Help needed deciding which new TV...

[Credo]

The time has come to replace our 13 year old 21" Sony Trinitron TV, and some help making the right decision would be very much appreciated!

First thing to say is we have no HD capability at present, watching a combination of terrestrial TV, SD Sky and DVD movies. We have a Pioneer DVR-530HS DVD / HDD recorder, which can output progressive scan. I'm sure once we have an HD ready TV, I can get an HD source of some sort passed by senior management (wife).

I'd like a Plasma / LCD screen of 37" or above for around £1000.00 or less. I've done a bit of research, and stood around in high street retailers comparing picture quality, and have been surprised by the picture quality of some Plasma TV's, a technology that I (ignorantly it seems) assumed was old hat compared to the new 1080p LCD TV's.
I Compared a £1200 42" Pioneer Plasma against a £1500 1920 x 1080p Sharp LCD and preferred the Plasma's picture....

I'd like whatever I get to be as future proof as possible, eg. 2+ HDMI's, as "HD Capable" as possible, integrated Freeview, etc, but still do a good job of displaying SD.

I quite like the look of the new Panasonic TH37PX70 / TH42PX70 Plasma sets, and have no real idea on what's the best LCD for my budget.

I'd also like to wall mount on some kind of swing-arm mount FWIW...

Your thoughts and advice are very welcome!

Thanks,

 

[mcmad]

I would definately recommend the panasonic plasma, LCD just doesn't match it yet.

TH42PX70 is available for 949 or less online.

I had home demos of a few sets recently & settled on a panasonic plasma, PQ is outstanding whatever the source.

 

[Valo]

I would definately recommend the panasonic plasma, LCD just doesn't match it yet.

TH42PX70 is available for 949 or less online.

I had home demos of a few sets recently & settled on a panasonic plasma, PQ is outstanding whatever the source.

Seconded! I own a panasonic TH37PV500 and it too gives fantastic PQ, can't go wrong in my view

 

[Credo]

Thanks for they replys folks, I've read some good stuff on these Panasonic Plasma's on AVForums as well, need to get down to a good high street retailer and do some serious pixel peeping...

 

[Credo]

Thanks for they replys folks, I've read some good stuff on these Panasonic Plasma's on AVForums as well, need to get down to a good high street retailer and do some serious pixel peeping...

OK, been down to said high street retailer, and was shown the TH37PX70 with a 1080p feed and Freeview, freeview was pretty good, and 1080p (Fantasic Four) was superb, despite beng downscaled to the native 1024 x 720.

A question has just ocurred to me though, how does the TH37PX70 handle 4:3 transmissions? I hate the stretched fat look I've seen on some sets...