New TV?

Posted by: Tam on 06 January 2007

The time has come (partly because I have the cash, but also because our current CRT one is dying - brightness will drop to nothing every 5 minutes or so, which is very boring), to replace the TV.

Having had a glance online, I'm thinking of something along the lines of 32inch LCD model (as they seem to fit into the budget I have and anyway, anything bigger would be a bit absurd given the size of the living room). However, I really have no idea as to the relative merits of the various models. Clearly it's important that it is bright enough to work in a well lit room (which I know used to be an issue with some laptop screens) and plenty of sockets to connect things to (as well as audio out to go to the hi-fi). It isn't essential that it does digital (since we already have a digibox - although given that's a rubbish and very cheap philips unit that crashes with alarming regularity it would be not bad thing). Beyond that, however.....

So, any recommendations would be gratefully appreciated.

regards, Tam
Posted on: 06 January 2007 by Skip
Sony XBR2 at my house gets nothing but compliments. Only one HDMI input and no PCM card slot. You might want to look out for those features. But if they are not important to you this is a great 32" LCD.
Posted on: 07 January 2007 by Tam
What's a PCM card slot?

regards, Tam
Posted on: 07 January 2007 by Skip
I understand this is rare in the US and more common in your country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CableCARD
Posted on: 07 January 2007 by Tam
Thanks Skip. Doesn't look like I'd be wanting one of those. I did have a Sony TV for many years and was very happy with it (though for very complicated reasons which don't need going into it's not the one that's currently failing).


regards, Tam
Posted on: 08 January 2007 by Tuan
The sweet-spot for flat-screen TV is 40 inches LCD with 1080p resolution. This will last for years to come. Sony has good models to choose from.
Posted on: 08 January 2007 by Neil Bennett
I've recently got a Panasonic 600-series 37" Plasma and a Sony Bravia 26" LCD, for occasional viewing in a different room. The Panasonic is much better, for both picture and sound. If it hadn't've been for only occasional use factor, I would have got the 600-series Panasonic LCD too. However the cheapest I've seen this is £950, whereas I got the Sony for £499 from Sainsbury's!

Neil
Posted on: 08 January 2007 by Frank Abela
Sony's models are fabulous with HD, but I think they're awful with standard definition material. Given that standard definition is still 90% of your viewing pleasure, and that this is not going to change rapidly for a while yet, I suggest you should look for a screen which is a bit more forgiving of standard definition material such as the Sharp screens.
Posted on: 08 January 2007 by Chumpy
If you went maximum quality/best-price, consider CRT, e.g. JVC 32" from Argos.

So far, I have avoided buying HDTV sources from Sky or Telewele/NTL as I/my wife have seen that good (cheap) TV/signal source via RGB SCART (Cable-Sky-Freeview box) into 'old technology' CRT is superior/cheaper than new embryonic 16:9 flat technology.
Posted on: 09 January 2007 by Jonathan
I recently upgraded my 5 year old panasonic plasma to a sony 50inch HD ready model. I had looked at LCD Sonys and others, but really found that the Plasma offered better definition, colour, contrast and motion. Watching an upscaled DVD to 1080i was simply a different experience to regular DVD through the old 480 line panasonic.

Net, check the difference between plasma and lcd before you buy. IMHO LCD is great, but Plasma is better....

Cheers

Jonathan
Posted on: 10 January 2007 by Chris Kelly
Another vote for HD Ready plasma, especially once you go above 32". Watching an up-ressed dvd on a 42" plasma is fantastic.
Posted on: 10 January 2007 by Frank Abela
I was reading an article recently in a trade mag. Pioneer, Hitachi and Fujitsu (I think) commissioned a survey on plasma vs LCD. As expected, the majority found plasma to be better than LCD in the usual areas of contrast, motion, black rendition etc. However, what I found quite remarkable was that this wasn't a whitewash. The numbers worked out (on average) to be something like 60% in favour of plasma and about 17% preferred LCD. The surprise is this: fully 23% of people asked could not discern a difference between the two technologies!
Posted on: 10 January 2007 by Andrew Randle
Samsung LCD are my still my absolute favourite. LG are a very very very close second. All the demos of Sony screens appeared to be slightly grainy, Sharp are comparatively blurry and washed out (seen side-by-side with the same HD signal).

Andrew
Posted on: 10 January 2007 by Dev B
I have just bought a 40 inch Samsung LCD. Great colours, rich and vibrant.
Posted on: 10 January 2007 by Tam
Thanks for the suggestions everyone - seems like I need to go and look at some pictures.

Frank, with regard to what you were saying about digital pictures - does that mean a sony would be great with a DVD player with HDMI output - and what about DVD player that upscaled a basic analogue signals?

One other thing I'm noticing from browsing the web - it seems very tricky to find a black one (I know that's a secondary concern to picture and sound quality but I really struggle to understand why anyone would want a silver tv).


regards, Tam
Posted on: 10 January 2007 by DenisA
Tam,

This is my TV shortlist; hoping to decide this month

Plasma: Pioneer PDP427XD or Panasonic TH42PX600CAB
LCD: Sharp LC42XD1E or SAMSUNG LE40F71BX
TV Stand: Alphason, others? (I think I'll have more trouble deciding this than the TV, unless it's the Panny)

Denis
Posted on: 15 January 2007 by JAB
Have you considered rear projection TV's? Pretty good bang for the buck, although with prices dropping on flatscreens this is less pronounced than a year or two ago.
Samsung does a rather nice one complete with stand that is well reviewed.
Posted on: 27 January 2007 by steve watts
I bought a 32" Sony Bravia LCD a couple of weeks ago (KDL-32S2030) and, so far, I'm very pleased with it.

It can be caught out with fast panning against a bright contrasting background, but its not a show stopper and I seem to notice it less and less as time goes by.
Posted on: 29 January 2007 by Jono 13
Second vote for Sony S-series, KDL26S2030, which has black casing. I also bought a RDR-HDX860 HDD/DVD recorder with HDMI upscaling.

You will need to fiddle with the display settings though, I would suggest switching off all noise reduction modes.

Jono
Posted on: 31 January 2007 by steve watts
Crikey. That's spooky. I also bought the 860 at the same time.

We must read the same magazines!
Posted on: 01 February 2007 by Graham Russell
I also have the Sony 860. Unfortunately mine is locked to region 2. I've seen some on-line stores selling it region free. Does anyone have pointers to info on how to unlock it?

Thanks,
Graham.
Posted on: 06 February 2007 by davereay
Hi

Plenty of suggestions here, I am looking ofr a 32" LCD, If you have plenty of dosh then have a look at Loewe, they are one fo the best and the picture quality I have witnessed is superb. Don't exoect much change from £2000+ depending on what model you go for. Decisions-decisions!
Dave
Posted on: 06 February 2007 by Stuart M
quote:
Sony 860

How to make multiregion well don't want to get Naim in trouble but if you enter "Sony 860 DVD Hack" in a popular search engine then you'll get the answer you need.

However you may need to buy a remote that can send the right codes.
Posted on: 12 February 2007 by Jono 13
quote:
Originally posted by Jono 13:
Second vote for Sony S-series, KDL26S2030, which has black casing. I also bought a RDR-HDX860 HDD/DVD recorder with HDMI upscaling.

You will need to fiddle with the display settings though, I would suggest switching off all noise reduction modes.

Jono


They have just been returned as unwatchable. Too much digital noise for our eyes.

Jono