Samsung LE-32S81B - good for a Media Centre?

FrankGrimes

I added a post asking some of the below in the general HE section, but hadn't realised there is a dedicated Displays forum so I figure this is better placed here.

I want to buy a Samsung 32" (due to good rep and I love the style) LCD tv and really just don't know how to decide on which one is right for me.

It will be used as the main TV in the living room - it's a small living room so 32" is perfect size. It will mainly be used for Windows Media Centre, and also web browsing, so good PC connectivity is a must (will be VGA for the moment but I'd upgrade graphics card to DVI out if its worth it).

Will also be used for occasional xBox 360 gaming.

It seems this is a good TV with 2 HDMI inputs and a good contrast ratio of 7000:1 - dya reckon this is a good fit for my scenario and is it worth the money?

This seems to be the same TV but with a digital tuner for €70 extra - is that worth it for use with NTL basic cable?

Thanks

Wertz

I tried in vain to get some good feedback on the previous model of this TV (s71b) both on here and on AV forums and google in general. German sites had some user feedback which was generally positive but a lot was lost in translation.
No bricks & mortar shops seem to stock this range, so it's impossible to see what PQ is like....toying with the idea of getting the 40" S81B but unil I see some decent reviews I can't commit since it'll be bought online.

As for using one for MCE? I've used my dell w2600 with it for a fair while and it's great (just not big enough and sh*tty contrast/black levels)....any LCD TV is going to do MCE well...it's more or less what both the hardware and the s/w were designed with in mind.

There are some good threads on avforums about the differing panels in the new samsung range...it seems that the model numbers of differing TVs only specify the fascia/design/features of the set and that the same panels are used across ranges of the same screen size...for instance the S81 and the R81....basically iof you see a good review of the R81 then the S81 will ahve an equivalent panel and thusly PQ.

[edit] I've been looking up different models and panels and it seems the above stuff is wrong...the panels seem to differ bewteen the R and S series.

FrankGrimes

Thanks Wertz - I ended up going for a 32R82B from PowerCity for €875. It has 8000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 8ms response time, and 3 HDMI ports so I thought it was a very good spec and suitable for my purpose. It looks class too.

That said, I literally could not find any info on the web about it so it was a gamble, but after seeing the quality of the pic in store I was happy to go for it - and in the higher end of 32" Samsungs I wasn't finding much savings online.

I've only tried it with digital TV and Media Centre so far and the picture is top notch.

donny

FrankGrimes.. how did you get it for 875? I had a quick look and they seem to be 929 at the cheapest...