Anyone know much about LCDs?

TheRevOlutionary

Am getting to the stage where Im going to need to upgrade the old goggle box, as it switches itself of and occasionally goes funny colours! Want a wall mounted LCD, probably 32", but would like 37" if the missus will allow

Any ideas? Offers? Been to the shops and seen Toshiba Regza and Panasonic Viera screens Ive liked but not sure if you get VFM with those or just paying for the name.

Any help appreciated...

The Northern Monkey

buy online. loooaaaddss cheaper.
got a 37" 1080p toshiba for £450 not long ago

TheRevOlutionary

Dont need all the 1080p gubbins, as Ive got no HD sky, blueray or x-box etc. Hoping to spend less than that but get a good picture with the SD signal from terrestrial and freeview.

Kiwi Kranker

Is a tough one as with LCD's you get what you pay for.

As an example of this at my local Sony store they had three 32ish inch LCDs playing exactly the same show. Each LCD was a different model and started off at about £499 then the next one was £900 and then the next £1800 (No idea of the actual prices but it was that sort of range) you could see a massive and I mean massive difference in picture quality between each TV.

Best thing to do is to google 'best value for money LCD' and various configurations and start reading some reviews and getting up to play with exactly what will suit you. Keep in mind that Freeview will at some stage include HD channels so keep this in mind when buying. There is even some talk of the freeview system in NZ (it doesnt have one yet) being completly HD when it is rolled out so it will come.

As for actual brands Samsung is getting rave reviews at the moment as it has caught up with the big boys and is better value for money.

shin0r

Any panny viera. Universally acknowledged as being excellent. You'll probably pay more than you would for another brand, but those are the breaks.

TheRevOlutionary

Fair comments & appreciated 8)

Have spent the last few days on Google, searching for various ways of wording the same question, but there's so many variables! Last time I bought a TV (7/8years ago!), there was just screen size as an option

I like watching F1, footy etc, so thinking i'll try get a 100hz screen to make those smoother, but outside that im fairly cluless! Been told at Comet that aspect ratio above 8000:1 is useless unless gaming...

A 100hz Viera then maybe???

Graydawg

Spent over £1200 on my 40" Samsung 1080 telly 2 years ago... its now in the shops for about £450 :shock:

But I've had 2 years of fantastic TV and high def gaming out of her... and the missus is impressed too!

If you're going for one, I'd suggest samsung, obviously, or Sony...
LG tv's apparently use sony LCD panels..... so have a look at them too.

soy_sauce

buying a TV or other tech is just same as buying a bike.
how much you are willing to spend?
what would you use it for?
do you need it to come with build-in freeview box?
Size?
what type of connection would you need? in the other word, how many device you would like to connect to the TV with?


etc..
etc..

then go on ebuyer or play.com to see if they sell them and if they have any reviews by any customers. when you choose the one you want then it as simple as google the model name and you find the cheapest.

edit - there are some good offers listed in http://www.hotukdeals.com

Rich9

beware of lower end LG's. Speakers can be pants. Samsung also supply a lot of other manufacturers with their screen. I thought Sony was one, but may be not after what Graydawg said.

I'm staying with my good old Panasonic CRT widescreen until it blows up!

shin0r

Graydawg wrote:

Spent over £1200 on my 40" Samsung 1080 telly 2 years ago... its now in the shops for about £450 :shock:

But I've had 2 years of fantastic TV and high def gaming out of her... and the missus is impressed too!

If you're going for one, I'd suggest samsung, obviously, or Sony...
LG tv's apparently use sony LCD panels..... so have a look at them too.

Other way around; OEM whitebox suppliers, Samsung, Matsushita (panasonic), and LG make OEM screens for pretty much everone else.

.blitz

TheRevOlutionary wrote:

Anyone know much about LCDs?

It's certainly worth trawling the shops and then looking for a good price on line. Take a source with you when you're shopping - portable DVD player, PMP, PSP etc - with a HQ video on it; any half-decent shop will let you connect it to a TV so you can make a comparison. If they insist on playing Beowulf on Blu-Ray, walk away.

welshkev

check out richer sounds instead of comet or currys, they'll probably have something cheaper

TheRevOlutionary

Been to Richer Sounds online (thanks), but need to know what I want before I can get the decent prices! Will have to trawl some more shops perhaps. Not got a portable DVD, PSP, PMP etc though, so will have to hope they can just switch to a freeview/sd signal.

Graydawg

shin0r wrote:

Graydawg wrote:

Spent over £1200 on my 40" Samsung 1080 telly 2 years ago... its now in the shops for about £450 :shock:

But I've had 2 years of fantastic TV and high def gaming out of her... and the missus is impressed too!

If you're going for one, I'd suggest samsung, obviously, or Sony...
LG tv's apparently use sony LCD panels..... so have a look at them too.

Other way around; OEM whitebox suppliers, Samsung, Matsushita (panasonic), and LG make OEM screens for pretty much everone else.

lol oh well - knew it had something to do with it!

The Northern Monkey

LG invented HD

Got my TV here btw.. http://www.laskys.com/

They were £300 cheaper than some places!!

TheRevOlutionary

How can a student afford a £450 tv?! :roll:

M1llh0use

http://www.avforums.com/


loads of info even though they can be a clicky bunch!

The Northern Monkey

TheRevOlutionary wrote:

How can a student afford a £450 tv?! :roll:

not this old chestnut :P

Basically instead of spending £100's each week getting hammered, I spend it on my bike and gadgets

Still go out, but where mate are spending up to £100 on boose, i'm spending £5 on entry fee and drinking water lol... benefits of not drinking


Back on topic tho...

As said above, make sure you do get a TV that is at least HD ready. You may find yourself regretting it a few years down then line - especially at the rate that tv and HD are expanding!

Graydawg

bigbenj_08 wrote:

TheRevOlutionary wrote:

How can a student afford a £450 tv?! :roll:

especially at the rate that tv and HD are expanding!

Ain't that the truth - Sky HD box now for £49. Mark my words - Half that price in less than 12 months!!

The Northern Monkey

1080p will be old news soon... they're already working on upping resolution on tv's for an even crisper picture.... how it can get any crisper i have no idea!!

1080p blu-ray's thru my playstation are AMAZING. especially with the pass thru 5.1 surround system.

Something also mentioned above.... TV speakers are shite.

soy_sauce

peter tyson, digital direct are both pretty good site. (prefer peter tyson).
if you are a Marko member, they have a couple of good deal on.

prefer Samsung than LG. personally i find Sony's device is overpriced in general.

soy_sauce

bigbenj_08 wrote:

1080p will be old news soon... they're already working on upping resolution on tv's for an even crisper picture.... how it can get any crisper i have no idea!!

1080p blu-ray's thru my playstation are AMAZING. especially with the pass thru 5.1 surround system.

Something also mentioned above.... TV speakers are shite.

+1

surround system is a must have.

by the way, have you consided getting a projector for watching sports and movie then a normal or just a cheap random brand LCD TV for normal use?

The Northern Monkey

Another thing to consider is the freeview menu's on the inbuilt tuners.

The one on my toshiba is terrible, like something that was invented in the '80 (doesn't bother me as I us PlayTV on my PS3).
Sony menu's are a lot easier to use and understand IMO.

TheRevOlutionary

M1llh0use wrote:

http://www.avforums.com/


loads of info even though they can be a clicky bunch!

Signed up last night to get some info...it's a bit too many numbers and digits, no-one speaks in laymans terms :roll:

TheRevOlutionary

henry_ho_yin wrote:

peter tyson, digital direct are both pretty good site. (prefer peter tyson).
if you are a Marko member, they have a couple of good deal on.

prefer Samsung than LG. personally i find Sony's device is overpriced in general.

Not much choice on the Peter Tyson site, but to find a supplier who does a big range is difficult without going to Comet/Dixons et al :?

Bank Holiday will be a trip to the local retail parks armed with more info and a credit card!

shin0r

I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about this tv vs that tv, etc. The perverts on avforums will be able to tell you which one has the warmest colour range if viewed at an angle of 90 degrees, whilst running a testbed BD with a set of custom equalizer maps and a £200 HDMI cable that was made in a vacuum, but as an ex-av-pervert I can tell you this:

Buy anything by Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Pioneer, LG, Samsung, Philips or Sharp and you'll get a top notch TV which you'll be very happy with. I'm sure there are others too. Spend a little time setting it up, then just sit back and enjoy.

Just make sure the inputs are good. There's no point in having an awesome TV if your aerial is 20 years old and falling to pieces. If you're hooking up a standard Sky / Freeview / Freesat STB get a decent SCART cable. You can buy these for £4 in ASDA (made by Philips) and they're 99.9% as good as a £150 Monster. If hooking up anything by HDMI, any old cable will do, even the most cheapass one - the signal is digital, don't let anyone bull**** you any different.

TheRevOlutionary

Now that is the kinda laymans terms im needing!

redvee

Morrisons. £273.06 for a Techwood 32" My Dad's happy with it and I'm happy with his old Panasonic 27" CRT

snotty badger

I researched about which LCD to get for a couple of weeks before getting one. Went for a Samsung LE32R88BDX due to it getting excellent reviews for the money.

One thing I will say is out of the box the picture settings were utter rhubarb.

I had a look on avforums and they had complied a settings thread for that model- couldn't beileve how much better the picture was after that.

TheRevOlutionary

Thanks I'll check for that...once Ive decided on a box!

Daz555

Sainsburys are selling Sony Bravia KDL-37U4000 for only £450.