New TV

[paulm]

The old Sony 28" telly finally packed up this morning after a decade or more of sterling service, so we now have the excuse to upgrade to a new more modern (and bigger ) one !

I've always had, and rated very highly, Sony gear in the past but have the impression that Panasonic may be the better quality for picture and sound at the moment, or does it just depend on the actual model ?

Is plasma the way to go rather than lcd ?

Any suggestions very welcome, as long as it's not Samsung as I got one of their smaller lcd screens last year for the dining room and the picture and sound are pretty rubbish !

This one is the main set to be used in the lounge with the Sky+ box, dvd player etc. Haven't bothered with HD yet but would make sense to be suitable for that I guess. No particular budget, just want to get something towards the top end that we will be happy with, probably 48" or thereabouts I think to fill the space !

Cheers, Paul

 

[Dibs-h]

The old Sony 28" telly finally packed up this morning after a decade or more of sterling service, so we now have the excuse to upgrade to a new more modern (and bigger ) one !

I've always had, and rated very highly, Sony gear in the past but have the impression that Panasonic may be the better quality for picture and sound at the moment, or does it just depend on the actual model ?

Is plasma the way to go rather than lcd ?

Any suggestions very welcome, as long as it's not Samsung as I got one of their smaller lcd screens last year for the dining room and the picture and sound are pretty rubbish !

This one is the main set to be used in the lounge with the Sky+ box, dvd player etc. Haven't bothered with HD yet but would make sense to be suitable for that I guess. No particular budget, just want to get something towards the top end that we will be happy with, probably 48" or thereabouts I think to fill the space !

Cheers, Paul

I'm pretty much in teh same boat as you - except the current one is on it's way out. I was going to buy a Sony KDL40W5500U (40") LCD. What TV & Video gave it a fantastic rating last year and it's 100Hz. They are currently goimg for around £650.

I saw the Z series which is 200Hz and Bravia 3 engine and wow! Although I haven't seen the 2 side by side, view the same material. I have also seen the new 100Hz Sharp LED which Curry's are doing for around £850 - but it will all require a little more looking into before settling on one. The only benefit of the Sony's is 3 yr warranty with SOny, but the LED's suck less juice, but how much less - no idea.

They are all available in larger sizes and correspondingly larger prices.

 

[LarryS.]

i went into comet the other day, they had a display of plasma, lcd and led tv's above each other, there was quite a difference in the picture quality so worth you doing the same comparison to see what you like

 

[Argee]

Like you, I've always rated Sony sets for their crisp picture quality and - as a result - all the TVs I own are made by Sony, including our main set, a Sony Bravia 40" LCD (KDL40X2000), which we've had since the model was introduced. We had a plasma set before that and were waiting until the LCD sets improved enough to render blacks as blacks (rather than very deep purple).

The current Sony achieves this easily and is very good with HD broadcasts too, but there's also a lot of hype now about LED TVs, especially regarding their low weight and very thin screens. They're not actually LED screens, but are backlit by LEDs, as I understand it. I've seen one of these alongside a Sony, tuned to the same programme and I couldn't detect any difference. Whatever you decide, make sure it's got at least two HDMI inputs, preferably more.

Ray

 

[paulm]

i went into comet the other day, they had a display of plasma, lcd and led tv's above each other, there was quite a difference in the picture quality so worth you doing the same comparison to see what you like

Thanks for all the feedback guys, have done a bit of browsing and all very confusing !

Did you reach any conclusions LarryS based on what you saw ? Might be a while before I can get out and see some as the snow is still a bit of a problem round here !

Am tentatively thinking about this one here which seems a good deal with 5 year guarantee and installation (I hate fiddling with these things :roll: :lol: ).

It seems that the plasmas are better for moving pics, sport, movies and the like, and the picture dosn't worsen when viewed from different angles, as far as I can figure anyway......

Cheers, Paul

 

[LarryS.]

Paul,

There was one that looked much better but for the life of me I am not 100% sure which one it was. Like you say I do remember the plasma looking richer and more colourful

 

[matt]

Sony really gained popularity when they were the first to produce "true" black. Their popularity rode on this particular wave rather than being especially better than any other TV in any other way. Panasonic was amongst the first to follow the true black thing but, by then, the salesman and women had Sony fever. These days true black is true of all plasma and, I think, LCD and LED TV's.

I'm not in the market for a flat-screen right now but when I was last considering it Pioneer were quietly making some stunning TV's that were often overlooked in favour of Panasonic and Sony etc.

If I were looking now I'd revisit Pioneer and Panasonic. I would also check I was not missing something special in the other camps too before parting with the cash.

John Lewis inc 5 year guarantee and delivery. Not sure about installation.

FWIW - I'm still loving my 36" Panasonic for £136 off eBay. There were so many good deals a few years back as everyone rushed to upgrade to flat-screen. The chap I bought mine off won a plasma in a competition - the Panasonic was not very old, cost over £1000 new but second-hand was nigh on worthless.

 

[Calpol]

I just ordered a new Philips Ambilight jobby from Great Universal's sale, blurb and reviews seem to be alright and the ambilight looks amazing... I think plasma TVs don't have a very long life span either, depends when you plan to upgrade again

 

[Shultzy]

Check out the Gadget shows best buys.

http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/

 

[Harbo]

I bought a new TV about 12 months ago.
Was going for a Sony but read that gas plasma was still the way to go and after some research bought a 42" Pioneer (which incidentally had smaller external dimensions than the 40" Sony!)
Fantastic picture - people often ask if they are watching HD - which they aren't.
Now heard that Pioneer no longer make TV's which is a great shame.

Have a search on the AVForum as new models are out all the time.

Rod

 

[woodbloke]

Panasonic here Paul, very cuffed with it - Rob

 

[paulm]

After some more exhaustive and exhausting researching :lol: think we have now settled on this beastie here

The next model up from the one I previously linked to, and not in the sale unfortunately, but has a higher 600htz refresh rate, latest version lcd panel, and a built in freestat receiver, so worth a bit more I think for the more recent technology.

Only thing is I like the M&S offer (surprisingly) as the price includes a five year guarantee, delivery and installation and disposal of the old one, but it's quoting delivery for 27th Jan and is £110 more than Amazon which is the best price I could find, but Amazon seem to have them in stock.

So I'm trying to convince myself (or not) that the extra £110 and two week wait is worth it basically for the extra guarantee, installation and disposal of the old one, but is it :-k

It's a lot of extra dosh, and watching the 19" Samsung lcd that I've just relocated from the dining room to the lounge temporarily, for two weeks or so isn't a great proposition either :lol:

Think I'll sleep on it and check that date with M&S in the morning.

Anybody know if installation is easy enough ? Having just plugged the Samsung in it works fine with the sky+ box excepting the sky remote doesn't change the volume, so you have to select channels on the sky remote and then use the other to turn it up or down, I hate fiddling with these things :roll: :lol:

Cheers, Paul

 

[LarryS.]

i want one

 

[andycktm]

I know someone who has just purchased a panasonic with freesat.
Of course you will need a feed from a dish for the freesat!
They fitted a dish to his house and connected it for £80.
With sky+ you should have two spare feeds off the dish.

 

[OLD]

Installation is easy if you have a new lead from the dish for freesat thats a total of three you fit the stand connect up switch on, it asks for your post code then its all automatic 4 mins. and its done you can switch inputs sky+,freeview,and freesat etc. if you have a 5.1 sound system then there is some setting to do.Plasma is a more natural colour system ,water and outside pictures look great always better than they were in the tv shop.

 

[paulm]

In the interests of being fair, ought to just mention that the small Samsung lcd, which I never really rated for picture quality when in the dining room and attached to a freesat box from the sky dish, actually looks pretty good now it's hooked up in the lounge through the sky box and same dish !

Signal is from the same dish, so is the better picture to do with a cheap and nasty freestat box, too long a cabling run, or is the freesat signal poorer to start with :-k

Sound quality on the little Samsung is still c@~p though :lol:

Still have one connection left on the four way sky thingy on the dish for the new freesat connection, so sounds like installation should be easy enough, so how much value do I put on the extra guarantee from M&S and a few metres of cabling and stuff ? :-k

Cheers, Paul

 

[woodbloke]

Paul - when I bought mine, I asked Martin about as he's quite knowledgable about TV and film stuff (having worked in the business) and he said that the only make worth considering is Panasonic...so I did :lol: - Rob

 

[Paulg]

Paulm - I have the 42" version of the Panasonic you linked to (also bought from M&S).

One word - Excellent.

Also, if you go through Quidco.com, you get 5% cashback. It tracks pretty quick from M&S too.

PG

 

[newt]

37" panasonic Plasma here Paul, had it a year and very very good. Is there a Panasonic shop near you worth checking. I think all Panasonic TV's have 5 year warranty. I spent some time looking at both LCD and Plasma and decided that Plasma had the edge regarding fast movement. I had the panasonic guys rig up a plasma and LCD side by side with the same input. However that was a year ago and things could have changed.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Paul

I have a 42" Panasonic Viera and a 50" Samsung and they are both very good, expecially with HD sources .

To go back to one of your initial comments (and one Rob made) Samsung actually manufacture something in the region of 95% of ALL plasma and LCD panels on the market (the actual screens) and other companies build their own shells and fancy bits around them. So with that in mind it could just be that the source you were viewing through wasn't great.

My Samsung did go pop after about 5 months but it was just a controller board and replaced within a couple of days on John Lewis 5 year warranty.

The one you have linked to is good, I looked at it in John Lewis the other day, I can't imagine you would be disappointed.

Last thing, the sky control codes for Samsung's are as follows,
4 digit = 0060
3 digit = 037, 065, 584, 037, 245, 476, 398, 516, 292, 318

Follow the instructions on here and you should be up and running with your volume in minutes. I can't remember which code worked for mine, but one of them definitely did 'cos it works

HTH