Need help buying a Buying flat screen + home theatre

T-Square

Buying flat screen + blue ray player + home theatre
Hello everyone,

I've tried several searches and all roads seem to lead to the HE section
for questions relating to where and which flat screen TV to buy.

I have a few questions
1/ Is it best to buy locally? I'm thinking about the difficulties of returning a defective device.
2/ Which retailers should I consider?, I want to avoid Hardly Normal, etc.
3/ Is it best to have someone come over and stick it to the wall, or do it myself?

The budget for the TV is just over one thousand euro,
The budget for the blue ray is about 300 (considering a good player, or a PS3) please advise why I'd buy one over the other if you can.
I'm hoping the sound system might be thrown in!

Thanks!

PS: Was advised to wait till Christmas to get the blue ray player, as something that costs 300 today will cost 150 then

Richersounds.ie: John

T-Square,

Many thanks for the post and of course I am going to be biased!

You should probably post over in the main HE forum as well to get an unbiased opinion.

Anyway now that's over - I'll give you the biased opinion

We operate 2 stores - one in Belfast, Richer Sounds - The 'Richerites' and one in Dublin, Richer Sounds or 'The Philipines' so we sort of have the best and the worst of both worlds - ie if you buy from us in Belfast the guys in Dublin will always look after you (our service centre is actually Dublin based).

Now on the wider issue - where is it better to buy - well in principle I would normally prefer to either purchase from a 'Bricks N Mortar' retailer with an online presence or at least an online retailer who has established really good feedback from a tangible Customer base and there are a few of them out there - however if you are purchasing from a UK or European based retailer it may be best to establish their returns procedures prior to purchase.

On the specific query, I have a few suggestions:

€1000 will buy you a pretty damn serious TV (apart from the delusional bit about the home cinema being thrown in :eek:)

Option 1:

Philips 42PFL8404H 42" LCD/Ambilight / NETTV:http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/4/42pfl8404h_12/42pfl8404h_12_pss_eng.pdf
Philips BDP3000 Bluray Divx Ultra / Dolby True HD/ Profile 2:http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/b/bdp3000_05/bdp3000_05_pss_eng.pdf
Philips HTS4600 2.1 Home theater 1080P: http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/h/hts4600_05/hts4600_05_pss_eng.pdf
Icon - 37/50 black glass rack (a classy piece of kit see pic attached below!)
EURO €1499 for the system

OR - 50" with AV Separates system (yummy)

LG 50PQ3000 600HZ Plasma: http://www.lge.com/uk/tv-audio-video/televisions/LG-plasma-tv-50PQ3000.jsp
LG BDP370 Blu-Ray:http://www.lge.com/uk/tv-audio-video/video/LG-blu-ray-player-BD370.jsp
Onkyo TXSR307 5.1 AV Receiver: http://www.eu.onkyo.com/products/TX-SR307.html
Tannoy SFX5.1 Black speaker system: http://tannoy.com/ResidentialDetail.aspx?pid=284&sid=66
LG Black TV Rack: http://www.richersounds.com/product/racks/tvs/st42/lg-st42b4l
EURO €1499.99 / £GB 1299.95 for complete system!

Hope that give you a few ideas and please do drop me a line if I can assist in any ways or if you would like a different system tailored for you!

Thanks again,

ATB,

John Mc
Tannoy SFX 5.1 speaker system (Black)