Buying a PS3. Is LCDTV really needed?

eddie-n07

Im buying a PS3 in next few weeks and was wondering is a LCD TV really necessary? Iv heard its like playing a PS2 without one. Any suggestions on where to get a cheap LCD?? Budget €200 - €300max

muppetkiller

What you should really ask yourself is why are you buying a PS3 when you don't have an HD TV ?
PS3 is pretty much pointless without one.

ongarite

If your budget is tight, I would stick to the regular CRT SDTV and save up for a decent HDTV.
200-300€ will get you a pretty low-end HDTV than will more than likely look worse than your old TV.

Dues Bellator

muppetkiller wrote: »

What you should really ask yourself is why are you buying a PS3 when you don't have an HD TV ?
PS3 is pretty much pointless without one.

totall rubbish , ive got both, now as there is a difference between a hdtv and a sdtv it works fine with both, its a lot lot better than a ps2, if your buying a hdtv stick with a 720p res dont go for the more exspensive 1080p as theres only a differance if its a 50 - 60 inch ive a 50" 1080p and a 47" 720p theres only a slight dif if your sitting inchs from the screen , there was a 1000 euro dif in the price.since 90% of ps3 games are made in 720p its no biggie anyhoo.

311

If your going to buy something ,why not get something you could use as a pc monitor ,when you upgrade in a couple of years you'll have more use for it.

TheBigFella

eddie-n07 wrote: »

Any suggestions on where to get a cheap LCD?? Budget €200 - €300max

I wouldn't buy this time of the year, hold off until some of the sales. While some shops don't really drop their prices others do alot. Watch out for Curry or Harvey Norman on 27th Dec.
Don't be afraid to check Curry over the border either.

We have a PS3 and a 32" full HD and played it for 2 weeks before we got the HDMI cable. Big Big difference. To get the most out of your PS3 you really should invest in a HD TV. Even for watching the Blu-ray movies.

cabrwab

OP is the sdtv you have any good? Would it have progressive scan? That you can run in on component cable? It will make a decent bit of difference until you have the money to get a decent HDTV.

If your going for a full HD tv make sure it has bells and whistles to make the difference, great contast ratio, great refresh rate, maybe even 24fps. Yeah it'll cost you more but the more money you spend the better it will be. Don't buy the cheaper TV's in the bracket your talking about, a false economy imo.

As somebody already suggested look at a widescreen PC monitor, it'll be smaller but the resolution is going to be good.

Best of luck OP. Its not the complete end of the world you will notice a slight difference with the PS3 over PS2 everything will be smoother, but you will only really see the difference when you get the HDMI cable hooked up!

eddie-n07

The TV i have at minute is pretty rubbish! Standard 28" Sony sdtv. Needs an upgrade!

Any ideas on size without buying a monster?? I'v seen 19"-22" HD ready for sale for less than my max €300

Is ongarite post right?

Will 200-300€ low-end HDTV than will more than likely look worse than my old TV?

ongarite

eddie-n07 wrote: »

Is ongarite post right?

Will 200-300€ low-end HDTV than will more than likely look worse than my old TV?

IMO, your Sony CRT will have far better black levels, responce time (ghosting) and colour reproduction than most HDTVs on the market.

Many people are throwing away fantastic CRT TVs just becuase they are thinner and fancy looking. In a lot of cases they produce a worse image than their old TV.

Mossy Monk

eddie-n07 wrote: »

Will 200-300€ low-end HDTV than will more than likely look worse than my old TV?

Why would you throw your money away on a piece of ****. Save for a better tv. They are coming down in price all the time.

cabrwab

You have a sony CRT from the last 10 years lets say yeah, They are usually a great tv i would agree with the last couple of posts.
Rumours at the moment that because of the market being all over the place that after "black friday" in america that prices of TV's over there will be dropping significantly.

Save your money, buy the ps3 you'll still enjoy it! , buy a great kick ass TV. Some of the TV's out there cheap wise are rubbish where a nice sony trinitron (or however you spell it) would kick there asses.
I know xtra-vision did sell those mirai tv's and they were actually decent picture quality and got good reviews in papers and sold for about 399. I dont know how long they will survive for though. My sister got a cheap TV last year, it lasted 8months, pic quality was terrible. She replaced with the exact same tv!

But save your money and buy a nice big panasonic!!!

Vyse

muppetkiller wrote: »

What you should really ask yourself is why are you buying a PS3 when you don't have an HD TV ?
PS3 is pretty much pointless without one.

Have to agree with Almanu on this. A PS3 is, primarily, for playing games. The fact that the game is at a slightly lower resolution does not make it pointless to play.

seanybiker

i played it without hd tv and still enjoyed it.

Zonda999

I also agree that the point of the ps3 is to play games and it just happens to be an advantage for it to have jaw dropping graphics. I usually play my ps3 on a 32" 720p LG. it looks amazing. I have also tried it on an old 21" crt. To my amazement, it wasnt actually too bad!! Motorstorm looked much better than any ps2 game.It wasnt any less fun because the graphics were'nt as great either.

However i will say that gettin a ps3 will entice you into getting a hdtv, and rightly so.When i got my first hd console(A 360:eek:, which i still have:rolleyes:), i only had the 21" crt. I did get a hdtv within 5 months of it, though. I would advise the op to get a ps3 and then focus on a hdtv. Sounds like a nice 32" 720p would be ideal for your needs. You could get a sony 32v4000 which is one of the best 32" 720p sets around for less than 500e euro which is what i would recommend:)

ciaranmul

powercity are selling Beko 32" for €400 HD Ready. they're not bad!

Zatoichi

311 wrote: »

If your going to buy something ,why not get something you could use as a pc monitor ,when you upgrade in a couple of years you'll have more use for it.

I second this. Saves even more space if it has a tv tuner. Playing PS3 on SDTV is really bad. Games which require you to look at blips on a compass/map etc are almost impossible to play properly due to the resolution. Also, the reason the PS3 is so expensive is it's Blu-Ray player which again will be wasted on a SDTV.

penguinpoppers

I got mine from argos for 250. Not sure what kinds they have there now. Either way i'd say go for a tv from argos at that budget.
And yes you do need one for sure

eddie-n07

Zonda999 wrote: »

I also agree that the point of the ps3 is to play games and it just happens to be an advantage for it to have jaw dropping graphics. I usually play my ps3 on a 32" 720p LG. it looks amazing. I have also tried it on an old 21" crt. To my amazement, it wasnt actually too bad!! Motorstorm looked much better than any ps2 game.It wasnt any less fun because the graphics were'nt as great either.

However i will say that gettin a ps3 will entice you into getting a hdtv, and rightly so.When i got my first hd console(A 360:eek:, which i still have:rolleyes:), i only had the 21" crt. I did get a hdtv within 5 months of it, though. I would advise the op to get a ps3 and then focus on a hdtv. Sounds like a nice 32" 720p would be ideal for your needs. You could get a sony 32v4000 which is one of the best 32" 720p sets around for less than 500e euro which is what i would recommend:)

Where can i get a sony 32v4000 for less than 500e euro??? Would stretch the budget for something special! :eek: but space is an issue. I share a house so i will be confined to small box room. 24" sounds a better option? Best small HD out there??

Zonda999

eddie-n07 wrote: »

Where can i get a sony 32v4000 for less than 500e euro??? Would stretch the budget for something special! :eek: but space is an issue. I share a house so i will be confined to small box room. 24" sounds a better option? Best small HD out there??

Herehttp://www.laptopsdirect.ie/s_KDL32V4000U/version.asp/ Shipping is about 40e, though so that would be around 500e all in. That really is a fantastic tv for the price, definitely one of the best 720p 32" lcds around. Would look absolutely amazing with the ps3 and blu-ray would look great too.( I'm gonna go for this tv in a couple of months if i can afford the 40" one i've been looking at:rolleyes:....).

If 32" is too big, i really dont know what to reccomend. BTW, the only 24" screens you'll find will be monitors. The lcd tv sizes around that range are 20", 22" and 26". The thing about buyin a tv in this sixe is that you'll be payin not much less that a 32" formuch smaller screen

eddie-n07

Thanks Zonda definately worth serious consideration! That site you reccommended is great.

Chumpski

For gods sake, you don't need a HDTV to enjoy PS3 games!

I use a SDTV most of the time. At the weekends when i go home i use my families HDTV and yes the resolution is much higher and detail is finer etc. but i don't enjoy the games any more or less either way.

If you have a LCD for your PC monitor i would investigate getting a HDMI to DVI convertor and get the higher resolution graphics that way but in my opinion its not worth shelling out 400-1000 euros for a fancy HDTV to play your games on. They won't play any different.

Sharpshooter656

I got my HDTV in D.I.D. for 750e about 5 months ago. It's a 32inch philips with ambilight, although they are bringing down prices all the time. At the moment you can get a good philips or samsung for about 600e. I'd recommend waiting for the January sales(if you can) and you will probably get a good quality tv for about 500e. There's no point wasting your money on a crap quality tv like a beko or normande, they will hardly enhance your picture at all(they could even make it worse). You would be better off buying a good hdmi cable for about 40e(although prices can vary depending on lenght.

Zonda999

Sharpshooter656 wrote: »

You would be better off buying a good hdmi cable for about 40e(although prices can vary depending on lenght.

Theres been countless threads about hdmi cables before on boards and the general expert opinions are that there is no difference WHATSOEVER between the cheap cables and the "Monstrously" expensive ones(Excuse the pun:D)

You can get a philips one in tesco for 2.50e at the moment. Enough said

giggsy664

Sharpshooter656 wrote: »

I got my HDTV in D.I.D. for 750e about 5 months ago. It's a 32inch philips with ambilight, although they are bringing down prices all the time. At the moment you can get a good philips or samsung for about 600e. I'd recommend waiting for the January sales(if you can) and you will probably get a good quality tv for about 500e. There's no point wasting your money on a crap quality tv like a beko or normande, they will hardly enhance your picture at all(they could even make it worse). You would be better off buying a good hdmi cable for about 40e(although prices can vary depending on lenght.

FFS. A lidl cable is as good as your 70€ one.

cabrwab

10m is the key, if your leaving the PS3 near the TV any HDMI cable will do.
Its not the brand name of the TV either its the quality they produce, if they tick all the right boxes then the cheap ones can be as good as the expensive ones, the only thing is build quality/ robustness of the casing if you are moving the screen alot.

Another word of advice alot of screen manufacturers share components and indeed screens. Take example sony and samsung share the actual screen, one is alot more expensive then the other.

This was the case with previous models i don't know how true it is now.

Resolution, contrast ratio, inputs, reaction time, refresh rate, speaker quality (most important one that! ) take into account all of these then make your purchase put most importantly get a HDMI cable.

And until you actually purchase an LCD tv enjoy the PS3 anyway you can!

corcaigh07

i have a 360 on a sdtv with a good scart cable and it looks great. the cable made the picture so much better. went from unreadable text on gta4 in-game mobile phone to clear as day. a good PS3 scart and im sure you'll enjoy your ps3 this christmas.

Mossy Monk

Sharpshooter656 wrote: »

You would be better off buying a good hdmi cable for about 40e(although prices can vary depending on lenght.

Wrong wrong wrong.