£1400 on a telly

NathanE

NathanE

NathanE

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My dad's Samsung plasma has been taken back by the shop about 3 years after purchase as we discovered the DVI port doesn't work with a PC and after 2 months of fiddling they've decided they can't fix it. So they want to give us a new telly instead.

So what's the best 42inch telly for £1400?

My dad's quite keen on an LCD because apparently they use less electric - but this particular shop in question doesn't seem to have that many decent 42inch LCD's. They have loads of plasmas in that size though. Seem to have a large range of Panasonic plasmas.

Any ideas? Thanks
 
TBH, i don't think there any many better LCD's avaliable for now. The sony X series are still the best you can get ( unless you own a B&O ) but they come in to expensive really. The sony D series is a lot more reasonably priced and is a brialliant TV, as is the M86.

The M86 only has problems with producing the 360 over VGA ( who cares ? component is better ) and the 24fps stuff, which, if you buy now should be fixed. The sammy is a great TV.
 
<F0rb> said:
TBH, i don't think there any many better LCD's avaliable for now. The sony X series are still the best you can get ( unless you own a B&O ) but they come in to expensive really. The sony D series is a lot more reasonably priced and is a brialliant TV, as is the M86.

The M86 only has problems with producing the 360 over VGA ( who cares ? component is better ) and the 24fps stuff, which, if you buy now should be fixed. The sammy is a great TV.
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Yeap the D series is a cracking buy uses Sonys new 10bit panel 100hz had motionblur stuff and does that 24fps thing.

I'm waiting till the end of Aug to see how the newer W3000 is and if it will be anygood for SD pictures which is like 98% of what I'll use it for.

Looking at a Sony KDL 40D3000 at £898.01 and its seam such a good price, must resist buying though.
 
For some reason Sony seem to do 40inch but not 42inch. My dad really won't take kindly to losing 2 inches :/ If anything he is looking to get a 46 or 50inch!

I think Sony made a really bad move there.
 
NathanE said:
For some reason Sony seem to do 40inch but not 42inch. My dad really won't take kindly to losing 2 inches :/ If anything he is looking to get a 46 or 50inch!

I think Sony made a really bad move there.
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its not sony per se. Its SLCD the company that makes the panels

the same company that supplies samsung with panels. If you buy a 40" or 46" samsung, it will be using one of these Sony/Samsung joint panels

if you buy a 37" it will definitely be from one of samsungs other suppliers, AUO Optronics (same people who supply screens for samsungs desktop PC monitors) . If you buy a 32" its hit and miss, could be either

and tbh it hasnt stopped sony / samsung selling boat loads of TVs. 2 inches isnt enough. Most people who find that 40" isnt enough, generally end up going for the 46" model, which AUO dont make, that goes straight from 42" to 50". Therin lies the reason its not much of a problem

some suppliers do 32/37/42/50 (like Toshiba)
some do 32/40/46/50 (like sony)

as for better TVs, there isnt a better TV out there atm than the M87/M87. The better sets arent due out till October when the New Toshiba Z series and the Sony X3000 and V3000 are due out (both 1080p).

Samusng dont appear to have any new products due out for later this year, but im guessing that as they launch their range in Jan, their next model wont be due out till Jan '08

Sharp / JVC / LG sets are usually good sets for a price point, but they never actually rate better overall than Samsung / Sony / Toshiba / Phillips sets

Phillips top of the range sets are usually awesome, but usually extorniately priced too. Their top of the range 40" is over 2k on-line. Even sony is cheaper than that ...
 
MrLOL said:
as for better TVs, there isnt a better TV out there atm than the M87/M87. The better sets arent due out till October when the New Toshiba Z series and the Sony X3000 and V3000 are due out (both 1080p).
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Do you rate the Sammy over the Tosh x3030?
 
@if ®afiq said:
Do you rate the Sammy over the Tosh x3030?
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to be honest they're both technically good, but somebody said there were "much better sets" than the m86 about.

The Toshiba X is undoubtebly very good, but not better than the m86/m87

Syk3 said:
What about the Pioneer range?
Click to expand...

the OP has said his dad only wants LCD so didnt comment. Pioneer and Panasonic make stunning plasmas if hes interested in plasmas.
 
Plasma on average uses about 30% more power than the same sized LCD. However if you set up a plasma properly, with the brightness at a mid level, they dont use 'that' much more. Plasma uses most power when the brightness is turned up high, and displaying bright images.

On dark Sci-Fi shows my 42inch plasma can use as little as 100 watts, however its peak power requirement is a little over 300 watts when displaying a totally bright white screen.

Honestly, I wouldnt even take power requirements into consideration. Just go to a good shop, make sure the TV's are setup reasonably well, and choose the TV where the picture pleases you most. Some people prefer plasma, others prefer LCD. Only your eyes (or rather your dads eyes) can really pick the correct TV.

PS, the best 42inch Plasma, is the Panasonic TH42-PZ700. Its the 'first' 1920x1080p plasma released in the 'smaller' sizes. Unfortunatly its still priced around £1799 so a little over what you want.
 
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tbh the whole 1080p debate gets overhyped a little. Some say you cant tell the difference between 720 and 1080p untill 46".

however having said that, 1080p is becomming part of LCD culture. Its becomming hard to buy a large TV at anything other entry level without it comming with 1080p. The number of good 40" sets that arent 1080p is quite limited, especially when you consider the few that they are ,usually have much better bigger brothers with 1080p for not a lot more.

the 37" wont make any difference to the 1080p, you just will probably find it hard to tell the difference between that and 720p :)

as for the Toshiba, its a good set, it got a good review at HDTV reviews.

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Toshiba-42X3030D/

if you dont really need 40" because you've not got a massive living room, or if you dont want to stretch to the 1k of the 40" m86 then the 37" toshiba is worth a look.
 
Depends what you want. I'm not going to lie here, for gaming and blu-ray ( HD-DVD ? never heard of it :p ) 1080p will look nicer. For any sport, SD or DVD the sony will look best. The d3000 is like a plasma without burn in and good for PC use.

Based on this, i personally will be going for the M86 if i get the money soon enough, or wait for the tosh z series if not.
 
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