£800 budget for tv

Consider LG.

The ones I have seen had excellent picture quality, and were not expensive like some of the more traditionally accepted TV screens.

I bought an LG computer screen as it was simply the best on offer this side of a lot of money ... I have two friends who both have bought the make for large panel TV screens as the picture quality versus price was unbeatable. The results are very easily watched and enjoyed.

ATB from George

Thanks George, my choices were helped by reviews and also a friends choice a year ago of the previous sony model but in all honesty the LG's I saw in Currys tonight looked better than the Panny. No doubt its to do with the crappy set up.I will take a visit to John Lewis and see how it goes.

But if an LG can look fine in Curry's it does follow that it can also look fine at home, and the price is certainly an advantage ...

ATb from George

Beware the purchase of TVs on the basis of what they look like in Currys or any other such shop. NEVER buy on this basis!

Inevitably they are poorly set up and bear no resemblance to how they will look when they are properly installed in your home. Typically the contrast and colour has been jacked up to make the picture look more dramatic.

Panasonic are the best, closely followed by Sony. Samsung are also excellent regarding picture quality but heir sound isn't too hot. LG are pretty poor in comparison to the others.

Dear Tony,

Indeed, I could not agree more.

I am making recommendations on the basis of how LG screens look in the home - mine and others.

I could not give a tupenny damn how things look in a show-room, but if they look fine in the show room then one may assume that they also may also look fine at home, unless of course one cannot tell the difference between poor or fine set-up!

In which case it hardly matters anyway.

LG may not be a posh name but for TV and computer screens the company makes some of the best at a very nice price.

All I suggest is the visual equivalent of an audition. I did and I am more than happy with the LG I bought as a result.

ATB from George

I will definitely take that advice.

I was a little let down by the picture of the panny which was the more expensive G10 model but then it was not in its ideal circumstances or set up properly and maybe made to look that way. They could not find its remote so I could see what settings it was set at. HDTVtest gave it and the sony a Highly Recommended review hopefully I will get to see why at some shop.

Upon the untimely death of my Zenith/LG (see recent posting) I was impressed with the quality of the circuitry and construction during my troubleshooting.
I got it working again, but it has a blown board that will cost a significant fraction of a new one.
Looks like my next set will be a Panasonic.
David

If the significant proportion of its cost [to repair an LG] is similar to fixing a much more expensive outfit, and you still have the saving because you bought LG rather than much more costly Panny, then you are still better off. with the LG in the first place.

Consider this, the Panny is very good, and is a nice option at a price.

The LG is very good and is is nice option at the lesser price. At a lesser price inevitably a nicer option.

Both can go wrong shortly after the guarantee runs out, but with the LG, you have less expenditure in the first place!

No brainer in my view. Of course you only buy the LG if you like the picture subject to a visaul audition!

ATB from George

Sharp 1080p 37" LCD here too, a little more difficult to set up but worth it.

Dear George,

There's a flaw in your argument - LGs are less reliable than either Sony and Panasonic. (Source, "Which?" magazine.)

No matter, modern sets are generally all pretty reliable anyway.

Life is a gamble!

I will try and look at the sharps today as I remember they had a real good model a few years ago.

Its very difficult to tell just by looking at the screens in the shops so I am relying on reviews for a little more insight.

So far the panny 42G10 is the way to go. Salesman told me that they are now just as reliable as lcd with about a 10 year lifespan + no more screen burn. Is this true? As most greek channels anoyingly display their logo in top left/right corner.

Another tv that was really well reviewed by hdtv test is the samsung LE40B650. Being highly recommended as the sony and panny I really am thinking of going for it especially as I have found it for £689.95 including a 5 year warranty from costco + £100 for matching bluray player (but no 24fp is this important?) at richers I,m all in for £800. I know what the Mrs would say.

Picture quality first its other main plus point for me is that it has a very good scaler for sd tv signals and thinking that it will spend 80% of its life dispalying poor quality greek channels it sounds like the one to go for. It also works very well with portable media on usb/sd cards and sort of ok with internet but a bit slow for gaming.

Got to see the tv's in question again today. Its quite difficult to tell which way to go without having them running an sd tv signal and also seeing how they do with dvd + bluray.

I did however get a very good test drive with the samsung I mentioned above at my local richers. They had it connected to a denon bluray playing the transformers movie. I got to see different scenes from daylight to dark to full action and close up shots. I must say I was impressed, the settings were set as straight out of the box and it handled colours and motion very well for me.

Being picky I would have preferred a little better skin tone and just one thing that I picked out was when it was displaying faces the size of say a fifty pence coin they looked a little grainy in detail but I was standing only 4-5ft away. I still wouldn't complain. Even standing at right the other side of the shop the yellow colour and definition of bumble bee looked amazing.

Now with a proper personal experience and knowing that with correct calibration it would make an even better picture plus the price I have found it for it may be the one for me.

I also got to see a sharp LC46XL2E which again was very good but just a liitle less light than the sammy maybe because of its size. I would like to see a 40 inch version and also a phillips set that the salesman very strongly recommended before I go for the sammy.

can you source Vizio over there? Absolute bst VFM possible.

Keep in mind that there are what 2-3 LCD panels makers in the world. Sony, Pioneer, Samsung, Vizio, LG etc, all buy from the same makers.

I don't think we can get them over here.

Time is running out as I need to get the tv by early next week. Its a last minute rush for everything as we run a regular truck at work between UK and Poland and a gap arose with enough time to Corfu direct and back through Poland without affecting deliveries. I took the oppurtunity to save some money and for convenience. I would have been charged by volume and would have needed to unscrew all my furniture to keep cost down. This way I can just load it on without taking it all apart and drive our belongings out myself with my driver for the cost of deisel (lots of grannys wine for reward - he won't get back till the end of the year then!) so it would be a shame not to get the tv on and transport it with care.

Its looking more like the sammy. All positive reviews, I will see it again tomorrow to make sure its the one for me.

I do hope it works out there!

Unfortunately I could not get to see it today so will go tomorrow.

I did however spot a few posts from some buyers of this tv and am little concerned about lip sync issues that they reported. It seems that they were running the L/R audio outs from the tv into the external amp+speakers which due to the picture processing caused a delay. Although the tv adjusts for this when using its own internal speakers it seems there is no adjustment available from the tv to combat this issue when using external speakers.

Do you think connecting the sound direct to the amp from source can solve this issue?

Due to this important matter it seems that the samsung has gone more for features rather than doing the necessary stuff correct which is a shame. I could be wrong as it may just be connection and setting issues.

It still stays as my main choice as I was impressed by its picture but it has caused me to consider a cheaper tv panasonic TXP42X10 available for £525.00 at richers. No frills spec but more about picture quality although I don't know how the two compare. Its down sides are that it is not FULL HD.

Considering that I will be viewing mainly poor SD freeview is it a bad thing? My dvd collection is not going to be replaced with bluray but I will be renting bluray films and buying the odd special one.

I picked up a Panasonic X80 at the end of last year ... great TV not Full HD but ... having stood, watched and stared at numerous Full HD Pioneers and Panasonic's there was really little difference ... go for the TXP42X10 at £525 an absolute bargain ...
And let's face it the rate of change and development means that in 2 or 3 years time the level of performance will be way beyond that of today ... so minimize spend to day and wait for the technology curve to level out before making a more expensive ...

Panasonic TXP42X10 although an absolute bargain which is difficult to ignore has to be sidelined due to no demo available. Also reading you should really run plasma screens in for the first 200 hours by frequently changing channels, etc,etc, care has to be taken. I have children and I could really see myself returning between trips and having a permanent portrait of cartoon network on the screen.

Well I got another demo with the samsungLE40B650 today. I took my brother for a more expert opinion. He has a last year 40 inch sony model with 100hz technology. I have seen it in action and it has a very good picture. He lives with it and is very fussy with blacks, colours, motion, etc. He immediately said what a fantastic picture much better than his own tv which gave me more confidence from someone who has an lcd and is more than happy with.

Today it was unhooked from the blu ray player and I experienced hd freeview which was excellent and sd freeview which was as good as can be and much better than all the other tv's hooked up to the same signal including the 32 inch screens. You did need to be sitted at a distance to watch sd freeview otherwise you could see imperfections, the tv was a metre away so as we went to the 2 metre mark you could see the picture appearing much better.

We were more than happy, the picture was truly excellent and we decided thet the blacks were spot on and deep, the motion was being handled very well and the colours were very good. With correct settings and set up it could be even better which would be something to look forward to and be WOWED! as I could very happily live with what I saw.

Thanks all,
Hoping I could get one tomorrow.

Zorba, we've just gone through the exact same process for my in-laws and ended up with a 42G10. We weighed up what we wanted to watch on the TV (movies and sport), the set-up in the room (lots of people at different angles and not wall mounted), price (obviously) and sound. That sent us down the path of Plasma as opposed to LCD (Sony or Samsung), and ultimately to Panasonic who, in my opinion and a few others, seem to make the best plasma screens the sensible side of Pioneer.

We liked (in no particular order):
- swivel base
- Good speach reproduction
- good connectivity (although most have this)
- Good HD picture...wherever you sit
- Above average SD picture (although not as good as my Pioneer. Sony LCD is quite good in this regard as well)
- good picture set-up options (believe UK sets are different to AUS sets in this regard)
- good motion handling

I believe that at a given price point plasma is better than LCD - others may have a different opinion, but that's my experience. LCD can look fantastic, but typically more money is required to achieve the same result.

Tip: Most of todays sets look fantastic with a Blu-ray source. Try and get the store to hook up an SD source and make sure you're viewing from an equivalent distance as you would at home. If you can alter lighting to suit as well, then so much the better.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need anything specific in regards to the g10. Cheers

nini, thanks for the offer and advice. I only just today purchased the samsung above. The G10 panasonic was the one I was aiming for at my full budget, the X10 too for the price! But even though it may be the better tv I opted against it as the samsung seems to have very good performance with sd freeview as I saw yesterday.

The free channels I will be watching also continuously display their logos in the top corners which had me worried with the plasma. Also for reasons of the running in proceedure + or - 200 hrs is a long time and without my full supervision I just know I would have had a portrait of Homer Simpson continuously staring at me.

I know you are going to tell me that its all fiction with todays generation of plasma.

I hope to give the tv a run tomorrow just to make sure all is working and no damage before I take it with me.

thanks

Not at all - the important thing is that you tested the TV with the content you are likely to watch (SD) and were happy with the results. Outside of budget considerations, there really is no other reason for selecting a TV.

Congrats on your purchase.

Indeed, in my experience the Samsung TVs are actually very good and they are very reliable with excellent value in general to boot aswell. Good safe all rounders.

I managed to give it a test run at my brother's before moving. Everything was in good working order and set up was very quick.

Settings straight out of the box and tv signals coming through his virgin set up we found that sd tv was very good. BBC1 showing formula 1 was excellent. Blacks were deep, colours pretty spot on and no motion blur, as good as my crt tv, so I'm very pleased. Watching the lower quality channels that show the American sit coms again it performed very decently. I was very pleased with what I saw and my brother being the better judge confirmed that the picture was a good step above his sony.

It is now set up in our temporary flat in Corfu. In my rush I did not get the chance to purchase a BR player so I have made do with a very low rent dvd player on loan. I did have a problem connecting it with the cheap scart from the dvd player. It would just not fit into the tv's scart input. I dug out my QED scart that I used in England and it fitted correctly although again a little tight into the tv - can't explain why, I thought scarts were supposed to be universal.

I have calibrated the tv using settings from the hdtv test website. Watching Tranporter 3, the picture I can honestly say was excellent, very cinema like. Colours were very good and blacks very deep. I must admit at the beginning of the film there was a scene that was panning around a ship in the ocean which caused a little judder but that was it, the rest of the film with all the fast action scenes had no sign at all of any judder or motion blur. Detail was excellent right down to the individual stubble on Jason's face and the freckles on the red head.

The only comment I received was from my Mrs that the picture seemed a little dark which I can admit to but I had the knowledge from hdtv test warning that the settings were set up for a dimmly lit room and that colours would initially seem a little yellow/dark but nonetheless close to the standard used in film studios (D65 standard?). Pinging between picture modes she was happier with the brighter unnatural colours which I suppose we have both been accustomed to and brain washed from the previous tv. Watching Madagascar with the children the picture benefitted from the more vibrant colours achieved using the different picture modes, maybe I will create a setting for these type of animated films, although the disc gave me the impression that it wasn't a great transfer anyway plus the low rent dvd player and connection must work against the picture.

Saying that the picture obtained through a movie file from a usb stick connected direct to the tv was truly excellent, much better than dvd!!!

I suppose due to using scart I cannot get the screen fit option for 1:1 pixel mapping? So depending on dvd content I have to adjust to avoid black bars as they are not recommended for long periods by the manufacturer.

Hopefully this will be sorted automatically when using HDMI connection and maybe even better quality picture.

I am fussy with quality and can say that I am very happy with the picture - very happy with the tv.

ps. sound is not its strong point and I have found that it performs better to my ears (big difference) with srs true surround set to ON - the tv is placed in an alcove.
tv looks are very wife friendly, navigation and set up very easy, remote very good + backlighting on/off, usb input plays all my picture and movie files maybe I will set up a future hard drive connection for a movie library.

I've managed to set up an aerial connection this last week. Its standard out here to buy a mains signal booster although after connecting it I have now done away with it as it had no effect on the picture whether it was switched on or off - either tv reception is very good from my flat, or the tv has a very good built in tuner?

Using a roof top aerial with the normal aerial connection into the back of the tv I am receiving 20 free analogue channels, some have a very bad signal, most are good and about 4 are very good. The quality of the picture signal being broadcast varies greatly which results in either a very good picture, better than my old crt tv which I was more than happy with, even to the point that some programs look very close to HD, or a not so good picture but still as watchable and not better or worse than everyone else with crt tv out here.

I was quite concerned about the quality of analogue free tv channels so when receiving a well broadcast signal it truly gives an excellent picture and can say that we are very pleased. Anything under par is no fault of the tv but the fact that broadcasters in Greece need to up their game before they get anywhere near British standard.

I have heard good news that Greece will be digital by Jan 2010, in the meantime I will also be investing in a satellite to receive FREEVIEW from England through the tv's digital tuner.