best tv for the money

[rictus01]

OK people in the know.

her indoors is getting me a new TV, (well she's got a new one she watches already).

£750 to spend (perhaps another ton or so for the right one).

Not after anything mind blowing and space isn't a problem, don't need wall mount and don't mind LCD but to be honest more interested in the best I can get for the money, don't particularly need HD, reasonable size (can't be to small), already have a nice Yamaha amp running 4 satalite speakers plus a couple of massive Dynalabs for the surround sound, so sound isn't a major concern.

Currently have cable but looking to change that (maybe sky with seperate Harddisk recorder or sky+) but never had freeview, is it worth having?

web offers/ special offers/ bargin stuff , all considered.

give me your recommendations

Cheers Mark.

[northwind]

If you're not bothered about HD, you can get a really good CRT 28 or 32 for half that... My Panasonic, which is a TX-28PM12, cost me just shy of £300 delivered- it's got a 100hz refresh rate, excellent picture quality for non-HD, assorted fripperies and doodads... The sound's not great, but as you say not a problem for you. My budget would have gone higher, I just couldn't find much reason for it to.

[rictus01]

just had a nose about and this caught my eye.

SAMSUNG LE32R51BD -- 32" LCD TELEVISION

opinions ?

[rictus01]

If you're not bothered about HD, you can get a really good CRT 28 or 32 for half that... My Panasonic, which is a TX-28PM12, cost me just shy of £300 delivered- it's got a 100hz refresh rate, excellent picture quality for non-HD, assorted fripperies and doodads... The sound's not great, but as you say not a problem for you. My budget would have gone higher, I just couldn't find much reason for it to.

She's paying, so I'll get what I can within the money ( don't think she'd be to impressed if I save £300 and used it for a rear Ohlins). I've found an offer on the Samsung for £700 delivered next day, might go for that, but probably wait a couple of days see what else I can find.

Cheers Mark.

[amarko5]

just had a nose about and this caught my eye.

SAMSUNG LE32R51BD -- 32" LCD TELEVISION

opinions ?

IMHO you cannot beat CRT for clarity unless you are going for 2k or higher plasma and lcd tv's .

the lower spec LCD pictures are not a patch on CRT.

I would look for a good CRT Mark .

freeview is ok and will be needed by everone eventually. however i feel your usage of possibly sky+ (especially for the bike racing) will be far more than on freeview.

it's handy to have both though :wink:

[Marshall]

Id go with a Cheepey 32" widescreen CRT (my dad got his from Makro for £250 with a built in freeview tuner)

AND

get a projector and screen, a couple of my mates have them and there damn brilliant. Tv for watchin normal guff on telly, projector for films, sport and the likes.

[thor]

I think a decent CRT sounds the way to go. With decent inputs, would look cracking.

[sharriso74]

Hope the Samsung LCD's are better then their PC flat screens. Just refreshed the entire company with Samsung SyncMater 940Fn's and to say they're fragile would be an understatement. Very high attrition rate the only reason behind getting these over the NEC's is cost.

[wyrdness]

If you're interested in Sky+, check the 'Free Sky+ box' thread. There's an offer on until the end of the month for 'friends and families of Sky employees'. Since I work for Sky, I can get that offer for anyone on here.

Edit: Just seen that you've posted there already. PM'd.

[rictus01]

Yeah Guys let me explain, not my money, personnally I would spend £200-£300 on a crt and get a HD recorder, but "she" wants something flash, so I fear it'll have to be an LCD :roll: , although anyone comes up with a flash CRT or DLP, I might be able to swing it.

Cheers Mark.

[robaker]

Samsung recently released a 32'' High-Def CRT-based telly. Currys and Comet both stock them although they've only just come out so I'm having trouble getting hold of one. Comet were selling for £450, Currys for £500, although I'm not sure if the one in Currys included an integrated freeview decoder - if so it would explain the extra £50.

[northwind]

Yeah Guys let me explain, not my money, personnally I would spend £200-£300 on a crt and get a HD recorder, but "she" wants something flash, so I fear it'll have to be an LCD :roll: , although anyone comes up with a flash CRT or DLP, I might be able to swing it.


I could probably photoshop you a £700 receipt and visa statement? :) Or alternatively, you could get a cheap one, lower the stand and have it all polished and chromed.

[wyrdness]

There's a room next to me that contains just about every new flat screen TV, for Sky testing. I'll ask the testers if they have any favourites.

[Sudoxe]

Mark,
I recall one of the big chains doing an offer for a 32inch HD LCD for 600odd and a bigger one for slightly more. (I'll find out when i get home)

I would go for an LCD and not a Plasma (as I have one of them and they tend to burn in after a while. I have the bbc clock on mine)

Dan

[sharriso74]

There's a room next to me that contains just about every new flat screen TV, for Sky testing. I'll ask the testers if they have any favourites.

And if they need anyone to test them in the home enviroment I'm more than happy to help

[***Steve***]

There's a room next to me that contains just about every new flat screen TV, for Sky testing. I'll ask the testers if they have any favourites.

Do what Marshall said and get a projector. Then pop down B&Q buy yourself a big sheet of MDF, cut to size and paint with Icestorm 5/6. Perfect for the footie :D

[wyrdness]

There's a room next to me that contains just about every new flat screen TV, for Sky testing. I'll ask the testers if they have any favourites.

Do what Marshall said and get a projector. Then pop down B&Q buy yourself a big sheet of MDF, cut to size and paint with Icestorm 5/6. Perfect for the footie :D

That's actually what I've done at home. Except that I've got a white wall above the fireplace so don't need a screen.

I'm hearing good things about the Benq W100, which is under £500. It's not High Definition though.
http://images.projectorpoint.co.uk/pdf/BenQ/BenQ_VW100.pdf

For HD, the Sanyo Z4, Panasonic AE900 or Hitachi TX200 are all supposed to be excellent.

[Peter Henry]

Well there was this one I met in a bar in San Fransisco once........ :P

[***Steve***]

That's actually what I've done at home. Except that I've got a white wall above the fireplace so don't need a screen.

I'm hearing good things about the Benq W100, which is under £500. It's not High Definition though.
http://images.projectorpoint.co.uk/pdf/BenQ/BenQ_VW100.pdf

For HD, the Sanyo Z4, Panasonic AE900 or Toshiba TX200 are all supposed to be excellent.

I got given a proj & bulbs from an old workplace when they were closing a training centre down and built a screen. Total cost $15 :D

Those are all great projectors, also the Hitatchi PJTX200 should just about come in on budget too if you shop around.

[jonboy]

If space isn't a problem then don't go LCD, as the picture really is crap compared to the humble (but far superior) cathode ray tube.

Me? I'd go to Tesco, Comet (whatever...) and pick up a nice widescreen 28" jobbie for £199. After all, it'll have Nicam stereo, a great picture (as virtually all CRT tubes are now made by the same company), and offers terrific value. Your only problem is what are you going to do with the five hundred quid you've just saved? :wink:


.

[Viney]

I think a decent CRT sounds the way to go. With decent inputs, would look cracking.

i agree witht eh CRT route, but dont forget, that if you cant plug in, or it hasnt got IDTV (Digital freeview) then in 4 year time it will be obsolete as they will start turning of the anolouge signal etc.

£800 LCD's aint that good imho, but if you look around you should be able to get a Samsung, Sharp or Philips for that money. Make sure its HD ready as it has the second generations controller built in, so it cuts down on the blur and pixalation that the earlier ones get.

You can get Plasmas for that money, but again they aint that good.

You aint ever gonna beat a CRT picture.

Stay away from Rear projection!!

[rictus01]

OK the two front runners are

SAMSUNG LE32R51BD £700 :- all bells & whistles on it, she'll like this no doubt.

Or

SAMSUNG WS32Z419D £479.99 :- CRT 100mhz , freeview, HD ready ( might be able to swing this one ?

Keep um coming.

Cheers Mark.

[creamerybutter]

OK the two front runners are

SAMSUNG LE32R51BD £700 :- all bells & whistles on it, she'll like this no doubt.

Or

SAMSUNG WS32Z419D £479.99 :- CRT 100mhz , freeview, HD ready ( might be able to swing this one ?

Keep um coming.

Cheers Mark.

I am really interested in the HD CRT myself but I have heard some really mixed review reards to the picture quality.

[rictus01]

Thanks guys, she wants the bells & whistles, so just ordered it.

Cheers Mark.

[empty]

For those who are thinking of buying a HD ready set in the near future, this might be of interest.

Most of the current HD Ready LCDs/Plasmas have a native resolution of 768 lines (vertical), meaning that they will be able to display (or at least should) 720p transmissions natively (720 lines, progressive scan so 50 frames per second). They will have to downsample 1080i (1080 lines, interlaced at 50 fields/25 frames per second, as normal SD TVs). From my experience with HD, quite a lot will be shot in 1080i, certainly the BBC filmed stuff I have worked with has all been this. Don't worry about the hype on 1080p, as yet there are no cameras or any equipment which can deal with the 3GBps data rate (uncompressed).

At present HD CRTs are very thin on the ground, even in the professional market, and will (sadly) be phased out eventually due to environmental issues in their manufacture. In the HD studio I work in we have HD LCDs, however they are not really a patch on the 17" HD CRTs we have.

Stuff to look out for over the next few years will be SED by Toshiba (http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/sed/eng/index.htm), should be able to do true black and nice range.

MT

[mysteryjimbo]

For those who are thinking of buying a HD ready set in the near future, this might be of interest.

Most of the current HD Ready LCDs/Plasmas have a native resolution of 768 lines (vertical), meaning that they will be able to display (or at least should) 720p transmissions natively (720 lines, progressive scan so 50 frames per second). They will have to downsample 1080i (1080 lines, interlaced at 50 fields/25 frames per second, as normal SD TVs). From my experience with HD, quite a lot will be shot in 1080i, certainly the BBC filmed stuff I have worked with has all been this. Don't worry about the hype on 1080p, as yet there are no cameras or any equipment which can deal with the 3GBps data rate (uncompressed).

At present HD CRTs are very thin on the ground, even in the professional market, and will (sadly) be phased out eventually due to environmental issues in their manufacture. In the HD studio I work in we have HD LCDs, however they are not really a patch on the 17" HD CRTs we have.

Stuff to look out for over the next few years will be SED by Toshiba (http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/sed/eng/index.htm), should be able to do true black and nice range.

MT

Not as uncommon as you might think. I've got a 42" Plasma coming in the next week or two which surpasses those resolutions.

[Quiff Wichard]

jimbo- just in time for the world cup final buddy !!

[kciN]

I think Razor is a TV?

Or maybe he'll correct me when he reads this!! :oops: :wink: :D

[mysteryjimbo]

jimbo- just in time for the world cup final buddy !!

*fingers crossed* BBC HD works!