£1000 TV 42"+

tom_nieto

tom_nieto

tom_nieto

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Hello all, I'm looking for a new TV for our flat for £1000.

I'm not sure whether I want LCD or Plasma, but I am well aware that there are some really good sets available in this price range.

I've been looking at Samsung LCD sets and Panasonic plasmas, both are 1080, both seem to have all the bells and whistles. It's pretty hard to choose.

I'm also looking at the possibility of someone coming to install the TV on the wall. I don't mind wall mounting it myself, but I think I'd prefer someone who's had a bit more experience with this sort of thing to do it, also i don't want to be drilling through pipes or wiring. Is this a service offered by a lot of companies? Is it ridiculously overpriced?

Any thoughts of course are welcome. I'll be using the set for sky+ (probably not HD), X360 (will play DVD too), Wii and in the future, bluray. Telly watching is certainly highest on the agenda.

Thanks for looking,

Tom
 
Don't think many people will argue that standard definition viewing looks better on plasma TV. Especially the Panasonic range, super TVs. :cool:
What's your viewing distance?

I think with a bit of advice you'll have no problems mounting the TV yourself
 
I'd look at a plasma, I went LCD-LCD-LCD-Plasma-Plasma and plasma does have better PQ especially when it comes to SD, motion and detail during motion. Although LCD can look good with HD and if setup right. For 3M you could get away with a 50", I'm 2M from a 50" and with DVD's it looks superb.

I'd checkout the Panasonic PZ81
 
3m is kind of inbetween 42" and 50". I have a 42 from about 2.5m which is great but a 50 would also sit there nicely.
About 750 would get the 42-PZ80 but your budget would go a bit above the 50" version. That said, here or on www.avforums.com you won't find many people recommending much else for that price. The panasonics are just that good for what they do
 
The PZ80 sounds ideal, I suppose the extra budget will cover a wall mount and cabling. Will have to hunt around for the best prices.
 
Get a 46" it will fit nicely. I just got the Toshiba 46ZF355DB and its a very nice set, tons of featured, picture fame surround and Onkyo audio.
 
Yup go panasonic, best picture quality for the price out of everything else out there, and *** 50 will be perfect for your viewing distance.

Or if you are feeling flush get a pioneer 5080 for £1500 which will trounch the panasonic :p :p
 
Hey im also thinking of getting a new tv and from what you guys said think it will be a plasma 42PZ80B.

Im scared though of the plasma burn image situation, should i be worried? as we dont buy tv's often and will be stuck with it if it gets ruined after a couple of years or so.
 
Just a quick thing. Do plasmas still use a lot more eletricity compared to similar sized LCD screens? With energy prices getting worse and worse I thought it was worth mentioning. Our quarterly leccy bills are close to £500 :(
 
They do use more, however under normal circumstances contrast is way below 100% so calibrated levels will be lower than what it says on the specs. Got a 50" plugged into a UPS which shows power usage.
 
Kraven said:
Hey im also thinking of getting a new tv and from what you guys said think it will be a plasma 42PZ80B.

Im scared though of the plasma burn image situation, should i be worried? as we dont buy tv's often and will be stuck with it if it gets ruined after a couple of years or so.
Click to expand...

No need to be worried. The worst that can happen is image retetion, where a static image remains for a bit. After 3 hour sessions of driving on GT5 on the PS3 (constant static white images) i can see something when I look up real close. But that is disappears in a couple of minutes.
Normal TV and film use you practically never see it. It's just not a problem with plasmas any more.

As for power use, they use a bit more but are better than they were. Panasonics own website say it's pretty similar to LCD now
 
Kraven said:
Hey im also thinking of getting a new tv and from what you guys said think it will be a plasma 42PZ80B.

Im scared though of the plasma burn image situation, should i be worried? as we dont buy tv's often and will be stuck with it if it gets ruined after a couple of years or so.
Click to expand...

Well I played 4.5 hours of Uncharted: Drakes Fortune last night and there seems to be no issues that I can see (from normal viewing distance). Not much static display on that though. Will be playing MGS4 tonight though....
 
badbob said:
Right just checked, with the plasma on usage is .9 VA higher, than off.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? less than 1VA of drain for a Plasma seems barking to me. I have a 3000VA UPS protecting the downstairs AV/server, a 3000VA UPS in the loft protecting my pc kit in my room and a 1000VA in the loft protecting the bedroom AV (poor electrics around here). Looking at any one of them the wrong way can make them jump .9VA ;), let along fire up one of the screens etc! My APC units measure in percentage load, not VA, I have to use a power gauge to check various power values more precisely. I bought one of the power meter thingies from a certain geeky electonics store when they had them on offer ages ago (L61AQ).

Sorry if this seems like a thread divert, it is related to the screens at least for power reasons :).
 
With the plasma on (also HTPC, 20" LCD connected and on at the same time)

plasmaon.jpg


Will update with a pic with plasma off later
 
And here is with the plasma off. So you should be able to work out power consumption. Contrast was around 20-25, in movie mode. Not sure what's the maximum maybe 50/60?

plasmaoff.jpg


APC Smart UPS 1500VA
 
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