New TV - looking at 37-42inch, opinions on the F86

oneilldo

oneilldo

oneilldo

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We need a new TV and have looked at a fair few this afternoon. The following TV's are what we are looking at in order of preference.

SAMSUNG LE40F86BDX £1400
SAMSUNG LE40M87BDX/XEU £900
LG 37LF66 £800


The picture on the F86 was noticibly more vivid than the other TV's there. The Samsung LE40M87BDX/XEU (£900) was next but one and all
TV's were fed with a high def blue ray feed but the F86 looked better, the colours seemed more vivid than any of the other TV's.

Is it worth the extra £500 difference from the other Samsung though? I think the noticible difference is the 100hz and the 25000:1 contrast ratio (the other samsung is 15000:1). Has anyone seen these with a SD def feed (the missus will mainly be using it for virgin media (not HD)).

The TV will be used for (in order of frequency-but HD DVD will overtake normal DVD when availabilty increases) 1. SD NTL/Virgin media, 2 SD DVD, 3 HD DVD/Blue Ray, 4 PS3, 5.PC (might not bother with PC connectivity for some time). I may also enquire about HD virgin media.

Unfortunately the LG was in the other shop so I couldn't directly compare this against these samsungs.

Any thoughts on the above, I will need an upscaling DVD player as well.

I have done a search on the forums and the F86 does seem like a fairly solid option. The prices above are from a couple of high street heavies so if I could knock a few hundred quid off I might be able to pursuade the missus (she only wants to spend max £1000, but she does like the blue light lol). Obviously don't mention competitors but please give me an idea of what it is available for.

I like the idea of being able to update the firmware via USB should you need to.

Thanks,
 
Ive seen the M87 in a number of places online for 799 im sure u can get better prices for the others too.
 
Ive just bought a 46" F86 and i love it.

There is a rather large thread on AVForums discussing the F86 series.

You can also get the 40" F86 for around the £1000 mark by the way. I paid £1390 for the 46".

OCUK do the F86 46" for £1315....

I also posted a thread a few days ago about my F86 with a few pics.
 
Last edited:
No competitors!! Big Kev

F86 can be had much much cheaper than £1400. ill leave you to find out for yourself :)


suffice to say, i have one and love it. 100hz is pointless though, doesnt appear to do anything useful

main feature of the F86 is the USB slot, for upgrading firmware yourself. On the M86 you have to get a samsung engineer to come out and do it.
 
Yeah I think we'll go for the F86 then. Have read the other threads on here and avforums. It had a noticibly better picture than the other TV's it was lined up with.

Just going to need a stand and an upscaling DVD player now.
 
We've got a 37" M87 and its very good. I'd recommend it. We have SkyHD too and the HD content is sharp and the colours + contrast are excellent.

Shame SkyHD is majorly short on channels and content!
 
Hey mate, just following on from the other thread in console forum.. I've had both the M87 40" and now have the F86 40" obviously. I have to say both sets are excellent TV's but I had a lot of problems with my M87, such as the freeview judder bug which was stille present after the recent firmware upgrade. I also had problems with my 5.1 which was constantly dropping out on the M87. I took it back and swapped it and paid the extra for the F86. Had no problems at all with this TV and it looks really nice to boot. The colours are definately a step up from the M87 although not by a huge amount but the SD quality is excellent as well as the HD content! The extra USB socket for Muisc and Firmware upgrading sealed the deal for me. I would highly recommend the F86! :)
 
Spikey cheers for the comments and thanks for taking the time out of consoles.
It was already a 90% certainty now its a definate. As soon as the credit card arrives then its time to order.
 
Spikey said:
Hey mate, just following on from the other thread in console forum.. I've had both the M87 40" and now have the F86 40" obviously. I have to say both sets are excellent TV's but I had a lot of problems with my M87, such as the freeview judder bug which was stille present after the recent firmware upgrade. I also had problems with my 5.1 which was constantly dropping out on the M87. I took it back and swapped it and paid the extra for the F86. Had no problems at all with this TV and it looks really nice to boot. The colours are definately a step up from the M87 although not by a huge amount but the SD quality is excellent as well as the HD content! The extra USB socket for Muisc and Firmware upgrading sealed the deal for me. I would highly recommend the F86! :)
Click to expand...

Mate, did the retailer give you any problems regarding swapping the TV's (along with paying the extra)?
The reason I ask is that I've got a 40" M87 and though it's a great TV I'm still have problems with the freeview and the juddering, even with the firmware updated.
I've had the TV for nearly 6 months now and it's got a 3 year guarantee but maybe looking to swap it for a F86 due to this problem.
 
Thankfully I had only had the M87 for two weeks so they were happy to swap it. I rekon if you can show the faults can't be fixed then they would have to swap it over so I would get an engineer out and see if he can fix it, if not then say you want it swapped as it's not fit for purpose. Shame though as the M87 is a nice set if you get a problem free one!
 
I know i'm probably going to get beaten back for this but why not plasma?

I don't get why everyone likes LCD so much?

Im not looking for an arguement just a nice answer would be great.

I only ask because I have a plasma and for SD quailty it beat any LCD I seen (unless they were really expensive)

I will admit for HD stuff the LCD's do win but the plasma still looks amazing....

It looks like the TV is going to be used for the mean time with SD stuff so just wondering why no-one has suggested a plasma?

I understand if it's personal preference as mine is towards plasma but just wondering if there is a technical reason for it? As I see it plasma are cheaper when you start going towards the 37+ range and better IMHO but i'm just wondering if that is my head saying that or if it's actually true.

Sorry for going miles off topic and can make a new thread to this question but can point you in the right direction of some nice plasma's if your interested;) (Could get a 50" for under £1000 but which still looks 'good' on SD feeds from 5-6' and perfect from 10-11')

Cheers and please go gentle if i'm wrong;)
 
things that put me off plasma are the weight, image retention (we watch a lot of kids channels with logos), the lack of features (there isnt a 1080 plasma that properly supports 24p playback of Bluray for a reasonable price) and crucially, issues with phosophor trails on gaming

ive seen some terrible videos of people playing gears of war on xbox 360 only to be told by panasonic / pioneer "its inherant with the technology"

heres the video im on about

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lVw_VvFcV1U

to be told "sorry nothing we can do about that, its because you've bought a plasma" by the manufacturers puts me way off

i know the plasma lovers will now post "ive not got that and mines fine etc.." but it doesnt change my oppinion that i dont want to risk it.
 
MrLOL said:
things that put me off plasma are the weight, image retention (we watch a lot of kids channels with logos), the lack of features (there isnt a 1080 plasma that properly supports 24p playback of Bluray for a reasonable price) and crucially, issues with phosophor trails on gaming

ive seen some terrible videos of people playing gears of war on xbox 360 only to be told by panasonic / pioneer "its inherant with the technology"

heres the video im on about

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lVw_VvFcV1U

to be told "sorry nothing we can do about that, its because you've bought a plasma" by the manufacturers puts me way off

I know the plasma lovers will now post "ive not got that and mines fine etc.." but it doesnt change my oppinion that i dont want to risk it.
Click to expand...

That's all I wanted to hear;)

I could now sit here and, as you said above, say 'I have one, it doesn't do it' but that won't change the way you feel towards them.

I just wondered if no-one had told you about them as I don't often see threads around here about plasma's and this time thought I would pipe up:p

I do find that most people (gamers more than anyone else) do tend to lean towards LCD.

Some people it's because they want smaller than 42" (fine, makes total sense) but above 42" and 50" I feel that plasma is the way to go until LCD becomes a bit better & cheaper. (One of my mates will say Rear LCD Projection is the way to go but...:o)
 
Well I have a 32 inch LCD. We do have a 50inch pioneer plasma at work and it is very nice. Initially it will be used for SD, though I will be hooking up a HTPC soon and going HD-DVD/Blue ray and maybe a PS3 downstairs. I have considered plasma but imo I think LCD is superior for HD,PC and gaming. The TV will mainly be used for SD NTL viewing initially but I don't watch much TV so this may be slightly biased to my needs rather than the girlfriends. However saying that she did notice that this had a better picture than the others lined up against it (it was a HD feed though) and she also liked the blue light lol. Its a win win.
 
Personally bought the Samsung-LE40F86BD and is actually awesome. Wouldnt recommend any other, It has the deepest blacks i have seen in any LCD to date.

Do not mention competitors!! Big Kev sold me mine for £993 ( with discount voucher found on the net for £35)
 
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