Flat Screen Tellys

Posted by: TrollBoy on 04 April 2006

Hi

Bet loads of you have nice flash flat-screens and I need some help so.....

I wanna buy a flat TV just cos I have a tiny flat and it would fit in better. I want a 26-32" screen and want to know what the picture quality is like compared to a CRT tv. At the moment I have a 28" Panasonic (Tau?) that has a pretty good picture and I don't want to take a backward step, any advice much appreciated (don't want to spend more than a grand though).

Paul

[Now I know that some will say go into the shop and have a demo but I've been to places (dept stores) and the staff don't know what they're talking about and the demo picture in the shop is so variable as it's greatly affected by signal quality etc. So before I have a demo in a proper shop I thought I'd ask the experts]
Posted on: 04 April 2006 by arf005
Here's good for reviews on all sorts of AV equipment - www.homecinemachoice.com

Personally I'd go for LCD not Plasma, there are loads of reviews, old and new, on the above site and price range is quite varied.....

If you can strectch your budget to just over a grand there's this...

50" 3-LCD rear projection HD ready which we've seen, and are thinking of buying instead of a projector and screen for our home cinema Den.....what's the price.....??

How's £1400 grab you!!
For 50 inches!!!

Good luck with your search.

Cheers,
Ali
Posted on: 04 April 2006 by TrollBoy
Cool!!!!

Saw a DLP rear projection at Peter Jones which had an awesome picture but unfortuneately will be too big for my pad (the mrs would complain). That was the first rear projection telly that I've seen that was worth watching and it gave all the new technologies a run for their money (IMHO). Also only watch films occassionally, sport being the main thing (ie fast moving images ,can LCD do this well?). Would love to stretch to a £1400 model but going to oz for 4 weeks this summer so need to save..... Maybe buy a better model (of TV!) when I get back. Was thinking of the latest 26 or 32" Toshibas......

Paul.
Posted on: 04 April 2006 by arf005
Paul.
Save your cash, and have a great time in Oz....
I was there in '97 for four weeks. Had a week in Sydney then 8,600 miles in a campervan for the next three - Blue Mnts, Canberra, down to the coast and along to Melbourne, Ocean Road, Adelaide, up and out to Uluru, then back to Sydney via Broken Hill, Dubbo and Orange.....what a trip!!

Buy your telly when you come back, as things will have no doubt moved on by then.....new models etc, and hoepfully the prices will have come down too!

Cheers,
Ali
Posted on: 04 April 2006 by TrollBoy
Yeah, fair comment. It's only tv after all..............................................................................................
Posted on: 04 April 2006 by Occean
I recently bought a Toshiba 27WL56 - 27" LCD. Its looks great fed from my Denon 2910 via HDMi. Also pretty good via freeview box.

I looked at a fair few screens and non compared to my CRT. But as a space saver it is great. I too am in a flat and would not go back to a CRT in this enviorment.

it can be picked up for around £650 online and the the 32" is a couple hundred more.
Posted on: 05 April 2006 by JAB
Ali, what's the make & model of the TV pic you posted?
Cheers
Posted on: 05 April 2006 by RoyleBlue
Think its this model
http://www.lxdirect.com/rf/navigation/product.do?Ntx=mo...=1&product=287847077
which as you see is £1400 & £3-50 delivery which includes set-up and demo, and if you enter promotional code XX172 you get 10% off, which is nice, and you can pay over 12 months interest free - I'm tempted!
Or get it here
http://www.johnlewis.com/Audio+and+TV/Televisions/High+...0221823/Product.aspx
delivered free and 5 years guarantee!
Posted on: 05 April 2006 by TrollBoy
Thanks occean, that was the model i was originally looking at but when I saw it in the shop it seemed to have bad digital blocking (or whatever it's called!!??). Could this just be down to a poor quality of signal or is it something inherent in the TV? Although sometimes I think that in the shop one studies the picture from an unnaturally close ditance and it looks poor as a consequence......

PAUL
Posted on: 05 April 2006 by arf005
JAB,
yup, RoyleBlue was right, it was that model I was referring to....

We saw it at our dealers a couple of demos ago and were blown away with the picture, screen size, and especially the cost!! We have a 32" Sony flat CRT at the mo and were pondering over a projector and screen for our Den, seen here....


Or larger here -

I was looking at the Infocus 4805, with a fixed screen, and as you can see our Den is located in the upstairs extension so the ceiling was presenting a bit of a headache.....
Problem solved when we saw this telly!!

Cheers,
Ali
Posted on: 05 April 2006 by arf005
quote:
Originally posted by TrollBoy:
Thanks occean, that was the model i was originally looking at but when I saw it in the shop it seemed to have bad digital blocking (or whatever it's called!!??). Could this just be down to a poor quality of signal or is it something inherent in the TV? Although sometimes I think that in the shop one studies the picture from an unnaturally close ditance and it looks poor as a consequence......

PAUL


Paul, think that could be down to the signal.....
When we saw it, the dealer had it linked to the HD broadcasting sat. (Russian I think) and it was like looking through a bloody window!! Vivid 'real' colours, pin sharp picture, even with fast moving images, it totally blew me away!!!!
Posted on: 05 April 2006 by TrollBoy
Ali (et al), think that rear projection tv is the one I saw at Peter Jones (which is really just a john lewis) and as mentioned before I thought it had an astonishing picture when fed a HD signal (as did the loewe HD display I saw but that cost a mint)
paul
Posted on: 05 April 2006 by TrollBoy
ps Ali you are a lucky git if that's just youe 'den'. It's about the same size as my living room!!! Ah, the joys of living in the capital....
Posted on: 06 April 2006 by JAB
thanks guys!
Posted on: 06 April 2006 by domfjbrown
Ali's got taste in CRT TVs - he's got the 32 inch version of my 28 incher. I got mine off a mate (it's 3 years old) at the end of last year and it doesn't give anything away bar size to my mate's Panasonic 42inch plasma (current model).

I'll stick with CRT until LCD/plasma costs a) less than what the list price for my telly was and b) SIGNIFICANTLY improves on it.
Posted on: 06 April 2006 by arf005
quote:
Originally posted by TrollBoy:
ps Ali you are a lucky git if that's just youe 'den'. It's about the same size as my living room!!! Ah, the joys of living in the capital....

Thought you lived under a bridge Paul...?? Winker

And yeah, we are lucky, managed to get the house at the right time and both of us already had flats to sell, I feel really sorry for people who aren't already on the property ladder, it's very prohibitive!!

domfjbrown - cheers! and a good point re CRT vs anything else at the mo....
I bought the telly a few years ago now, along with the dvd player (which I gave to me Bro) and for the same price then we could just about buy that 50" beast now!! Just shows how things move on.....

Cheers,
Ali
Posted on: 08 April 2006 by Fredo
Wait for SED would be my advice! At least if you believe the reviews.