What 46" HD LCD TV for price region of £1,500?

Kohaashi · 8 Jun 2008 at 14:04

Hi guys,
Looking to purchase a 46" LCD TV, preferably 1080p if possible.
Been looking at the Sony W range, however not up to date with my TVs and so I'd be grateful if those in the know would kindly recommend me a decent 46" LCD in price region of £1,500. or at least point me in the right direction.

Many thanks

[DOD]Asprilla · 8 Jun 2008 at 14:09

If it needs to be 46" then the Sonys are probably the best ones to look at bit if you can stretch a bit then the KDL 46x3500 is about £1750 and is probably the best LCD you can get.

If you are mainly going to be using it for TV / Freeview / BD / HDTV rather than gaming and you're watching sport / films then a plasma would be better, but they are only available in 42" or 50".

How far away from the screen are you going to sit and is there any particular reason why it has to be a 46" LCD and why it has to be 1080p?

[TR]SweetSpotOz · 8 Jun 2008 at 14:40

-Ad- · 8 Jun 2008 at 15:04

Only get an LCD if you will be solely gaming off a PC or gaming hard on consoles. Other wise get a plasma.

The pioneer 508xd [50 inch] plasma can be had for under 1600 now and makes the sony look like a sack of **** to be perfectly honest. the sony sets are great compared to otehr LCD tvs, but even the panasonic plasmas make them look very ordinary, and then the pioneers do the same to the panasonic plasmas.

At that price they are stupidly overpriced and you should be thinking about a pioneer plasma if you will be watching normal tv, dvds, HD films, and a moderate amount of console gaming. O and 1080p is useless unless you will be sitting within about 7ft of that 46 sony set, and even without 1080p the pioneer plasmas still look far superior to the sony in every shape and form.

Kohaashi · 8 Jun 2008 at 15:56

Cheers for the responses. I was under the impression the LCDs still performed better.
I'll be sitting between 8 to 12feet away from the screen, depending if viewing straight on or from an angle.

I only specified a 46" as I thought anything bigger would be too big (room long but narrow and TV will be placed against the length of the room so closer to TV with larger sitting area. Actual lengths are 24Ft(L) x 11.5Ft(W).

The main usage of the screen is Sky TV(SD and HD) and BluRay Movies with occasional Xbox 360 gaming.

Currently using a 32" .. do you think a 50" would be too big?

I'll have a look at the pioneer -Ad- mentioned in the mean time.
Thanks again.

[DOD]Asprilla · 8 Jun 2008 at 17:14

-Ad- and I both have the Pioneer, and a number of other people on the boards have bought them recently and have been suitable impressed.

Plasmas definitely perform better and the Kuro (PDP428XD and PDP4280XD) set the benchmark for all other TVs. With the money you have to spend it's not really worth considering anything else.

My set up is about the same as yours, three rooms knocked through to form a long thin room. The TV is on the sideboard and the other black squares are my speakers.

The total width of the room is about 11', but viewing distance is 8-9' and a 42" is perfect at that distance.

-Ad- · 8 Jun 2008 at 18:17

Chadd said:
Cheers for the responses. I was under the impression the LCDs still performed better.
I'll be sitting between 8 to 12feet away from the screen, depending if viewing straight on or from an angle.

Unfortunately that is why many more LCDs are sold even in the big screen area like 40-50. MArketing, salespeople, and too many people thinking that bright picture, unrealistic and vibrant colours, higher contrast ratio, and more pixels (1080p) mean better, when in most cases not.

My sofa is 12ft from my 42 Kuro and I keep having a niggling thought telling me to get the 50 version if I can and sell this one. But at 12ft a 42 is fine and will probably be perfect for 8-13ft.

At those distances ignore 1080p as your eyes will not be able to tell the difference.

The main usage of the screen is Sky TV(SD and HD) and BluRay Movies with occasional Xbox 360 gaming.

Currently using a 32" .. do you think a 50" would be too big?

I'll have a look at the pioneer -Ad- mentioned in the mean time.
Thanks again.

With those uses definately discard LCD, perfect for plasma you are my young paduan

50 will look massive at first, but with tvs they shrink with age. I ghouth my 42 looked massive at first but as I mentioned above now I want a 50

The 42 inch pioneer (4280XD) is about £1200 and the 50 inch version (508XD) can be had for under £1600. If possible I day go for the 50 as they are amazing value these days with the imminent realease of the new pioneers. But the new pioneers at 1080p only, start at 50inch, and even the base model is £2500 so the 4280XD and 508XD are worth getting now before stocks dry up. These are still much better than even the new panasonics !

Good luck, but definately try to find a specialist to view a pioneer properly as the conditions in stores are usually horrific and I have heard that some stores actually have bright lights pointing at certain sets. Pop over to www.avforums.com, and check out the Pioneer 8G owners thread, and have a chat with the user 'bumtious', he created the settings that most of us use, he calibrates them as well.

Good luck.