First new telly in nearly 20 years...

Kevin,

    I note there was a similar thread a few days ago. Think the advise was that plasma was particularly good for large screens. Based on your reduced size option i would look at LED / LCD.

agree that you should focus on high quality makes and not be tempted for the cheap options retailers push out.

I recall there re good tv's also from the Scandinavian area as well as the Japanese. Not talking about B&O, but other make ( can't remember name, think it was finlux or something like that), they are good quality and good value ( as less well known as Japanese kit)

Personally I really like Sony and Samsung

Paul

Might be some bargains at Comet.

LOL

no after sales support though!

Kevin, bought a Sony Bravia 32 nearly two years ago. Same general price bracket when I bought it. Overall fine but two beefs are:

1. audio from speakers is only average for a telly (should put it through stereo yes but have never done the AV thing); and
2. I don't watch much telly but tend to watch more iPlayer than normal TV these days. Whilst my internet connection is fast the processor on the Sony is not which means the interface on the TV is a bit clunky at times. I would hope newer models have a better processor and memory on-board. There are other internet TV services available but as you know I like the Beeb too

I think Samsung and LG make a lot of the LCD screens regardless of brand FWIW. Sony does not do well on TV's so wonder if they put as much investment / effort in as before?

Not sure if LED is fully sorted yet in the price bracket we're operating in. When I looked into it the latest must-haves were poorly implemented in the budget market.

Internet TV is the way forward. I would pick something with a good user interface for this and decent processor/memory.

Also, it is great having it on a wall bracket rather than on the floor. Folds out the way. Would rather buy s/h with wall bracket than new without. Depends on room set-up so YMMV

Best bets IMHO would be Richer Sounds or John Lewis.

JL are doing a 32" (or 37"?) Panasonic 720p at £329 and it comes with their usual 5 year warranty.

They also have a Sharpe at about £250.

Given their slogan, I doubt if you would find a much better option.

Cheers

Don (Senior Partner @ John Lewis - Not)

PS re manufacturers grand marketing claims on screen quality - recall some CRT's are considered better than LCD's. On pure picture quality my Sony is certainly no better than my old Phillips CRT - it just isn't so bl00dy big!

At the risk of being chucked out of the forum (no adverts etc), I have two tellys in the back of my estate car which will be going to the dump on my way back from work on Friday. They are each about 22" CRT screens and won't receive digital signals (hence the dump !)

If you are really desperate for a telly and within shouting distance of Newbury/Salisbury, one (or both) might see you through to the January sales. They are free.

Cheers

Don

Hi Don

That is extremely kind of you but there's no way I can make it down to Salisbury/Newbury on Friday, I'll be in Yorkshire. I could easily manage until January with iPlayer and a computer (I only tend to watch the BBC anyway  ) but SWMBO says she wants a TV (for those rare occasions when she deigns to come round/get out of bed...)

Kevin,

    i think there is a current thread on here that is complaining about panasonic tv's and the interference they have with Naim equipment, so caution on that front.

I agree that internet connectivity / streaming TV is the way forward, but at the moment these facilities tend to be on the hige screen models and are not generally available at the more sensible size screen.

called in 2 comet typical discount 10% rubbish 20%   and you can get things cheaper after discount .  comet always expensive that why they died

Hi Kevin,

I think it is really worth making the effort to go and look at the screens you end up considering.

Currently I have an older 37" SD Plasma Panny & a Phillips 1080p 21:9 LCD.

I bought the 37" over the 42" Panny as when I looked at the screens I realised that the pixel size of the 37" was smaller, and this made an appreciable difference at the distance I was going to be watching from.

If you may be watching off-axis the plasma is MUCH better than the LCD.

The LCD is greener, MUCH lighter, and came with a bracket that made it a doddle to install.

Streaming:

This can be supplied via various bits of kit, and each has different in-built client software, giving different facilities.

Although my Phillips does have inbuilt networking I use my Oppo blu-ray to give this functionality.

For my Panny I use a Sony Blu-ray. The Sony includes BBC iPlayer, the Oppo doesn't.

Which then leads onto ....DLNA

The Digital Living Network Alliance.

This is an industry body, rather than a 'standard'.

If you have a BluRay / DVD which has networking built in, and complies with the DLNA spec ...AND a PC in the house that you are happy to leave on you can then load up a DLNA server.

In my case I use Serviio, which allows me to stream BBC iPlayer to the Phillips - or some of it anyway.

A further wrinkle is that different client software in different bits of kit (TV / BluRay etc) handle different file formats - or NOT. So some stuff that works via the Oppo doesn't via the Sony.

Scaling

In the spirit of redundant functionality you will probably find that this may well be built into your new TV - as well as your player and processor/amp etc.

In my case the Panny has none. The Phillips is superb, and I use it in preference to the Oppo scaling - esp as it is a non-standard screen size.

Lots to play with.

M

I did say MIGHT. 

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Sounds like John Lewis will be the place to go. At the moment a sensible-sized Panny or Samsung/LG LED looks the way to go, given my budget.

If I win the Lotto I will buy a big plasma!

At risk of being radical I got rid of a TV in my main system some years ago and have been using projectors ever since.  I'm not a big TV watcher and prefer film or music DVD/Blu-rays and for these purposes a projector really is the way to go in my view.  Something like an Optoma HD600x will set you back £369 but offers 720P quality and a far more cinematic experience than any TV at any price because you will be able to achieve a picture of 6-10ft wide in the room.  Use your existing Hi-fi speakers and amp or an AV receiver and you'll be in cinema heaven!  Ideally you should project on a dedicated screen but many people make do with a white painted wall.  My wife loved it because we got rid of a big ugly plastic box in the room and replaced it with a discrete tiny box mounted to the ceiling.

Note I wouldn't recommend this if you're  big lover of daytime TV channel surfing because you will have to draw the curtains in your room to achieve a good picture but projection has improved so dramatically while dropping in price that the abilities of a projector like the Optoma make it a no brainer if you want a big screen experience.

Hope this is helpful.

Jonathan

Jonathan

I like radical! To be honest I don't have the money (or room - my flat is stuffed full of vinyl as it is!) for projectors and I don't watch enough telly to justify spending that sort of money.

I went to John Lewis, had a chat with a very helpful chap, and plumped for a very nice 32-inch Samsung 1080  with built-in Freeview HD. Very good picture and decent sound. It's being delivered next week.

good choice, samsung are a very respectable brand

I am using Panasonic Plasma. To my eyes it is more "cinematic" and natural. LED/LCD TVs are impressive for the first 5 minutes but very fatiguing for long viewing sessions.

I use the Loewe Aconda CRT meister telly.

Retailed at about £2k and you can pick them up on Bay for under £20. I wonder if modern LCD / LED etc TVs are really any better?

Might even start a thread on that...

My thoughts are anything out now that has decent reliability and is of the size your place can accommodate is fine; the newer TVs are all such a major step ahead of what we had even 10 years ago it's not even funny...especially for the money.

After all, it's ONLY television!

I love that you can now pick up a 42" TV and strain less (and be less apt to damage it) than you did with a 24" CRT style back in the day.  (Did a stint with a household mover for a while in 2003, and picked up a lot of damned heavy TVs!)

I'm not sure LCDs, LEDs, plasmas etc actually offer better picture quality than good old CRTV, truth be told, unless you're paying thousands of quid.

I had to replace a Panasonic TX-L39EM5B with a Samsung UE40ES5500. Both are full HD LED lit sets but the Panny's picture was poor compared to the Samsung with a strange white light on the edge of the Left hand screen coming and going. I tried to calibrate as best as i could but it was very light on adjustments with not even a backlight control.

The Sammy was well worth the extra £40 and i've now adjusted the picture to something more accurate as even the movie settings were too much. You should try loading a tv test pattern onto a USB stick and pop that into the USB point of the tv and go from there. Make a note of your settings and apply them to the hdmi inputs and you'll end up with a much more natural looking picture as factory settings are still too high in most cases. A well adjusted LCD/LED or plasma running an HD feed or Bluray is an impressive thing to see.

That's very useful Rackikit - thanks! I've got that Sammy (but 32 inch) and I find the colour a bit much (I was watching Mad Men this morning on DVD via HDMI and it was so shifted to the red end of the spectrum it was almost unwatchable!) but will try that.

I'll make a note of my current settings and see if they're any use to you. There's always room for tweaking afterwards if they don't agree with your environment and tastes.

Cheers,

Rack.

That's very kind of you - most appreciated!