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LED/Plasma/LCD


Chris

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Any of our learned members (Phil, I'm looking at you for this one) got any good opinions on TVs that are out at the moment?

Looking to replace my out of date CRT with one of these new fangled high definition jobs. Probably 37" or 40" between 600 and 1000.

LED seems to be the new thing, is it worth it? My Dad took delivery of a series 6 Samsung LED this week and it's a thing of great beauty and size zero looks, but I hear that edge lit LED isn't as good for blacks etc. as the ones with dynamic LEDs. Is it that big a difference?

Is it worth spending the extra money for LED over a standard flourescent backlit LCD? Does anyone still buy Plasmas?

I'm looking for qualified opinion not regurgitated Sony press statements.

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Any of our learned members (Phil, I'm looking at you for this one) got any good opinions on TVs that are out at the moment?

Looking to replace my out of date CRT with one of these new fangled high definition jobs. Probably 37" or 40" between 600 and 1000.

LED seems to be the new thing, is it worth it? My Dad took delivery of a series 6 Samsung LED this week and it's a thing of great beauty and size zero looks, but I hear that edge lit LED isn't as good for blacks etc. as the ones with dynamic LEDs. Is it that big a difference?

Is it worth spending the extra money for LED over a standard flourescent backlit LCD? Does anyone still buy Plasmas?

I'm looking for qualified opinion not regurgitated Sony press statements.

Edge lit LED LCDs aren't as good as conventional CCFL backlit LCD sets picture-wise. You really are paying for the slimline design of the set which while nice is only really worth it if you plan on wall mounting.

There aren't any backlit LED LCDs that fall into your category that are worth looking at tbh.

Some Plasma's are brilliant (most are not however), see the amazing Pioneer sets for a good example, but given their propensity for screen-burn (it happens regardless of what your friendly Panasonic salesman will say) and your gaming needs i would say look at 100Hz 1080P 40"/42" CCFL LCD for around the 1000 mark. Unless you plan on watching only HD content get whoever ends up being your salesman to show you an SD picture as well (preferably Freeview as it will most likely be your television viewing of choice, though lower bit-rate satellite should also be a good indicator) because it's worth seeing if your potential purchase has a good scaler.

If you want to push me for a recommendation i have two:

Sony KDL40W5500 (around the 949 mark with trade-in that runs to 29/11/09)

or

LG 42LH5000 (around the 750-800 mark).

Both are very good on the HD front. The Sony has a better scaler for SD material in my opinion. The LG is 200Hz whereas the Sony is 100Hz. I challenge anyone to be able to tell the difference without very close analysis.

Steer clear of the LED sets for the love of god. Especially the new Sharp ones :down:

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Steer clear of the LED sets for the love of god. Especially the new Sharp ones :down:

Thanks for the advice. Can you elaborate on why you don't like LED so much? The picture quality I've seen on them has been excellent so far. Much better than the standard LCDs I've seen.

The reviews online seem to say the LEDs have a better picture and deeper blacks than standard flourescent LCDs too. Do they not also use up to 40% less power?

Freeview won't be used on the TV. It'll be a sky box or sky HD.

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Thanks for the advice. Can you elaborate on why you don't like LED so much? The picture quality I've seen on them has been excellent so far. Much better than the standard LCDs I've seen.

The reviews online seem to say the LEDs have a better picture and deeper blacks than standard flourescent LCDs too. Do they not also use up to 40% less power?

Freeview won't be used on the TV. It'll be a sky box or sky HD.

Edgelit LED doesn't give an even backlight (backlit ones do). I've seen plenty of Plasmas, conventional LCD and LED backlit TVs running side by side and conventional backlit LCD has always been better. Picture quality is always subjective though and it's going to be in your house not mine. They have a habit in places like Comet and Curry's of having an LED on HD (using HDMI) and then a CCFL LCD fed on the same content using Component which is a very misleading practice. Always have a look and see how they're connected.

Online reviews are a waste of time and can be very misleading. You need to go out and have a good look for yourself. You won't get a good LED LCD within your budget though. They do use less power than older LCD sets but most modern LCD sets have eco settings which level the playing field. The amount of power that most LCD TVs use is pretty low anyway.

If it's satellite that you're going for then you really do need to get a TV with a good scaler as SD satellite is a much lower bitrate than Freeview. You need to see a broadcast SD image on whatever TV you decide on as for the most part that will be what you are watching.

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Edgelit LED doesn't give an even backlight (backlit ones do). I've seen plenty of Plasmas, conventional LCD and LED backlit TVs running side by side and conventional backlit LCD has always been better. Picture quality is always subjective though and it's going to be in your house not mine. They have a habit in places like Comet and Curry's of having an LED on HD (using HDMI) and then a CCFL LCD fed on the same content using Component which is a very misleading practice. Always have a look and see how they're connected.

Online reviews are a waste of time and can be very misleading. You need to go out and have a good look for yourself. You won't get a good LED LCD within your budget though. They do use less power than older LCD sets but most modern LCD sets have eco settings which level the playing field. The amount of power that most LCD TVs use is pretty low anyway.

If it's satellite that you're going for then you really do need to get a TV with a good scaler as SD satellite is a much lower bitrate than Freeview. You need to see a broadcast SD image on whatever TV you decide on as for the most part that will be what you are watching.

Cool.

Sounds like the usual thing with technology then really. Get out there and have a proper look at the ones I like and get the salesmen to show me them hooked up to proper signals. Last time I was in John Lewis they had one Sony tv hooked up to Casino Royal on Blu Ray which looked amazing, then all the other TVs were showing the snooker on a dodgy Freeview reception. Pointless.

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Cool.

Sounds like the usual thing with technology then really. Get out there and have a proper look at the ones I like and get the salesmen to show me them hooked up to proper signals. Last time I was in John Lewis they had one Sony tv hooked up to Casino Royal on Blu Ray which looked amazing, then all the other TVs were showing the snooker on a dodgy Freeview reception. Pointless.

All of our LCD TVs are set up on a live broadcast HD Satellite feed (except the 19"-22" LCDs, though they can be if required). They are all also hooked up to an SD aerial feed as well for a comparison (though not a direct one unfortunately).

I personally don't see the point of the way that Currys/Comet/John Lewis display things but that's not my concern.

If you want a chat sometime pop in and see me (that naturally goes for anyone that fancies a bit of advice), though i'm off 'til next Monday.

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If you want a chat sometime pop in and see me (that naturally goes for anyone that fancies a bit of advice), though i'm off 'til next Monday.

At the moment I'm just gathering information and trying to figure out which way I want to go. Not going to buy anything until the new year, hopefully there'll be some good bargains in January.

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I'm going to come and and talk to you soon, I'm in the market for a new set for the bedroom, looking for 22" - I don't know the difference between any of the various types, I still have fat tellies, one has a built in VCR. I'm old school.

If you can stretch to a 26" you'll get much better value for money (they're generally only 40 quid or so more expensive) both spec-wise and size-wise.

Sets below 26" (well the good ones) are usually disproportionally expensive because they're made in smaller numbers and there is more waste in the panel cutting processes. But if it's just a bedroom set and you're not going to be doing much other than watching TV occasionally and maybe the odd DVD then it doesn't need to be an all singing all dancing spec-fest.

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If you can stretch to a 26" you'll get much better value for money (they're generally only 40 quid or so more expensive) both spec-wise and size-wise.

Sets below 26" (well the good ones) are usually disproportionally expensive because they're made in smaller numbers and there is more waste in the panel cutting processes. But if it's just a bedroom set and you're not going to be doing much other than watching TV occasionally and maybe the odd DVD then it doesn't need to be an all singing all dancing spec-fest.

My TV aerial has been broken for a year and a half, and I don't play games so it's just for watching DVDs on. My bedroom is roughly the size of a double bed + a chest of drawers with a TV on top :laughing: so I don't need anything too big. I'll come and check out your wares though, before I go and buy that one from Tesco ;)

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I did a fannyload of research into a new telly 6 months back and ended up with a Samsung LE40B650. It ticked all the boxes for me: 1080p, 100hz, high contrast (blacker than black), rife connectivity inc. 4HDMI slots, HD USB drive that plays anything you plug in, decent sound, good looks, upscaling chip and internet TV (still not used). Ended up getting it from Costco so it was 1/3 of the RRP so it's worth checking their range. Not had a single issue with it, plays sky+HD, upscaled and blu-rays perfectly.

Of course, 2 weeks later there was a better TV out so it was all for nothing.

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I did a fannyload of research into a new telly 6 months back and ended up with a Samsung LE40B650. It ticked all the boxes for me: 1080p, 100hz, high contrast (blacker than black), rife connectivity inc. 4HDMI slots, HD USB drive that plays anything you plug in, decent sound, good looks, upscaling chip and internet TV (still not used). Ended up getting it from Costco so it was 1/3 of the RRP so it's worth checking their range. Not had a single issue with it, plays sky+HD, upscaled and blu-rays perfectly.

Of course, 2 weeks later there was a better TV out so it was all for nothing.

That's not a bad TV actually. The only problem i have with Samsung is their build quality and their attitude to their customers (both us and you). That set also has a touch of input lag which isn't the best for people who game a lot but most people wouldn't notice it.

Sounds like you got a good deal though!

And John, depends how much you're wanting to spend. We aren't expensive really.

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Getting info on input lag for TVs is not easy. I'm not super sensitive to it myself, as the lag on my brain is probably larger. Supposedly the Bravias have virtually no lag at all, and kick arse anyway so a good buy if ya got the cash. Vieras also seem to have very acceptable input latency.

Researching these things when you don't make a career out of it is enough to make you cry.

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Getting info on input lag for TVs is not easy. I'm not super sensitive to it myself, as the lag on my brain is probably larger. Supposedly the Bravias have virtually no lag at all, and kick arse anyway so a good buy if ya got the cash. Vieras also seem to have very acceptable input latency.

Researching these things when you don't make a career out of it is enough to make you cry.

It's heavy going when you do make a career out of it so i sympathise with your average consumer. However, that's what people like myself are there for, to answer questions regarding this sort of stuff. I don't claim to have all the answers but i'll damn well find out for you if i don't know, it means that i learn something new as well which is a bonus :up:

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