Hi all,

I don't normally watch TV, but now my work has started to calm down a bit I've got more time, and now that I've finished sorting out the satellite dish for 19.2e and 13e as well as a Quad LNB for the Sky I can get a few more channels.

Basically I normally watch the 28" downstairs which has all my Sony Amp, DVD, Video and Digibox. My brother is moving in soon as is likely to watch this alot, and I really need to replace the TV in my room. Which begs the question of what to buy?

I see that 14" TV's are so cheap now, should I buy a supermarket one (or my preffered choice, a Sony one). The other option is a 28" widescreen TV, again either supermarket or Sony. I hope to be moving soon and want to take the TV with me.

Also - is there any benefit getting one with intergrated freeview? The most I want to spend on a 14" is £100 and widescreen £400. Any ideas very welcome!

Cheers, James

[njeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Becker

I see that 14" TV's are so cheap now, should I buy a supermarket one (or my preffered choice, a Sony one). The other option is a 28" widescreen TV, again either supermarket or Sony. I hope to be moving soon and want to take the TV with me.

I have a £260 "Supermarket TV"; a Bush 28inch pure flat wide screen TV from Aldi. I also have a branded TV; the exact same spec but from Sony, which was £700.

I'm happier with the Bush then the Sony - the edges of the Sony screen seem smudged and stretched, but the Bush is sharp, solid and clear. Not too impressed with that particular Sony TV at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Becker

Also - is there any benefit getting one with intergrated freeview? The most I want to spend on a 14" is £100 and widescreen £400. Any ideas very welcome!

Cheers, James

The Sony model I have has an integrated Freeview tuner but the interactive is ridiculously slow - the entire thing is so underpowered; I can't understand why something so expensive is so slow. The BBCi interactive is impossibly slow - the cursor takes ages to move down to the next option. I'd get an external tuner and save the money on a cheaper non-integrated TV.

Perhaps I've been lucky with the "supermarket TV" I have chosen as it is certainly better then the big brand Sony, which was surprising.

Also, if you're taking a 28inch CRT upstairs mind your wallpaper - they are far too heavy to drag about your house!!!

Thanks njeo!

Well it's for a loft room... take it thats not the best idea then?

The TV we have downstairs is a "Black Diamond" which is a division of Mitsubishi - came from Safeway. The audio quality is so poor I need the Amp on all the time, but on the whole the picture is ok.

The problem I find is all my local supermarkets have such useless aerials for these TV's it's difficult to see what the quality is really like, where as if you twist some ones arm in Bennets they'll hook up all the kit you want in one place so you can see it working, which means getting to play with Sky on the TV to see how each channel looks - I'm very keen to make sure the graphics on Sky News and BBC News 24 are as clean as possible.

I am always a little hesitant about getting anything intergrated, but I will now go for the seperate Sony freeview box I have found, thanks.

I think I will try and save up now for a bigger TV rather than the 14" plan, but price and quality is the most important. I'd hate to get a TV that breaks in 5 years, and would like to keep it for at least 10 years.

[njeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Becker

Thanks njeo!

You're welcome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Becker

Well it's for a loft room... take it thats not the best idea then?

Just be very careful with your back, I was knackered after man handling my fat telly up one flight of stairs... two would be murder! Bloody heavy things... don't even bother with a 32" model!

Any removal men have any tactics to help me next time? You guys can move anything with ease!

Of course, a 14" model will be far easier to get up the stairs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Becker

The TV we have downstairs is a "Black Diamond" which is a division of Mitsubishi - came from Safeway. The audio quality is so poor I need the Amp on all the time, but on the whole the picture is ok.

Wasn't 'Black Diamond' Mitsubishi's brand name for Trinitron screens?

The audio out of the Bush is acceptable but in hooking it up to my Sony stereo by the phono ports, the TV speakers are disabled. Much nicer through the stereo

Quote:

Originally Posted by Becker

The problem I find is all my local supermarkets have such useless aerials for these TV's it's difficult to see what the quality is really like, where as if you twist some ones arm in Bennets they'll hook up all the kit you want in one place so you can see it working, which means getting to play with Sky on the TV to see how each channel looks - I'm very keen to make sure the graphics on Sky News and BBC News 24 are as clean as possible.

I am always a little hesitant about getting anything intergrated, but I will now go for the seperate Sony freeview box I have found, thanks.

Yes steer clear of the integrated options, or at the very least, try the menus and the interactive options out first. Performance and features may have improved for integrated tuners these days, but a year ago the they was pathetic and a complete let-down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Becker

I think I will try and save up now for a bigger TV rather than the 14" plan, but price and quality is the most important. I'd hate to get a TV that breaks in 5 years, and would like to keep it for at least 10 years.

It's always nicer to have a bigger screen to watch programmes on but you will notice pixellation on some channels at first, however on Freeview the bitrates seem to be higher then Sky so the picture will be much nicer.

We once had an old Grundig TV for 15 years before the tube went south... We replaced it with a 20" Sharp but it lasted just four years before the tube stretched vertically and chopped off the top and bottom of the picture... Our Sony is already showing faults and the picture flicks about for some reason. Who knows how long modern TVs last?

[Dunedin397]

A new TV is a minefield, I spent 6 months looking at the various 28" models and I finally went for the new JVC AV28R47SK which is a special version of the new JVC AV28R4 model. It's flat 28" 16:9 with Dolby ProLogic 2 and comes supplied with the surround speakers and a sub-woofer (the standard AV28R4 doesn't have the speakers or sub-woofer). It's an analogue TV, not digital (ie not Freeview) but I don't use the analogue tuner anway and there's 3 SCARTS (2 support RGB) along with stereo outs.

I'm fairly happy with it but what I learned that flat 28" 16:9 models from any manufacturer will have some sort of niggle with the picture one way or another. If it wasn't for the fact this model had Dolby ProLogic 2 along with a bundled JVC VCR and DVD player I may have gone for a supermarket brand. I'd like to have auditioned the various models from Asda or Somerfields and if I do need a set for the 2nd room I'd seriously have a look.

Be aware of what you need and how long you may have a CRT set before moving to a plasma or LCD in the future when the prices are at current CRT levels.

Dunedin

Quote:

Originally Posted by njeo

Just be very careful with your back, I was knackered after man handling my fat telly up one flight of stairs... two would be murder! Bloody heavy things... don't even bother with a 32" model!

Any removal men have any tactics to help me next time? You guys can move anything with ease!

Of course, a 14" model will be far easier to get up the stairs

My uncle has a 32" Sony model and it really did for the removal men. I used to be a lighting and sound technician and we had to do some work on lifting, ie bass cabs, starlights, and just other very heavy kit. At a guess I would say it's similar to getting a follow spot in its flight case up a set of stairs? Due to size and weight.

I won't be trying that again.

Quote:

Wasn't 'Black Diamond' Mitsubishi's brand name for Trinitron screens?

I think you're right actually - it's a perfectly flat screen. In fact I'd never thought about it!

Quote:

The audio out of the Bush is acceptable but in hooking it up to my Sony stereo by the phono ports, the TV speakers are disabled. Much nicer through the stereo

Sounds good - at the moment everything is pushed through the amp directly as the TV doesn't have any out connectors as such.

Quote:

Yes steer clear of the integrated options, or at the very least, try the menus and the interactive options out first. Performance and features may have improved for integrated tuners these days, but a year ago the they was pathetic and a complete let-down.

I see Panasonic now do an intergrated Sky Digibox in their TV's - that's one I would have no problem steering clear of! I will pick up a copy of What Digital Choice and make a decision from there, or even the DTT forum here.

Quote:

It's always nicer to have a bigger screen to watch programmes on but you will notice pixellation on some channels at first, however on Freeview the bitrates seem to be higher then Sky so the picture will be much nicer.

I'm more of a satellite man as the Freeview sitation here is still fuzzy, some BBC channels are available only. I would need to take a serious look at replacing our aerial too. I have already cabled the house up so each room can have it's own Digibox, just have fingers crossed Sky will sell their FTV cards for £20 or something when they come out.

Quote:

We once had an old Grundig TV for 15 years before the tube went south... We replaced it with a 20" Sharp but it lasted just four years before the tube stretched vertically and chopped off the top and bottom of the picture... Our Sony is already showing faults and the picture flicks about for some reason. Who knows how long modern TVs last?

We had a Philips TV for 15 or 16 years and it had no problems until is starting making a huge cracking noise. Went to the tip eventually.

I have a mate who is big on AV stuff and has a Sony widescreen and says he would never buy one again, but my uncle has a Sony one which he bought online (from Europe or maybe further afield) at an amazing saving and it far beats alot of offerings I have seen in Currys.

I'm so keen to get it right. My Dad has been buying cheap or ex rental stuff for years and all of them have the same tube problem you mentioned. It always went wobbly for no reason. A short sharp blow to the top of the casing would rectify that - I bet I looked like Onslo from Keeping Up Appearances.

Thanks for your help! Much appreciated. I will see if I can find a magazine tomorrow and start looking at specific models and will post back with the findings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunedin397

A new TV is a minefield, I spent 6 months looking at the various 28" models and I finally went for the new JVC AV28R47SK which is a special version of the new JVC AV28R4 model. It's flat 28" 16:9 with Dolby ProLogic 2 and comes supplied with the surround speakers and a sub-woofer (the standard AV28R4 doesn't have the speakers or sub-woofer). It's an analogue TV, not digital (ie not Freeview) but I don't use the analogue tuner anway and there's 3 SCARTS (2 support RGB) along with stereo outs.

Sounds like a good bit of kit. I like the JVC stuff - definately looks well built and the 14" models I've used have always been very good for both sound and picture.

Quote:

I'm fairly happy with it but what I learned that flat 28" 16:9 models from any manufacturer will have some sort of niggle with the picture one way or another. If it wasn't for the fact this model had Dolby ProLogic 2 along with a bundled JVC VCR and DVD player I may have gone for a supermarket brand. I'd like to have auditioned the various models from Asda or Somerfields and if I do need a set for the 2nd room I'd seriously have a look.

I looked at getting a bundled bit of kit, and it seems like a good idea. If I do get a 28" TV I'll nick all of my stuff from downstairs and just plug in a new set of speakers and a Home Cinema unit down there opposed to my 5.1 seperates.

Quote:

Be aware of what you need and how long you may have a CRT set before moving to a plasma or LCD in the future when the prices are at current CRT levels.

Dunedin

That is very true. I was concerned about HDTV for a while, but that soon wore off. I've also seen 100MHz rear projections sets (is that the right term?). They don't seem a patch on CRT's to me.

Also - text looks crisper on Sky News Active and the EPG on some CRTs that LCD or Plasma. The prices are just too high at the moment for what I need. If I got plasma it would go downstairs and I'd have the CRT widescreen. Makro have had some good offers, but still not good enough for my pockets.

Thanks for your help - as I say, I'll post my findings shortly.

Cheers, James

[billygwr]

Black Dimond was a name mitsi used for a range of their sets. When they pulled out of the AV market around 7 years ago they sold the black dimond name to (i think) powerhouse, who use it on what basicaly are albas and the like.
THe AV28R47 is as far as I am aware a special done for DSG, using slightly specs than the R4.

Quote:

Originally Posted by billygwr

Black Dimond was a name mitsi used for a range of their sets. When they pulled out of the AV market around 7 years ago they sold the black dimond name to (i think) powerhouse, who use it on what basicaly are albas and the like.
THe AV28R47 is as far as I am aware a special done for DSG, using slightly specs than the R4.

After some digging around it did indeed come from Powerhouse!

At the moment it's a toss up between these two TV's...

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/produc...affiliateid=82

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...eful&offset=10

I noticed our local independant retailer had an ex-display clearance on this week so will drop in there this afternoon.