Looking for a New TV, Blue Ray & Speakers

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Hi guys,

So as mentioned over in GD I recently bought a bunch of kit from Comet as my current TV and DVD are playing up and my surround sound speakers are pretty old. A long story short, I got my money back and this time round hoping to get some advice rather than jump in blind as I know pretty much nothing on the subject myself.

My main criteria with the TV is pretty much the best picture quality I can get for the price. I like the sound of getting the likes of iplayer, 4OD etc on my TV as I dont use them much due to having to watch them on my computer, Though all the TV's i've seen seem to have iplayer but none of the others. Having said that its not a deal breaker by any means. Other thing is i'm not overly interested in 3D.

The TV I had ordered previously but i'm told is discontinued now was the Samsung UE40D5520R, though not sure if that was good or not now.

I also need a blue ray player, and I beleive I'm after one that also enhances existing DVD's or is this something that comes as standard?

Lastly I have a current surround system with the 4 large towers though could probably get away with just two large towers and can place the front ones on my new unit.

In terms of budget, I was thinking roughly:

TV £600
Speakers: £250
Blue-Ray: £100

So overall about £1k though if its worth it, I can extend that a bit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Soldato
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for that price i would look at second hand speakers. dont go for one of the all in one systems as you bugger yourself for upgrades later. you can always get a smartTV style addon box for the on demand style things.
 
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TV: Panasonic 50G30 is the best 2D TV or it was until the newer model comes out, but it is on special offer atm and you can get it for under £600. It is a plasma tv with dlna functions as well as SMART functions allowing you to watch iplayer, youtube etc.

Blu Ray: If you don't want 3D then the Sony S380 is perfectly adequate, this upscales DVD and also has iplayer, youtube etc.

Speakers: If you speakers are from a lower end surround system then I would suggest saving for an AV amp and then adding speakers to that. This will really immerse you into the TV/Movie as you have a nice big screen and amazing sound.
 
Soldato
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If you can go a bit higher on the Blu-Ray you can pick up a PS3 for around £160, you'd also get a games console out of it and it also has Netflix, Lovefilm, Iplayer, 4oD, ITV Player etc etc.
 
Soldato
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If you can go a bit higher on the Blu-Ray you can pick up a PS3 for around £160, you'd also get a games console out of it and it also has Netflix, Lovefilm, Iplayer, 4oD, ITV Player etc etc.

they are too noisy for a movie player, IMO. horses for courses i guess but they arent good enough for me. i hate fan noise.
 
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Hmm the PS3 option is interesting, might be worth a look at. Especially if it has all the main TV catchup channels.

I'll need to see what my current speakers are as i'm not entirely sure how they would be classed in terms of quality.

For TV's, going on the guy at comet who could well have lied through his teeth as he did about the hdmi cable, but he reckoned we should be looking LED as opposed to plasma.
 
Soldato
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Hmm the PS3 option is interesting, might be worth a look at. Especially if it has all the main TV catchup channels.

I'll need to see what my current speakers are as i'm not entirely sure how they would be classed in terms of quality.

For TV's, going on the guy at comet who could well have lied through his teeth as he did about the hdmi cable, but he reckoned we should be looking LED as opposed to plasma.

you mean LCD with LED backlights. LED tvs are a bit different but people at comet & co are generally clueless fools.

for the cash the ps3 is a great machine. you also get to game on it and you can use it as a media player for music etc too.
 
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For TV's, going on the guy at comet who could well have lied through his teeth as he did about the hdmi cable, but he reckoned we should be looking LED as opposed to plasma.

LED backlit LCD Tvs are pretty good compared to standard LCD but if it is the best picture quality you want then you definitely need to go for plasma. LED backlit TVs are nice and slim and more expensive which may be a reason why he is trying to sell you one.
 
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Guys, finally getting round again to sorting all this stuff out and ready to start buying stuff.

With regards the ps3 which I think is the route i'm going to take, what exactly do you use the hdd for? I mean since i wont be playing many games on it but will pertake from time to time, i'm thinking i just need the smallest, 120gb, but wondering if theres a specific reason I dont know of as to why I would need a larger hdd.

In terms of speakers is there any decent 2.1 systems, just to save the space as I have a small living room. If not i might just be as well to stick to the 5.1 ones I have already but they just look a bit out of place with the new decor, look too big.
 
Soldato
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4od on the ps3 is a bit Meh, loads of programs from ch4 are missing and only appear on the online 4od version, appart from that the ps3 is a great choice.

This years range of samsung may be getting the main catch up tv services.
 
Caporegime
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Defo plasma, I can't get over how good my Pani looks. My mate came in, who has just bought a Sony LCD just stood there in amazement.
 
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Can someone tell me, which of these would have the best picture quality?

Samsung UE40ES5500

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/samsung-series-5-ue40es5500-full-hd-40-led-tv-12448374-pdt.html

Sharp LC 40LE831E

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/sho...p_3d_led_tv.html?hnav=4294966717#BVRRWidgetID

The sharp I havent seen but purely going off recomendations ive read in this forum in other threads. Its £100 cheaper than the samsung so there is that as well. Narrowed it down tot hese two I think, just need to decide which and get ordered.

Oh and if anyone can shed some light on the question regarding the ps3 I can get that ordered.
 
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One thing I dont quite understand about the samsung, is that comet tells you its 3D and that you will get 2 pairs of glasses, was only 1 in store. But no other websites seem to even mention 3d capability and certainly no glasses, looking at currys and others.
 
Soldato
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Guys, finally getting round again to sorting all this stuff out and ready to start buying stuff.

With regards the ps3 which I think is the route i'm going to take, what exactly do you use the hdd for? I mean since i wont be playing many games on it but will pertake from time to time, i'm thinking i just need the smallest, 120gb, but wondering if theres a specific reason I dont know of as to why I would need a larger hdd.

In terms of speakers is there any decent 2.1 systems, just to save the space as I have a small living room. If not i might just be as well to stick to the 5.1 ones I have already but they just look a bit out of place with the new decor, look too big.

You can use the PS3 HDD to store films/music etc, you can upgrade it later using a normal 2.5" HDD though so go for whatever size you can afford, though Amazon have them for £180 atm for the 320GB version so you aren't paying much more for double the space.
 
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