37" Telly choices, why is it complicated!

Freakitchen

Freakitchen

Freakitchen

Man of Honour
Joined
15 Nov 2006
Posts
2,071
Location
Hull
Okay, so shopping for a telly was fun, but now I'm annoyed at my own indecision, so looking for advice!

Basically, I want a 37" quality TV to replace an old 32" Philips LCD which has excellent picture quality (was an expensive unit at the time!). It will be used for Sky HD most of the time, but I also want to connect my Macbook to play media (both SD and HD). For the latter reason, I'm looking at an LCD, am happy to be corrected but I read that LCDs were better than Plasmas at displaying computer desktops.

So at the moment the consideration is between:

Panasonic Viera TX-L37U2B
Sony Bravia KDL37EX401U
Samsung LE37C530

All are available for the same price from a popular online shop! The Panasonic has just been dropped from 499 to ~440 which has added it into the mix.

Anyone got any thoughts on which is better, or are they all much of a muchness?
 
Is the 37" Samsung plasma from the same range as the 42" (Panasonic TX-P37X20B) - don't see any reference to 'G10'. The room it's going in isn't the biggest, and the sofa is quite close to the TV, I reckon 37 would be ideal whereas 42 potentially a bit too big!
 
samsung and panasonic plasmas are different and the samsung isnt nearly as well recommended.

Thing is most of the LCDs you've selected are bottom of their respective manufacturer's range almost.

The Neo PDP plasmas are great picture quality and unless your going to be gaming - will offer far superior picture quality.
 
the X20B model isnt the neo-pdp one - its the bottom of the range plasma.

You want the TX-P42G10B

the best quality TVs tend not to come in smaller sizes.

Heres the G10 review

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/panasonic-tx-p42g10-tx-p42g10b-20090415146.htm

the 37" X20 isnt 1080p for a start, and its reviews arent nearly as good

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/tvs/panasonic-viera-x20-tx-p37x20b-review-49305385/
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/review/2010/03/18/Panasonic-Viera-TX-P37X20B-37in-Plasma-TV/p1

Reach to the 42" if you can - it will get you a much higher quality set.
 
Thanks for the advice. Have been doing some further digging, and it looks like am going for one of the Samsung 37" LCD models. Would be nice to go for the 42" Plasma you suggested MrLOL but can't quite justify the size or the price for where it's going, or the use it'll get.

Also, with connecting up a Macbook via HDMI, I need a telly that supports a separate audio in source (mine doesn't support audio via the display port). The Samsungs have this, but the Panasonic LCD doesn't.

The final question is a bit specific; is it worth paying the extra for the LE37C580 over the LE37C530? The 580 adds Freeview HD which wouldn't be used in the short term, but does anyone know if there's any quality difference between the two models? Can't quite justify the cost of the LE37C650!
 
I would seriously reconsider going with a 37", its a bit of a poor size. It generally gets the panels/electronics that didn't make the cut to get into the 42" version. I always recommend to go a size bigger than you think you need anyway, it will look big for all of 5 minutes and then you'll regret it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom