Widescreen TV Help

savemejebus

Hi,

Sorry if this is repeating an old thread(I've looked but couldn't find any but if they are there please provide links) but i'm looking to buy a widescreen tv.
I'm on quite a limited budget approx €500 (but maybe 600 if its worth it) and so am probably limited to a 28". I've looked around the usual places, currys dixons etc and they all seem to offer similar stuff.

The best equipped i've seen so far has been a black diamond 28" widescreen but i don't know much about black diamond tv's, I've a two year old b.d dvd player that is great but I'm wondering does anyone have experience with the tvs or any suggestions on what i should go for.

Any help will be appreciated,

Cheers

Samson

I would not recommend the Black Diamond. They seem to be at least one step behind in technological stakes when compared to Philips, Sony et al.
A salesman in DID said the same thing to me when I was looking at one.
For example, up until recently, they did not have an auto-tune facility, meaning you had to tune in all the stations yourself. Also the remote control feels/looks really cheap (a small matter I know, but it is indicative).
Another thing to consider, why did Mitsubishi take their name off the product?

Spend a little bit extra and get a Philips.
Power City have the flat screen 28" nicam model for €669.00.
Or, a non-flat screen 28" nicam model for €469.00.

savemejebus

Thanks for the tips Samson,the phillips models look good but seem less equipped than the others, for example the Mitsubishi had surround sound outputs at the back , I was actually looking last nite and found two new contenders a Grundig 28" flat screen and (dont laugh) a matsui, i've done a little searching and found some good things said about the matsui, but nothing about grundig.

dmeehan

for example the Mitsubishi had surround sound outputs at the back

what surround sound are you going to get that can be output from a telly? most you will get is only stereo

tinofapples

An old classmate working in Electricworld told me last November to stay away from Black Diamond if at all possible , they aren't actually Mitsubishi even though they are using the name . He added that they were made in Turkey . Don't know how true this is ???

I was told a few weeks ago that Grundig went bankrupt , would this have any implications ?

Just added what I've heard .

I bought the 32" Philips Widecreen , Blackline Tube. A fine TV I have to say , plug it in and in tunes in all available channels .
I paid about €800 back then but you should get one for €650/€700 , that Powercity place sounds very reasonable

savemejebus

wow thanks for the info, while checking out the Grundig bankruptcy thing i found out that grundig subcontracts to BEKO in Turkey, so the question is are Beko tv's really Grundigs (bargains) or are Grundig tv's really Bekos, the plot thickens

I'm definitely going to do lots of homework before i spend any cash.

As for who broadcasts in surround i think sky broadcast it on some programs and movies, and Farscape from SCIFI should be surround sound too but i'm not sure, so all corrections are welcomed.

p.s big thanks to anyone that takes or has taken time to reply on this thread

Samson

Originally posted by savemejebus
As for who broadcasts in surround i think sky broadcast it on some programs and movies, and Farscape from SCIFI should be surround sound too but i'm not sure, so all corrections are welcomed.

As far as I know, Sky don't broadcast in surround yet. Maybe when Sky Plus comes onstream here (if it already has not).
I have a Sky system and it only has stereo outputs, so you won't get any much better from it versus your TV.
Even if Sky were broadcasting in surround, it would be unusual to take the output from TV to your surround amp when you can go direct from Sky box to amp.

ozpass

Pro Logic is encoded into a stereo signal.

dmeehan

Originally posted by ozpass
Pro Logic is encoded into a stereo signal.

it still doesnt make any sense to route through your tv when you can go directly to the amp. if you wanted the sound to the tv too just use a (good) scart lead

sky do broadcast the movie channels and the box office movies in dolby digital (5.1) and certain other programs (some movies on sky|one) in dolby surround (pro-logic) although you need a sky+ box to get the dolby digital output

savemejebus

I'm probably wrong but I thought that if the surround sound connections are built into the TV then the TV has a decoder onboard,(just like a dvd player?) which would mean you don't need an amp and can just use a dedicated speaker system like the ones creative produce for p.cs and games machines (I do realise that you wouldn't have fantastic quality, or even great quality with this setup but as a budget startup alternative its ok)

dmeehan

did you actually see what these connections looked like?

Saruman

If they are not standard red/white phono connections i would be VERY surprised. For your info pretty much any Good TV has them including the Phillips which i have had for years and would not trade for anything (except a bigger model and 100hz to boot! Mine is 50hz)

As for Black Diamond... well all i can say is the image quality on any i have seen is superb. Thats all i know about them.

savemejebus

I just had a quick look at them a few days ago, i'll check again but i'm pretty sure that there were 6 standard red and white connectors on the back of the machine,

ShaneOC

Some TV do have sockets which allow rear speakers to be connected to the TV. No need for an amp. Most of these TV can output Dolby Surround. Very expensive ones can do dolby digital, but nothing is broadcast to the TV in Dolby Digital.

Sky+ (which is now available) has an optical output which has to be connected to a Dolby Digital Amp in order to get the Dolby Digital soundtrack for the movies.

But to get back to your point Jebus, either of the phillips 28" sets are very good TVs. I bought one for a friend recently (he paid - I shopped) and he is delighted with it. It has a radio built in.

Cost €580 but they have come down since then.

dmeehan

6 standard red and white connectors on the back

that'll be the surround sound (5.1) allright but i still dont see the point in having them as shaneOC says "nothing is broadcast to the TV in Dolby Digital."

i suppose its used for pro logic????

I have my eye on a philps tv too. my brother got a 28" a while back in power city, the one with the radio

ozpass

Pro Logic is 4 speaker surround - front left, front right, centre and a single rear 'surround' channel.

It would be rare and unusual for a speaker connection itself to be a phono type plug. A 'banana plug' would make more sense. The reason for this being the unfortunate opportunity for blowing line level equipment up by directly connecting it to a 50V speaker connection.

Altheus

Well I got the 32" Philips Widescreen (non-flatscreen) in Power City... it's a grand TV but a little less than great. The 28" is the far better option. It has stereo out, svideo in, 1 rgb scart, and one regular scart, on top of decent enough (not great though) built in speakers. Its what I have in the sitting room.

Black Diamond are similiar to NEI and BEKO arent they in the sense they are basically made up of old parts that are no longer used by their parents company? I could be wrong but that was my belief. So they're a gen or two behind anyway. Decent picture and sound, just not great life in them about 1 year or 2... Dodgy remotes, power buttons, and buttons in general. Poor quality SCARTs and such, degradation of picture is not uncommon...

Personally I'm a big Sony TV fan though, always long lasting and great quality and imo worth the extra buck ya pay for them. As per my 20" ancient Sony which amazingly had a remote and scart... kick ass

savemejebus

Hi, thanks to all that have given their opinions on this, its great to be able to ask others opinions like this. at the moment I'm leaning towards a phillips but theres a nice panasonic too! anyways i'm gonna hold out till August till i buy so if anyone else has anythoughts please post them.

Once again a big thank you to all those who took time out to help me,

ObeyGiant

My experience of Philips TVs has been that they have an awful lot of 'overscan'. A very simple explaination of overscan is that when the TV displays the image, it displays it slightly too big/wide, so as to make sure that the edges of the picture won't be seen (no doubt this definition will infuriate some people on this board). This means that when you watch a DVD, it can cut little bits off the edges. This is usually minor (except in some cases - notably LoTR), but annoys the hell out of some people.

Including me.

Most TVs 'overscan', but from what I have seen, Philips do it more than most.

Korg

As far as i remember you can fix up some of the overscan issues in philips widescreen tv's by going to the service menu, crossing your fingers & adjusting a few settings, i found how to get at the service menu through google for a friend, must check his tv again & see if you can adjust overscan.

ObeyGiant

Originally posted by Korg
As far as i remember you can fix up some of the overscan issues in philips widescreen tv's by going to the service menu, crossing your fingers & adjusting a few settings, i found how to get at the service menu through google for a friend, must check his tv again & see if you can adjust overscan.

Cheers for that.. I'd read up on the internet about how to adjust the overscan on Philips TVs, but they almost always said you needed to take off the back panel and dick around with some of the jumpers there. After you posted this, I did a search on the internet and managed to get into the service menu by pressing 062596 and then the "i+" button.

I was very careful to take a note of what the settings were before I started changing stuff.

Anyway.. cheers

Silent Bob

Originally posted by savemejebus
which would mean you don't need an amp and can just use a dedicated speaker system like the ones creative produce for p.cs and games machines (I do realise that you wouldn't have fantastic quality, or even great quality with this setup but as a budget startup alternative its ok)

Creative don't produce amp-less surround sound speaker systems, the amp is built into the subwoofer.