alcazar

iTrader: (2)

To be honest I have insufficient interest toknow what's what in the three major technologies, and the amount I actually watch is negligible. We have a CRT TV at the moment, Virgin medium TV package, no HD, no 3-D, we NEVER pay for films and I won't pay extra for sport. (although I DO watch footy when it's not pay per view, and ditto cricket).

So......what should I buy, what brand? I don't want to pay much over £700, and want something less than 50".

What I'm TRYING to avoid is buying a Jamsong plasma from Tesco at £350 and finding I should have had a Bony LED one at £400 which would have been WAY better..........

Also, what's the game with spending around £700 on a TV, then needing ANOTHER £200 on the sound system?

Ant

£200 on a sound system......

Everyone on here like usual will tell you to buy a Panasonic, but IMO go to the store and look at what you prefer as a good pictures.

Also ask to look at the standard definition picture not just the hd

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

A flat screen TV is a completely wrong shape for a quality loudspeaker, that's the problem. To reproduce quality sound across the entire range, a speaker needs depth and volume. That, and the fact that everyone wants the TV to be as cheap as possible, is why flat screen TVs sound awful.

Look at it this way: at least you can buy a £700 TV and know you've got £700 worth of picture, and haven't wasted £200 of that price on sound when you already have a stereo...

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Ah, now, you see, I've just got back from Comet/Currys, and if I'm being perfectly honest, I couldn't see ANY difference between any of the sets excpet for size and apperarance. they ALL seem to be showing a feed from somewhere which is just advertising and is designed to make an ElCrappo TV look good, let alone a Panashiba.

I prefer the looks of the ones with the LEAST surround to the screen.

Can I just buy some computer speakers and use those with it? I don't want to run it through my Hifi.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Jeff, we both like a bargain and hate paying full price for stuff. You know the drill, we walk into one of these establishments, say we're after something that day and have a wallet stuffed with cash BUT you want a good deal.

The internet is you friend here. I always do some research on prices and factor this into the convenience of 'view to buy'. I wish my TV was a Panasonic as my surround sound is as it would just go better together but the Samsung TV has been a good servant.

If you go somewhere like Comet you'll probably get a deal with a TV, surround sound and stand in a batch but you may pay more from places like this. Say Tossco who have loads of TVs in may only sell seperately or offer x% off but the unit price may work out cheaper than a "bundle" from Comet. This is where my above research comes in.

I'll come TV shopping and offer a second head of opinion

Ant

Personally I prefer the styling of the samsung tv's and the picture isn't all that bad

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Mines been a good servant for the past 4 1/2 years but is a HD ready with the lower resolution. This itself was £500 in 2007 just for the 32" TV in a bundle package (£700 overall with stand and surround sound). Nowadays you'll get a lot more for £700 My brother just bought a Tossco Technika 32" full HD (1080 resolution or whatever) for £197. Ok a cheaper brand but I've seen him gaming on it as that's it's main purpose and the picture is bloody good through a PS3

Ant

Watch a non hd free view pictures it's terrible on the tecknika

That's why you should always check the pq on SD as that will show the best if its a crap panel

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Picture quality on standard definition at a guess? I'm not TV tech-talk-taught

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Sure you can, there should be a headphone socket or line-out you can use.

The crap they use to "demo" TVs in stores is shameful, IMHO, but the manufacturers don't help themselves either. The worst example I saw was a Sony effort which was all stop-motion animation with bright, primary coloured characters - the very worst possible material for anyone trying to judge whether a TV can show a natural looking picture with smooth motion.

(Oddly, they were using this material even with high end TVs that really didn't need their flaws masking in this way - it was just total, utter ineptitude IMHO).

I read a lot of reviews and ended up at Richer Sounds, where I bought a Panasonic plasma after a decent demo with the set hooked up to a blu-ray player.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

£200 would be a bare minimum.

If you had a CRT with decent built in speakers (i.e Dolby pro logic, built in subwoofer, 2 way front speakers etc) then pretty much any modern telly will not hold a candle to it. Hence the need for it.

Even the home cinema in a box systems are aweful...one way speakers. I mean come on.....are tweeters that expensive to install these days for those who have hearing that still works above 15khz?

Not strictly so; They are s**t for many reason, take my top-end panny...a pair of one-way dipole speakers pointing down, so poor sound imaging and no form of enclosure to stop the backwaves from the rear of the speaker cancelling out what is produced by the front of the speaker. Made worse by the speakers themselves being bolted to the TV's metal chassis (which resonates and causes even more cancelation and colouration) The result is a tinny speaker system with little stereo imaging.

If they wanted to they could put a enlosure around teh speaker to create a bass reflex cabinet, even ported. Or even better a folded horn which would allow the speaker to be hidden in the depths at the rear of the TV with the horn mouth at the front (think Bose's wave-guide). It IS possible, but TV makers are cheaping out on us all in order to sell over priced home cinema surround systems.

I know this as I have a very old £5000 Hitachi plasma in the bedroom (its worth about £50 today ). And that DOES have bass reflex speaker enclosures with tuned ports; The speakers are bolted into their own high density ABS enclosures, with lots of reinfocement and wadding to cancel out the backwaves. Like the Panasonics of the same era that had detachabe speakers (remember them? ), this TV also has a seperate subwoofer, so overall its sound is actually acceptable. Yet its no thicker than a modern Plasma either (although its pretty damn heavy). I could post some pictures to show you the Hitachi speakers vs my much newer Panny's just to show you why a modern TV sounds so rubbish. Its not from the lack of space, its the fact they simply haven't even bothered!

Sorry my moaning ain't helping. But just letting you know your new TV will have poor sound quality. You just have to live with it or deal with via some other means.

Where were we? As for technology, forget LCD (or to be accurate cold-cathode or flourescent backlit LCD), and go for either a 1080p Plasma (beware some are stil 720p) or a LED (LED backlit LCD).

As in countless threads before, I'm still a Plasma man...they tend to have more natural picture motion than LCD/LEDs even those with motion interpolation jiggery pokery. I'd much prefer to watch a TV with nicer picture motion over one that have a more vivid image and uses a little less electrickey. I have my favourite brands, but its easy to be a brand snob. And TBH if you are not going top-end then you'd be better off looking at all the brands out there.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Fair comment Ali - though I imagine the margin on a £5000 TV (not to mention the actual market for it) will have allowed for a bit more engineering effort than on a £500 TV.

FWIW I actually have no idea what the sound on my plasma is like; I turned it off and hooked the TV up to my DSP-A1 on day one.

Glowplug

iTrader: (8)

My 47" LG LED is a mint picture, both HD and SD. It was a grand about 6 months ago so should be around your budget now. I do run it through a Sony 7.1 AV controller for the sound though .

corradoboy

http://www.soundandvision.co.uk/tv/p...iera-low-price £594

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...96/yama-yht196

Ant

also if you're the type of person who is eco friendly, plasma uses 3x as much electricity

Ant

personally these give a brilliant picture and they look the bee's knees

http://www.richersounds.com/package/...--all/pah01397

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Although the power saving of having a "eco" LED will be a bit pointless once its hooked up to 620watts of surround system (plus subwoofer) and cranked up to THX's reccomended volume levels ('kin loud)

Ant

i listen through headphones to save electric

corradoboy

I often have a HDD recorder recording, whilst watching content on a media HDD through a 910W 7.1 receiver to an older (power guzzling) 50" plasma

mart360

I have both, a Plasma in the bedroom Panny, stunning picture

And an LG LED in the main room, 3D smart tv

Both have there plus points, and there minus points.

The LG needs a full HD feed or a good source feed to show it off, its not forgiving of poor signals, and sound quality is not too good

The Panny, is stunning for gaming and HD, and the sound is superb, but its not full HD or a smart TV. That said hook up a DNLA compliant DVD and your away



Mart

corradoboy

I too have both, 50 PDP in the lounge and 32 LCD bedroom. If I want another lounge TV it will be another PDP.

yabbadoo4

iTrader: (8)

basically all the technologies have flaws, best let your eyes decide. take a good reference dvd or blu ray into the store and ask for it to be played on the tv,s that your considering, i did this when i bought mine.

corradoboy

When demo-ing, get them to switch off the super dynamic contrast, ultra colour processing and whatever else they have switched on to boost everything up to make the world look like it was made by Pixar. Look at natural images and try to compare them to what real life looks like. It's easy to be seduced by artificial overblown images, but in reality, it wouldn't be good to watch long term. Almost every TV I've ever looked at in the major stores has the brightness and contrast cranked right up and it catches the eye, but a discerning eye winces at the false image. Many THX certified DVD's and BD's have optimisers that can be used to get a decent set-up in just a couple of minutes. Worth doing when you're down to the last 2 before splurging hundred$.

yabbadoo4

iTrader: (8)

agree with above most newer tv,s have a "store mode" which ramps up all settings. as said a lot of tv,s will have a film mode which will be that manufacturers attempt at their best settings. try these modes with all enhancements switched off for the most native picture the tv can produce with its best settings.

marcevs72

iTrader: (5)

I picked up 40" samsung 1080p LCD tv,wall bracket,panasonic bluray player with home cinema built in for £700 from comet.should have cost £1100.just changed to virgin and picture is spot on when on hd channels or normal channels.

mart360

Some Lg's have a hidden THX menu which can be unlocked

so you get a THX set up tv for very little wonga, (do a web search)

Mart

dpb

Having just bought Panasonic plasma im still in quandary as to whether should have gone passive 3d and , probably, lg
But im happy with the picture and can get 5.1 surround speaker for 40 quid.

( clearly it won't be hifi standard , but good enough )

TelBoy

Anyway, i have a plasma Panasonic and have to say, can't believe a TV picture could be any better. It's almost like it's sharper than my eyes can see in real life.

I'm jury-out on the 3D capability though. The standard picture is so lifelike that i never bother with the 3D, in any case the glasses are extremely uncomfortable and the flickering in anything other than very dimmed light makes them a novelty feature only for me.

Leslie

Best way is to go to Comet or somewhere similar where they have a lot of tv's all working at once so you can compare directly. As a rule you will find that you can set up a picture at home to be better than what you see in the shop anyway. Half of them dont bother that much.

My Panasonic plasma full HD does work very well for all round picture quality but I have had it for some time so I don't know how good the more modern ones are now.

Les

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

See, here's a problem, Les. The TVs are all set up in those shops, all tuned to some stupid advertsing stuff.

And I can't see a picture diference between the £350 plasma set and the £2300 LED set next to it.......except that the £2300 set is marginally bigger.

All these things TVs can now do, voice activation, (yeah, right, I can see it reacting well to a Northern accent), Smart TV, etc etc, do I REALLY need it?

What I want is something with the smallest bezel, biggest decent picture for my money.