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Thinking of buying new TV and sound system
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Nigel Goodwin
01-06-2013
Originally Posted by grimtales1:
“Yeah I would worry about screen burn and power consumption with plasmas.”

Screen burn has never been a great problem - but it IS something you have to be careful about for the first few months - after that it's unlikely to be a concern. For that reason you're better off with LCD for gaming - or wait a few months before you use it for gaming.

My Plasma was second hand, so already well past the 'screen burn' age, and I've NEVER taken any precautions against it (I happily leave it on a game for extended periods).

If I'd had it new, it would have been treated differently though

Power consumption is considerably higher (although lower than they used to be), but is that a concern for you?.
grimtales1
01-06-2013
Well I'm usually very careful, I never leave the TV on for long and switch it off from standby etc - its just I've been used to LCD for some time, and I thought LED looked kinda cool Once one bulb in a plasma goes, arent you screwed? I read the picture degrades quicker as well.
Nigel Goodwin
01-06-2013
Originally Posted by grimtales1:
“Well I'm usually very careful, I never leave the TV on for long and switch it off from standby etc - its just I've been used to LCD for some time, and I thought LED looked kinda cool Once one bulb in a plasma goes, arent you screwed? I read the picture degrades quicker as well.”

Plasma's don't have 'bulbs', the light is generated by little 'plasma explosions' in cells that produce UV light, the UV is converted to visible light (one of three colours) by phosphors at the front of the cell.

The estimated life of a plasma panel is supposed to be similar to the estimated life of the back lights in a CCFL LCD set. It's unknown how long LED back lighting might last.

However, BOTH of these estimates are based on the brightness levels dropping below acceptable levels, and it's FAR more likely that the set will be scrapped for failure of some kind before that point is reached.

The screen burn 'problem' is down to fixed images on the screen, particularly bad would be watching 4:3 programmers with black bars down the side. But once it's past the initial few months 'burn in' period it's pretty unlikely.
grimtales1
01-06-2013
Think I'll go for that 47" LED Panny otherwise I'll just go round in circles It does look a nice set it must be said and now I can see films on a bigger screen.
davidge62
01-06-2013
£50 cheaper in Currys/Argos/Amazon than John Lewis but JL give 5-year warranty.
Panasonic shop near me was same price as JL - don't know if there's one near you.

Just to confuse you further Currys now have a 50" LED not Smart not 3D for £799
Winston_1
01-06-2013
Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin:
“No, this 2 year EU warranty is a work of fiction - and certainly in the UK where it wasn't ratified as it's inferior to our existing legislation.”

There is a 2 year warranty throughout the EU. If that is inferior to UK legislation then by definition the UK must have at least 2 years and 1 day warranty.

Trouble is it has not been tested in the courts, shops have always caved in when pushed.
chrisjr
02-06-2013
Originally Posted by Winston_1:
“There is a 2 year warranty throughout the EU. If that is inferior to UK legislation then by definition the UK must have at least 2 years and 1 day warranty.

Trouble is it has not been tested in the courts, shops have always caved in when pushed.”

I posted a link to the EU Directive in an earlier post. I cannot see anywhere in that directive any mention of a 2 year guarantee/warranty. The only mention of two years is the length of time a consumer has to make a claim for faulty goods under the directive.

In the UK the Sale of Goods Act gives consumers six years (five in Scotland) to make a claim. If you read the Guarantees section of this

http://sogahub.tradingstandards.gov.uk/sogaexplained

you will see that the duration of a guarantee or warranty is entirely the choice of the issuer of the guarantee.
grimtales1
02-06-2013
Also getting confused with all these big numbers (probably designed to draw you in) - "600Hz Backlight scanning", "1600Hz BLS" etc - the model I'm looking at is 600Hz, do they really make a difference?
On my current TV I find it looks better to turn IFC/100Hz mode off especially for BDs, it looks too smooth almost.
Nigel Goodwin
02-06-2013
Originally Posted by Winston_1:
“There is a 2 year warranty throughout the EU. If that is inferior to UK legislation then by definition the UK must have at least 2 years and 1 day warranty.

Trouble is it has not been tested in the courts, shops have always caved in when pushed.”

Utter rubbish - CHECK WITH TRADING STANDARDS - there is no two year EU warranty in the UK.

The two year deal in the rest of the EU gives them the right to take the shop to court (as with SOGA), not a blanket two year warranty.

It's not been tested in the courts because it doesn't apply here, court cases are done under the SOGA - which has been tested in the courts many times.
Nigel Goodwin
02-06-2013
Originally Posted by grimtales1:
“Also getting confused with all these big numbers (probably designed to draw you in) - "600Hz Backlight scanning", "1600Hz BLS" etc - the model I'm looking at is 600Hz, do they really make a difference?
On my current TV I find it looks better to turn IFC/100Hz mode off especially for BDs, it looks too smooth almost.”

Those figures are all just an advertising con, to try and make the figures look better than they are.

The limitations of Plasma means you can't have high refresh rates, and the 600Hz figures refer to 100Hz sets which as far as I know is the highest a Plasma can manage).

But 100Hz is perfectly fine, refresh rate isn't particularly important -other than for CRT's where a tiny number of people could see flickering.
grimtales1
02-06-2013
The 600Hz is on an LED BTW - in other reviews it says its actually 120Hz.
davidge62
02-06-2013
I think it's one of those 'cons' where they get the 600 figure from the supposed effect of the backlight technology they use to make 120 look more than it is. From what I've read, you do see a difference between the 50Hz that we've been used to and 100Hz and more - although I don't really understand it all.

I'm sure you'll be happy with the Panasonic LED compared to your current set - I'm looking forward to mine arriving.
grimtales1
02-06-2013
I can't wait for it either. Anything that makes me appreciate blu rays more with a cinematic picture I'm sure I'll be happy with (though my current set is very good just rather small).
davidge62
02-06-2013
I was hoping yours would arrive first so you could go through all the set-up options and post the best ones on here
grimtales1
02-06-2013

According to this review the 'True Cinema' setting is very, very good and should be set up out of the box.
Cant wait to see that.
I'll try and get used to not watching things in the dark so much if LEDs are so bright.
I agree about all the silly digital features (backlight control etc) and Sharpness being set to OFF however.

http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/...39519/review/3
Nigel Goodwin
02-06-2013
Originally Posted by davidge62:
“From what I've read, you do see a difference between the 50Hz that we've been used to and 100Hz and more - although I don't really understand it all. ”

Perhaps you might notice you've said there "from what you've read" - not from "what you've seen" - there's a lot of crap written in reviews

100Hz sets may well be better, but it's normally because it's a better TV with a better panel, and nothing to do with the 100Hz (or 200Hz or whatever).
grimtales1
04-06-2013
Will probably still go for the ET60 but was also thinking is it worth stumping up a bit extra for the FT60 (the next one up) of Panny LED's? I can't go for the REALLY high end ones And £400 extra or whatever it is at John Lewis seems a lot.
grimtales1
04-06-2013
Apologies if this is a silly question, but is 47" really a good size (ie good enough to see the benefits from BD) compared to 32"?
chrisjr
04-06-2013
Originally Posted by grimtales1:
“Apologies if this is a silly question, but is 47" really a good size (ie good enough to see the benefits from BD) compared to 32"? ”

It depends on how far away from it you sit.

If you sit 5ft or so from a 32in TV and 20ft from a 47in then you'll see more of a contrast between SD and HD on the 32in.

The factor that determines this is how much of your visual field the TV screen occupies which is a combination of screen size and viewing distance. Just going on screen size alone is not enough.
grimtales1
04-06-2013
What about if I sat 6-7 foot away from a 47"? I understand the minimum viewing distance is about 6 feet
I've been sitting about 3-4 feet from a 32" for HD content usually
Also, would I be able to get a decent amp/speakers for around £600?
chrisjr
04-06-2013
Originally Posted by grimtales1:
“What about if I sat 6-7 foot away from a 47"? I understand the minimum viewing distance is about 6 feet
I've been sitting about 3-4 feet from a 32" for HD content usually ”

You'll get all sorts of figures for viewing distance. Most are based on the screen size and multiplying it by some number to derive the viewing distance.

Which can range from about 1.2 to 2.5 times the screen size. As a very rough rule of thumb you could say twice the screen size is OK.

So for 32 in that would be 5ft 4in and for 47in it is 7ft 10in
chrisjr
04-06-2013
Originally Posted by grimtales1:
“Also, would I be able to get a decent amp/speakers for around £600?”

600 quid will get you a very good system. For example

http://www.richersounds.com/package/...deals/pah01526
http://www.richersounds.com/package/...deals/pah01516
http://www.richersounds.com/package/...eals/pah011086
http://www.richersounds.com/package/...deals/pah01527
http://www.richersounds.com/package/...eals/pah011137
grimtales1
04-06-2013
Thanks Hopefully that can be sorted out
d'@ve
04-06-2013
Originally Posted by grimtales1:
“What about if I sat 6-7 foot away from a 47"? I understand the minimum viewing distance is about 6 feet ”

New to this interesting thread but in a word, yes.

With normal eyesight, you'd see every detail on a full HD 47 inch TV at 2 metres eye-to-screen.
grimtales1
04-06-2013
Originally Posted by chrisjr:
“600 quid will get you a very good system. For example

http://www.richersounds.com/package/...deals/pah01526
http://www.richersounds.com/package/...deals/pah01516
http://www.richersounds.com/package/...eals/pah011086
http://www.richersounds.com/package/...deals/pah01527
http://www.richersounds.com/package/...eals/pah011137”

Can those be used with Blu Ray (DTS HD etc) I confess I dont know much about HD sound formats.
Edit: Seems that they do... thanks
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