I'm thinking of buying a new telly soon, and don't know much about these new LCD and plasma sets. Anyone have any comments please on any makes that should be avoided? Any particular features to look out for? The widescreen pictures look a bit narrow to me, so probably need bigger set than the old 26 inch CRT Sony. I realise this is not DIY, but folk on this forum always seem to be generally well-informed on most household issues. Thank you for any advice.
Well, avoid anything overpriced to look good by nature of having a large price (or large "previously sold at" price). Most flatscreens are entering the 'cooking wine' class of boring stability and entirely suitable for 99% of consumers that don't need / necesarily understand fancy gadget features.
There was a recent thread "Crucial Criteria for choosing equipment" in uk.tech.digital-tv which you can find in google. That newsgroup is a place you can also ask for opinions. I also find searching reviews and opinions in Amazon & Ebuyer helpful when zoomed in on a model number.
Don't buy anything without a digital (DVB/Freeview) tuner in it. There still seem to be quite a number about, and they won't work without a set-top box in a few years time. Personally, I wouldn't pay any extra for HDTV capability -- actually I got mine cheap a couple of years ago because it didn't have that. OTOH, I don't watch TV much -- if you're into TV and films, you might well want HDTV.
Digital tuners are so cheap that I wouldn't mae it a critical factor when buying a TV. Particularly since you'll need at least 1 other DVB if you want to record stuff on the video/HDD recorder.
The software in DVB tuners varies, so the ease of (for example) getting subtitles may vary significantly depending on the type of DVB selected. Unfortunately, nobody seems to tell you how many menus you need to get through to view subtitles.
The TV models change rapidly, so it's difficult to be prescriptive about models. The one we have has a CAM slot in case we ever decide to watch an encrypted channel, inputs for 2 x PCs, 2 x HDMI, 2 x SCART, 1 x component video and 1 x composite. I'd regard this as a minimum specification to look for because there are more and more boxes requiring this sort of connectivity. Sadly I don't think our TV (A Toshiba) is available any more so it seems pointless recommending the exact model.
The longer you put off the purchase then the lower the price will be (remember when people bragged about having a DVD player - look at the price now)
A flat panel should be cheaper than we are paying as the shipping costs are much less, their are less components, less materials, etc. (Just a lot of development costs to pay back)
Once they have satisfied the people that "must have the latest thing" then they need to drop the price and tempt the ordinary punter. Many household buy a TV at Xmas time (as a gift to themselves ) - leave it until spring.
Which year? Prices of existing technology will always drop. The manufacturers always have a "latest" product range with new features which hopefully for them don't add to the cost but for which they can make more margin.
OTOH, retailers seem to want to compete for Christmas business.
I've had my 32" Sony Bravia for nealy 2 years now and have been very pleased with it. It has both analogue and digitial tuners, and a reasonable set of I/O connections. My model has been superceded but the Bravia engine has been even further improved in the newer models.
This is a useful source of information
formatting link
and I found helpful information there about setting up my Sony once I'd bought it.
I bought mine online, and once you firmed up on a few models have a google around and also check the above forum to see what people say about sets and suppliers (also check supplier reviews on the price comparison web sites - a good supplier is as important as a good product).
I have a mix of LCD (2) and CRT(1) TVs - I don't think CRT are quite "there" yet on picture quality, but they are VERY compact. I just put a telly in the bedroom last week. I would probably have had to put a CRT in one of the wardrobes losing storage space and having to have the door open to watch telly. an LCD can be more easily wall mounted, and is less intrusive, even with a bigger size.
We have a Tosh 32" in the living room, The picture is pretty darn good, BUT you do have to be a reasonable viewing distance from it.
Bear in mind when used on a stand they are tall and shallow - you may need to look at screwing the stand down or tethering the telly somehow.
I wouldn't buy without freeview now. While separate tuners are almost as the cornflakes stage, I think built in is tidier.
If you have no intention of HD, then it may be better to go non-HD. If you want HD you will need a suitale source - Sky HD (rather good) Cable HD (Virgin offer it I believe) or HD-DVD/Bluray.
We bought a 32" Bravia about 6 months ago, and once we'd turned down all the picture settings (the factory defaults appear to be "full on" for colour, brightness, contrast, etc.) we're reasonably pleased with it.
I would want one with integrated Freeview. Why put up with having different tuners in separate boxes when Freeview is going to be the means delivering terrestrial TV signals.
A point to consider is - Do I like the remote control and its logic.
Last Christmas we had just finished redecorating our lounge and I got the 'thumbs-up' to buy a new TV (old one was 15years old plus). Did a bit of research on the web via Which?, AV Forums and the Digital Spy site and elected for a Sony Bravia 26" LCD, Panasonic DVD Recorder and Humax 9200 PVR.
The Humax was purchased from John Lewis as a customer returns (£150), the Sony also from John Lewis (price matched from £795 to £635) which included the JL 5 year warranty, the Panasonic from Currys (£179 cos the sales person forgot to change the price back to £199 on the display shelf). Between all 3 devices there's a combined total of 4 freeview tuners. Out of all the devices, the Humax was the best purchase - it completely changes the way we view TV and Radio with it's Timeshift option.
Completely agree that you can buy all items cheaper now, so it important to get the best deal for what you buy at the point of purchase.
Most people tend to believe 'size matters' when buying a TV, but as it's already been mentioned in the thread, the bigger the screen the further you need to sit away from it to get the benefit of it.
But of course you can sit closer with HD content, and just see more detail ! Simon.
At one shop I was shown a corner where there were many returned sets - people had bought ones that were too big and had returned them for something smaller. Apparently the sales people can wager who is going to buy the biggest one within seconds of them entering the shop. Unfortunately their lounge size doesn't always match the size of their 4x4 and their self image.
I don't believe what they say. They give the same answer for LCD and plasma even though most plasma TVs are lower resolution than the (new) LCD sets. The higher the resolution the closer you can sit without seeing the pixels so it is wrong to have the same answer.
On the subject of resolution check what it is as HDready doesn't mean its a HDTV whatever the salesdroids tell you. You want either 1280x720p or 1920x1080i/p for the best results. Anything else will result in rescaling of all material to fit and will lose some detail/quality in the process. Sony are calling it fullHD just to get the "mugs" that bought a poor HDready set to upgrade.
I would not buy without seeing what the TV displays like.
I was in the market for a TV 2 years ago. Then there were a few CRTs available, now there are almost none. I was completely unimpressed with LCDs and Plasmas don't go down to the size I needed (32") so did not consider them. I then bought a reconditioned Philips CRT from Philips themselves, an option no longer available.
3 years on, I paid an unrelated visit to Costco and was equally unimpressed. Things to look out for:
- Rendition of movement. Snooker is my favourite sample. Panning against rails is another one. In particularly bad ones, a housewife walking forward in her kitchen is enough to exhibit the "I am in focus / Now I am not, I am moving / I have stopped moving and appear in focus again" phenomenon.
- Rendition of black (or lack thereof)
- Rendition of standard definition material (unless you have gone HD).
Rendition of colour may be fixable; certainly demo sets are not set up in any of the (standard consumer) places I have been.
You are right that the dominant dimension (height in this case) is smaller in 16:9 than in 4:3. LCDs however don't have the (~2"?) margin CRTs have. You may be happy for size with a 28" LCD.
If I was in the market just now I would raid ebay and the local ads for the very best CRTs 2nd hand. Sets sold for over 1,000 GBP 2-3 years ago are available for 10-20% of their retail price just because they are not en vogue. YMMV.
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