need some help

cacio

first of all, sorry if this is the wrong place.

i'm looking to get 2 things. first is a 32"+ flat screen lcd hd ready tv. it's for my boyfriend and i haven't a clue about specs or anything. anyone know what the best ones are. haven't decided on a budget yet so any suggestions welcome. i'll be getting a surround sound package too. don't know if this'll make a difference.
2nd is a dvd camcorder. again, I haven't a clue about these. i was looking at the sony dcr-dvd605. dont want to spend more than €500 on this.
thanks for helping!

DublinEvents

Wow. Lucky boyfriend I hope he's worth all that you are planning to buy for him All I know about HDTV's is that you are going to want to buy one with HDCP support since that is required for watching HD DVD and Blue ray movies. Also, progressive scan always delivers better quality than interlaced scan. So if you see two HDTV's, one with 1080i and the other with 1080p, you must choose 1080p because this is said to be the true high definition format. If you are going to be spending money, be sure to get the best so your boyfriend can enjoy the real HD experience. Hope this helps.

quazzy

Ok until you decide on a budget I'll just pop out a few random nuggets of information.

For LCD screens please consider the following:
Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung.

A lot of folks here have some of the above screens so you should maybe take a trip to a shop and have a look for yourself and then come back here and ask about what you saw etc...

You can get really good screens for about €1500 and save a lot of money by shopping online.

komplett.ie, pixmania.co.uk, katronics.de,


Also, will you be using Sky or ntl on the tv.
Any gaming machine, Xbox, PS2 etc to consider.

With respect to the Surround Sound system you can spend as much or as little as you like but its nice to have a good SS system with a good tv.

€200 - 300 would be minimum spend I think

slave1

All I know about HDTV's is that you are going to want to buy one with HDCP support since that is required for watching HD DVD and Blue ray movies. Also, progressive scan always delivers better quality than interlaced scan. So if you see two HDTV's, one with 1080i and the other with 1080p, you must choose 1080p because this is said to be the true high definition format.

Don't want to harp on but there are a few misleading bits in there.
"buy one with HDCP support since that is required for watching HD DVD and Blue ray movies" you will still be able to watch a HDDVD or Blu-ray without HDCP support but I do agree with you that it should be purchased but these days you would be hard pushed to find a HDTV with DVI or HDMI without HDCP - which is a copy protection system
"if you see two HDTV's, one with 1080i and the other with 1080p, you must choose 1080p because this is said to be the true high definition format."
NO TV stations transmits 1080p currently, you are again talking about HDDVD and Blu-ray, maybe X-box360.

You comments are really geared to someone who wants to invest hundreds of euro AFTER they buy a HDTV and invest in a HDDVD/Blu-ray unit which is going to be a select few for a couple of years


To cut a long story short, I'd advise to go for either the Aldi or Lidl TV coming this Thursday, pound for pound (or should that be euro for euro) it presents great value for money and a welcome gift in 5 weeks time.

gamer

Get 32inch in lidl,has 2 composite,1 hdmi, 1 VGA, 2 av,plus free hdmi cable,+scart,comp,stereo,cables thrown in.HIDEF HDMI cable costs 55euro to buy by ITSELF. onsale 23rdnov,this thursday, 649euro.look at aldi.ie or lidl.ie, lidl has the free cables,value 70euro with tv.i think 720p,or 1080i tv will do you till 2016,re watching tv,even 360games are being made in 720hd at the moment.this tvs,will give you a full hd display, i much prefer plasma, cos picture is much better on tv,sd tv ,ntl ,pal tv and sky digital.BETTER BY far than the bland average colors of of a lcd,lcds r not great at fast moving scenes,or detailed subtle contrasts,or subtle color tones.See peats.com ,tvs/ plasma, they say plasma tvs, ARE BETTER FOR ,tv pal ,sd, tv watching,, get a lcd for xbox,ps2, consoles , pc use ,pc to tv use.if you are using sky tv ALL THE TIME,IN HDFORMAT,lcd would prbly be ok.PICTURE quality on plasma is much better ,like a top of the range sony crt tv.I,VE never seen a lcd with a good paltv,picture, thats why all the shops are showing dvds on the tvs,or sky news.MAYBE i,m biased i would NOT watch any tv on a lcd whatsoever.When sky is broadcasting 400 stations in hidef, in 15 years time ,i might consider an lcd hdtv 32inch, if i could buy 1 for 200euro.I,VE seen 20year old sony crts that have a better color,contrast,color tone ,than a 5grand lcd tv.

Idleater

gamer wrote:

Last edited by gamer : Today at 09:44. Reason: clarify

AAArrrgh!

quazzy wrote:

For LCD screens please consider the following:
Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung.

I also recommend LG from personal experience.

DublinEvents wrote:

Wow. Lucky boyfriend

bloody right, that is heading for min €1500 for all that if "budget" brands are bought.

OP, if I might be so bold as to suggest you alter your christmas plans and spend more on one item rather than getting everything at once.

The reason being is that technology wears itself out so quickly that it seems a bit crazy to buy into everything at the same time.

For comparison, a €600 sound system will be ok currently, but in three years could be replaced with something "better" or "newer", also costing €600. You could spend €1000 on something (when you can afford it) that would sound better than a €600 piece of kit and be "up to date" for over 10 years. (values and timelines only illustrative)

L.

The Sparrow

have a look at this:

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Mirai_Olympic_32_Inch_HD_Ready_LCD_TV_DTL-532W100/version.asp


there are loads of good owner reviews of it here:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=407786&highlight=mirai

i ordered mine on sunday and i`m waiting to get it delivered today... the aldi/lidl tv's may be very good value, but nobody knows because they have not seen the picture and have only read specs. I picked this one because of all the good reviews from knowleagable people. shipping cost me 30 euros so it works out very compeitive. I could post more info about this tv after it is delivered today if you are interested...?

Ripped Off

DO NOT USE KATRONICS.DE THEY ARE CROOKS AND FRAUDSTERS

They will be very helpful and nice and tell you that they will have your order quickly, then ask for your money by bank transfer using IBAN and BIC codes rather than credit card.

You will not get your goods or your money back even though they will make loads of promises.

It has happened to me and I am now in the process of hiring a German solicitor to try to retrieve €2500 I paid in June 2006 for a 42" Panasonic HD Ready plasma TV.

If you don't believe me then Google : Katronics fraud

and read the posts for yourself. Not much to ask before pauing them a large amount of money in good faith.