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Planning on buying a new TV


Alloneword

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As it stands right now i have an old 4:3 CRT TV and to be honest it does me, but with London switching to digital in 2012 i feel now is the right time to start looking, also another major issue is connectovity on my current TV it's very poor, I have a single scart which i use for dvd playback and video playback from the pc is via the TV Out (S-VHS) on the video card which goes into the S-VHS video player and then i watch on tv via the video channel it's not great but it does do the job for me, but it was a real bitch to find a fassively cooled video card with a TV-Out socket 99% have hdmi outputs.

 

I know very little about 16:9 LCD/Plasma stuff so treat me as a bit of a newbie, this purchase will have to last me a long time if i make a mistake and buy the wrong one i won't be able to go and get another one in a few months time, so what should i have and what should i avoid, not just the make but what sockets and faciltites should i look out for or even avoid.

 

I'll need a min of 37" and a max of 42" personally i'm not fussed about freeview HD but i guess more and more will come with it, I have a budget of about £500 and a decent warranty would be cool I think 3 HDMI socket 2 scarts will do but should i look for any other sockets/connectovity?, I have also read some stories about there being a panel and processer lottery with some screens, i'll be doing some reading on that over the next few days but can anyone shed any light on this for me now.

 

Also any other links to review sites or other forums but if it's the latter then PM me the addy, many thanks.

 

 

All1

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Hi mate

 

I have a Panasonic 46" Plasma (Full HD) have a look at one worth looking at below; Slightly more than your budget but a great TV.

 

Panasonic TX - P46S20B - 46" plasma TV - 1080p (FullHD)

 

cheapest deal I could find was here

 

Do not bother with HD READY you need FULL HD and the bigger the screen resolution the better in my opinion.

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Well I spent ages researching my tv before purchase.

 

Having an old Panasonic CRT Qunitex tv which served me so well for so many years I was swayed again to panasonic.

 

And to be honest panasonic are the best make out there. Well it used to be Pioneer and those are still the holy grail but they stopped making them and sold MOST of their technology to guess who - yes Panasonic.

 

So months of research and all magazines and this is the conclusion on people in the know. The best tvs are Plasma. Every sales man will try and tell you different as there is more profit margin on LCD. But plasmas is really the way to go. Saying that you must hit the price bracket of over £500.00 or the more the better.

 

My tv is a Panasonic 46inch G20. This is well known as being one of the best on the market. Its just been superseeded by the G30. They are second best in the range of panasonic tvs with the V series coming first but for many more pennies. There is a difference if you compare side by side but having the G on its own you would be extremely happy.

 

 

 

Being a pani fan boy I just went out and bought one for my squash club and the model was the

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-TX-P42U30B-42-inch-Widescreen-Freeview/dp/B004OYVBTC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311885966&sr=8-1

 

and a very nice tv it is too. If you can not stretch to the G series then this is a good compromise. Its come down in price as we got it only a month ago for £500 and that was with a discount.

 

Buy from a panasonic shop and they usually do there best to price match. I have never failed to get a discount plus you get a 5 year guarantee which is worth its weight in gold.

 

There are a few dos and dont's when you buy one for the first 200 hours ie dont go gaming straight away and be careful what you watch with the logos but after that there will be no trouble.

 

Derren

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Thanks for the replies guys, however I'm not looking for suggestions for certain sets just yet (but I will do later) right now I'm trying to learn about the pro's and cons of various manf processes and things I should have on the set and things that are desirable and things to avoid, for example USB sockets come on some sets, however not all sets will play video files from them some only allow you to update firmware etc, also there is a major issue with panel technology some offer S-PVA panel and others offer A-MVA, one is far better then the other but I don't know which yet (hence needing to do stacks more reading) also the is another problem and that is with the processor in the sets there seems to be 2 major processors at work and again one is much better then the other, and I'm trying to work how the hell you can tell.

 

How many HDMI/Scart/S-VHS/USB/Ethernet socket do people have/need (I know it depends on what your going to do with it, also HDMI standards are changing or have recently changed and I need to know what the various versions of HDMI mean for the end user, do I go for internet enabled etc etc, so much to read up on it's untrue. As I say I can't make a mistake so I have to do my homework and Jamer as for 46" you forget something m8, you have a house I have a pokey 1 bed flat if I get a 46" TV in here I'll have to sit in the hallway to watch the dame thing, budget wise I could go over £500 if I had to but it would have to be some awesome to make me spend that much.

 

 

All1

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I agree with the others I would go for Panasonic and definitely plasma, ideally with at least 2 x hdmi sockets and it is very useful to have a usb (I download movies onto my data stick and playback thru tv) network enabled is another door feature, especially for updates etc.

 

Personally I am avoiding 3D as I cannot imagine me siting and watching a movie with a silly pair of 3D glasses on, I also believe it is just another fad, like it was the first time around.

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I agree with the others I would go for Panasonic and definitely plasma, ideally with at least 2 x hdmi sockets and it is very useful to have a usb (I download movies onto my data stick and playback thru tv) network enabled is another door feature, especially for updates etc.

 

Personally I am avoiding 3D as I cannot imagine me siting and watching a movie with a silly pair of 3D glasses on, I also believe it is just another fad, like it was the first time around.

 

 

I avoided 3d for same reason. I would not mind watching the odd film if I had it but not all the time.

 

BTW A1 re 46 inch we are in a small flat and can sit pretty close to the tv ie 5 ft away and its perfect.

 

I think you need to look at the AV forums as they have all this info and you can read up on it.

 

D

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What's all the chat about plasma it's now 2011 plasma is old

 

What you can get in 2011 for the £500-£750 mark is a Smart TV

 

Have a look at this link to see what i'm on about

 

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4991737/c_1/1|category_root|Home+entertainment+and+sat+nav|14419512/c_2/2|14419512|Televisions|14419667/c_3/3|cat_14419667|LED+TVs|16180235.htm

 

youtube link

 

BTW i'm doing this post using that tv remote.

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What's all the chat about plasma it's now 2011 plasma is old
To be honest this is what i thought as well, but as i say i'm far from an expert.

 

D I have heard of the "AV forums" before but not been there in donkeys but i'll make my over there today to check it out.

 

I like all the connectivity on that argos link cobra just not sure how useful internet will be for me as so many ISP's limit your downloads and given i down a lot from the PC using the TV to watch stuff would only make matters worse :Hmm:

 

 

All1

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What are you going to be looking at mainly ALL1?

 

The reason I ask is that whatever TV you get, the sound will be crap! I personally think that if you have an AV amp and speakers, the picture 'seems' to be so much better if watching movies/sport/music programmes etc...

 

So maybe consider a 32" which would then give you the budget for an amp?....And if you get full HDMI throughput/audio return/upscaling ,then a single HDMI lead up to the TV is probably all you'll need - avoiding all that cable clutter!

 

Warranty wise, Richer Sounds are difficult to beat - although we got a 5 yr one thrown in for free at a local dealers after a bit of haggling!

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What's all the chat about plasma it's now 2011 plasma is old

 

What you can get in 2011 for the £500-£750 mark is a Smart TV

 

Have a look at this link to see what i'm on about

 

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4991737/c_1/1|category_root|Home+entertainment+and+sat+nav|14419512/c_2/2|14419512|Televisions|14419667/c_3/3|cat_14419667|LED+TVs|16180235.htm

 

youtube link

 

BTW i'm doing this post using that tv remote.

 

 

What you are showing here at Argos is an LED tv, which is basically a back lit LCD, would not be my choice at all sorry, read the reviews especially on the Panasonic ranges

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The TV I have is a Sharp LC-40LE821E it's a 2010 set and is good.

 

my sister has that LG set in the argos link and let me tell you it's got the best menu setup and EPG of any set of seen and thats a lot btw

 

That youtube link is not working when i did the post from the TV so this post is from my laptop

 

 

Read some of the Comments

 

As for the LED Comment by badlad the 1st & 2nd gen LED sets are cr*p but the 2011 sets are on 7th gen now and last longer than CCFL

Did you know that from 5th gen on that the LEDs flicker @ 60 per sec and are not on all the time now and on the 7gen sets the LEDs

LEDs flicker @ 100-120 per sec

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