Flatscreen TV's....mother of god!

dnme

I have been researching flatscreen TV's for the past couple of days looking at both LCD and LED models from Samsung, LG, Philips and others. I have been online for hours and gone to some stores such as Curry's, DID, PCW etc.

Firstly, its bloody hard to determine what's what with regards to series and model numbers. Samsung do their best to change model numbers according to location as well as spec. Philips seem to copy Samsung almost exactly interms of numbers and series. I have experienced shops with models numbers that are discontinued online etc. Very hard to know when a model number was released (how old is it? how long has it been sitting in the shop?)
I also notice that sometimes I find a particular model say online or in a shop, and when I go to the manufacturers website to research the model, it does not seem to exist or is defunct. Samsung's website seems to limit the range of models you can view if you are in Ireland for example ???????

As an example of this phenomenon... There are two models from LG that I'd love to investigate further, the LG 37LE5900 and the LG 37LE7900. When I go to LG's website and narrow down my search to 37" models, these 2 do not exist, all I can see are model numbers such as 37LF... 37LH... 37LS.... so I'm lef tin the dark.......AGAIN!

When you go into the stores, it is almost impossible to get the spec sheet for any model on display. Store people point you to the price tag with it's 2 or 3 bits of useless info. I asked a guy today if wireless av on LG's was network, he assured me it was which is totally untrue. When determining specs online, more often than not, spec sheets read NA or TBD for critical info like refresh and redsponse rates....AAARRRGGGH!!!!

Looking at various models, the stores are careful about the content shown on tv's. You will notice that they show a lot of digital CGI content which render well, but play a movie or sport on em and most of them look crap. Panning is jerky and if you are near the screen you can feel the headache coming on.

So, I'm up to my ears in model numbers, manufacturers and specs. It seems that the race for competition is at a pace and Moore's law is alive and well when it comes to refresh rates - 50hz, 100hz, 120hz, 240hz and 480hz. I personally cannot distinguish between 100hz and anything higher but the price tag commands a premium. In stores, some TV's look good and others look juddery but there seems to be no logical pattern or correlation to price, or refresh rates or even LCD v LED. When you consider that humans see perfect motion at around 27fps, one wonders why we need 200hz+ ? Is it a sales gimmick a bit like megapixels when it comes to cameras?

What does it take to buy a TV that is pleasent to look at these days??????????????????????????

LED is the big buzz right now, but we need to determine what is LED? Samsung LEDS are side-lit for example but they still use the word LED and by god do they add a premium to the price for this.

My spec is simple or so I thought

* 37 or 40"

* LED (I think.....em...)

* 100hz+ (I dont really care as long as the TV looks good and is smooth to watch with all types of content.

* Networkable (preferably wireless built in). To my surprise very few have wi-fi built in and those that do are really expensive. (Come on guys, wifi chips are ....well as cheap as chips). I dont want to have to run a cat5 cable from TV to router - gimmie a break.

We need to be able to compare these TV's far easier than we currently can. In Curry's there's 50 of the dam things and its impossible to get a spec sheet for one.

I'd welcome any opinions or dialog on this post. I think the tech still has a ways to go before I spend my hard earned cash......maybe I'm wrong?

EDIT:
And another thing...their all (well nearly all) being sold with Freeview built in. This is pretty useless to most of Ireland except border areas and Dublin. Why are Freesat models so rare?

Also no one ever mentions MPEG-4 which aparently is what Irish DTT will be using? Does that model you just forked out 1200 quid for even support this? did you check? did anyone mention it?

blondeonblonde

+1. I hear ya, it's pretty mind bending alright...Seems impossible to compare like with like as different stats are quoted all the time. I've been looking on and off at TV's for the past couple of months without taking the plunge but whenever I go online to check anything out it seems impossible to get any objective info... Like you say I just want something with a decent picture that doesn't have that "laggy" or fuzzy picture that you often see with flatscreens.

Reckon the best bet is to stop over thinking and just pick something.... anything!!

kuro_man

if motion blur is a concern for you, you should probably check out plasma TV's (Panasonic probably). They usually handle motion better and are probably cheaper than a LED back-lit LCD.

Downside is they consume more power (although not as much as the max. power rating would have you believe.)

Other than that, read reviews on hdtv.test.co.uk and avforums, ignore the "numbers" and buy the one most suited to your needs that you can afford.

higster

Or go with recommendations from "experts"...help narrow down search anyhow?
http://www.whathifi.com/bestbuys/tvs-bestbuys/best-buy-tvs/
http://awards.whathifi.com/winners/televisions/2009
http://stuff.tv/Top10/LCD-TVs/

dnme

I actually went with the Philips 37PFL7605h. Its stunning, I'm absolutely delighted with it.

I have been trialling Freesat with the Edison Argus Mini IP box (which is ok, few probs, has to be replaced, bit cheapish). I am getting Irish DTT via rabbits ears aerial. Freesat and DTT look fantastic on it but HD is another world. Watched a WC match last night and was blown away.

Been messing around with hooking up Laptop, and connecting to router (Net TV) and I have also put a 4 port USB hub into it which works fine. My laptop looks amazing at massive resolutions with great refresh rates.

Watching TV is a pleasure, pics look fabulous. Its great to watch the F1 and actually be able to read the on screen graphics very clearly.

Only prob with this box is the minimalist remote. It sucks. It has a d pad inside another d pad and my thumb keeps getting confused. It also lacks the basic functionality to set brightness/contrast etc. You have to go deep into onscreen menus to achieve this. Not to worry, I have the amazing Logitech Harmony One ordered. I hate plugging these guys but pixmania are currently doing it for €129 which is seriously cheap.

I got the tele for €920 from Cunniffe's in Galway (they matched my best Internet price). Great price, fabulous tele.

Just coz I can:D

Owenw

I hear ya!.

Great advice on this thread.

You could do worse than take a stroll down Georges St in Dublin and have a look at the Panasonic range in Alliance Electrical followed by the Philips range in the Philips Store on the corner with Dame st.

Bring a DVD along with demanding scenes to see how the TVs perform with content you're familiar with.

*Apparently Alliance Electrical have closed down

strawdog

OP, can I ask what you went for in the end? In almost the exact same boat. Narrrowed it down to The LG or the philips 37" LED sets at about 900eu(haven't model no's to hand but both 100hz) There's a dark horse of a 42" LG at thats about 50 quid cheaper (better value but feel its a bit too big for my room)

Hard to know if LED is worth the extra. Slightly better picture imo and if the energy saving claims are true should easily make up difference in long run. As someone else said, fed up trying to suss out all the variables so will probably just take the plunge soon anyway

Mountjoy Mugger

dnme wrote: »

I actually went with the Philips 37PFL7605h. Its stunning, I'm absolutely delighted with it.

strawdog wrote: »

OP, can I ask what you went for in the end? In almost the exact same boat.

He went for the Philips 37PFL7605h

strawdog

Yes Yes indeed so he did!

Thought that was someone else adding their tupence, didn't look at the username.

Anyone want to back up the Philips praise? Betwen that and the LG at this stage. Same price, virtually same spec.....six o' one?

Tea 1000

All LED TV's are still actually LCD TV's, the term just refers to the backlighting.
Re the LG vs the Philips, the latest Philips range of LCD's have gotten great reviews after a lull of a couple of years, LG seemed to have done Plasma best, so if it's LCD and Philips vs LG, I'd tend to go with the Philips, but if it's LG plasma vs Philips I'd go with LG Plasma.
Having said that, I have not seen the LG LCD range in person, so best look at some reviews! Try trustedreviews.co.uk

strawdog

True, I think there might even be some court cases about companies like samsung calling it just LED. Not gonna wait around for full LED to come out tho and the back lighting is supposed to help with darker pictures and also with sunlight issues. They also claim it saves 30-40% on electricity which is pretty substantial (whether thats subtantiated is another issue!)

Thanks for the input tho, think it will need some more research alright. Sheesh!

dnme

Big thing for me right now is DLNA. My TV has a LAN connection, I have it connected to internet and to home network. There are many DLNA servers out now for streaming media to the TV and Windows 7 allows me to push media to it over the network with the DLNA capabilities of Windows Media Player 12. Very cool.

I would suggest to anyone buying a TV to make sure it is Networkable and DLNA 1.5 compliant.



Edit: Image edited to 800px wide (sigh)

The Ritz

dnme,

I've removed the image from your post above - it was a bit too big for a forum thread here - I've left the links in place so folk can click through.

Cheers,

Ritz.