O/t - New Television Help

[Yorkshire-Seagull]

Hi

Need to upgrade my television, and have a few questions - hope someone can help....

Looking for a screensize of around 42"-50", and with full HD.

What's the difference between Plasma and LCD TV??
Are there any special features I should be looking for with the HD?
What does 1080p mean? Is this good?

I'm looking at this one - Toshiba Regza 42AV635DB 42-inch Widescreen Full HD: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics Photo - any opinions?

 

[clippedgull]

Hi

Need to upgrade my television, and have a few questions - hope someone can help....

Looking for a screensize of around 42"-50", and with full HD.

What's the difference between Plasma and LCD TV??
Are there any special features I should be looking for with the HD?
What does 1080p mean? Is this good?

I'm looking at this one - Toshiba Regza 42AV635DB 42-inch Widescreen Full HD: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics Photo - any opinions?

Plasma is generally better picture quality, although LCD has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. Plasma still tends to be at a price premium.

1080p is 'full hd', but you will only get the benefits if you feed it a full hd source. Blu-Ray is an example.

I would steer clear of the chain shops and go to a respected local supplier who will have more knowledge than those trying to sell items with huge mark ups.

In Brighton/Hove I would recommend Sunderland Electronics or Hills of Hove

 

[MORTY]

Richer Sounds have always been really helpful for me and great value. Also 5yr warrenty for 10% of the price of the TV. Worth a look

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I personally prefer Plasma - just find the picture sharper.

Whatever you do make sure it is 1080p - while you may not have an HD feed at the moment, you will kick yourself if you get it later and you haven't bothered to get a TV with full HD. If you do end up going to one of the chains ( and like others have said I would avoid it ) then make sure you clarify if the TV is 1080p - Currys etc have a sneaky way of making the TV appear full HD but leave off key info so you could end up with a 720p TV.

 

[Yorkshire-Seagull]

Cool - thanks. I do have a Sky+HD box, which I assume will tie in nicely with a Full HD tv to produce a decent picture.....

Will definitely avoid the chains - as with most people, I tend to go in to see what they have, then buy it online...

 

[clippedgull]

Will definitely avoid the chains - as with most people, I tend to go in to see what they have, then buy it online...

I would still look at the independent shops. It's quite possible they would get very near an online price, with the added advantage of local service if needed down the line.

 

[Marshy]

check out the richer sounds website is my advice

 

[CheeseRolls]

A couple of useful links for you

Useful Sizing Guide
Understanding TV Viewing Distance and Flat Screen HDTV Sizes

Technical Reviews
TV Reviews Index - TrustedReviews

User Experience
AVForums.com Home

Read through that lot and you will be an expert.

 

[scooter1]

check out the richer sounds website is my advice

What he and others said....

And then call them, they are really helpful and the 5 year warranty thing is a very good deal

 

[Easy 10]

The plasma v LCD debate is always a goodun.

Plasma
Pros: Deeper black, slightly smoother picture as not pixels (although not really a factor unless you're right on top of the thing)
Cons: Weighs a ton, takes up more energy, glassy screen can be very reflective, can be susceptible to screeenburn

LCD
Pros: Brighter more vibrant colours, lighter unit, no static (so screen doesn't attract dust), non-reflective screen
Cons: Black never quite truley 'deep black', pixels can be noticable if you're too close

Personally I went for an LCD, primarily because I get a lot of sunlight in my living room and HATE drawing the curtains during the day. With LCD it doesn't matter how bright it is in the room, I don't get any reflections on the screen whatsoever.
The HD is luvverly, especially for the blu-ray and the golf.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

The latest plasma screens are more energy efficient and getting less weighty. No need to run them in for several hundred hours to avoid screen burn and image retention which had to be done in the past. LCD screens dont seem to be able to give real black levels compared to a plasma but cope better in natural daylight. Be aware that if you go into any of the electrical chainstores the screens are set up to look good in the store environment and these picture settings are incorrect when viewing at home so hijacking the remote control and going through the picture modes gives you a better idea of what the picture will look like out of the box. When you have made your purchase dont forget that you can still tweak the picture quality to get better results and several audiovisual forums will have threads on the optimum settings.

 

[phoenix]

I knew I had the right size tv,when my ex moaned it is too big.Still got telly.As I said she in now the ex.

 

[empire]

go to hills in portslade,what they dont know bout tvs aint worth knowing,superb aftersales too,ask for dan,he is the main man and will sort you out

 

[Hiney]

Sky broadcasts in 1080i at the moment but there is talk they will go 1080p later in the year.

 

[geoff2021]

def, go to Hills, they will match internet prices, best in sussex

 

[bhaexpress]

Piece of advice, very briefly I worked for Currys last year, a truly shit company. If you buy a new TV take out the extended warranty. TV sets that are end of line often don't have spares, I can't remember how many times that happened to me. With an extended warranty if they can't fix it they have to replace it.

 

[Beach Hut]

We recently purchased an LG 37" TV from Richer Sounds that was only £360 a few weeks back, quality and a bargain

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

Sky broadcasts in 1080i at the moment but there is talk they will go 1080p later in the year.

...so does this mean that you can currently see sky hd if you have a tv with 1080i but later in the year you wont?

 

[Titanic]

Has anyone bought one of the newer 'LED backlit' LCD TV's? If so, which model have you gone for and are you pleased with it?

 

[clippedgull]

...so does this mean that you can currently see sky hd if you have a tv with 1080i but later in the year you wont?

You will see SKY in exactly the way that you do now. Your TV will 'downscale the picture from 1080p to 1080i.