LCD TV's recommendations and/or advice

[superunknown]

Hello and good morning.

I am thinking about making the step into the world of the LCD TV. Our old TV has nearly seen its day.

So I am wondering if anybody has any recommendations or advice on the subject. There are just so many models, makes, sizes and specs.

I am aiming for around 32"/37". I have looked in the shops and so far have been impressed by Sony and LG. I plan to make my final purchase online as there seems to be massive savings to be had! 8) I don't really have a budget, just happy with a fair price for a good product.

I hope I am not repeating any previous posts.

Tia

 

[MrJay]

There's nothing much on. Don't bother.

Seriously, read a book, go for a walk, join a club, go to the theatre/cinema/concert, anything except atrophy in front of the goggle box.

 

[Argee]

I've always had Sony televisions, because I prefer their harder and sharper picture. My friend went for a large LG recently, but it failed, as did the replacement. He's now been given a more expensive Pioneer, to keep him happy.

I've just replaced my lounge set with a Sony Bravia "X" Engine and it really is superb. Although I've no connection with the company, I get all my audio-visual stuff (via the Internet) from RGB Direct in Ilford. They're at http://www.rgbdirect.co.uk and I can highly recommend them on both price and service.

HTH

Ray.

 

[TonyW]

So far I have been a little disappointed with the LCD I have seen including my daughters 32" Samsung compared to Plasma or CRT. The picture quality while ok is not what I would have hoped for (poor blacks and "plasticky" looking skin tones).

I know that there are some good ones around and like Ray would suggest serious consideration to the Sony Bravia (have only seen this on demo but looks v. good)

You might want to lurk around AV forums for a while and see what others are saying http://www.avforums.com/forums/index.php

Cheers
Tony

 

[Woody Alan]

I used to be a Sony fan but switched to Panasonic this time. After lots of research I plumped for the panasonic 37 inch plasma. The reason is I can't tolerate all that crawly effect around people when they move on screen with LCD's, I also like my blacks to be black whereas LCD is a dark blue and lighter due to the backlight that drives the picture from behind. The Plasma is also at a very good price at the moment. Plasmas are also more tolerant of a standard definition picture where an LCD will look grainier.
Although it's not a high definition panel in the truest sense of the word, don't be misled by the hype picture quality is not all about high def capability it's about how it looks to the viewer. Lastly LCD's don't have the full range of colour that plasmas do they work from a colour palette so when you get a large block of similar colour e.g./ desert sand you can see the colour change in steps across the image, could be due to compression also but it's annoying. So if you want something close to your old CRT image that's the way to go. All just my opinion of course there are many people very happy with their lcd's ...just don't put a plasma beside them
Forgot to mention and this is something you can see for yourself without a doubt when looking at an image with dark areas such as in a film you can see detail in the dark areas that you won't see on an LCD due to the poorer contrast range. again don't be misled by the latest contrast ratios quoted, because what they are doing is electronically shifting the contrast ratio up and down the grey scale depending on the predominance of back in the image. It can cause flickering blacks by all accounts.

Alan

 

[gasmansteve]

Hi Tia
Just bought a Panasonic TX32LXD700 after much checking and very pleased with it,superb picture and sound with 5yr gtee.
Steve

 

[Argee]

After lots of research I plumped for the panasonic 37 inch plasma. The reason is I can't tolerate all that crawly effect around people when they move on screen with LCD's, I also like my blacks to be black whereas LCD is a dark blue and lighter due to the backlight that drives the picture from behind. The Plasma is also at a very good price at the moment. Plasmas are also more tolerant of a standard definition picture where an LCD will look grainier.

Those were the very reasons I bought my Sony plasma three years ago, but all of those issues are now dealt with by the Bravia "X" Engine (and a couple of lesser Bravias too).

All just my opinion of course there are many people very happy with their lcd's ...just don't put a plasma beside them

But that's precisely what I did - went into a huge Currys and compared the Sony plasma and the Bravia alongside. Only then did I realise how the LCDs had come on. Sony have now dropped producing plasma TVs at all, I think, their range is now exclusively LCD.

Ray.

 

[Harbo]

If you do some research through the AV mags and the AV forum you will find that Plasma still has it over LCD.

I nearly bought a Sony KDL40W2000 until I looked at reviews and bought instead a Pioneer 428XD (The Forum's rave machine).

Apart from much blacker blacks etc. the Pioneer has a 2" wider screen (42") on a smaller overall dimensioned set than the 40" Sony( The Sony screen is spoiled by a wide glass surround!).
I bought it on the net and saved over £700 over John Lewis.

Rod

 

[wizer]

Just to buck the trend, I'm not a Sony fan. I don't like their products at all.

I am a massive Toshiba fan and have just bought the Regza 42X3030D 42" true HD LCD. To say I am pleased with it would be an understatement!

The dog likes it too!

My advice is do your research, look at the online reviews. LCD can lack clarity of colour, especially blacks. You will find reviews talking about how deep the black colours are on the screen.

I also bought a 24" Samsung LCD which I am not impressed with. Picture quality is just not great when you compare it to the Toshiba.

BTW I think Comet are doing a good deal on the 37" version of my Toshiba.

 

[Woody Alan]

Get John Lewis to pricematch empiredirect. Empiredirect have store O/L's and John Lewis are familiar with being asked to Pricematch. I did and saved £150 and got my five year gaurentee.

My missus wouldn't let me have a set bigger than 37" :-( but to be fair we don't watch that much TV it's just nice to have a good picture when we sit for an hour late evening or watch a film every other week or so.
Soap operas are banned by the management.

Alan

 

[andycktm]

Which ever you get make sure it's got at least 2 hdmi ports
and if you get 37" i would try and get full 1080 hd.My experience
is they are no better than a regular tv unless you run hd.Or to
put it another way hd is way better than regular tv
(but it's along way off,for everybody).
Future proof is what you want.Think what you may need in 3 year's
hd sky,hd dvd player,hd games console that's 3 hdmi conection's.

The size difference alone is worth buying an lcd.

 

[mickster]

Apart from the news, I can't really say that I sit down and watch the TV regularly. I bought an LG 19" TV/LCD monitor to sit beside my PC monitor as a dual-screen setup and in case I wanted to watch TV whilst working, but more often than not, it displays an empty desktop backdrop...

 

[MrJay]

Once you stop it's really quite hard to get back into. If you're a regular viewer your critical facility dulls, but 99% of the time TV is quite appallingly awful and life is finite, yet TV demands so much more attention than it's 1%. I'm in awe of your willpower, I had to get rid of the TV entirely to kick the habit, lest it suck me back in. I used to be able to sit for hours on an evening watching twaddle in the vague hope that something worth my attention might come on, despite the experience of many other evenings. I did however buy a projector off ebay recently for £30 quid or something, it's old and as projectors go not very good, but it's got a thousand miles left on the bulb, friends and neighbours come round and I can watch big screen movies in the garden or against a wall indoors if it's cold/raining.

 

[gidon]

Nola
Our 15 year old 20" CRT packed in last week and I've just replaced it with a 32" LCD.
I read lots of reviews and the resounding winner at the minute is the Panasonic 32-TXLXD70 (or 700 - 700 has same picture but better sound, an extra HDMI and an SD slot). I got mine from Dixons online for £580. Unlike lots of LCD and plasma screens this one plays SD as well as HD very well. The Sony 32D3000 is a little more than the LXD70 but is also very good.
I was ready to be disappointed with my LXD70 butI'm very happy with it and I'm fussy.
Here's a good review of some 32" LCD's to get you started:
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/pdfs/WV ... 21_064.pdf
(If you do get the Panasonic turn the picture to anything but Dynamic - it looks really fake to me!)
Cheers
Gidon

 

[TonyW]

(If you do get the Panasonic turn the picture to anything but Dynamic - it looks really fake to me!)

I believe that all TV's LCD and Plasma are sent out with Dynamic turned on as the default. The reasoning appears to be that manufacturers believe that the high contrast and colour settings will make their display stand out in a shop environment. Invariably these settings make the picture look very false as gidon said.

If you are keen to get the best picture from your TV you might want to consider a set up disk such as DVE Review Link. Think of it as a honing guide for your tv

Cheers
Tony

 

[cambournepete]

Just bought the Sony 40W2000U from John Lewis (with free 5-year warranty, stand and DVD recorder) after comparing it (largely on SD) with a similarly priced Panny plasma in both JL and Comet.
I'm fairly fussy about picture quality having worked in the industry, and it looks pretty good to me (and SWMBO), although I'm sure you'd be happy with the Panny.
Sky HD can also be really good.
One friend of mine also has the Sony and another is really pleased with his 3000, although I didn't know this when picking mine.
I would also add that dealing with JL was a pleasure.

Alll IMHO of course.

 

[misterfish]

Just bought a Panasonic TX32LXD700 after much checking and very pleased with it,superb picture and sound with 5yr gtee.

We have done exactly the same. I spent ages researching details online and then went to a wide selection of local stores to see them all in action. The problem was that what looked good in one place didn't stand out as being exceptional in the next. We finally drew up our short list of Sony and Panasonic.

We then decided that LCD was preferable to plasma - cooler, lower power consumption, lighter and no tendency to screen burn (as some game players have reported with plasmas).

Finally we settled on Panasonic over Sony as they (reputedly) will swap out screens with dead or stuck pixels whereas with Sony you are at the 'mercy' of the supplier.

I initially tried our local (Chichester) Panasonic shop saying that I wanted the LCD TV and also HD/DVD recorder. He quoted list price - and when I asked him about a deal all he said was that these were his prices and he didn't match web prices (I hadn't mentioned the web!) I would have preferred to buy locally but at £150 more expensive with only a one year guarantee it was not to be.

I eventually bought both items online with a 5 year warranty ordering them on Saturday afternoon and they were delivered on the following Tuesday,

We have no regrets and would buy another without even having to think about it.

Misterfish

 

[superunknown]

Many thanks for everybody's advice and input. Thats given me plenty to think about and a bit more understanding.

I will be reading more reviews and visiting some more TV stores.


Thank you :wink:

 

[cambournepete]

It may sound daft, but use decent mains and signal cables on all your boxes, especially your Sky box (if you have one) and including your TV.
I'm using a tacima mains block and Mark Grant power and HDMI leads, total cost around £200, but you can spend much, much more if you want to.
For me this combination made the picture much better - clearer, less blocky and better colours.
This may be because of outside factors such as the weather, mains quality last night or just self-delusion having spent the money, but I think it worked
This article talks about the effect mains leads can have. And no I don't want to get into the "last metre of mains cable can't possibly have any effect" debate. :roll:

Cheers,

Pete

 

[mr]

no I don't want to get into the "last metre of mains cable can't possibly have any effect" debate. :roll:

Cheers,

Pete

I wasn't aware it was debated.Mains cables can have a huge (adverse) effect on picture quality. Especially three phase, it has given me many hours of "pleasure" sorting out the mess made by careless or selfish mains installations.
Cheers Mike