Hi

I'm moving house soon and will move my current lounge TV (Sammy 32") to the bedroom, and will need to purchase a new one for the lounge.

I'm only interested in PICTURE QUALITY, not all the bells and whistles that some TV's have.

So is the HD PICTURE QUALITY the same on all TV's i.e. is HD HD full stop, or does the picture quality get better with a more expensive TV, and if so what should I be looking for (what is it that makes it better, like PC's have different processers, so is it something similar? or type like LED, LCD or Plasma?) if I'm after the best HD Picture Quaity going.

Thanks in advance

I think warranty is just as important as picture on expensive TVs

yes the quality of HD (and SD) will vary from brand to brand due to variations in the LCD screen.

Stick to main brands such as Panasonic, Sony, with Sharp, Samsung being close behind.

Be aware that to pick up FreeviewHD signals, without the aid of a HD box, the tv needs to have the FreeviewHD logo on it. If your going to have a pvr (Freeview+, Freesat+, Sky+HD box) this is much less important as the box will provide the ability to record and view live tv.

Other stuff...
Whichever set you choose it will have an ocean of settings for fine tuning the picture quality. The default setting in shop or out of the box will be unlikely to give you the best results.

Depending on the sound quality of your old tv, and to some extent on which new set you choose, you may find the audio to be a downgrade - due to the thin speakers in LCD/Plasmas.

The best way to connect equipment to it is via HDMI. Dont pay a fortune for these cables as they are digital - like a USB cord - so paying more wont improve the picture in any way. Some new tv's only have a single scart or even a custom port with adaptor jack for the same job as this is all part of cost cutting, and there is some degree of forced upgrade going onto the buying public (that being changing all your equipment for stuff with hdmi).

LED only refers to how the screen is lit....the screen its self is still LCD. It certainly doesnt follow that an LED backlit LCD is better than a traditional LCD. True LED sets are refered to as OLED (Organic LED) and look stunning and are very thin indeed, but still cost a fortune (if you can find one).

Picture quality is, of course, very subjective.
You could, in theory, buy the best specified TV (based on specs and reviews) available and still be disappointed.

Here's one sites opinion
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/tvs/best-tv-of-2011-50006309/

The HD picture should still look good on just about any Full HD 1080p TV, it's on the SD picture that the TV will show it's mettle.
That's because the TV is having to do work to scale the 720x576 SD picture up to 1920x1080, and lower quality TVs struggle.

That said there's still plenty of other factors that will show up the differences between better and lower quality sets , and between the various TV technologies when they are showing HD.
That is - contrast, viewing angle, naturalness of colour, handling of fast on-screen motion etc

If picture quality is the most important to you then I would look at the Panasonic Plasma range GT20/30 VT20/30, although I think they have new models coming out soon.

Thanks to you all for taking the time to reply and share your input.

Panasonic TV's tent to be riddled with problems of late if it isn't a huge problem correctly processing 50hz pictures probably, rising black levels, Nauseating strobie like flicker, this year the managed to manufacture the panels so badly in far too many cases there will be a blob of green tinted area of the screen.

It's a huge shame pioneer Left the market, and there last plasma's made 4 years ago still have not been bettered for picture quality.

Seconded, Panasonic Plasmas have been PQ winners for quite some time now in both 2D and 3D.

They've been weaker on things like large bezels and not offering as many apps as the likes of Samsung but on straight PQ, a panny plasma is still the one to beat, they generally look the best on SD too.

Something I would look for is the number and type of settings you can adjust. The more settings you can change, the more you can improve the picture (and screw it up as well)

Some tvs have less options and you can be pretty much stuck on factory settings.

only get a full HD tv, if you are getting a HD player or other HD source like a games concole or HD camcorder ..... and that's a lot of HD

the first HD tv i got was the TOSHIBA full HD, but found that the mhz made an SD picture too "ghosty", but with my new replacement one, the SAMSUNG PLASMA it's great ..... and it's only HD ready, which fits me perfectly

still want a BIGGER one though need to pay this one off first

BiB What does that even mean?

Full HD sets are becoming ubiquitous nowadays, and if you are buying an LCD of 32" or over you'd be daft to try to get an HD Ready set, as the panel will have been developed a few years ago and won't be the latest tech.
Also the SD picture should still look great on all but budget Full HD models.

Perhaps a slightly different story with plasmas? But even there....

well, the samsung IS an end-of-the-line model, so probably that's why it's only HD ready, but it's still perfect for myself, and what i connect to it (normal sky box, video recorder, PS2)

Best HDTVs
Top 10 Rated HDTVs 2012

http://10rate.com/best-hdtv-reviews/



You should look for size.

HD hometheatre podcast
http://www.htguys.com

Your criteria was picture quality. Which? magazine current top rated TVs for picture quality are (in descending order): Samsung UED55D8000, Samsung UE46D7000, Samsung UE40D8000, Samsung UE32D6530, LG 55LX9900 (but not 3D), Samsung UE40D6530 (but not 3D).

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.901-9277.aspx

check this deal out.

Warranty on all sets is up to 6 years diminishing returns under the Sale of Goods Act. EU legislation also gives 2 years which most dealers try to get out of. Manufacturers in addition give one year which is only useful as it saves you having to fight for the above rights in the first year.

sounds great. i'll continue to buy my tvs from john lewis.

personally my opinion on warranties in general is that they should be obliged to give you a warranty appropriate for how long you could reasonably expect the product to last. so a mobile phone, a printer or a toaster 2 years, a computer 3 years, a tv 5, a car 8 years, and so on.

And a house

I have to agree. Not seen the one in the no.1 spot - but the Samsung 8000 series is probably the best picture quality I have seen. Saw one in John Lewis last year and even approaching the TV display area - you could tell it was head and shoulders above everything else there in terms of brightness, contrast, vibrancy etc.

To be honest looking best for those features in that environment is a very poor indication of how it will look in the home. That doesn't mean it won't look good in the home just that judging it from approaching the TV area with the sets all set to shop settings is not good.

Yea the over bright environment of a shop is the worst place to judge, peoples eyes just go to the brightest, and many times they play a cg film on the tv's, over saturated colors galore and the rest, even a junk tv looks pretty good playing that kind of material. Visual system is too easy to trick...

Nonsense.

The Sales of Goods Act (SOGA) states you have 6 years TO MAKE A CLAIM. The SOGA is not a warranty and should never be treated as one. All though the UK is in the EU, it is not covered under that EU law because the SOGA covers more than the EU 2 year law, so that doesn't apply to the UK either.