Are there any brands that can compete with Hanspree in budget sets (£400-37")

Soldato
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My dad is looking to upgrade the lounge TV, only problem is he's being a little bloody minded when it comes to TV availability, hoping that somehow something will come up on the famous auction site, no matter how often I try to point out that he'd have to be exceedingly lucky to get a really good deal there, as there are so many people on the hunt for a bargain.

Here's the problem, he's almost fixated on getting a 37", but only wants to stump up £400 maximum for it :rolleyes::(
Im trying to bring him around to 32" being more likely, but he's stubborn and Im not sure if he'll budge.

I've seen a Hanspree XV JT02-37E2 in that budget, (Im guessing that an older model than the JT08 listed on overclockers), but nothing else. I've also heard theres some issue with ghosting/poor inputs on the Hannspree, so not sure what to think of them.

Does anyone else have any suggestions for TVs to look at, or a simple try harder to persuade him.
 
its quite simple

£400 doesnt get you a lot. not even sure what 32" you'd get with £400. Even the entry level 32" sets from the big brands are about £450 cheapest on-line price.

for big brands, your talking more than £400. If he wants £400 or under, then most hes going to get is 26"

now if a Samsung Korean 37" LCD costs the best part of £600, and the hanspree one costs £400. Costs are going to have to be cut somewhere. You will most likely have problems, but most people accept that for this sort of money, your not going to get a perfect set, and put up with the compromises

is your dad ready for those compromises ? some people are. the TV is to, well erm watch TV on and dont care about quality. As long as it switches on when they press on, its good enough for them. Is your dad that sort of person ? i know my fater in law is. And hes allway buying 2nd hand sets for about £50 etc.. and never buys new. But he doesnt care so it suits him..
 
TBH, as said for that budget the best bet is spending a little more for a 32" toshiba. But, if he is completely set on a 37" for that money, look at second hand/older models. You can pick up great bargains on top quality panasonic plasmas that are only a gen or 2 old.

Hope thats helps. :)
 
i bought that exact set and i got lucky. got 2HDMI ports, glossy bezel etc...

paid £411 collected for it and i am chuffed to bits.

The only comparison i can draw on HDTVs is my dads 42" Viera Plasma, and for the money there's not enough in it.

As i say, i reckon' i got lucky mind.

There's an ELX 37", and a competitor on the same site as the ELX 37" have an own brand screen with a samsung panel - all within or near budget for 37s

a google for "ELX 37 LCD" will find the shop, and their own brand 37 reads quite good. But its a lottery, and postage is ~£70 - but they do allow collections
 
Am getting him to look at the:
AOC L32W551T @ £320-330,
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Mirai DTL-632V200 @ 300
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Orion TV-32082 @ £350.
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All seem to have good reviews for cheap tvs, and Orion seem to actually make stuff for Toshiba. The decision seems more and more like its between the Mirai as its cheaper, but looks slightly worse IMO, and has only 1HDMI but is meant to be a bit of a cheap TV all-star, and the Orion, as it has 2 HDMI sockets and apparently they make TVs for Toshiba and other larger brands, so even if its a stripped down version, the quality should still be reasonable, not to mention the sounds actually meant to be reasonable for an LCD on the Orion.

The AOC looks good and is very well reviewed for its price, being compared against more expensive Samsungs etc, and is the sister (*L*ogo model as opposed to the *N*oLogo model) of the AOC OcUK stock, however I don't believe its worth the extra £ over the Mirai.

Thanks for the earlier response, they kinda helped me batter my dad into accepting he wasnt going to get a good quality 37" for his budget.
 
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Can you batter him into parting with another £50-£70? You really want to be looking at the Samsung, Panasonic or Philips 32" sets to be honest, you're just going to get more 'bang for your buck'. The extra money is totally worth it.
 
Nope, he wont part with extra money, and tbh, I've never been as 'focused' on the major brands. Yes, sometimes you get more, but in a lot of cases you ARE paying for a brand NAME.

I've never been that impressed with Samsung LCD TV screens either.
 
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Just go into a highstreet store and look at the TV's in action, then go and search the net for prices. The LG's, Panasonics, Samsungs are all great quality screens. Dont say its an amazing picture quality until you've actually compared the two together.
 
Just go into a highstreet store and look at the TV's in action, then go and search the net for prices. The LG's, Panasonics, Samsungs are all great quality screens. Dont say its an amazing picture quality until you've actually compared the two together.

Thats actually not that great an idea unless you can get them to show you the screens connected to a good source, and let you change the settings. I work in one of those high street stores and know for a fact, most of them just bung the TVs out, often on default settings, and plug in a low quality, splitter provided source which is usually a DVD player, splittered x amount of time, and they usually look awful for it, unless they're trying to sell x model, where they'll spend a LITTLE more time setting the tv up.

Basically, all they care about is putting them on display, most of the time they wont really be showing you what the TV is really capable of. if you can get a single sourced TV and a chance to fiddle with the settings, thats another story though, but if you can't plug in a single dvd player etc, there's almost no point.
 
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Have a look at the Pansonic LMD70. It's a damn good panel with a good feature set for a bargain price. Having seen the AOCs, Hanspree's even Samsungs I know it's worth the extra money.

Look with your eyes, then your wallet! If he can't tell the difference then that's fine by me.
 
Nope, he wont part with extra money, and tbh, I've never been as 'focused' on the major brands. Yes, sometimes you get more, but in a lot of cases you ARE paying for a brand NAME.

I've never been that impressed with Samsung LCD TV screens either.

Fair enough, if he won't shift from that budget.

Just to be clear though mate, I wasn't recommending these sets just because they're from major brands. I've had to buy a 32" set for my Dad recently and I'd carefully considered (and looked at extensively) a number of sets before I made my choice. I specifically mentioned the Samsung, Panasonic or Philips because those manufacturers happen to make the best 32" screens at the moment, more specifically the Pansonic LMD70 which is probably the best in it's class. I wasn't generalising and recommending them blindly just because they are brand names. In this instance, for only a little over your budget you really would be getting the best - although I agree that isn't always the case, and I'd be the first one to shy away from a brand name if I could get the same quality from a lesser known brand.

It was the same when I was looking for my 37" 1080p set. I shortlisted Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba sets despite having no real pull to any of them with regard to brand name. They just happen to make the best 37" 1080p sets at the moment. The same could be said of Samsung and Sony when it comes to 40" sets etc.

Anyway, just thought I'd ask. If you don't have the extra budget then it doesn't matter anyway. The Hanspree 32" by all accounts looks like a very decent set (the massive AVforums thread is generally very positive about it - and most people would say it's the better than similar priced sets), and it looks like you've shortlisted a few other sets there and have read a few reviews so it's all good.
 
I get where you're coming from, unfortunately thats not really an option, as he doesnt even want to spend £400 if he can help it. Hanspree I was initially interested in, til I found out about the somewhat confusing panel/model lottery, not to mention that the better JT version appears to have 'VGA stutter'. Considering this tv will have to last a few years, unlike my dad who seems to want to blindly wander anywhere for just size, I want to get a tv where the picture is reasonable, the inputs work properly, and it won't sound absolutely cack til I can put a stereo onto it, whereas my dad seems to currently have no focus beyond size, and Im almost thinking a crap purchase will be needed to justify half the stuff Im saying to him, as he doesnt seem to understand the issues with LCD TVs, and is selfishly just trying to pick a TV which suits his wants, without considering what the TV may well be used for over its lifespan, and how the rest of the family may use it, on top of that asking me to do research and give advice, then blithley ignoring half the stuff I tell him.

Very frustrating. He can buy cack if he wants, but I'll be upset if I have to use a cack tv whenever I want to watch some sky, or later on if any of my family get an xbox and discover say the LCD or component dont work well, and he just doesnt seem to get the £:Features theology, or even what the critical features are in the first place (originally he wouldnt touch anything without PiP, even though I can guarantee it'll hardly get used for example)

For me its a simple case of trying to get him to make a reasonable choice at most. I know he won't look with his eyes then wallet though. It's wallet or no TV :(
 
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