Calling LCD TV Geeks

il_principe

Ok, so totally OT, but there are camera geeks, computer geeks, hifi geeks on here so why not TV? Are there any on this forum? I'm planning on buying a new LCD for the new flat (yay) assuming I don't get gazumped etc. Feck me but there's a lot of choice, does anyone have any recommendations? Ideally I'm after LCD (not Plasma) and up to 42 inches. Budget is "flexible!" I saw this BadBoy in John Lewis on Sunday and was rather taken, but it seems rather pricey. :shock:

While we're at it can anyone recommend a decent Home Cinema amp, my Marantz is on its last legs...

prawny

Anyone with a tv with a screen over 37 inches is common :twisted:

il_principe

prawny wrote:

Anyone with a tv with a screen over 37 inches is common :twisted:

Then I'll be common! I'm a bit of a gaming/gadget geek so big screen + bluray, ps3 = Yes Please.

Agent57

I'm a fan of Samsung LCDs. I'm very happy with mine. They're well-priced too. That bad boy is rather pricey. Try this one.

For an amp, how about the Onkyo TX-SR706 (or the updated 707)?

UndercoverElephant

TVs are really personal preference, they vary so wildly, you really ought to go into a good shop and see hem in the flesh. I got my TV from Richer Sounds (settle down Hi-Fi geeks), the service was excellent, they had good choice and knew what they were talking about.

Also, their stuff is usually cheaper on-line, if you mention the on-line price, you get that in store. iPhones make this nice and easy

As for amps, Onkyo make some lovely things.

Monkeypump

Agent57 wrote:

I'm a fan of Samsung LCDs. I'm very happy with mine.

+1 I'm really impressed with mine, although it's a year old so not as swanky as the one reveiwed in the link above. Great features/value for money.

Monkeypump

prawny wrote:

Anyone with a tv with a screen over 37 inches is common :twisted:

Rubbish!

il_principe

Agent57 wrote:

I'm a fan of Samsung LCDs. I'm very happy with mine. They're well-priced too. That bad boy is rather pricey. Try this one.

For an amp, how about the Onkyo TX-SR706 (or the updated 707)?

Mmm, see I saw the latest Sammy LED/LCD next to the Philips yesterday and was underwhelmed by the picture, although it is a lovely looking bit of kit and sooo thin, the Philips blew it away.

I'll have a gander at the Amp thanks.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Hope you're not overlooking the cost of the AV Amp (Onkyo), the sub-w and 7 satellites. That would be foolish.

Sony, Panny or Philips. Look no further. Read the mags. Something that's just being replaced is usu a good bet.

cjcp

Rather pricey?! Hell, yeah!

Jash - save your money! Or spend it on something bike related (that's saving if you buy it in the sale, right?)! Whatever TV you buy, Chelsea will always be dull to watch. :P Thankyou, thankyouverymuch.

il_principe

Greg66 wrote:

Hope you're not overlooking the cost of the AV Amp (Onkyo), the sub-w and 7 satellites. That would be foolish.

Sony, Panny or Philips. Look no further. Read the mags. Something that's just being replaced is usu a good bet.

I've got all the speakers I need so that's not an issue, although I would like a Sub... damn but moving house is expensive.

prawny

Monkeypump wrote:

prawny wrote:

Anyone with a tv with a screen over 37 inches is common :twisted:

Rubbish!

Possibly

nicklouse

Get a Plasma.

what are your main viewing sources going to be?

UndercoverElephant

A sub-woofer is the biggest single improvement you can make t any audio set-up.

It'll introduce you to the neighbours too.

DonDaddyD

What about GeekGeeks like me who are comprised of little aspects of all other known and unknown geek groups one "Uber Geek".

Things to consider.

Plasma has improved, however don't get one, the image still sticks to the screen and regardless of the whole "Plasma better than LCD" at big inches i.e. bigger than 37/42inch. The image can still stick to the screen and it's blurry.

There are different levels of HD - i.e. 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p - this is basically the amount of lines the screen uses to draw the image, the more lines of vertical resolution the more detail. 1080p is where its at - the best and what is considered (by my mate that edits for channel 4) "Full HD".

A lot of TV's advertise as being HD, like my Samsung :x . Only 1080p should be considered as the proper stuff.

LCD screens supposedly struggle with black and dark colours (you may recall companies advertising TV's as having super-black panels/colour/screens) make sure you check this - my Samsunng however can be too dark :x

pointless piece of info
My mate who works for channel four has always claimed that a CRT TV delivers colour better than a LCD screen, even HD. This is why Channel 4 still edit using old skool CRT TV's, like the ones our parents had (my parents are in their 40s).


What you must do.

View all the TV's that interest you in the format you'll watch most. I insisted that Richer Sound disconnect the HD feed and show me the internal freeview picture quality as this is what I use most. I was impressed.

View all TV makes as unbiased as possible. Most people will choose Sony over Hitachi and Sharp. Hitachi and Sharp TV's are often regarded as having better picture quality at a cheaper price than Sony (Hitachi - last time I checked, a few years back, used the same panel/screen as Samsung, Samsung having the best picture quality I'd seen at the time).

Buy Samsung.

nicklouse

DonDaddyD wrote:

Plasma has improved, however don't get one, the image still sticks to the screen and regardless of the whole "Plasma better than LCD" at big inches i.e. bigger than 37/42inch. The image can still stick to the screen and it's blurry.

sorry total crap.

prawny

DonDaddyD wrote:

pointless piece of info
My mate who works for channel four has always claimed that a CRT TV delivers colour better than a LCD screen, even HD. This is why Channel 4 still edit using old skool CRT TV's, like the ones our parents had (my parents are in their 40s).

I've heard this before, Ken Rockwell the photography version of Lance Armstrong swears by CRT monitors for movies. He also swears by film for photo's.
Unfortunately both are effectively discontinued (cause they're harder to get these days, film less so but still...)

il_principe

Viewing source is Sky (HD & SD), Bluray via PS3, PS3, Xbox, standard DVD and MP4. The room is light hence LCD requirement and 1080p is a must, pref with 200hz as well.

That Onkyo looks good, my old Marantz doesn't have a single HDMI input...

Agent57

Il Principe wrote:

Mmm, see I saw the latest Sammy LED/LCD next to the Philips yesterday and was underwhelmed by the picture, although it is a lovely looking bit of kit and sooo thin, the Philips blew it away.

Price may be a factor. OK, the Panasonic might have a better picture, but is it, say, a £300 or £500 better picture? I only paid £700 for my 40" Samsung LCD.

g00se

Hi,

Couple of things to look into. Are you going to use HD - want it to be HD ready?
If yes, are you just going to watch HD from satellite etc - or are you going to use a blu-ray disc / playstation etc?

If just the former, you can consider 720 HD (HD ready) which has 720 lines. Otherwise go for 1080 lines (1080HD ready). The former are older and a lot cheaper.

A good place to find out about particular brands/models is avforums.com - ubergeek in there.

From my experience, Samsung, Toshiba, Philips and Sony are all good makes.Best try them out though.

Something to consider, head to the nearest Comet if you have one (there service isn't too bad - not like Currys IMHO) and they should have a few models ex-display that are discounted.

I've had my last two TVs like that. Got a £1000 RRP Toshiba for £600 and a £900 Philips for £650. The Philips was a replacement for the Tosh as it developed a fault with the LCD panel after a year - no quibbles either.

MonkeyMonster

Samsung LCD. Size *should* depend on what your watching. Got SKY HD then a 32+ will still look okay. Any bigger with terrestrial tv will look shittier bigger it gets.

Anyway - go to avforum.com for all your geekery needs in that dept. The guys on there will give you answers to all your questions and then some. Oh and don't forget Denon.

g00se

Something else - when you try them out, get them to play a DVD/bluray with REALLY dark pictures. A lot of LCD TVs suffer with low contrast, predominantly black pictures. What happens is that what is black and a few shades of darkest grey are treated as black so the definition between the black parts of the screen and the lighter parts is over-exaggerated.

Also, if you're viewing in a dark room, the LCD backlight makes these areas of black look a bit blue which creates an illusion of those black areas looking lighter than other parts of the picture - which is really odd.

I looked for an example image - but only found this. It's actually advertising a hi-speed TV but the picture shows what bad contrast / backlight problems look like:

http://www.krunker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/lg480hz-thumb.jpg

DonDaddyD

Oh my god did you say amp!!!?? HiFi is mine and my Father's father/son thing:

OK, first thing f*ck the home cinema midi/reciever all in one surround sound system. Get a decent amp, CD player and speakers with a wide soundstage so that sound fills the room and you're able to pick out each individual instrument.

http://audioaffair.co.uk/index.php?act= ... uctId=2787

I first encountered these speakers in the friggen 80's I love the clean electrostatic sound (the mesh is part of the speaker) supported by the vibrations of the bass cones at the bottom.

If Alchemist still existed I'd recommend that company for make of Amp. Audiolab perhaps: http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page ... ct_ID/2387 - though the amp won't do the speakers justice you can always upgrade

A CD player, big fan of Marantz CD players in general.

I'd just run a lead from the TV/X-box to the amp and play the sound that way. The lead would prbably be the interconnects my Dad got from a Scottish company (platinum coated - not sure on the company name, can find out if you want?)

UndercoverElephant

Probably Linn Hi Fi, if ever there was a company who'd platinum coat some interconnects

DonDaddyD

nicklouse wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Plasma has improved, however don't get one, the image still sticks to the screen and regardless of the whole "Plasma better than LCD" at big inches i.e. bigger than 37/42inch. The image can still stick to the screen and it's blurry.

sorry total crap.

What part?

Plasma screens are susceptible to screen burn-in and image retention. FACT.

Plasma screens have better contrasts ratios (deeper blacks) than LCD screens. Above certain sizes the Plasma screen will still show blacks as black whereas an LCD screen will start to look grey. Fact.

The whole plasma screen image (as a whole) still looks blurry to me, this is a subjective opinion, so it's not fair to dismiss it as 'crap'. You can however disagree with it.

the_hundredth_idiot

Monkeypump wrote:

prawny wrote:

Anyone with a tv with a screen over 37 inches is common :twisted:

Rubbish!

Exactly - everyone knows that it's anything over 28" not 37"!

N0bodyOfTheGoat

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdis ... order=desc

Bought a LG 32" 32LH3000 last week for £380, very happy with picture quality, relative to old CRT monster it replaced.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Il Principe wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

Hope you're not overlooking the cost of the AV Amp (Onkyo), the sub-w and 7 satellites. That would be foolish.

Sony, Panny or Philips. Look no further. Read the mags. Something that's just being replaced is usu a good bet.

I've got all the speakers I need so that's not an issue, although I would like a Sub... damn but moving house is expensive.

Got a Velodyne Microvee to fit into a very specific small space (and save Mrs G66's "What the HELL is THAT thing doing in our living room!?")

V pleased. Recommended.

apreading

Piece of advice - ALWAYS buy your TV from John Lewis.

They give you a FREE 5 year guarantee and will price match any bricks an mortar store that has it in stock. Now you may not realise that many of the online retailers have a high street shop somewhere in the country - John Lewis will send someone to check from a local branch and hey presto - you get your TV at the cheapest price and a free 5 year guarantee, along with the best replacement policy going for light leakage/dead pixels etc.

Also I think they will refund the difference if you find it cheaper within 30 days too - so if you see someone even cheaper after you bought it, go back to them.

Oh and go for Panasonic or Sony - dont bother with the rest if you want the best!

alfablue

apreading wrote:

Piece of advice - ALWAYS buy your TV from John Lewis.

They give you a FREE 5 year guarantee and will price match any bricks an mortar store that has it in stock. Now you may not realise that many of the online retailers have a high street shop somewhere in the country - John Lewis will send someone to check from a local branch and hey presto - you get your TV at the cheapest price and a free 5 year guarantee, along with the best replacement policy going for light leakage/dead pixels etc.

Also I think they will refund the difference if you find it cheaper within 30 days too - so if you see someone even cheaper after you bought it, go back to them.

Oh and go for Panasonic or Sony - dont bother with the rest if you want the best!

Agree with the above, and def not Phillips (many reasons). Pioneer for Plasma.

don_don

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

Monkeypump wrote:

prawny wrote:

Anyone with a tv with a screen over 37 inches is common :twisted:

Rubbish!

Exactly - everyone knows that it's anything over 28" not 37"!

Once the boys start talking inches I just switch off...