The tuner on our 9 year-old Humax 23" TV is losing it's marbles .. massive blocking on all but the main BBC channels, in spite of auto-retuning regularly. I'm now in the market for a replacement, so naturally I want something like our main TV, only smaller for the kitchen.

Because I've always bought Panasonic I'm looking for something from their range. It seems they only do one 24" TV (TX-24DS500B) which is quoted as being 'HD ready 720p', i.e. presumably not quite the same as our main unit (a Panasonic 39" with full HD 1080p). However, it is a 'Smart' TV with access to iPlayer and YouTube via wi-fi connectivity.

I suppose the question here is: If 24" TVs are only available in HD ready 720p, is the absence of full HD 1080p very noticeable on a small unit such as this?

Having said that, do they actually make full HD 1080p 24" TVs, or is that such a small market requirement that manufacturers don't feel the need to address it?

For a kick off how do you know it's the tuner in your existing TV? If the problem is dodgy aerial cabling to the TV then changing the TV might not make any difference. Blocking, by which I suspect you mean picture disturbances, are usually the result of poor signal, either too low signal strength or interference, (more likely with cheap and nasty poorly screened cables run over long distances).

What sort of viewing distance do you normally watch from? Depending on how far away from the TV you are you might not notice any real difference between SD, 720 or 1080. It could also be that a good 720 screen looks better than a poor 1080 screen.

I bought a 47" full HD set for my lounge last year and a 32" HD Ready 720 set for my bedroom. The picture on the HD channels looks fine on the 32" so it should look just as good or better on a 24".

I bought this:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...sams-ue22h5610

It (currently) has all four of the major catch-up services, wireless connection and a DLNA server. I am impressed with its connectivity and the sharpness of the picture.
I picked the white one but there is a black version available too.

It makes sod all difference, and unless you view from VERY close no difference at all. In fact a decent quality HD Ready set will give a better picture than a cheap Full HD one.

Current aerial cable is satellite quality throughout (black sleeving), so I really don't think that's the problem.

Distance from my usual place at the kitchen table to the front edge of the wall mounted TV bracket stand is 8ft.



I'm getting the impression that a 24" screen will look just as crisp at HD ready 720p as my 39" lounge TV does with full HD 1080p.

Would the usual Freeview HD channel numbers still apply, eg. 101 for BBC1, 104 from CH4 and so on, even if the picture definition isn't full HD?

From personal experience the difference between HD and SD isn't that great on a 24 inch TV viewed from 8ft let alone Full HD and so called "HD Ready" (WXGA). Some cheap "HD Ready" TVs may not have a DVBT-2/HD tuner which will be required after the next switch over. I suggest you connect the TV to your living room feed to check it really is faulty before purchasing a new one.

Doesn't matter what grade the cable is. It can get damaged or a connector can be badly made degrading the signal. So always worth checking out the system to make sure you are getting a good signal in the kitchen.


At that distance from that sized TV I doubt you'll see much difference between a 720 TV and a 1080 TV


On a decent quality properly set up TV it should.


The channel numbers are nothing at all to do with the resolution of the TV. They are defined by the EPG data being received. After all if you think about it a Freeview recorder has a zero by zero pixel resolution but it still manages to put the HD channels in the right place

Good point. I suspect that for a while you will need to buy a full HD / Freeview HD TV in order to be sure of getting a T2 tuner. Already there are SD channels that can only be viewed on a TV with a T2 tuner.

The Panasonic mentioned in the OP is DVB-T/DVB-T2 according to the specs on the Panasonic website so should do the job.

Fair enough. But a quick check suggests that the Samsung is cheaper!

Thanks Everyone for your input to my thread.

Because this will only be the secondary TV in the house I have decided to stick with Panasonic and go for the 24" HD Ready 720p set. Ordered online from John Lewis I can collect it from my local Waitrose store the next day. They give a free 5 year warranty too, so can't be bad.