TV and Soundbar Advice

Little_Crow

Little_Crow

Little_Crow

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3 Oct 2007
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I've recently stopped paying someone else's mortgage via renting and moved into the big bad world of living in the banks house, while simultaneously owing them a lot of money.

There's a big blank gap where a TV could be and I need some advice on filling it. It'll be used for netflix and the various catchup TV services, DVD's/BluRay, playing music via spotify or last.fm, and maybe some occasional gaming.
I don't intend to get a TV license, so no live TV or sky.

TV:
I've more or less decided on the 50" Panasonic Viera TXP50ST50B @ £700. They're in limited stock, and potentially ex-display, etc so is there anything I should check before buying?

I would say that is about what I'd be comfortable paying for a TV, so does anyone have any alternatives around this price point?
The final thing I have to consider is that I can get a 40% discount on Sharp products, so I could potentially buy a much more expensive TV, but keep the price down to around my comfort zone.

The space it needs to fit into is 1200mm, so needs to be smaller than that.


Sound Bar:
Looking at the LG NB2520A @ £130
The Panny above is 1180mm wide, so absolutely no room for speakers either side, so really I'm looking at a sound bar, rather than a 2.1 system of any kind.
 
your gonna have some serious IR issues by using music fm or spotify i would imagine.

i watched sky sports 1 HD for a few hours at the weekend on my GT50, which i have had since march and is well run in by now, yet the logo was on the screen yesterday whilst watching ITV4.

alternatively you could always buy a bluetooth enabled soundbar for the tv, and use your phone/tablet to stream it to the soundbar instead of using the tv.

the ST50 for £700 is a bit on the steep side, especially if ex-display.

my GT50 (50") was £799 brand new with 2 sets of 3d glasses, as well as a 5 year guarantee.

therefore your not exactly getting a good deal there. how much extra is it for the ST60? or can you get them to knock it down to say £500, especially since it's ex display and may have some serious IR on it, i would check the scrolling bar to make sure of that first and analyze the screen.
 
As far as getting a more expensive Sharp TV goes, it comes down to preference. If you prefer plasma then only the very high end LEDs are likely to satisfy you.
 
We haven't had a TV since I moved out of my folks and into various flats 7+ years ago. Since then I've always had my computer gear in the living room and we've watched content on my 24" screen.

Now we have a house, my computer gear is to be hidden away in the spare room/man cave, and the living room is a no computers zone (her laptop is fine though, natch).

I am literally a blank canvas and have no preference for LED or Plasma, my choice has been based on lurking in these forums and finding Panny plasmas almost universally praised and that particular model being at a price I'm comfortable paying.


Read plenty about IR, and what Talon suggesting is what I was hoping to do to mitigate that problem.
 
well plasma is better £ for £ but it's main problem is IR, which you would get if you used it for music stuff as it has constant menu's, text and stuff on screen.

also again if your getting a sound bar, by getting bluetooth enabled one, you can use your phone instead, will save the leccy bill on the TV a lot too.

using a phone would surely use a lot less leccy than a tv even with the screen off.

also a lot of people say they will turn the screen off, but then what happens if you want to change songs? etc, you going to turn it back on then turn it back off again?

it's just not a simple easy setup. forget music through the tv altogether, use another device, it will be a lot better for everything.

use the tv for video stuff only.
 
I've looked around at owners threads, and I think I'm leaning away from plasma displays as there seems to be a bit of a crapshoot around IR issues or not, and I will probably end up gaming on it more than I think which is guaranteed IR.
It sounds like the clearance deal isn't all that good either, and buying an ex display model even with a guarantee makes me nervous. Had I moved in a couple of weeks ago these weren't on clearance and probably would have just pulled the trigger on the purchase.

Point taken on the soundbar, the one I've picked does have other inputs so I can plug in an mp3 player direct to it if necessary, I'm scrapping the TV = music player idea.

I've decided to up the budget a little (The missus need never know) to £1k, but can't justify going any higher than that at all.
Right at the start of this I was leaning towards Samsung, as they have plex media app available - which is how all my media is available currently, but could live without.

Now I'm a little older and a little wiser I'm looking at the Samsung UE50F6500. I'm still looking at Sharp TV's for that 40% off, but they just don't appear to have anywhere near as many recommendations as Samsung and Panasonic.
 
get the ST60. its cheaper than your budget and is a very nice display

i was going to get an lcd until the guys here convinced me otherwise.

films look phenomenal with amazing black levels (better than my £850 samsung pc monitor anyway)

i havent noticed any IR on the ST60 or GT60 i have had
 
ST60 - use for tv and and occasional movies = perfectly fine

GT60 - if you want to play games (considerably less input lagg)

bluetooth sound bar - for tv and music


whatever you do, do not use the tv to play music, it's the biggest waste ever, unless your playing MTV or something with video to go with said audio.

if you do plan on using the tv for music then you have to go LCD no matter what
 
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