Televisions

OK, what do I get?

LCD? LED? Plasma? Plasma uses 3x more electricity?

3D or don't bother? I won't use it but all the TV's I'm looking at seem to have it.

Smart TV / Web enabled? Or just get a media centre PC with HDMI output instead?

Must have Freesat built in, I can't get Freeview.

[andrewsmith]

LED is the way forward if a bit steep atm

I can't think of any brand apart from Samsung that do integrated Freesat on the TV.
Get the freesat box with the recording features extra cost but opens you choice a lot more

[tigersaw]

Plasma - subjective, I dont like them at all, I can see the dots making the picture up even at a couple of metres. From personal experience they go wrong more.
LED - thinner, but no better picture, in fact most LED are the cheaper edge lit ones which are worse (IMHO) than LCD.
3D - I just don't get it at all.
I have a philips, sony and a couple of LG's. I think the LG's are better by a mile. My latest LG can play media from a USB, but its pretty pointless. The sound is rubbish on all my TV's. The 42" LG was £389. It hasn't got freesat, but I do have a HD freesat box that cost under £100, that records al well.

Most LED's, infect all of the cheap ones are crap, they advertise it as a separate technology altogether when in reality it's a LCD with a different kind of "bulb" at the back

3d is pointless, let's be honest normal hd has little content and hasn't really taken off however there is a more fundamental flaw besides wearing glasses, 3d is an experience and only work when the screen fills your peripheral vision so in reality a 40" screen 12ft away doesn't really work


Go for plasma or LCD, I prefer LCD however the gaps in the technologies are closing in on each other.
Don't listen to the stereotypical comments like plasmas have better black, yeah a £1500 plasma will have better blacks than most lcds however a 400quid plasma has worst blacks than my first LCD from 5 years ago which cost me a fortune at the time

I would agree with tigersaw about the 3D - total waste of time until it works without glasses. We've got a couple of Pannys, a Samsung and an LG, all LCD. The Pannys were a bit more money and the picture is a bit better. While I think of it, I'm sure their expensive sets have Freesat built in. Just to confuse me though, the place we were on holiday had a decent LG with LED (all over the back, not just round the edges) and the picture was phenomenal.

So, apart from the anti 3D message, I can offer you no useful advice at all. Sorry!

[Bluepete]

Panasonic Viera.

Every time.

Pete

[Shawthing]

Full HD 1080p. Get the biggest you can as if you are any further than about 3 times the height of the screen away from it your eyes cannot resolve the full quality of fullHD.

100Hz 600Hz .IMO a waste of time and money. Tries to average the frames to 'in theory' smooth the picture flow. Can hardly notice any diference on my Samsung and causes 'Artefact' in picture when broadcaster fades video into each other by alternate frames.

I've got a Samsung 32" LCD 1080p TV. Has plenty of sockets in the back with very good picture quality, alot better than my old Philips anyway. The only problem I found was that all the extra settings like the different Noise Filters actually made the picture quality ALOT worse. Also most new TVs, if not all of them, have the backlight set up to maximum with makes blacks look grey. Mine was set to 20 backlight, first thing I did was put it down to 4.

Anyway, 3D hasn't really taken off yet so don't waste your money on it. Unless of course the TV you want has it built in anyway.

I've heard Plasmas have better picture quality than LCDs but aren't very good in brightly lit rooms and are more prone to screen burn in. I personally don't like them.

LCDs are very good for the money and would be my first choice if you didn't want to spend loads of money on a TV.

LEDs are better than LCDs if you get the right sort of LED TV. A proper LED TV has better blacks, as it turns off the pixel rather than try and block the light like in an LCD which is why you never get a black, black. They also use less power, but all this comes at a price.

I think the screen for the new PSP2 (Vita) is a good example. It has an OLED screen which is meant to be one of the best types of screen available, very rich colours and deep blacks. Not seen one in person obviously but from what I've read on OLED screens, it's one of the best types.

[DarrenSV650S]

Do your research online before you buy. Don't make a decision in the shop. Don't cheap out, get the highest spec you can afford. I made that mistake with a cheapo 32" and the picture was terrible.
This is a really good site for detailed reviews - www.hdtvtest.co.uk

I was looking in to LED tvs but they seem to cause more problems than they solve in terms of picture quality.


One detail most places don't list is input lag. If you use your tv for xbox/ps3 you will want to pay attention to this. Most LED tvs I looked in to had high lag, samsungs are really bad for it. The only ones I found in my price range with decent times were the panasonic plasmas. Anything over 40ms and you will notice it. The cheapo LG 32" I mentioned above had seriously bad lag. The site above lists the tested lag times.

Oh and the higher end panasonic plasmas have got freesat

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by Bluepete

Panasonic Viera.

Every time.

Pete

yup. i have a plasma one that spins the meter rather nicely and warms the room in the winter but my lordy lord what a picture. there is no ghosting or pixelation even fast scenes like football, racing and explosions are still rock solid. i have it hooked up to a virgin HD box, panasonic blu-ray and a yamaha amp all connected via HDMI with 2x 5.1 infinity speaker systems.

i hate pixelation and ghosting with a passion and can notice it from a mile off. LCD is ok till you get to about 40'' then plasma just pizzes all over it.

so if you are looking at a 32 then go LCD if you want bigger than 40 go plasma. word of warning, do not buy cheep plasma or LCD as it will spoil your entertainment. panasonic are the best in the game for plasma while i would say that samsung are the best at LCD.

but with all TV's its the source that affects the final picture, the best tv in the world will look crap if you feed it with a crap picture to begin with.