Spec me a 50-55" TV LED/Plasma + Extras

BFCTom

BFCTom

BFCTom

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Hi,

I need a new setup for the living room and I'm a bit at odds between a plasma and LED, what's better, etc. Plenty of budget for the right setup.

The usage will be: moderate gaming (Xbox One when it's out), live sports via Sky HD/3D and the odd bit of Netflix (mainly TV shows). The room will be quite bright with an adjacent window and double patio doors just behind of the living room area. Viewing distance will be about 6-7ft I think. The TV will be on a cabinet, not wall mounted.

The two I'm looking at currently are:

Plasma: Samsung E800 51" - http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ps...freeview-freesat-hd-and-2x-3d-glasses/p505127 This seems really good value, but I'm not sure it'd be the right TV for a decent amount of gaming. I have a smaller plasma now which I've had no problems with.

LED: LG LA690V 55" - http://www.johnlewis.com/lg-55la690...55-with-freeview-hd-and-4x-3d-glasses/p437403 Obviously more expensive, but I'm really liking the thin bezel and you get the larger size. I'm thinking this will look overall more impressive. Does anyone have either set with a similar usage to mine?

As a couple of extras, I'm looking at a soundbar (don't fancy the extra wires) and also a new smaller TV for the bedroom. I like the Sonos stuff, mainly for the interface with iPhone link up etc. but it does come at a premium. Does anyone have the Sonos soundbar? http://www.johnlewis.com/sonos-playbar-home-cinema-sound-bar/p231890488 The bedroom TV will be wall mounted. Budget is smaller for this, just looking at a 32" LED/Plasma with decent enough built in sound. Usage: Pretty much entirely Netflix, but no 3D or anything. I'm currently looking at:

LG LN575V LED 32" - http://www.johnlewis.com/lg-32ln575v-led-hd-1080p-smart-tv-32-with-freeview-hd/p425804 A family member has the above and it seems decent enough for the usage. I like the Smart interface.

Sony KDL32W653 LED 32" - http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kdl32w653-led-hd-1080p-smart-tv-32-with-freeview-hd/p454595 This looks more impressive and seems to have more positive reviews. Anyone with either TV?

Sorry for the mega post! :p
 
Thanks for the reply, I'd already pretty much decided on going for the E800 since posting, so it's good to hear you praise it!

Anyone wish to comment on the other stuff?

Cheers :)
 
Just bought the 55LA690V for my girlfriend. Is a seriously nice design and performance seems excellent.

I'm comparing it to my ES8000 and the picture quality seems as good as if not better. The actual set is marginally thicker but is a better build quality and design. (In fact it's the most impressive construction for a tv i've ever seen).

The magic remote is a little pointless but that's much like the motion and voice activation of the Samsung.

The passive 3D is noticeably worse looking but far easier on the eyes for extended periods. (You get 4 pairs of glasses in the box + 2 dual play glasses).

The dual view split screen feature is pretty cool, but not perfect by any means. Whilst it effectively lets each person on a split screen game only see their own screen, the resultant picture is stretched and you can often see a faint crosstalk of the other half of the screen.

The LG can be had for £1179.99 from Power Direct as a pricematch FYI.

Oh, also the sound is SUPERB from the LG, it's a 2.1 setup with 2 12w speakers (usually 10w in samsungs I believe) and a soundwoofer. For a thin led tv, it's very impressive.
 
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Thanks for that, it definitely puts the cat amongst the pigeons! It took me ages to narrow it down to these 2!

I'm torn :p
 
light hitting the screen from the front? get the LCD

control the light within the room? then get the plasma

as simple as that.

he's comparing the LG LCD to a Sammy LCD, compare an LG LCD to a Sammy or Panny plasma and it blows it out the water.

£ for £ plasma is 2-3 times better than LCD.

therefore an £899 plasma from sammy or panny will need at least £1800-£2700 LCD to be comparable PQ.

don't believe me go over to avforums and compare the samsung plasma reviews with the LCD's.
 
There's a window to the side and double patio style doors, so there could be potential light problems with the plasma.

I see what you're saying though regarding picture quality, I've read the reviews.

I guess I'll just have to make the decision.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
£ for £ plasma is 2-3 times better than LCD.

therefore an £899 plasma from sammy or panny will need at least £1800-£2700 LCD to be comparable PQ.
Click to expand...

lol - well that's a massive exaggeration. Motion, yes plasma is better. Image sharpness, LCD wins that everytime.

I started off with Samsung Plasmas... they had bad image retention, noticeable dithering, made the room unpleasantly warm, buzzed etc etc. Minor points - but they're also bigger and heavier.

Made the switch to LED and been there ever since.
 
pioneer2000 said:
lol - well that's a massive exaggeration. Motion, yes plasma is better. Image sharpness, LCD wins that everytime.

I started off with Samsung Plasmas... they had bad image retention, noticeable dithering, made the room unpleasantly warm, buzzed etc etc. Minor points - but they're also bigger and heavier.

Made the switch to LED and been there ever since.
Click to expand...

http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Sam...000-3D-Plasma-Smart-TV-Review_332/Review.html

find me an LCD which has as good a review as the above for under £1800

the above tv is £899 from john lewis in 51", so i expect the 50" model of said LCD to be under £1800.
 
Have you owned both a Samsung plasma and a Samsung LED to compare? (I only choose samsung for comparability sake).

The difference in motion handling is greatly exaggerated and the disadvantages of plasma are rather annoying to live with on a day to day basis.

Yes, an equivalent LED is more expensive, but nowhere near that price variance.
 
pioneer2000 said:
Have you owned both a Samsung plasma and a Samsung LED to compare? (I only choose samsung for comparability sake).

The difference in motion handling is greatly exaggerated and the disadvantages of plasma are rather annoying to live with on a day to day basis.

Yes, an equivalent LED is more expensive, but nowhere near that price variance.
Click to expand...

yes they are that expensive, if you want the same PQ.

in fact that £899 plasma will probably beat even the top of the range samsung LCD priced at around £2000+ in terms of PQ.

that's how big the gap is.

like i said find me a 50" samsung LCD for less than £1800 which beats or is the same as the E8000 review i posted above, review has to be from a legit source like avforums or hdtvtest.

i'll help you out, you won't find one, plasma is far superior when it comes to PQ for far less money like i said above the difference is like 2-3 times better for the £ for £ argument.

here's a 40 incher which costs £1300 (bare in mind there is a huge difference in size between 40 inches and a 51 inch tv), which is still inferior in terms of motion, lagg, etc.

http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Sam...ch-3D-LED-LCD-Smart-TV-Review_563/Review.html


the only thing it beats it on is power consumption and screen reflectivity.

what would you rather have 40 inch screen for £1,300 or better 51 inch screen for £899?

so long as the room is suited to plasma, you should always buy plasma.
 
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I'm not going to go to the effort of looking for website reviews of tv sets :o

I' ve had 2 plasmas and 3 LED/LCD's - the LED's have all been better overall (taking into account colour reproduction, motion, sharpness, brightness, set design).

The samsung plasma that I had (and it wasn't faulty as I had 3 replacements trying to see if it was just my luck), all suffered from horrible image retention, buzzing and ran particularly warm. The quite obvious dithering was also horrid to look at from about 6-8 feet away.

Oh actually, i've just realised, I had the PS51D8000 plasma, so the model before the one you suggest and it was the one i'm referring to! It was rubbish! :eek:
 
pioneer2000 said:
The samsung plasma that I had (and it wasn't faulty as I had 3 replacements trying to see if it was just my luck), all suffered from horrible image retention, buzzing and ran particularly warm. The quite obvious dithering was also horrid to look at from about 6-8 feet away.

Oh actually, i've just realised, I had the PS51D8000 plasma, so the model before the one you suggest and it was the one i'm referring to! It was rubbish! :eek:
Click to expand...
That's surprising. I'm not doubting you, though your impressions are at odds with HDTVtest for whom I have a lot of respect.

In the end every TV can be made to look very broken fairly easily. Most times its the default shipping condition that's the culprit. Dynamic picture mode is a horrible setting. High levels of noise reduction and motion processing don't help either. However, until TV retailers get the hang of setting up and displaying TVs properly then that's not going to change.

The other factor is viewer preference. All of us with normal colour vision can tell when our own photos look natural. We can also distinguish if the colour isn't right or there's too much edge sharpening or a shot is over exposed. Yet when we look at a number of shots strung together and we call it a movie or a TV programme then that sense of what's right and wrong seems to elude us. With moving pictures we seem to forget that Caucasians shouldn't have a magenta tint to their faces, or that people and objects in real life don't have a bright outline around them to make them stand out. We get seduced by over-blown colour, and bluey-whites, and too much sharpness, and over-processed images. Most TVs are capable of far better pictures than many of us will ever see. The TVs just need setting up right and we need to learn what accuracy looks like.
 
i have a 51" D8000 in my living room. my 50" GT50 is in the bedroom.

no problems with image retention (apart from channel logos), but i also get that on the GT50, and they disappear soon enough so long as you stay away from that channel for a while.

dithering is also not a problem, once you have set your tv up correctly. i think normal on the GT50 has dithering but THX doesn't, cannot remember what settings on the D8000 fix it.

the only thing i dislike about the D8000 is that it's silver and its stand with the 4 legs, i suppose they were going for a "modern" look, but i prefer the styling of my GT50 with it's blackness and flat stand.

as for buzzing, again it's not an issue if you use external speakers, you cannot hear it over the volume of the tv.

as for running warm, yes plasma's do run warmer than LCD's but recent advances in tech have made them run a lot cooler than older models, you should go see a PZ85B or a Kuro and see how warm they run, iirc my PZ85B had like 6 huge fans on the back of it cooling it, these fans also were loud, but again you shouldn't notice them over the sound of the tv's speakers or external ones which are a much better option.

also iirc the D8000 was nowhere near as good as panny plasma's of the same generation, it was good buy panasonic where in front, the E8000 is where they really closed that margin down.

maybe you should have had it properly set up and calibrated, it makes a HUGE difference.

the D8000 cost £769 brand new 1 year ago with free 3d glasses and 5 year warranty from JL, the GT50 at the time was £1400, i really wanted the GT50, but decided to opt for the D8000 an EOL model at the time because even though the GT50 was better and a newer model, no way was it imo 2 times better.

i then bought the GT50 this year for £799 with free 3d glasses and 5 year warranty when it also became an EOL model.

i think you may have had your plasma set up too brightly, or with too high a contrast, that's what causes IR to become more of an issue.

i use normal for when using sky+ box, thx bright room for movies and game mode for ps3.

i have left all settings stock apart from the image enhancement stuff, i have all of them turned off like IFC, etc.

"This is probably also the most relevant place to discuss image retention, which was previously a large problem with Samsung PDPs. It’s still present, but is greatly reduced to the point of not really being an issue anymore. You’ll still see some of the more obnoxious channel logos or solid score counters hang around, but they soon disappear.


The Korean company still has work to do, but things are now at the stage where the PS51D8000 is a viable alternative for Plasma buyers who aren’t being served by Panasonic. Its combination of judder-free motion, good Greyscale tracking, perfect colour reproduction, class-leading motion performance, fairly quick video gaming responsiveness, and full resolution 3D display, earns it a highly recommended rating."

from the review - which backs up what i said
 
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