How to spot a bad viewing angel TV

adamknox · 15 Aug 2010 at 19:06

I'm about to start looking around for a television (online) to replace my old sony flat screen. The main problem with my current tv is the viewing angle. When viewing the TV from below, it can appear very black and shiny at the top (further you move down the blacker the screen get's)and makes it near impossible to watch. As the TV is viewed from multiple angles in the room i cant filt the screen down too far usng the wall mount. What should i look for to make sure the next TV i get is not like this? I see viewing angel features but they allways seem to be horizontal viewing angels rather than vertical. ANy ideas? cheers

P.s im hopefully going to get a 32Inch, LED, 120Hz television.. no idea what brand yet. I know i could also go into the store and look for my self..but the prices in currys and comets are retarded! -_- Saw a tv in there a few weeks back, it had the follow features.. 32inch LCD screen 50hz, 800:1 contrast and 1 HDMI slot.. £799 -_- MADNESS

jellybeard999 · 15 Aug 2010 at 19:17

eh... by looking at them and reading reviews.

Why is LED so important? Why LCD?

adamknox · 15 Aug 2010 at 19:21

jellybeard999 said:
eh... by looking at them and reading reviews.

Why is LED so important? Why LCD?

Did you actully read the question? I said im buying it online (how can you view it when looking at a picture) LED for the picture quality. every LED screen i have seen has near perfect Blacks compared to LCD which light bleeds on 90% of Tvs -_-

Also you cant really go by reviews when it comes to Tv's every one has diffrent opions on diff features. like my girlfriend HATES blue ray.. says theres no diffrence...go figure

D.Roberts · 15 Aug 2010 at 19:33

Well then look at reviews as said AND before you say any thing

go down to yo local retail after you have seen a few online and check them your self.

Just because you have walked in to look at a TV don't mean you have to walk out with one so yeah just go and look.

adamknox · 15 Aug 2010 at 19:39

D.Roberts said:
Well then look at reviews as said AND before you say any thing

go down to yo local retail after you have seen a few online and check them your self.

Just because you have walked in to look at a TV don't mean you have to walk out with one so yeah just go and look.

Thats very true. I did try doing that with my fathers TV. currys and comets only ever seem to have a random selection. They also never seem to that be that great quality (like i said above 800:1 contrast) -_- In my local store they have around 20-30 (10 of them are 15inch) while the rest are 40Inch and the odd 32Inch thrown in.

i was more after a feature/specification to look for on the description!

thanks anyways

jellybeard999 · 15 Aug 2010 at 21:29

adamknox said:
Thats very true. I did try doing that with my fathers TV. currys and comets only ever seem to have a random selection. They also never seem to that be that great quality (like i said above 800:1 contrast) -_- In my local store they have around 20-30 (10 of them are 15inch) while the rest are 40Inch and the odd 32Inch thrown in. i was more after a feature/specification to look for on the description! thanks anyways

The quoted viewing angles don't mean much, and as for things such as contrast ratios etc the figures are twisted to give the best on paper. It's like asking how you can find out if you like a certain wine - you can read all the reviews you want, but it doesn't mean you have to agree with them or have the same taste.

And I hate to say it, but LED TVs are just LED backlit LCDs, and in most cases, they're backlit from the edges.

The best option is to go to a shop and view them - if possible, ask to hook a single dedicated feed to each TV and watch the same thing on those you're interested in. Make sure you try plasma and LCD - plasma has massively better blacks than LCD, so all the LED is getting you really is a thinner screen.

lucid · 15 Aug 2010 at 22:50

I have to say that jellybeard999 is, IMO at least, correct about plasma quality and LED being just another way of lighting LCD.

The fly in the ointment is screen size. Adamknox wants 32" and plasma's smallest size is 37".

I also agree that there's no substitute for viewing in the flesh. The trouble though is so few stores know how to set a TV up correctly, and so few customers know what to look for when viewing sets on display, that I think it's almost impossible to make an accurate assessment of quality even after going to that trouble.

I had a look at some TVs in a large department store and at the Sony Centre in the Trafford Centre a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn't have given house room to any that I saw. The Sony Centre TVs were particularly bad for excessive blue; the worst being the £1700 LED 3D TV. You'd reject your photos if they were developed with the same colour balance, yet we accept these inaccurate and over-sharpened pictures on our TVs costing hundreds of pounds :confused:

Anyway, the point is that whatever TV you buy you should budget a little money and time to get it set up right. I have saved my customers thousands of pounds in unnecessary TV upgrades this way. It won't improve viewing angles, but spending £20 on a decent test disc is one of the best investments that can be made before and after purchasing a new TV.

adamknox · 15 Aug 2010 at 23:16

lucid said:
I also agree that there's no substitute for viewing in the flesh. The trouble though is so few stores know how to set a TV up correctly, and so few customers know what to look for when viewing sets on display, that I think it's almost impossible to make an accurate assessment of quality even after going to that trouble.

So so true. My local Tv shop only ever sets up there £1000+ tvs properly and leave the 15 inchs and the 32's to rot with shared ariels etc -_- I live in bridgwater (a town famous for its inbread locals) Which currys seem to find the worst of the bunch! They dont really know what there talking about -_- so i wouldnr trust them with a hamster let alone giving me advice on a £700 tv

. Last time they gave me advice was on a laptop which they said could run ANY game on MAX.. i said "even crysis?" to which i got a loud confident "YES"...

It was only a £350 laptop lol Shows ya what i mean!

HMM it may only be the way it lights lcd but it DOES make a diff IMO, Ive seen 100's of normal (old type) lcd's and all of them have their faults but i have seen 10-15 LED light tv's and ALL of them give an amzing pic.Maybe this is just because LED are only in newer tvs with newer technology, but at the same time im not taking a chance

that coupled togeather with the heat produced from it compared to 'normal' lcd's and the elctric burnt from it

LED is the way to go for me! I guess Ill just have to look for reviews -_- dam

lucid · 16 Aug 2010 at 00:06

adamknox said:
coupled togeather with the heat produced from it compared to 'normal' lcd's and the elctric burnt from it LED is the way to go for me! I guess Ill just have to look for reviews -_- dam

The heat production is one thing, but the difference in electricity cost might not be as big as you think...

Typical 32" LCD will consume about 150W per hour. The new Sony EX703 LED eats about 70W per hour. Use them both for 8 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the difference in energy cost is about 8p per day.

M0T · 16 Aug 2010 at 00:49

My local Currys has all its tvs set up properly and hooked up to hi def spurce material, the only problem is that a team of 15 year olds pounce on you when you get to within 10 feet of them.

When I went into Comet all the tvs were set up on a shared feed that looked hideous, and an older gentleman came up to me and started giving me the spiel. I started talking about native resolutions and asked him about pixel mapping and his face went blank and he walked off.

adamknox · 16 Aug 2010 at 09:01

M0T said:
My local Currys has all its tvs set up properly and hooked up to hi def spurce material, the only problem is that a team of 15 year olds pounce on you when you get to within 10 feet of them.

When I went into Comet all the tvs were set up on a shared feed that looked hideous, and an older gentleman came up to me and started giving me the spiel. I started talking about native resolutions and asked him about pixel mapping and his face went blank and he walked off.

lmao gutted old man! Yeah that is another problem, you can never stand there and look at the specs. You get the customer service team hovering -_- Even after telling them your just looking you get them giving advice -_- Asking what you want (then telling you, that you want more) lol

adamknox · 16 Aug 2010 at 09:03

lucid said:
The heat production is one thing, but the difference in electricity cost might not be as big as you think...

Typical 32" LCD will consume about 150W per hour. The new Sony EX703 LED eats about 70W per hour. Use them both for 8 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the difference in energy cost is about 8p per day.

Works out about £29 a year!

May not sound much but i wouldnt sya no to it lol