jammy86

Right, I want an HD TV it needs to be;

37"-42"
Full HD (1080p - as I'll be putting my pc in to it via hdmi)
24fps
good freeview signal (not overly important as I'll prob get freesat)
very good HD signal - no motion blur.
dont care at all about the sound

I've got about £900max! (can go a bit over if its worth it).

I went to some shops today to have a look at them and in PC world they had them all plugged in to sky sports HD while some football was on. Some of the tv's i had read on 'which' looked terrible, while cheaper models looks very good. So far I've mainly been looking at panasonic.

LCD or Plasma? All the reviews I read say LCD, but when I've seen them in the shops the plasmas look much better!

I've been reading about the Panasonic TH-42PZ80. Which is said to be very good, however I saw it in PC world next to a TH-42PZ8 which was cheaper and looked MUCH better..... anyone know about either of these machines? oh and there is an 85, which is more expensive and has some kind of inteligent picture creation or something, is it worthwhile or is it just for people that want the latest and bestist to talk about in the office?

So who's got an opinion on this then? and I need detailed reasons if possible, not just a "buy this one its gr8!!!"

Cheers

JAmes.

fish99

I got this one a few weeks ago... its everything you want really. I got this as a replacement for my old 1080p samsung 40" which was also very good quality. But with this one its 100hz where they use to be 50hz I believe. The difference in picture quality is amazing I think.

The frame is a very dark cherry red which looks black unless you stand up very very close to it. Comes highly recommended

http://www.hificonfidential.co.uk/pr...oducts_id=1450

Just look at the spec of this one... its got wiselink usb so you can plug in digital cameras etc, contrast ratio is great and the reaction time means there is no ghosting. It comes with 4 HDMI and 2 or 3 scarts (cant remember now). I like to watch a bit of footie and the ball motion is fluid and not jumpy as you see with other screens. I went for a Samsung as there are loads of great reviews on them.

jammy86

hm... it does look rather good, infact I think i saw one of these in store and it looked very good. It doesn't have the 24 fps thing though....

Looking about others seem to recommend the Sony KDL-40W4000. Can anyone comment on this?

JAmes.

MAD EVO 4

the new sony w4500 is ment to be very good

FastFordChris

i saw argos are doing a 32 or 40inch sony for 299, comes with a free 7.1 surround sound setup aswell, looked a good deal!

turbomook

iTrader: (4)

I've been looking at the new Samsung 8 series - LE40A856.

Cheapest ive found it for is about £950 delivered. It seems to get good reviews, and I like the red back light.

http://www.cramptonandmoore.co.uk/le40a856-i608039.html

fish99

It does have 24fps.... Ill try and find a site with the full spec.

jammy86

Right enough, it does seem to be up to spec

It looks like I'm going to go with the Samsung LE40A756 as currys have it at the moment with a free bluray (untill tomorrow) and I can pick it up locally. I'm guessing it'll be as good as the one thats been mentioned?


Cheers for the help, its narrowed it down for me. I just hope I don't regret not getting the w4500


JAmes.

pa_sjo

I've got a 40" Samsung, not sure on the model number, but it's pukka!

Ridgey

iTrader: (5)

Going to get the Sony kdl40w4500 myself in the new year sales i think.

pete mcrash

iTrader: (1)

u have to remember that unless ur using "blu ray" all the time, that a full 1080p system isn't worth the money........sky HD doesn't even broadcast 720p so whats the point of having "full HD" if ur sky,dvd,video doesn't come close..???........like in the car world....some people think bigger is better...............get a good 720p/1080i plasma and wait to see what the future brings...........it's all about the screen at the mo

jammy86

I'll be running my pc through it from time to time for games and films, which will all be running at 1080 resolution or higher, since thats what I'd run on a PC screen. So in this case, it is worth getting. Also if i run tv through the PC it cleans the image up and upscales it, is I've got a tv running on a 19" monitor right now that looks better than any 20" tv you've ever seen. Also in a few years transmissions will be start to become 1080 I'm sure and thus i am future proofed somewhat.

JAmes.

Rich_w

As people have mentioned above. Look for 100HZ scanning. (current top of the range Bravia is 200hx but thats over £2K!) If it doesnt have that you may run into "blurring" issues.

Plasma gives better Contrast (difference Black to White) but theres a set running in procedure to do otherwise you run the risk of screen burn. Other advantage is that on Plasma dropped pixels fail black.

LCD can have dropped pixels that fail white. And certain manufacturers dont consider 1 or 2 pixels to be a failure. Look at Sony, Samsung and Panasonic IMO. Advantage is that "generally" LCD is cheaper. Like for Like. Id recommend 1080 despite the valid point above about 720 just for the future proof angle. Unless you can budget to replace the set in X number of years.

Check www.richersounds.com as they list on the spec page for every TV whether its 100hz or not

Also check www.avforums.com as there will be a sub forum on every manufacturer and every model so you can see what actual owners think.

pete mcrash

iTrader: (1)

i got my panasonic from richer sounds........and when i asked in store (and told them what i said above) they showed me the cheaper 720p t.v.......my last "normal widescreen" t.v has lasted 10 year and still works well, i dont think my plasma will do the same (hope i'm wrong)...but i think better value/technology will be along in the mean time.........my 720p is as good as my mates 1080p for "now".....and he paid £400 more..................the choice is urs...........

pete mcrash

iTrader: (1)

............is that 1080i or 1080p..???........cos there is a difference.......

jammy86

The difference is to do with the way it fills the lines in, which results in a difference to the way the human eye sees it. P should be seen as smother, as I uses two passes of the screen to make one picture. I'm guessing my GFX card will output P, as it says that on the box



JAmes.

pete mcrash

iTrader: (1)

in that case James spend the extra cash if U think it's worth it...i only watch telly through mine, and dont have any HD systems........

pete mcrash

iTrader: (1)

p.s deffo go to "richersounds"........

JRST

I would def go panasonic at that size because the screen.

I would agree about the 720p

ronf42

iTrader: (2)

these deals are vaid till the 19th of this month at richer sounds.

http://richersoundsvip.com/c/mv?EMID...IT3U&TYPE=HTML

HITACHI L42VP01
42" LCD TV

TSP £799.95
VIP MEMBER PRICE
£499.95

just seen that this price is also on their website

escortrst90

brought the same tv a month ago awesome bit of kit well chuffed with it,
would reccomend it to anyone!!

ESCYSCOTT

iTrader: (1)

deffo panasonic.

I had an LG then it went bang! Got a 50" panasonic and it is awesome!!

The Rapid 1

Makes me laugh all these must have this and must have thats !

Read on some site somewhere a while back how this super new plasma/lcd tv (cant remember what it was but same goes for both) picture looks NEARLY as good as a crt picture !

And whats all this it must have 24 fps, as far as I understood it Pal has been 25 fps for ever and NTSC is 29.97 fps.

So as far as I would guess a still picture may look better due to more lines of resolution, but as soon as there is motion you loose all those advantages with motion blur of some sort.

So basically why you really need this telly is cos you need a plasma or lcd ! Ok maybe nicer looking or takes less room, but for those two you are sacrificing quality of picture.

Maybe wrong on all the above, but maybe someone in the know (Thrush maybe ) could then explain a bit.

Steve

jammy86

Typical passionford response that one is....have you read the post? have you ever seen a CRT that can cope with a PC resolution?

No and No i suspect.

I cant see how I'm sacrificing picture quality on anything apart from freeview, which is only one of the uses for this tv.

Add to this that a 30+" crt is too big to get through the door of the house and you'll see that its not just that one wants a plasma or lcd, there are many other factors involved. IMHO the extra cost for plasma or lcd is worth it just to have an extra 4"^2 space in my living room. So really these must haves shouldn't be making you laugh, as they are very relevant.

24Hz is something to do with HD devices outputting at "cinema quality" or something like that.... I want it for future proofing purposes.

For those that care I went with a Samsung from currys as it had a few people saying it was very good for the cash and came with a free blueray player, which isnt that useful, but it can always be flogged to get some of the cash back. Model is the LE40A756. Seems pretty shit hot so far, was running COD4 at full res last night flawlessly (though I need to find my wired mouse to make the most of it) Got one or two little niggles about it, but overall I'm happy with it. The freeview picture isn't that brilliant, but I didn't expect it to be, and I've seen much, much worse. HD performance seems top notch for the cash.

Cheers
JAmes.

_SpeedX_

iTrader: (1)

Panasonic all the way.

go for the z81 not the z80 it comes with freesat hd.

they are not the cheapest but are VERY VERY good!