround system.

sorted
Gordo

p.s. when you're feeling flush buy a popular-with-the-bird subwoofer (about the size of a TV on its own, a very discrete black piece of furniture) and shake the sofa to bits. You can also play your CDs through the same set up (esp if you add a DVD).

Phill

Wheelman,
Indeed without going into silly money 3k and upwards IMHO Sony does indeed kick ***, the Wega 100hz set up is very very good, and i got my 32" with high end sony VCR and stand all in for £1200 with 12 months interest free credit (scotish power.

They also have all the gubbins for optical connections, 5.1 surrond and all that good stuff. If you have the cash go sony if not just make sure you have a 100Hz refresh rate on the screen, honestly watching my brothers 50Hz grundig wide screen effort now actualy hurts my eyes it's more like a bloody strobe...

Enjoy,

Phill

P1Fanatic

Had the Wega 32" 100hz WS for 2 years now and its still great. I paid £1,300 then when they were in short demand so they should be a lot less 2 years later on.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Just like you'd be mad to choose a hi-fi without listening to it first, I really think you need to look at a few TVs side by side and make an informed choice. John Lewis tend to have a pretty good selection of 32" widescreen models. I have a Loewe Credo which was great when I bought it 2 years ago, but there are better models around now.

Personally, I've had bad experiences with a variety of Sony equipment in the past. I know lots of people recommend their kit, but I'd be inclined to look elsewhere. Philips, Panasonic and Toshiba all make good TVs and have never done anything to really upset me

If you're looking to upgrade to full cinema sound later on, don't waste money on sets with surround sound now. They simply won't compare to any proper hi-fi surround system. All you need is a stereo output, which they'll all have - just make sure you can mute the internal speakers without having an icon appear on screen and without disabling the audio output.

Enjoy!

Andy.

mbc

SONY SONY AND SONY

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Sillysi: it's certainly true that 100Hz TVs can have picture problems. However, 50Hz looks so horrible on a big screen that just about any processing artefact is tolerable by comparison, IMHO.

For a variety of reasons, achieving 100Hz is far more complicated than simply showing each frame twice - there's quite a lot of processing involved. Some sets do this much better than others, and it's certainly possible to get a 100Hz set that works extremely well. My TV struggles when white text (eg. credits) is superimposed on a slowly moving background, particularly on NTSC DVDs. It's still infinitely preferable to 50Hz flicker, though.

Also, note that a 100Hz set in 50Hz mode will flicker a lot more than a dedicated 50Hz set, because the persistance of the phosphors is reduced. It'll be practically unwatchable.

Andy.

P1Fanatic

Ive never had any problems with any sony kit and my 100hz wega is picture perfect for NTL cable and DVD. Only problem Ive seen on mine and most of the early flat screens is that the tube sometimes bows from the middle outwards on the horizontal. Hard to notice until u watch a widescreen film in a diff format that uses the black lines top and bottom.

Another common misconcenption is that a WS TV means you dont see the black strips top and bottom. This is not true and is dependant to what format the film is in.

Dream Weaver

AV Forums - like Scoobynet, only for Tellies

DW

Wheelman

OK lots of views. I think I get the message re DAB (don't bother) and audio (go for a seperate set up) Any recommendations on good offers at the moment then on the TV itself?

Alas

Hi m8
I'm on the same mission as yourself just now. Mitsubishi are doing a good 28WS for 350 quid in PowerHouse retail. Quality up there with the best but as no big image a lot cheaper. Bush seem to be at the cheaper end of the market with less fancy gubbins inside the set. Phillips in the middle and sony etc at the top of the money scale. I think I'll be going for the Mitsubishi 28WS. Looks smallish in the showroom but big enough when you get it home.
Alasdair

scooby whip

you definatley need flat screen and ideally 100mhz refresh rate. Sound to be at least Dolby Prologic. Cant go wrong with Sony, Toshiba or Philips. Internet is best place for deals. Try www.unbeatable.co.uk

Stevie B

Sony 32" Wega 100Hz.....Nuff said!

Technics sound, okay 4 me.

Diesel

Get the Tosh 40" widscreen rear projection TV. Crap sound, brilliant picture - less wide field of view than a tube, and ideally, your midday sun will not point straight towards the screen, otherwise brilliant! The way it optically blows up 4:3 pics to fill the screen is much better than tube TV's. Should be able to get it for £1400. DO IT - it is a few pence a day over its 8 year lifespan!

Still hate Telewest cable as it is digitally overcompressed and looks crap, crap, crap. Is SKY Digi less compressed?

Dislike 100HZ mode on it as it introduces jitter/bounce, esp on graphics and captions. Maybe its for phosphor dot big screens and not projectors?

[Edited by Diesel - 4/9/2002 8:56:11 PM]