I decided on the LG 50PH660V but now fancy going second hand but what?

Flare · 24 Aug 2013 at 12:22

Next month I am moving in to a new apartment so obviously this calls for a fancy new plasma! After having had a look around my mate & I had decided on the LG 50PH660V, Richer Sounds have it in store for £580 with 5 year warranty.

However, I think now I would rather go second had to get something better for cheaper but I am not really sure what to keep an eye out for. £580 is really the top end of the budget for a new TV so I would like to spend less if going second hand. The TV will be used for plenty of gaming and lots of films with possibly freeview HD or SKY HD+. Oh and there will be a laptop or PC connected to it most of the time so there isn't really any need for smart functions. It will be in a big room so there is plenty of space for 50" +.

I think i'd like to go Panasonic but I am not sure on which models to keep an eye out for. I currently have a ooold 40" Samsung plasma so anything will be an improvement.

If you guys could suggest a few TVs that would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Flare

Flare · 25 Aug 2013 at 17:04

How would you guys rate the Panasonic TX-P50X60B over the above mentioned LG? It's not 1080p but I have more faith in a Panny than an LG.

The Panasonic TX-P50U30B has also caught my eye but I see it is a few years old.

hawker1986 · 25 Aug 2013 at 18:32

Plasmas are not my thing so I cant really recommend one over the other but I wouldn't be looking at any TV that's not 1080p compliant.

Hawker

Flare · 25 Aug 2013 at 18:53

hawker1986 said:
Plasmas are not my thing so I cant really recommend one over the other but I wouldn't be looking at any TV that's not 1080p compliant.

Hawker

The only reason I really considered it was purely for it being Pioneer. Unless I see anything second hand that is worth going for I think I will just go for the LG

drunkenmaster · 25 Aug 2013 at 22:18

I literally just bought that tv, I got it from John Lewis though, got that to price match it to RS.

Its good, I'm still getting to grips with it and trying to test it, unfortunately I've been silly ill in the past couple days and not really at my best for watching stuff and testing the different visual options. Gaming was terrible on it till I enabled gaming mode, it made the game feel like it was lagging like hell, it was bizarre what a massive difference it had.

It has a nice array of options, smart tv stuff works quite neatly though not used much yet. I think I might be sitting a bit too close to it as it feels a bit.. like work to look all around the screen too often.

Need to play with settings as my rents brought over the skybox to play around with it and watch the footie and with the default settings it was blurring the hell out of the grass, to the point it was uncomfortable to watch it. Turning off noise reduction fixed it to a large degree. It's hard to judge how good/bad it looks without another tv next to it for comparison. 50" fairly close is so different to a 40" lcd further away and that I haven't seen for a few weeks since I moved out.

A couple films looked awesome on it, Sky HD looked less good(but I guess is also not HD, 1080i

). Freeview and freesat look fairly decent with the HD channels but not a patch on the 1080p films I'd downloaded.

As of yet I've not seen a reason to send it back, and while the film blew me away, tv watching hasn't as much but then, I don't really know if it should..... 1080p content should look nicer, particularly on a huge screen.

In terms of going for one of the 720p ones(the stupid 4:3 roughly 1024x768 ones) I wouldn't. I considered it but particularly if you're buying second hand I'd be finding a 1080p one for sure. Lower than 1080p are available brand new(usually without any smart/other features) for well below £500. if you want to spend £500-600 second hand I'd be looking for a 1080p Samsung/Pioneer for sure and really wouldn't be spending that much on a lower resolution.

Flare · 25 Aug 2013 at 23:14

Thanks a lot for the great reply drunkenmaster!

Well you have not filled me with confidence about getting the LG! I am now forgetting about anything that is not full hd, that was a bit of a brain fart.

I am also now back on to thinking about getting a second hand projector...

Psycho Sonny · 26 Aug 2013 at 01:53

first of all a lot of gaming and pc use = do not buy a plasma or projector, they will get image retention.

you need an LCD, but tbh at your budget just keep the tv you have until it dies

Flare · 26 Aug 2013 at 07:48

drunkenmaster said:
I literally just bought that tv, I got it from John Lewis though, got that to price match it to RS.

How come you didn't just buy it from RS, was it purely because the RS offer was in store only?

Its good, I'm still getting to grips with it and trying to test it, unfortunately I've been silly ill in the past couple days and not really at my best for watching stuff and testing the different visual options. Gaming was terrible on it till I enabled gaming mode, it made the game feel like it was lagging like hell, it was bizarre what a massive difference it had.

How was gaming on it when with gaming mode turned on?

Need to play with settings as my rents brought over the skybox to play around with it and watch the footie and with the default settings it was blurring the hell out of the grass, to the point it was uncomfortable to watch it. Turning off noise reduction fixed it to a large degree. It's hard to judge how good/bad it looks without another tv next to it for comparison. 50" fairly close is so different to a 40" lcd further away and that I haven't seen for a few weeks since I moved out.

A couple films looked awesome on it, Sky HD looked less good(but I guess is also not HD, 1080i ). Freeview and freesat look fairly decent with the HD channels but not a patch on the 1080p films I'd downloaded.

As of yet I've not seen a reason to send it back, and while the film blew me away, tv watching hasn't as much but then, I don't really know if it should..... 1080p content should look nicer, particularly on a huge screen.

Hmmm, you are not filling me with confidence in buying this TV.

Psycho Sonny said:
first of all a lot of gaming and pc use = do not buy a plasma or projector, they will get image retention.

you need an LCD, but tbh at your budget just keep the tv you have until it dies

PC use will be relatively low and will mostly be used for streaming stuff, not just browsing the web or rubbish like that, I have a laptop, pc & phone to do that.

I have a £600 budget which to be honest is enough for me to get something that will suit me, I have wanted to upgrade my TV for years so waiting to for a TV to die that is working perfectly fine seems like a very pointless thing.

Psycho Sonny · 26 Aug 2013 at 14:19

Flare said:
How come you didn't just buy it from RS, was it purely because the RS offer was in store only?

How was gaming on it when with gaming mode turned on?

Hmmm, you are not filling me with confidence in buying this TV.

PC use will be relatively low and will mostly be used for streaming stuff, not just browsing the web or rubbish like that, I have a laptop, pc & phone to do that.

I have a £600 budget which to be honest is enough for me to get something that will suit me, I have wanted to upgrade my TV for years so waiting to for a TV to die that is working perfectly fine seems like a very pointless thing.

my point being, that £600 will get you a low-mid end screen of that size, whereas £900 will get you a top of the range screen.

that's why your better off using the same screen and saving up for a much better panel.

if i had the choice of spending £600 now, whilst i already have a working tv on a low end tv, or keep using the screen until i save up another £300 to get a top end panel, i know which one i would prefer to do.

the E8000 is £899 in JL currently, that's what i would want, it would blow any £600 screen out of the water.

Flare · 26 Aug 2013 at 14:47

Aye I understand that but i am moving in to my new in a few weeks so will be handing over quite a big chunk of money over for rent & deposit plus everything else that comes in to move house. Obviously when I am moved in it will be a lot easier for me to work out exactly how much cash I have to play about with.

Given the choice I would go for a Panny, preferably the ST50 or maybe the UT50 so save a bit of cash.

Psycho Sonny · 26 Aug 2013 at 17:52

Flare said:
Aye I understand that but i am moving in to my new in a few weeks so will be handing over quite a big chunk of money over for rent & deposit plus everything else that comes in to move house. Obviously when I am moved in it will be a lot easier for me to work out exactly how much cash I have to play about with.

Given the choice I would go for a Panny, preferably the ST50 or maybe the UT50 so save a bit of cash.

the E8000 is better than both of them, considerably better than the UT50.

therefore imo it would be stupid not to go for E8000, the E8000 is similar to a GT50.

use your current tv until you can afford the E8000 would be the best course of action.

drunkenmaster · 27 Aug 2013 at 14:05

I got it from JL as I've had good customer service from them before, a previous TV my brother actually bought then gave to my parents had a couple issues and JL sorted out fixing it very quickly and we've had as a family, washing machines, fridges, dishwashers and upgrades to 10 year warranties on various things, good free fixing of them all at times(most when really quite old).

Also the LG was in store only which isn't good for me, no wheels and bad knees. I would have chosen JL anyway but delivery sealed it.

In terms of settings, I think I'm just a bit spoiled by 1080p as I VERY rarely watch anything outside of football on Sky. My parents watched it all the time but I basically watch all my tv downloaded and on a 1080p 24" screen, general non 1080p freeview/freesat was never going to look brilliant in comparison.

It's also quite surprising what a fairly simple setting can do for quality, noise reduction on the football was making everyone feel weird as the grass would shift in and out of focus when it moved/stopped. With it off, it was fine.

The film I watched which was 1080p looked fantastic, as does the console outputting at proper resolution(even if its upscaling and the like). Going to watch another film at 1080p today. Frankly I think the LG is really pretty good, going to try some 1080p tv from computer as well today.

Reflections even with windows open and blinds not completely shut, yeah its kind of irritating to catch a glimpse or yourself in the screen but its usually only in loading screens, briefly flicking channels and stuff. When there is almost any light coming from it(even if parts of the screen are still black) its very hard to see any reflection and in any normal scene I can't see any reflections.

If I had the money I'd go for the best screen possible maybe but I'm actually quite happy with this one and it will last a few years till OLED's are available. Personally I'd prefer to save the money today and spend big in a few years on an OLED.

DreamBanger · 12 Sep 2013 at 04:53

Flare said:
Thanks a lot for the great reply drunkenmaster!

Well you have not filled me with confidence about getting the LG! I am now forgetting about anything that is not full hd, that was a bit of a brain fart.

I am also now back on to thinking about getting a second hand projector...

if you are still looking for a good projector, try out the lg pa75u. I think it is pretty good and it is around your price range. it got 3d feature and led bulb. You can see a more detailed info here at http://www.thehonestreviews.com/video/lg-electronics-led-projector-pa75u-review/