New TV

greasedscotsman

Looking to replace my 20 year old TV as the digital switchover in my area is coming up in a couple of months. What should I be looking for, LCD or Plasma? And any particular brand I should go for? Any advice welcome!

daviesee

Get something on sale that meets your needs.

Whatever you buy will be out of date in 1 month. If not sooner! But if your current TV is 20 years old you obviously are not concerned by that

Oh, and I doubt you will be sold by the hype either. I am yet to see an LCD or plasma that is better than my last CRT was. Maybe consider a freeview box or similar?

unixnerd

Last time | bought a telly it was a huge heavy 32" thing, not a flat screen. But I got it on ebay from a company who sold new kit that had been returned from stores due to slight marks. Mine had a small dent on one of the speakers covers, so got it for 400 instead of the 800 Comet / Currys wanted and still with a warranty.

spinndrift

Had a 42" LCD Panasonic that was 18 months old and needed a another one for the 'games & turbo room' and got a 42" LED Panasonic and couldn't believe how much more vibrant the colours were.

LED is in the lounge and LCD in the games room.

Got a really good deal at Comet - only paid £700.

Pigtail

It depends what you want to do with it.

If you're ok with your current TV then you can go digital with a cheap set top box for around 20 quid.

I rarely watch TV, but changed a 15 year old one for a large lcd about 18 months ago. I now have a rather nasty bluray habit. The whole family like films so it has been worthwhile for us.

James

night_porter

I have got an LG 42" Plasma (£1200) and a 42" LG LCD (£420) and they are poles apart.

The LCD is about 20 times sharper picture than the plasma. Both are HD!

So in answer to your question definately LCD with Freeview built in.

Or if you want to get a dish fitted then get a TV with Freesat built in as there are more channels available to freesat.

guinea

I bought a Sony KDL37EX503 today. I don't watch much telly, but my old CRT was too big and the missus got telly envy at a firnds over Xmas.

I'm a bit of a nerd and I like to do my research. THis seems to do most of what I need. I took it home, connected it to wireless started to watch HD iPlayer and the FA Cup in HD over freeview within a half hour.

A Sony is never going to be the cheapest, but you can get great deals online.

gregster10217

Have a look at AVForums.com, under the forums section there are separate forums for LCD, LED and Plasma TVs. I personally have a 42" Panasonic plasma and love it. Perfect for general viewing, Blu Ray and gaming.

Anonymous

I recently got a Samsung 46" Led internet tv and it is great. It is wired straight into my hub, so I can get content streamed into the tv from the net. samsung's also come with youtube and i player preloaded.

The only drawback is that you may have to spend a little on a home cinema speaker system, which also contains a dvd player. The sound on the big flat telly's is not so good so consider this when buying. Also don't but HDMI or digital optical cabls=es fron Currys or Comet etc, they are extortionate.

Rouge Penguin

Nothing less than the 503 led Sony. The lcd 4 series are the worst on the market, washed out colours and poor image quality, I mean really poor. There is no clarity to the picture and it all seems unfocused.

I currently have a 40 and 46inch Samsung led, and 32inch lcds. Amazing colours and image on hd. Built in hd freeview tunes work well too.

Above all, avoid sony

greasedscotsman

Cool, thanks for all the comments. Seems opinion is quite varied, but then I do understand you should select one that you like the picture quality of. A bit like test riding a bike! Just a quick look round the shops today threw up a Panasonic 42" plasma for a bit over £300, seemed quite good to me, but then quite fancy a Sony instead. But if my last TV is anything to go by, it has to last!

Rouge Penguin

Oh, and I did notice you can get the Samsung 40c530 for 400, no hd freeview and standard lcd, but good pictures and sound. The 580 with hd is 80 more.

balthazar

We spent about £200 on a new TV last year, the first time in years. The choice, even from each individual manufacturer, seemed to be so large and confusing that a cynic might say it was designed that way, to make it difficult to cross-reference prices and specifications.

I gave it my best shot, and looked for a TV/computer monitor, on the basis that we watch a lot of films and iPlayer streamed from a computer, so DVI input was desirable. I chose a Samsung, sold as a monitor but including a TV tuner, with 1680x1050 resolution, size 22 inch diagonal. I'm aware that many consider that a "spare" TV size, but for us it was cinematic. It's still small enough to look unobtrusive in a room.

The screen quality, in terms of viewing angle and colour depth, is a little inferior to our iMac screen and Dell monitors, but strikes me as better than equivalent TV's, even from the same manufacturer. We're happy with it. I wouldn't consider spending anywhere near £1000 on a telly, but people have different priorities.

Stewie Griffin

Parents bought a Sony KDL40EX503 & the picture quality is fantastic. I have a much older lcd panel and am trying to persuade myself that its fine and I don't need to upgrade. The speakers on mine are huge detachable things and the sound quality is much better. As DMCLITE said a home cinema system is almost a necessity as the speakers on all new panel tv's these days are lacking. My mate got a Sony 3d late last year when they were paying the vat and it still cost him £1800 :shock: don't want to see it just in case I end up "needing" one. He says that Sony sell the replacement glasses for £100 a pair.

hopper1

I have a 42" Panasonic, very pleased with it. 2 years old now.
Best 'extra' feature for me was that Panasonic screens have a hard finish... Very nice touch, if you have small children!
Next one I buy will be LED, but I think I'd stay with Panasonic.
I bought mine after checking out www.whathifi.com very good site IMHO.

Rouge Penguin

LGs are very good, the 42" one is a very good deal. All I would say is that led isn't a must, when its mounted to a wall or on a stand, who will notice how slim it is. If your on a budget, don't get sold as a must have technology.

Avoid Sony.

Anonymous

I wanted to get an LED telly but after seeing the new top Panasonic 50" Plasma I changed my mind...
Having it installed tomorrow and I will let you know how it is.

greasedscotsman

Just a thought, does anyone use an internet TV and Eurosport player? Not sure if the player be good enough quanlity for a large screen TV rather than a computer monitor.

Thanks for all the comments so far!

Smokin Joe

I bought a 32" Toshiba LCD from Tesco yesterday to replace our ten year old 26" CRT. I couldn't believe how much sharper the picture is, especially the graphics on the scroll banner that runs along the bottom of the screen.

The had a 40" for only £50 more, can't remember the make and I would have got it instead but Mrs SJ excercised her veto on the grounds that it was too big

hopper1

Smokin Joe wrote:

I bought a 32" Toshiba LCD from Tesco yesterday to replace our ten year old 26" CRT. I couldn't believe how much sharper the picture is, especially the graphics on the scroll banner that runs along the bottom of the screen.

The had a 40" for only £50 more, can't remember the make and I would have got it instead but Mrs SJ excercised her veto on the grounds that it was too big

Bet you don't hear that often!

Anonymous

The Samsung LED TVs seem to be the best I've seen for the price.

What size are you looking for? Or how big is your living room? No point getting a huge screen if you room isn't equally huge.

If I was buying a new TV today, I think my money would go on one of these -

http://www.richersounds.com/product/led-tv/samsung/ue40c5800/sams-ue40c5800

meanredspider

Rouge Penguin wrote:

LGs are very good, the 42" one is a very good deal. All I would say is that led isn't a must, when its mounted to a wall or on a stand, who will notice how slim it is. If your on a budget, don't get sold as a must have technology.

Avoid Sony.

Funny - our local TV repair guy said almost exactly the opposite. He said that LG are rubbish and never worth repairing. He recommended Samsung as he said many of the brand name TVs are only Samsung inside anyway. He was very positive about the Sony Bravia engine.

Go to somewhere where you can look at the TVs showing the same stuff (our Tesco Extra has a big line-up for instance) and see which picture you like the look of.

Do you know what size of TV you're looking for or what your budget is? If you've had a CRT, you'll no doubt be used to a smaller TV.

There are some great deals around if you are patient. Until yesterday there was a 40" Sony 503 reduced from over 900 to 400. Richer Sounds are doing the 403 at 400.

For the best LCD pic you are looking for 1080p (rather than 1080i) and 100Hz (rather than 50Hz). The next generation is LED but it's still very expensive. Plasma seems to be falling by the wayside.

If you can get a 5 year warranty thrown in (John Lewis seem good for that), it's worth it. Both Sony and Panasonic seem to have been doing warranty promotions recently.

Homer J

my brother just got a 32" samsung that is "Full" HD. The picture is very impressive. He uses it for his computer and xbox as well as tv. He's got a HDMI cable for his xbox which improves the picture quality even further.