37" HD LCD TV £699

Comments

• Options

  [Deleted User] Posts: 1,151

  Forum Member

  ✭✭✭

  01/09/06 - 15:37 #2

  There's a 32" one for sale on e-bay at the moment and a few posts about the 32" on other forums which do not say much but are not very positive

  0
• Options

  Grand Dizzy Posts: 7,369

  Forum Member

  ✭

  02/09/06 - 00:15 #3

  Just be aware that for many shops, "HD ready" means "it can play a HD signal" rather than "it will display it in high definition". There's a massive difference.
  
  Most of the plasmas in people's homes are actually lower than standard definition, (they're NTSC reoslution, which is the next step down from PAL). How sad that so many people don't realise this!

  0
• Options

  System Posts: 2,096,970

  Forum Member

  ✭✭✭✭✭

  02/09/06 - 08:35 #4

  To be fair this isn't the only TV around which is 37" LCD and HD-Ready at this sort of price. There are others which have the full 1366x768 specification, so it isn't necessarily a low-spec panel -- indeed the chances of it being an old model are slim as Maxim aren't cutting-edge and tend to get involved when a technology is mature.
  
  Maxim is a UK-based importer, a smaller version of Alba if you like. They've been around a long time and I've dealt with their CS a couple of times, they seem like a nice company to me (they don't trade as Maxim, that is just a brand-name and I don't recall the company name). It's impossible to tell from the brand what the quality is like, we'll need to find out from someone who owns this specific model.
  
  The fact that the 32" is reportedly not very good doesn't necessarily mean that the 37" is the same, they may be being made by two completely different companies.
  
  If you want something that's 37", is definitely HD-Ready and comes from a company with a decent track record, there is a Hyundai at PC World for £698 delivered. Here:
  
  http://www.pcworld.co.uk/product.php?sku=719533&camp_id=ppc_pricerunner_feed
  
  The above set is NOT a Hyundai but is made by a decent Korean OEM (Atec) which has links to Hyundai and reviews of the original, non-badged product are here (at £850 from ebuyer!!):
  
  http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=17380884236&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3Jldmlld3M=&product_uid=100718
  
  Not too shabby it seems.

  0
• Options

  Grand Dizzy Posts: 7,369

  Forum Member

  ✭

  02/09/06 - 18:24 #5

  If it has 768 lines then it's not high definition.
  
  1080 lines is just as much a part of the HD specification as 768. And there will probably come a time when 768 is phased out, since 1080 is so much better.

  0
• Options

  System Posts: 2,096,970

  Forum Member

  ✭✭✭✭✭

  02/09/06 - 19:14 #6

  Well 1080i is inferior to 720p, and it appears that even most high-end TVs aren't capable of displaying 1080p correctly.
  
  So, taking your comment to its logical conclusion everyone should really be waiting for true 1080p sets to be readily available, because the current crop are mostly incapable of displaying 1080p.
  
  My personal view on this is that 720p is sufficient, given that the 1080i sets are such a monumental waste of money as they'll be every bit as obsolete as the 720p sets 18 months from now, and they cost 2-3 times as much (and the rest sometimes).
  
  Of course, by then $ky will be jamming more HD channels per transponder, and any quality gains will be negated due to the source being as rubbish as the current DVB-S is.
  
  Meanwhile, the best current standard is *still* inferior to HD-MAC (1152 lines), which was developed almost two decades ago now.
  
  What a mess. Roll on UHD....

  0
• Options

  meltcity Posts: 2,266

  Forum Member

  ✭✭✭

  02/09/06 - 20:06 #7

  HD-MAC used 36MHz of bandwidth though and so was never really commercially viable. At suitable bitrates H.264 can deliver impressive results. Unfortunately Sky doesn't seem to know what the suitable bitrate is, and has fallen for the hype that H.264 offers a 2x saving in bitrate over MPEG2. Maybe it will in five years when it's optimised, but not now.
  
  At the moment pixel resolutions are not a guide to picture quality, not when so called 1080p displays only accept 1080i and use field bob deinterlacing. A good 1024 x 768p can actually resolve more detail than a 1920 x 1080p LCD because of plasma's better black levels, contrast and realistic colour palette.

  0
• Options

  [Deleted User] Posts: 1

  Forum Member

  05/09/06 - 11:59 #8

  I picked one of these up from sainsburys over the weekend as I have been looking for something bigger than 32" but in the 699 price bracket (sorry folks, I am strapped for cash permanently :-))
  
  the manual is a bit skimpy as it doesnt stae pixel response times, or brighness/contrast values or even the weight of the unit, however it does show the panel native res at 1368x768 (or was that 1366x768? whatever..two dots)
  two scarts, components, composite, svideo, vga and hdmi inputs, the usual "cheap" looking, but actually quite useable remote control.
  
  vesa mounting holes on the rear, 200mmx200mm.
  
  pc (vga) resolutions ar elimited to 4:3 ratios, with a max of 1280x1024, but when using hdmi you can run 720p and 1080i from the pc.
  
  unfortunately there doesnt seem to be a way to run the pc input at 1368x768 native 1:1 pixel mapping either via vga or hdmi (when fed with a pc), but this is not particularly unusual for an lcd panel
  
  watching sd content is probably as good as you would expect (read: not that great) but running hidef stuff from a pc at 720p into the panel is deliciously awesome for the £699 spent. sure, a bit of ringing on some scenes, but not distracting.
  
  my verdict: a cheap and cheerful panel, doesnt really pretend to be a sony and it isnt, but it also doesnt seem like a waste of money, as it does what it says on the tin. no mention of hdcp though, but it does carry the hdready logo, so we wait and see.

  0