50" spec me

Sam098765

Sam098765

Sam098765

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24 Sep 2009
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137
Hi all,

just returned from a high street shop where I have finally talked the mrs into replacing our trusty 32" Sony CRT with a 50".

So many there I am not sure what's good and what's bad.

It's going to have only a sd freebies source so needs to make this look good. Also I would like to play x box on it at 1080p.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
I'm also interested in this question! I had my eye on the new Panasonic 50" 1080p plasma after having a good experience with the 42" 2 year old version, however there are some other really nice sets floating around.
 
Got my 50" LG 50PK350 from richersounds up on the wall today and so far I am very impressed with it, only cost £600 and then £60 to extend warranty to 5 years, bargain.

I have read a lot of people saying that the panasonics black levels drop after about a year and that the LG will actually be better after a year.
 
I have a budget around the £700 mark. Don't want to spend too much on a tv as in the end it does no more than my CRT.

The lg looks nice. It seems to only have 2 hdmi sockets, ate you finding this a problem or can you add a splitter for more easily?

Are there any tv's in that price range that can play BBC I player directly?

Thanks
 
Sam098765 said:
I have a budget around the £700 mark. Don't want to spend too much on a tv as in the end it does no more than my CRT.

The lg looks nice. It seems to only have 2 hdmi sockets, ate you finding this a problem or can you add a splitter for more easily?

Are there any tv's in that price range that can play BBC I player directly?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Some of the newer C-series samsungs have internet@ TV which will play BBC iplayer, stream Lovefilm movies, youtube vids and other apps. They are, however, more than £700 for a 50". I highly recommend the C6000 LEDs if you do decide to expand your budget, but otherwise I must say I was impressed by the LG 50PK350's performance on freeview in our store, where some of the other large sets only really excell when using native HD sources and get a bit blocky with low resolution stuff.
 
Sam098765 said:
I have a budget around the £700 mark. Don't want to spend too much on a tv as in the end it does no more than my CRT.

The lg looks nice. It seems to only have 2 hdmi sockets, ate you finding this a problem or can you add a splitter for more easily?

Are there any tv's in that price range that can play BBC I player directly?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Check out the 50PK590, its only £100 more in richersounds so comes in at £700, it has 4 hdmi and I believe it can play iplayer directly.
 
In June 2009 I paid £630 for my 47 inch LG LCD (model is 47LH3000). It is a decent all rounder and for the price I was happy with my purchase. However, since then 46-50 inch plasmas have come down to similar price levels.

In my opinion:
-Don't worry about 100hz, 200hz etc they aren't that important
-Don't worry about LED as they are expensive for what they are as they are new
-Don't worry about 3D. We are only just getting freeview HD and it will be ages before all freeview channels are actually recorded in HD (F1 won't be HD for 2 years yet!).
-Do go for a 1920x1080 screen. HD ready at 50 inch is a fair difference in detail (if we were talking under 40 inch I would say don't worry about full hd).
-Freeview HD in-built would be nice as it would save having to buy and plug in a box in the near future and would save on a remote.

If I was in the market for a 50 inch plasma I would be looking to get a Panasonic plasma full hd with freeview hd in-built.
 
Last edited:
mglover070588 said:
In June 2009 I paid £630 for my 47 inch LG LCD (model is 47LH3000). It is a decent all rounder and for the price I was happy with my purchase. However, since then 46-50 inch plasmas have come down to similar price levels.

In my opinion:
-Don't worry about 100hz, 200hz etc they aren't that important
-Don't worry about LED as they are expensive for what they are as they are new
-Don't worry about 3D. We are only just getting freeview HD and it will be ages before all freeview channels are actually recorded in HD (F1 won't be HD for 2 years yet!).
-Do go for a 1920x1080 screen. HD ready at 50 inch is a fair difference in detail (if we were talking under 40 inch I would say don't worry about full hd).
-Freeview HD in-built would be nice as it would save having to buy and plug in a box in the near future and would save on a remote.

If I was in the market for a 50 inch plasma I would be looking to get a Panasonic plasma full hd with freeview hd in-built.
Click to expand...

Good advice.
 
I have the PK590, and I think it has lousy SD picture quality. But lousy compared to my old 720p set. haven't compared it to any modern 1080p sets, but i hear they're all just as bad.

But HD looks good, its very vibrant and sharp. Screen is a bit too reflective compared to a panasonic which is probably my biggest grievance with it.

But it has the advantage of playing most files off USB (including NTFS hard drives). Played a 1080P 11GB MKV and played it very nicely. Doesn't do DTS though so i had to encode it as AC3 to get audio to work.
 
I purchased the 50pk350 2 weeks ago and really cant fault it. It shares the same panel as the 590 although people on avforums have stated that the picture is supposed to be better on the 350??.

Anyway its a lovely looking set and as thin as a LED but it is quite reflective due to having a glass panel.
 
i'm currently looking at the LG 50PK350, i just worry about IR/burn having not owned a plasma before as i do a lot of long gaming stints...
 
If you have a local Panasonic dealer they might be offering the same deal as I got.

Its a 50S20 Plasma with 5 year manufacturer warranty for £1099.

Thrown in for free was a BS850 Bluray Recorder with HDD and twin Freesat tuners. I just sold the BS850 for £350. So the TV cost me £749.
 
Dreadi said:
i'm currently looking at the LG 50PK350, i just worry about IR/burn having not owned a plasma before as i do a lot of long gaming stints...
Click to expand...

Its not the screen for you then, i got 2x PK590's on release day and the 360 IR can get quite bad, for example after 30 mins of GTA4 you will see the radar border being held on the screen.
 
Ah really? Damn!
I was in awe of this tv when i walked into currys and fell in love with the size of it :D
Shame no LCD's of that size can get close to the price :(
 
Yep, no idea if the PK350 is any different of if its just these screens but its the same with Red Dead / Forza 3 etc, i've been forced to play stuff without the HUD's on (if i want to game for over 1hr).

Otherwise its one of the best sets i've ever seen, i'd actually go as far to say that the colours on this set are the best i've ever seen!
 
How long have you had it? I've read a lot on AVForums about breaking the tv's in for around 200 hours to help stop such things from happening ?
 
I noticed some screen burn with my LG but it seems to go away quicker and quicker as it gets on. My kids watch Cartoon Network etc and at first the logo was noticeable in the corner, these days there is nothing when I get back from work.
 
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