What's a good "True HD" TV ?

the_syco

Lo all,
Getting the SkyPlus HD box, and need a HD TV for it.

Firstly, should I go for a plasma or lcd HD TV? Which one would offer best quality? Will be going for one around 42" size wise, if that matters.

Also, it must be "true HD". None of this "HD Ready" sh|te, as after looking at the differences side by side, it must be "true HD".

Hogzy

Just to let you know you dont need Full/Ture HD to view SKYHD as SkyHD is only 720p/1080i (HD ready), But yeah i would recommend a Full HD tv to be "future proof" Personally id recommend an LCD!

the_syco

Hogzy wrote: »

Just to let you know you dont need Full/Ture HD to view SKYHD as SkyHD is only 720p/1080i (HD ready), But yeah i would recommend a Full HD tv to be "future proof" Personally id recommend an LCD!

Aye. But if I'm watching a blu-ray HD movie, I want the full thing, not some half-way-to-HD TV.

Hogzy

Thats why id recommend the Full HD one! Id personally recommend Sony/Samsung/LG as being the Top brands of LCD!

Johnny Bitte

Hey,
Did a fair bit of reading up on this before I bought my 42" Philips Ambi light.

First off I think Samsung and Philips are the best buy not just for the spec of the tv's but the look. Compared to the the Sony are just bloody aweful looking.

I d definatly recommend buying on line, 2 places I use all the time and are the cheapest are komplett.ie and Pixmaina.ie. But I was In DID electrical after Christmas and they weren't far off the internet prices. Stay completely clear of Harvey Norman as there prices are terrible.

But that doesnt mean you can't go in and see the tv's in action and drill them for info.

The main differnce from Plasma's and LCD's is power consumation. The Plasma's use a fair bit more. Also some people say that Plasma's give better blacks but it looks like with the newer LCD's that not true.

Hope this helps.

John mac

what about something like this?
they will deliver for a good price for boardies. have a look on bargin alerts.

cant go wrong with a pannasonic (if you have the money Pioneer is the way to go.:D)

Qwerty?

John mac wrote: »

what about something like this?
they will deliver for a good price for boardies. have a look on bargin alerts.

cant go wrong with a pannasonic (if you have the money Pioneer is the way to go.:D)

Thats the one I'm considering, if you do go with RS, make sure you go the www.richersounds.com route for your price.

the_syco

The_Goose135 wrote: »

I d definatly recommend buying on line, 2 places I use all the time and are the cheapest are komplett.ie and Pixmaina.ie. But I was In DID electrical after Christmas and they weren't far off the internet prices. Stay completely clear of Harvey Norman as there prices are terrible.

Cool. Looking at D.I.D. Not touching Pixmania, as the after sales is meant to be real bad.

Tomk1

Hogzy wrote: »

Just to let you know you dont need Full/Ture HD to view SKYHD as SkyHD is only 720p/1080i (HD ready), But yeah i would recommend a Full HD tv to be "future proof" Personally id recommend an LCD!

Well not that future proof as the Quad-HD will arive in 2015

The_Goose135 wrote: »

Hey,
Did a fair bit of reading up on this before I bought my 42" Philips Ambi light.

The main differnce from Plasma's and LCD's is power consumation. The Plasma's use a fair bit more.

I have looked up power useage on cnet where 37" 40" panosonic are very low. Also doesn't the new series LCD's use more than one back light so wouldn't this increase power useage.

Quote CNET
1.Viewing angle: "Viewing angle is another weakness of LCD compared with plasma. On every LCD we've reviewed, we witnessed some brightness and color shift visible when we watched from an angle that's more or less removed from the sweet spot right in front of the TV (to either side, and especially above or below). Plasmas look equally good from very wide angles. In addition, LCDs are much more likely to exhibit uniformity problems than plasmas, which can appear as lighter areas on dark screens, clouding, or even color banding on some models"

The_Goose135 wrote: »

Hey,
Did a fair bit of reading up on this before I bought my 42" Philips Ambi light.

Also some people say that Plasma's give better blacks but it looks like with the newer LCD's that not true.
Hope this helps.

2. Black levels: The picture quality of LCD TVs has historically suffered from poor black levels, but the latest versions are often much-improved. The best plasmas still surpass the best LCD in terms of delivering a deep black, however, and in general LCD still lags behind. That's because LCDs use a backlight to provide illumination, and there's almost always some light leaking through the pixels. Color saturation is also generally inferior to plasma's, again as a result of the inability to completely blacken (turn off) the pixels. New LCD technologies, including LED backlights, are helping even the playing field, but they're still extremely expensive.

3. The truth about 1080p
In the last couple of years, there has been a big influx of HDTVs with 1080p native resolution, which typically cost a good deal more than their lower-resolution counterparts. But as we've been saying all along, once you get to high-def, the difference between resolutions becomes much more difficult to appreciate. We've done side-by-side tests between two 46-inch LCD HDTVs, one with 1366x768 resolution and the other with 1080p resolution, using the same 1080i source material, and it was extremely difficult for us to see any difference. It becomes even more difficult at smaller screen sizes or farther seating distances--say, more than 1.5 times the diagonal measurement of the screen. We've reviewed a 37-inch 1080p LCD, for example, where it was impossible to see the separation between horizontal lines at farther than 45 inches away,
...Today, however, the premium for 1080p is still pretty steep, and unless you're getting a very large set, say 50 inches or more, we don't recommend basing a buying decision on whether or not the television has 1080p native resolution.
...True 1080p content is extremely scarce, however, and none of the major networks have announced 1080p broadcasts. The term 1080p today appears mostly in reference to the displays' native resolution, not the source
1080p-Blu-ray and future HD-DVD players;
1080i-Includes CBS, NBC, PBS, DiscoveryHD/Xbox 360

4. motion blur: which can occur in fast-moving images. LCD TVs with a 120Hz refresh rate can alleviate some of that blurring, but they're generally still not as blur-free as plasmas. It's also worth noting that many people don't notice motion blur at all. 120Hz LCDs often have dejudder processing too, which smoothes out judder in images but can also make some material look more-artificial.

spadder

John mac wrote: »

what about something like this?
they will deliver for a good price for boardies. have a look on bargin alerts.

cant go wrong with a pannasonic (if you have the money Pioneer is the way to go.:D)

Hi John,

I'm thinking of getting the Panasonic TH42PZ81 Freesat, does this have a standard tuner for rte etc?

Thanks

spockety

Hogzy wrote: »

Just to let you know you dont need Full/Ture HD to view SKYHD as SkyHD is only 720p/1080i (HD ready), But yeah i would recommend a Full HD tv to be "future proof" Personally id recommend an LCD!

Please stop spreading misinformation.

To correctly watch a program that is 1080i as the producer intended, you need a TV that has 1080 lines. i.e. 1920x1080, i.e. Full HD, ie HD1080, etc.