poppythedog Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Hi all, i'm after some advice about these new fangled flat screenplasmalcdtv thingies. Me & Mrs Poppy went into Currys yesterday to buy a new TV but we have no clue what the difference is between plasma, led, lcd, what refresh rate is etc etc. We just want a biggish (up to 42") tv for our new extension. We don't do online games or have sky or anything else, it's just a TV. We do watch freeview quite a bit though. AM I also right in thinking we will need seperate speakers? We would have talked to one of the "sales advisors" (spotty herberts) but I had already tried asking about deals on a cooker and when I mentioned "internet price match" he snapped at me so I said I would take my cash elsewhere & walked. Can anyone who knows about TVs point me in the right direction? I suspect any of the big outlets will try to sell me the one with the biggest margin in it! Thanks, PTD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bb Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Try the Tesco electrical superstore in West Quay. SWMBO went there, OK she already knew what she wanted, and received excellent help/service. Good stock, better than their on-line store, best prices and double points on her bonus card Apparently: 1 Panasonic are the current "best screen". 2 Full HD is way better than HD ready. 3 100Hz refresh rather than 50 Hz is better for watching sport. Happy owner of a 32" Panasonic. Not that I watch TV, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun4860 Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 (edited) I nearly went for the panasonic but was told by 2 different sales people that their after sales service was ****, ended up with a very nice 40" samsung lcd. was told by a few people that 40" is about the biggest you want with lcd and any bigger you would be better off with plasma? refresh rate......mine is 100hz was told this was the way to go over 50hz as its quicker as said by Chris Bb brother in law has the panasonic viera 42" plasma with 600hz but im told that your eyes cant tell the difference above a certain speed anyway, he went for the freesat model (also includes freeview) at the moment there arnt many free hd channels but this is supposed to change next year, Biggest difference i have seen was whilst viewing a blue ray disc, the quality was superb, you would only need extra speakers if you wernt happy with the original sound of the telly, a few people have gone for surround sound systems for that "true" sound of the cinema but imo the sound i get from my telly is more than enough. at the end of the day you pays your money and takes your choice. hope it helps shaun ps.... this is mine...... http://www.buydigital.me.uk/Product-show.a...allClass_Id=299 Edited October 7, 2009 by shaun4860 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunganick Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 As an ex 'spotty herbert' i generally found Panasonic tv's to be the most reliable. If you can give me a budget i will tell you what i would choose. I can almost promise you it will be a panasonic though 42" S10 is probably the best value well spec'd set in their range. 1080p (full hd), 400 mhz, Plasma (walks all over LCD both in panel life, colour accuracy and black levels) LED tv's are worth considering, the thin models are sidelit which tend to give funny black/white margine in the middle of the screen. Viewing angle also seems poor (top to bottom). However they are only a few cm's thick and would be a better option if you have kids who are likely to pause the tv or if the tv will be used as a pc monitor. Ontop of this, your tv picture is only as good as your source. It is worth getting HD, it is considerablly better than SD. Blurays are cheapish now and are the only way currently of getting a 1080p image on your screen (besides games or pc). (broadcast images are curently 720p) Hope this helps. ***** To comment on the above post With Full HD, LCD's look fine on 40" plus pannels now. (previously when 720p was the norm) plasma tended to look better at a lower resolution on a larger screen. (all screens are the same resolution 720p or 1080p, so the larger you make it the worse it will look unless you sit further back) The reason panasonic afterservice is slower than Samsung (for instance, who are superb) is that Samsung are used to replacing part in their TV's they sell many more units and have a much higher under warranty failure rate. Samsung tv's represent excellent value for money, however quality controll seems to be slipping. Whilst they are probably still one of the best, they are not as good as they used to be. Still deffinatly worth considering for the money though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillerChef92 Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 brother in law has the panasonic viera 42" plasma with 600hz but im told that your eyes cant tell the difference above a certain speed anyway, he went for the freesat model (also includes freeview) I second the panasonic viera, tis a beast. But Ive just bought a eurovox and downgraded my virgin to the basic package, i get all the channels plus all the sky channels and all in HD! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 I had the mis fortune of having to go with the girlfriend and buy one for her mother all I can say is unless you have a large room the LCD's weren't great as soon as you went up to 40" any less than 15ft from them and the picture was ****, Went with a 40" samsung plasma in the end and for £450 notes you can't go wrong these days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppythedog Posted October 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Thanks for the replies everyone, Dunganick I am thinking of up to £6/700 ish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun4860 Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Thanks for the replies everyone, Dunganick I am thinking of up to £6/700 ish. you can get one like mine for that.... ...lol shaun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunganick Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Thanks for the replies everyone, Dunganick I am thinking of up to £6/700 ish. http://www.rgbdirect.co.uk/ProductDetails....sonic-TXP42S10B £650 for the 42" Panasonic S10 Deffinatly the model i would be looking at. What Hi Fi gives pretty unbiased reviews, worth picking up a copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinea Fowl Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Have a look at this TV, it comes with 3 terabytes of storage >>>>>clicky<<<<< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppythedog Posted October 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 http://www.rgbdirect.co.uk/ProductDetails....sonic-TXP42S10B £650 for the 42" Panasonic S10 Deffinatly the model i would be looking at. What Hi Fi gives pretty unbiased reviews, worth picking up a copy. It's taken a while but we have been & looked again, what is the difference between the S10B & the X10B? (apart from £150ish) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat_jay Posted October 30, 2009 Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 For a few quid more the g10 is well worth looking at, its getting rave reviews http://www.richersounds.com/product/plasma.../pana-txp42g10b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppythedog Posted December 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2009 Several months later we have ordered this http://www.richersounds.com/product/plasma...0/pana-txp42x10 but John Lewis matched the price of £499 delivered & chucked in a 5 year warranty. Thanks to all who offered help & Happy New Year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted December 31, 2009 Report Share Posted December 31, 2009 I asked a similar question a week ago and there was no real consensus. I went down to Richer Sounds and just had a look at every screen in the shop to make my own mind up. Obviously there were about 50 teles on display and the picture on each was slightly different. I decided: 1. I didn't like Plasmas - I just don't like the picture (on any of them) 2. I went for the LG42" SL9000 >here< My choice was based purely on what my eyes liked best in that shop. It's home, on the wall and plugged into a Sony Blu Ray player and a Yamaha sound bar and I like it very much. You should deffo get an upscaling Blu ray DVD player with your purchase - you will be surprised well normal DVDs fly on the right gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppythedog Posted January 4, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 (edited) I did similar, went to a few shops & found a picture I liked. Will a blu ray dvd player still play old dvd's then? This technology stuff leaves me with a headache, I need my 2 yr old to grow up a bit so she can explain what the hell it all means Edited January 4, 2010 by poppythedog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 I did similar, went to a few shops & found a picture I liked. Will a blu ray dvd player still play old dvd's then? This technology stuff leaves me with a headache, Yes. And I would be looking at an LED telly if I was in the market now (very happy Panasonic plasma owner) but they are still pretty expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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