Aldi's new 42" HD ready Plasma ..

zod

On sale in Germany presently (for €1,499) :

http://www.aldi-sued.de/product_01/product_111.html

Is this the size that we need to see HD in all it's glory?.

Can anyone figure out the specs from the German to see if it's a good buy?

watty

It is about the minimum size but it is actually only an XGA resolution stretched to Widescreen shape:

physikalische Auflösung 1.024 x 768 = Native Resolution is 1024 x 768

It resamples (rescales) the compatible input signals SD-TV (480p/i, 576 p/i) HDTV 720p, 1080i to the Native 1024 x 768

Like most special offers in Aldi or Lidl it is probabily obsolete or end of line model. The plasma panel used is typical of that used in US and Japan for some time.

SPECS to look for
Full HD native resolution is 1920 x 1080 lines
Basic HD resolution 1280 x 720 lines





So, no I don't think this is a good buy, except as a small size screen for XBox 360 or XGA laptop lectures/presentations or shop display.

Not enough width of pixels for either 720p or 1080i mode:
* Rescales 1280 --> 1024 or 1920 --> 1024 on width.
* Bad compromise for lines rescale up from 720 --> 768 or down 1080 -->768

Only ideal fed from PC/laptop in XGA mode.
May suffer burn in or short life compared to LCD, LED, DLP or CRT as it is a Plasma.
Might be a 60Hz US /Japan design modifed for Europe as test of Contrast was in 60Hz mode im 60 Hz Modus

Tony

well it has HDMI in for starters so really is HD ready with a 3yr guarantee but as watty says the resolution not what it might be

Probably €2000 plus when sold here maybe including the 21% vat and carriage.
Thats if they sell it here.

bpmurray

watty wrote:

Like most special offers in Aldi or Lidl it is probabily obsolete or end of line model.

What a bizarre claim! My son has a LIDL laptop & it's an absolute animal of a machine. It cose €1500, but the equivalent spec from Dell cost €3800. Definitely not an obsolete model.

watty

The Lidl computers are not Special offers. They are comparably priced to similar CPU / configurations. (Usually AMD)

DELL has many variations, that change almost weekly. They are all Intel. Direct comparison even with other Intel based laptops in PC World etc isn't easy and requires some expertise.

It cose €1500, but the equivalent spec from Dell cost €3800.

If that was true Lidl would say so. Indeed it did cost €1500 and Dell has Laptops from €800 to €4000, but as to which is comparable can be up to personal preference.

I can't buy a Laptop in Lidl last Saturday or next Monday.

JDxtra

...personally I wouldn't buy anything in Lidl / Aldi for that kind of price. I like my electronics to be reputable brands.

Once I bought a weather station gadget from Lidl - it broke after 1 month.

zod

jdempsey wrote:

...personally I wouldn't buy anything in Lidl / Aldi for that kind of price. I like my electronics to be reputable brands.

Once I bought a weather station gadget from Lidl - it broke after 1 month.

Your choice of course .. but I believe there is a 3 year no quibble warranty on these - more than most "reputable" brands. I believe that people have only good things to say about Aldi/Lidl returns.

St Senan

zod wrote:

. but I believe there is a 3 year no quibble warranty on these - more than most "reputable" brands.

Believe it or not there is a 1 year warranty at the shop where you purchase your Tevion/Medion item from. If you have a problem on 2nd or 3rd year you have to bring it to either Reading or Swindon in the Uk. A friend of mine was unlucky to have purchased something for his computer {wireless keyboard} 2 years ago It's banjaxed now and was told this when he contacted Aldi.

bpmurray

watty wrote:

The Lidl computers are not Special offers. They are comparably priced to similar CPU / configurations. (Usually AMD)

DELL has many variations, that change almost weekly. They are all Intel. Direct comparison even with other Intel based laptops in PC World etc isn't easy and requires some expertise.


If that was true Lidl would say so. Indeed it did cost €1500 and Dell has Laptops from €800 to €4000, but as to which is comparable can be up to personal preference.

I can't buy a Laptop in Lidl last Saturday or next Monday.

Your assertion that the machine is priced similarly to others of a similar spec is incorrect. I actually do have very extensive expertise in that area, and I have absolutely no problem comparing these machines. So i reiterate, the LIDL machine at that time cost €1500, and the equivalent Dell machine was over €3800. And the parts used in the LIDL machine are comparable to those in the Dell machine.

BTW, the difference between AMD & Intel is minimal. Up to recently, the AMD chips ran faster and cooler, but Intel have just announced new processors that catch up and, indeed, surpass what AMD have, so I suppose they're ahead for now. However, I would never recommend a machine based on whether it used an Intel or AMD processor - it really doesn't matter!

Blaster99

scaller wrote:

Believe it or not there is a 1 year warranty at the shop where you purchase your Tevion/Medion item from. If you have a problem on 2nd or 3rd year you have to bring it to either Reading or Swindon in the Uk. A friend of mine was unlucky to have purchased something for his computer {wireless keyboard} 2 years ago It's banjaxed now and was told this when he contacted Aldi.

Probably not bring it, but ship it? That's pretty normal with any warranty items, except the shop often only deals with problems the first month.

I had that same wireless keyboard. It's now seeing out its warranty period in the local dump. A complete pile of crap, much like anything else electronic I've bought in Lidl or Aldi.

bk

While €3800 is definitely an over exageration, ALDI/LIDL PC's are definitely very good value for money.

I'm almost embarrased to say that I've got an ALDI PC. I say that I'm embarrased, because I've been building PC's for years, I read PC enthusiast sites like Anandtech, Hardocp and Tomshardware on a daily bases and I've got lots of knowledge about PC hardware.

The Aldi PC cost €1200, excluding software (which is excellent and worth a lot) and OS, I priced the same components for about €1550 on Komplett. The closest PC from Dell cost €1900.

Aldi PC's are definitely not end of line kit, they are top of the line kit and are very popular with gamers and over clockers.

As for supprot, I did have prolems with a TV card, they sent out an engineer to replace it just 2 days after I called. The support was very good.

I've also gotten Lidl DVD players in the past, they are absolutely excellent kit, they are very popular with all the AV fanatics over in avforums, wth support for Divx, Xvid, MP3, Ogg, etc.

bk

bpmurray wrote:

BTW, the difference between AMD & Intel is minimal. Up to recently, the AMD chips ran faster and cooler, but Intel have just announced new processors that catch up and, indeed, surpass what AMD have, so I suppose they're ahead for now. However, I would never recommend a machine based on whether it used an Intel or AMD processor - it really doesn't matter!

AMD processors at the moment are far superior to Intel. The Amd X2 far outperforms the Intel dual core Pentium D and Pentium 4 CPUs. The new Conroe processors from Intel, while priliminary benchmarks by Anandtech on machines owned and controlled by Intel, did show the Conroe chips to be far faster then AMD, those chips are at least 4 months from shipping. 4 months is a very long time in the CPU world and I'm sure AMD have new chips with DDR2 support on the way, so we need to wait and see when they actually hit the shelves.

watty

Whoooo I didn't want to start an argument Intel / AMD, nor denegrate Aldi/Lidl. Most of there stuff is good. I have DVD player, video sender, son has camera, anlaog sat receiver etc, etc.

I do agree that if you shop around when you include cost of an OS building a PC is not as good an option as it was, especially in the warretny dept!

My comment was meant to mean that if something was very cheap then it is an end of line etc (which can often be better than a newer cost reduced model), otherwise a similar thing may be available if you shop around.

The original question is about a 1024 x 768 XGA resolution HD Ready Plasma TV. It is obviously not leading edge from spec. You can get a better spec HD TV now easily.

FunkyDa

Re Tevion/Medion/Lifetec products, these are available online(Google them). You don't have to wait for them to show up in your local Aldi/Lidl.

tred

FunkyDa wrote:

Re Tevion/Medion/Lifetec products, these are available online(Google them). You don't have to wait for them to show up in your local Aldi/Lidl.

All those manufacturers are very reputable in germany. A colleague of mine here, has wsorked in germany for 15 years and is married to a german lady, and he had no problem buying the aldi Laptop. He said the manufacturer is more reputable in germany than Dell!. And hes originally from cork, so usually be very relucant to splash out on such an extravagance!!