What LCD TV is reasonable for the money?

ColinEssex

ColinEssex

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After I leave, we're going to be in the market for getting a new telly (we currently rent ours).

What we're looking for is a 32" LCD HD ready with Freeview built in.

It seems there are dozens to choose from, we'll need the connections on the back for the cable DigiBox and also the PS2 (? scart sockets?) I'm not too well up on this. Some have 2 scarts and some have 3?

Anyone got any recommendations? Sony is nice but a bit pricey (£700 - £800), we're looking at about £400 to £500, thats in the Hitachi / Panasonic / LG area.

We've got Virgin digital digibox and our area is not due to lose analogue till 2011

Col
 
As your going HD here's a few things to consider:

How many HDCP ports (2 minimum IMO)
How many HDMI ports (1 minimum IMO)
What is the native resolution? (Your wanting 1920 x 1080 if you want true 1080p HD or 1280 x 720 if you happy with 720p. Television signals are likely to only be available upto 720 but HD DVD and Blu Ray will both output 1080p)
Contrast ratio of at least 3000:1

In all honesty I would say keep renting for the moment. Theres not that much HD stuff being transmitted at the moment and I would expect the price of HDTV sets to continue dropping steadily and for £400 - £500 your going to get something that HD content looks OK on and SD content will look a bit crap.
 
Thanks Chergh - it is a bit of a confusing minefield, I'm not really into telly specs.

We've always had Sony since the 1970's when Trinitron came out. I see Sony do 2 32" LCD's

this one

and

this one

I suppose you pays your money etc etc

Col
 
I wouldn't touch either to be honest. Neither seems to be HDCP enabled so you may be restricted to DVD quality with HD media.

There is only 1 HDMI port. So say you have a HD set top box and a HD DVD/blu ray device you would need to switch the cables when you wanted to switch from one to another, you may also want a games console or a PC connected as well which means more chaning. 2 HDMI ports is a minimum at least one of which should be HDCP enabled.

I would also avoid a built in freeview tuner. Freeview boxes can be bought for 20 quid so if it develops a fault of of warranty you can throw it away and just buy a new one. If the freeview tuner in your television develops a fault it's going to cost you more than 20 quid to get it repaired or to replace the television.

With a contrast ratio of 1300:1 colour isn't going to look that good.

Also make sure you go down to the local Dixons or something first and see how the picture looks on both HD and SD streams, often the HD picture can look quite good but the SD picture will look atrocious, though of course you don't want to buy from your local dixons.
 
Thanks for that info.

So if you get a set-top freeview box, where does that plug into?

You seem very knowlegable:) - is there a make / model you can recommend as a reasonable telly in the 500 - 600 quid range?

Col
 
The contrast ratio on the Phillips seems a bit poor.

Take a look at this
 
That one looks good. It seems to have all the bits and sockets and stuff.

Price around £470 is also favourable and it gets good reviews. I'll have to wander down to Currys and have a look at it in the flesh.

Thanks for that

Col
 
Col,
Another thing to think about is plasma. More pricey, but you get nice deep blacks (which i prefer). people say whites are a problem, but i havent seen anything (except for the ice on a hockey rink- during playoffs, it was a bit yellow)

ive seen many LCDs and my plasma blows them all away. so glad i spent the extra cash to get one
 
Thanks Ray. Not sure I can run to that yet. Finances a bit tight, so I need to hover around the £500 mark ($1,000).

That Samsung Chergh found I can get for £466 with free delivery on tinternet.

As long as I can get a decent pic and play PS2 'Grand Theft Auto' and it works for the normal stuff then I'll be happy.

Col
 
ColinEssex said:
As long as I can get a decent pic and play PS2 'Grand Theft Auto' and it works for the normal stuff then I'll be happy.
Click to expand...

Which one?

Also ive noticed that my ps2 doesnt have any justice done to it on my plasma (tiger woods golf mostly).. thinking im gonna have to upgrade to a ps3.... or i might go to the darkside and buy a xbox 360......!!! Graphics on them are amazing

Plenty of sites out there thta you can keep an eye on to watch for faling prices. i know in the us they are falling fast
 
rainman89 said:
Col,
Another thing to think about is plasma. More pricey, but you get nice deep blacks (which i prefer). people say whites are a problem, but i havent seen anything (except for the ice on a hockey rink- during playoffs, it was a bit yellow)

ive seen many LCDs and my plasma blows them all away. so glad i spent the extra cash to get one
Click to expand...

Wouldn't argue with that and I still think a conventional tube outshines LCD
 
I see, while Cols at work and "Her-in-doors" is at home a 14" Black and white from Radio Rentals is fine, but now that Col is retiring its got to be a 32" HD LCD. :rolleyes: ;) :cool:

:D Brian:D :D
 
FYI - "High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) developed by Intel Corporation to control digital audio and video content as it travels across Digital Visual Interface (DVI) or High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connections."

The idea is that you will one day (not yet but likely soon) need either a DVI or HDMI port for HD (it's up to the provider). I could be wrong, but I don't think there is such a thing as an HDCP port.

I currently have a PS3 and have been using it for games and Blu-Ray movies using just component cables because my tv doesn't have an HDMI port. :( It's not a problem right now because I don't think HDCP is fully implemented yet. When it does though, it may downgrade HD content to DVD quality unless I use an HDMI port (meaning, I'll need a new tv as well).
 
Brianwarnock said:
I see, while Cols at work and "Her-in-doors" is at home a 14" Black and white from Radio Rentals is fine, but now that Col is retiring its got to be a 32" HD LCD. :rolleyes: ;) :cool:

:D Brian:D :D
Click to expand...

Trust you to see through my plan:rolleyes:

Col
 
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