Buying a new TV, need advice

Breezer

Hi,

This is going to sound incredibly dumb and ignorant, probably because when it comes to TVs I am dumb and ignorant

Basically the tube has blown in my old 28" 4:3 CRT, and I'm in the market for a widescreen flat panel. I'm suddenly faced with a million choices and I'm a bit confused, and was hoping someone could help me out.

Doing a bit of background reading, I've come to the following conclusions, which I'm hoping you good people can confirm/deny:

1) LCD vs Plasma: Plasma gives better picture quality overall, but up to about 37" it really doesn't matter. Plasma uses more electricity and is more susceptible to burnout. Since I'm not going over 37", I'd be better off with LCD?

2) HD Ready vs Full HD: HD ready is 720p, whereas Full HD can mean either 1080i or 1080p on newer models. Up to 37" 720p will do just fine, and I won't be able to notice the difference?

3) Screen size: For viewing an SD signal on a HDTV, less is more? Basically I currently have NTL analogue. I will probably upgrade this to NTL digital in the future, and possibly switch to a combination of Freesat and RTE DTT when RTE launches the service properly. I have no interest in Sky, HD or otherwise. Given that I therefore won't actually be watching much in HD, other than DVDs, and NTL's reputation for rubbish picture quality, would I be better off going for a smaller set (i.e. 32")? What is the largest screen size people would recommend?

Basically, to summarise, I was very happy with my old TV and I'm not planning on changing my viewing habits a great deal. I basically want to switch to widescreen and save some space with a flat panel. I don't want to buy into obsolete technology, but I don't care about having the latest and greatest either (e.g. Blu Ray doesn't interest me). What sort of a TV would you recommend I buy?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance

Jev/N

I have some limited knowledge on the subject but having researched TVs over the last month as I was buying one, I can give some advice at least!


1. Plasmas use a good 3 or 4 times as much power as LCDs so if you want to keep the electricity bill down, get an LCD. They do have better black display and constrast ratios in comparison to LCDs but as you're not going over 37" you're right, there's no point. Oh and lastly, there are very little plasmas available under 40/42" so you wouldn't have much of choice


2. HD ready (720p) should do fine for what you need and most would argue, as you said, that there is little noticable difference on anything 37" or below


3. Screen size would depend on the quality of the screen you're getting....

Easiest thing to do is to put up a budget and then it would be easier to give advice on a particular model.

big_moe

1) plasma draws electricity as it needs it. so for dark scenes, very little power is drawn. for bright fast moving films etc, it draws more power. over all, yes plasma does consume more electricity than lcd, but not "3 or 4 times more" as has been said. for picture quality, and especially since you have ntl analogue, you'd be better off with plasma as it can deal with weaker signals better than lcd can.

2) i wouldnt mind about full hd/hd ready at ~37", especially because you have no interest in blu ray. just make sure the TV can accept a full hd signal and scale it properly for future needs.

3) a 32" 4:3 crt is a BIG tv. a 32" widescreen is (obviously) wider, but not as tall. this will make a 32" widescreen appear smaller than your 32" crt 4:3. so look at a minimum of 37" widescreen.

so with all that knowledge now, i'd recommend a Panasonic 37" hd ready Plasma, the TH-37PV80. i have the 42" version with ntl digital and its the business. also, i have freesat (which is broadcast in hd ready) and that looks stunning on it. it's available for €799 with a free blu ray player (which is still a very good DVD player even if you're not interested in blu) http://www.allianceelectric.ie/products/tv/plasmalcd/th37pv80.htm

adam

Breezer

Thanks for all the info!

big_moe wrote: »

3) a 32" 4:3 crt is a BIG tv.

Yeah, I realised after I posted that that didn't sound right, and discovered that my current one is actually a 28" 4:3 CRT. So a 32" 16:9, by my very quick calculations, would give me about 5" or 6" wider and more or less the same height.

just make sure the TV can accept a full hd signal and scale it properly for future needs.

What exactly do you mean by that? On the one I'm looking at, I can plug in a Blu Ray player (if I ever buy one in a fit of madness) and get 1080p, is this what you're referring to? I really don't see the need for anything over 720p for TV broadcasts given the screen size and since HD in Ireland is virtually non-existent, and will probably remain that way for a fair few years unless I want to pay a fortune. But I'm open to correction on this.

especially since you have ntl analogue, you'd be better off with plasma as it can deal with weaker signals better than lcd can.

I'll more than likely be upgrading to NTL digital. In fact I will be. Would this change your recommendation?

BlackWizard

Good thread! Answered a few of my questions too. I'm gonna be buying a new TV around 37inch this week.

I'd really prefer a Plasma because I was in PC World looking at all the TVs. They all had football on them. There was a lot of motion blur on the LCDs, but the Plasmas were fine

big_moe

I would still recommend plasma over lcd for digital sources as well. Pc world don't exactly have tv best displays going... But even still plasma does have the better movement

BlackWizard

Well I dont really want to buy online, so I don't know of any other shops.

PCWorld is usually expensive for alot of things, so TVs are probably the same

big_moe

alliance electric on geroges street in town

www.allianceelectric.ie

there are also a few others around town that do panasonic as well

M00lers

That's good advice from Big moe. A 37 inch panasonic plasma will be perfect for you.

DelsFan

I don't have answers, but I do have a couple of questions (and a statement).

First, there are very few things you can learn about a television in the store since, from the factory, televisions are set to "torch" (bright) mode in order to dazzle the unsuspecting buyer. To properly compare two sets, you would have to set them both up for optimum viewing using a test disc (or, at the least, set them to their most "warm" mode and set the contrast and picture settings to mid-range levels and color to "barely showing color plus 20%".). Only occasionally can you do this in the store - so to determine picture quality you actually do need to find and read reviews about it from people that you can trust. [Conversely, all HD televisions look pretty good if they are set up right, especially if you aren't even going to view much HD material. So my main point would be for you to set your television up properly after you get it home.]

Already mentioned: how well will your television "downscale" a signal? That is, if you do end up receiving a 1080i or 1080p signal, how well will your television "downconvert" that signal to 720p?

Much more importantly:
Since you will be watching lots of television in standard definition, how well will your television "upconvert" (from 480 to 720p) a normal television signal? I don't know currently if this is a big deal; but two years ago, the last time I shopped seriously, almost every HD television produced a HD picture between good and great - but many produced really lousy pictures when presented with a Standard Definition signal. Since you will be watching allmost all of your television in SD, it seems to me the paramount question for you should be how well a prospective television set upscales an SD signal to 720p.

Again, to determine this you need to find and read a couple of reviews from people you can trust. In America I'd suggest "Home Theater Magazine" and "The Perfect Vision"; in Europe (even though I'm in Belgium at the moment) I don't know what magazines would be good. Perhaps you will find the answers here though!

One last thought. A widescreen HD picture is so stunning compared to a 4:3 picture. I say you should get a pretty good HD television since you might decide investing in a satellite to receive HD offerings is actually a good idea.

DelsFan

Addition:

I'm heavily leaning towards Plasma set for the following reasons (perhaps in order of importance):
I want people sitting anywhere (within reason) in the room to benefit from a good picture, and the LCD's seem to suffer when viewed off-axis.
I watch a fair amount of sports and a few action movies; perhaps a 200 Hz LCD would be tolerable.
I have an Engineer's mentality, I am an audiophile, and I am particular - so it is likely I'll become a videophile and appreciate the deep and textured blacks. It seems the LCD's just never have pristine blacks.

Quote from someone else (on an American forum), that illustrated the point about blacks:
"For what it's worth. I visited a [store not to be named] yesterday and was looking at the 55" Vizio LCD(the 120 hz not the 240hz). I played with the picture settings to get the best picture I could(very bright in the store) I thought it looked really great. Right below it was a 50" Pioneer Plasma (? mod#) Due to the bright store I couldn't adjust it enough to make it look as good as the Vizio. Then it happened--The feed had a young lady in the scene, on the Vizio she had black hair, on the Pioneer she had several different shades of dark hair that the Pioneer just beautifully highlighted. Not that anyone has put the Vizio in the Pioneer category, but since I have been a Plasma guy trying to like the LCD's I thought it was pretty cool."

It seems like any recently manufactured Plasma television has almost no chance of suffering from burn-in.

For me, the only Plasma deal-breaker for me would be a Plasma TV in a bright room. But one can usually control ambient light all or in part.

Breezer

Thanks for all the replies guys. In the end I went for the LG LCD I linked to above. 37" was just too big, the price was right for the 32" and it was available locally with minimum hassle. It's doing the job just fine. I'm sure your advice about the plasma was spot on, and hopefully it'll help someone else out if they look at this thread, but having perfectly toned blacks and crystal clear picture just doesn't bother me enough to justify the extra money or energy consumption.

Thanks a million though, I appreciate it all the same!

cheapskate

Hi Guys,
I've been hankering over the whole Plasma Vs LCD debate, maybe the LED LCDs were a match for the plasma's but at what cost and yes the new perfect pixel HD Phillips even got a look in but I've been looking now for a new telly for nearly six months!

Its time someone stood up and made a decision and if Brian Cowen isn't going to do it then maybe I'll just have to take the Kuro by the horns (ok so I'd never make a speech writer)

Anyway with your help, I made my decision (drum roll) - I'm buying the Kuro!! (fanfares) KRP-500A, to hell with expense! and to round it off a Sony BDP- S5000ES (oh please guys tell me I'm doing the right thing)

I can't afford a decent AV receiver or speakers so I was thinking about a Yamaha sound projector Ysp-40D what do you think?

Cheapskate (I might even have to change my name now?)

gmailer

Lads, if you are buying a tv soon, make sure its a full hd 1080p. buy doing this you are future proofing it and when HD becomes the norm in a few years, the set you buy today will be able to handle it,
i bought a HD ready set a few years ago but tbh, its not worth a sh1te.
im after selling it and getting the new bravia 100hz full HD tv. mightn't get the full features out of it now, but in a few years when i get HD it'll be worth it.

Gallus

gmailer wrote: »

Lads, if you are buying a tv soon, make sure its a full hd 1080p. buy doing this you are future proofing it and when HD becomes the norm in a few years, the set you buy today will be able to handle it,
i bought a HD ready set a few years ago but tbh, its not worth a sh1te.
im after selling it and getting the new bravia 100hz full HD tv. mightn't get the full features out of it now, but in a few years when i get HD it'll be worth it.

Bad advice. Alot more to purchasing a TV than just 1080p native resolution.
HD ready and HD ready 1080p are both hdtv certifications. Plus you are not "future proofing" a tv by purchasing a hd ready 1080p tv, a hd ready tv will still be able to display a 1080p source. And as said above in smaller screens it is questionable if a hd ready 1080p set even can be noticed compared to a hd ready set.

hargo

I had sort of decided on the 37" plasma with free blue ray player in Alliance Electric but now I see the new 37" plasma TX-P37X10 being advertised which I think has MPEG 4 tuner. Any opinions?

MayoForSam

Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) that will use the MPEG4 tuner is still some time off (I doubt if the government will be stumping up the cash to do it any time soon), anyhow you will be able to buy a cheap set-top tuner to input the signal into a standard TV when it does become available.

I have a 42" Pananonic plasma (HD ready 720p), it's got a great picture even with standard def stuff and looks better than any LCD I have come across. As stated previously, full HD is not really noticeable until you go above 40-42" in size (unless you will be viewing 2' from the screen).

gmailer

Gallus wrote: »

Bad advice. Alot more to purchasing a TV than just 1080p native resolution.
HD ready and HD ready 1080p are both hdtv certifications. Plus you are not "future proofing" a tv by purchasing a hd ready 1080p tv, a hd ready tv will still be able to display a 1080p source. And as said above in smaller screens it is questionable if a hd ready 1080p set even can be noticed compared to a hd ready set.

what? are you for real, so what you are saying is, that if you had a choice between a hd ready tv and a full hd tv that there is no difference?
now that is bad advice on your part, hd ready and full hd, there is a massive difference. just check wiki and you'll find i am right.

M00lers

gmailer wrote: »

Lads, if you are buying a tv soon, make sure its a full hd 1080p. buy doing this you are future proofing it and when HD becomes the norm in a few years, the set you buy today will be able to handle it,
i bought a HD ready set a few years ago but tbh, its not worth a sh1te.
im after selling it and getting the new bravia 100hz full HD tv. mightn't get the full features out of it now, but in a few years when i get HD it'll be worth it.

What a crock of sh1te!

akaSol

MayoForSam wrote: »

Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) that will use the MPEG4 tuner is still some time off (I doubt if the government will be stumping up the cash to do it any time soon), anyhow you will be able to buy a cheap set-top tuner to input the signal into a standard TV when it does become available.

I have a 42" Pananonic plasma (HD ready 720p), it's got a great picture even with standard def stuff and looks better than any LCD I have come across. As stated previously, full HD is not really noticeable until you go above 40-42" in size (unless you will be viewing 2' from the screen).

RTE currently broadcast in MPEG4 free view, and in the near future a MPEG4 card will be available in the republic to enable the picture to be seen.
I am not certain that's a HD broadcast as such, but a TV with a MPEG4 tuner card would defiantly help in the near future. You just need to make sure that it will see the irish version of HD when its available.

>Sol

John mac

Anyway with your help, I made my decision (drum roll) - I'm buying the Kuro!! (fanfares) KRP-500A, to hell with expense! and to round it off a Sony BDP- S5000ES (oh please guys tell me I'm doing the right thing)

thats the way to go.

you need a decent amp and speakers though, something like this maybe?

not too expensive but will do the job fine.

btw anyone know where i can get a panny 42pz80 or the Irish equivalent, (in stock,and a a decent price)

i know the new models are out but will be a few weeks before they hit the shelves.