Spec me a new TV!

PlanetGong · 6 May 2008 at 13:14

Hi

I'm looking to buy a new LCD or plasma TV. Looking around the 37-40" size. Will mainly be used for PS3 gaming and watching movies and sport(via Sky). Looking to pay between £600-£800 ish.

The amount of choice around is sending my mind into meltdown, I really am confused to as much help as you can give appreciated!!

Cheers.

TheDean · 6 May 2008 at 13:26

I would recommed the 40" Sony KDL V3000. I have just bought one and the set overall is fantastic. Its a full HD panel and can be had for £699.

PlanetGong · 6 May 2008 at 13:41

Don't know if I can ask this here, PM me if not, but can I ask where from? Cheapest I can find it is £730.

TheDean · 6 May 2008 at 13:46

PlanetGong said:
Don't know if I can ask this here, PM me if not, but can I ask where from? Cheapest I can find it is £730.

You can't ask mate - but go over to avforums and look there...

PlanetGong · 6 May 2008 at 13:51

Ok cheers for that mate, I'll take a look.

[DOD]Asprilla · 6 May 2008 at 15:06

Try the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80.

£670 and it will provide you with a much better image than anything else for the money.

-Ad- · 6 May 2008 at 15:24

[DOD]Asprilla;11635218 said:
Try the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80.

£670 and it will provide you with a much better image than anything else for the money.

Seconded.

If you are going to be watching a serious amount of movies then plasma for.the.win !

PX80 is a great set, and avforums is turning into avPX80forums because of it's popularity.

Messiah Khan · 6 May 2008 at 16:20

[DOD]Asprilla;11635218 said:
Try the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80.

£670 and it will provide you with a much better image than anything else for the money.

Its the one im seriously considering. Either that or the TH-50PX70

[DOD]Asprilla · 6 May 2008 at 16:24

The 42PX is one of the best screens out there and it's also one of the cheapest.

Unless you want the absolute best and are willing to pay double for the privilage then this is the screen to go for.

TheDean · 6 May 2008 at 16:24

-Ad- said:
Seconded.

If you are going to be watching a serious amount of movies then plasma for.the.win !

PX80 is a great set, and avforums is turning into avPX80forums because of it's popularity.

Bare in mind this will not show 1080p & is a plasma panel. This may well suffer from screen burn if you use it for large amounts of desktop or gaming work

[DOD]Asprilla · 6 May 2008 at 16:29

TheDean said:
Bare in mind this will not show 1080p...

Bare in mind that this 720p looks much better than most 1080p.

There are marketing wombles all over the world who jump up and down with glee everytime someone points out that a certain screen isn't 1080p because it means that they have managed to convince another person that this number is in someway integral to their enjoyment of TV.

1080p is really only visable if you sit about 5' from a 42", which means you are either using it as a monitor or you should be investing your hard earned cash in a bigger house. There are many many other factors that are equally, if not more important in producing a good picture, yet people are still holding onto 1080p like it's some kind of holy grail.

TheDean · 6 May 2008 at 16:34

[DOD]Asprilla;11635681 said:
Bare in mind that this 720p looks much better than most 1080p.

There are marketing wombles all over the world who jump up and down with glee everytime someone points out that a certain screen isn't 1080p because it means that they have managed to convince another person that this number is in someway integral to their enjoyment of TV.

1080p is really only visable if you sit about 5' from a 42", which means you are either using it as a monitor or you should be investing your hard earned cash in a bigger house. There are many many other factors that are equally, if not more important in producing a good picture, yet people are still holding onto 1080p like it's some kind of holy grail.

I do agree with almost all of the above, but I just wanted to make the OP aware. Screen burn and image retention were my main reasons of going with the V3000. I hook mine up to a Media Pc and will be spending quite a lot of time on it.
I also love the idea of 'marketing wombles'...made me laugh that!

-Ad- · 6 May 2008 at 19:14

TheDean said:
Bare in mind this will not show 1080p & is a plasma panel. This may well suffer from screen burn if you use it for large amounts of desktop or gaming work

Itl downscale a 1080p signal to its native resolution and will do a fantastic job of it.

Screen burn isn't something to worried about unless you really are silly and leave a static image on for many hours. I can't guess how many, could be 10, could be a day. But plasmas are more prone to it in early life.

The OP says he will game and watch movies + sky with it, and for the final 2 reasons I could not recommend an LCD as plasma will really show up the LCD in this area. It's amazing how much praise this PX80 set gets, I have only had a little play with it, and was very very impressed with the SD picture quality which was 2nd only to the kuro, and that is one hell of an acheivment.

Still, OP, you really need to set these tvs up in stores with different demos (HD and SD) then choose for yourself. But don't think that sharper picture and more pixels means better PQ. A CRT still produces one of the best images for normal SD tv out there and that doesn't have 1080p, backlight malarky, and fancy black processing rubbish.

TheDean · 6 May 2008 at 22:19

-Ad- said:
Itl downscale a 1080p signal to its native resolution and will do a fantastic job of it.

Screen burn isn't something to worried about unless you really are silly and leave a static image on for many hours. I can't guess how many, could be 10, could be a day. But plasmas are more prone to it in early life.

The OP says he will game and watch movies + sky with it, and for the final 2 reasons I could not recommend an LCD as plasma will really show up the LCD in this area. It's amazing how much praise this PX80 set gets, I have only had a little play with it, and was very very impressed with the SD picture quality which was 2nd only to the kuro, and that is one hell of an acheivment.

Still, OP, you really need to set these tvs up in stores with different demos (HD and SD) then choose for yourself. But don't think that sharper picture and more pixels means better PQ. A CRT still produces one of the best images for normal SD tv out there and that doesn't have 1080p, backlight malarky, and fancy black processing rubbish.

In all honesty I am thinking about taking the V3000 back and swapping it for the Panny PX80. The V3000's blacks are really bad and I am using changed settings (even in the service menu) from an engineer (in v3000 calibration thread on avforums)

What do people think? Good idea or not?

PlanetGong · 7 May 2008 at 08:03

Thanks for all the replies guys. Unfortunately the room I am moving to is smaller than I thought, so I think 42" would be too big. Might even have to go down to a (horror) 32"!!!! Sorry to mess you about, but does anyone have any recommendations around this size?

-Ad- · 7 May 2008 at 09:16

PlanetGong said:
Thanks for all the replies guys. Unfortunately the room I am moving to is smaller than I thought, so I think 42" would be too big. Might even have to go down to a (horror) 32"!!!! Sorry to mess you about, but does anyone have any recommendations around this size?

Projector !!!

*Gets coat*