Hi all

I currently have a Sony 32" Widescreen CRT - excellent picture - three years old. Now, I really want a bigger screen tv - so I am currently looking at 40" LCD's and Plasmas.

BUT - as alot of people have told me and indeed what I have seen - is that most of the LCD's and Plasma's seem to display (to my eyes compared with my CRT) quite a poor SD Freeeview image - often looking too pixellated or smudgy etc..

I fully realise why this happens on these sets - obviously they are really designed to shine with HD images - which of course, most of them do - they look stunning.

However, I won't be getting an HD source (Sky or HD player) in the near future and most of my tv viewing tends
to be freeview (and some DVD's).

As I said at the start of this thread, there is nothing wrong with my 3 year old Sony CRT 32" set - to my eyes it gives a superb picture. So - perhaps I have answered my own question!!! But - if I really wanted to get a 40/42" screen, what you would recommend?

My viewing distance is at max about 8-9 ft I suppose. I just don't want to spend alot of money on something I will be constantly disappointed with (concerning SD Freeview).

Any particular models anyone can recommed?

Any help, as always, really appreciated

Cheers

Well it all depends how much your budget is.

Panasonic PX70 is around £700 or at the other end the Pioneer PDP-428XD is £1500

You have the LCD brigade in the middle, the usual suspects, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Sharp etc

You could go with a smaller 32" Panasonic 100Hz LCD which would help the image too.

Sorry - forgot to mention my budget - maximum of about £1,400

I have the PANOSONIC TH42-PX70 plasma I only watch in sd at the moment .The picture is great on my sky and on dvd.Also It has a built in freeview which is great to.

At that budget you don't really have a problem - except which to buy!

Go to a decent local shop, and compare pictures, see which you like.

The Pioneer PDP-4280XD can be had for £1405 off Dixons, that is the best 42" for that price.

PX70 I'd steer you towards though with the PZ70 in second place or the Samsung Plasma.

Definetly plasma for good SD freeview images.

I have Pioneer PDP-427XD which would have been in your budget. PDP-428XD might be slightly over budget, but Panasonic Plasmas are really good and inside your budget.

Only downside to Plasmas is they are not terribly environmentally friendly as they use a lot of energy. On the bright side, they act as second radiator in the room

Dont forget another advantage of a Plasma-if your a sun lover, in a brightly lit room, you will enjoy the lovely reflections from the Glass front, just like you did with your old CRT.

I went into my local Comets today - and surprisingly chatted to someone who seemed to have quite a bit of knowledge.. anyway after looking at the freeview images on plasma's - I personally thought the Panasonic PZ70 looked the best.

The sales guy did tell me that the pictures on the tv's in store (it was a large superstore) are all fed by one main aerial - meaning that the freeview images would look "a lot better" when run at home on a decent aerial. He said the signal was degraded instore because it was split to so many tv's...

I thought if a freeview image detoriates then it freezes or pixellates? I didn't think it 'degraded' as such? Can anyone confirm if he was right ?

Also - what do others think of the PZ70. I know some of you have mentioned the PX70 - what's the difference?

Cheers for any help

You are correct, he was completely wrong! - assuming the sets were displaying live FreeView of course?.

Well, perhaps he didn't "seemed to have quite a bit of knowledge" then after all! Typical Comets!!!!!

I didn't think he was right - he said Comets were displaying freeview images "at their worst" because that's all they could do (they were live images yes)

Still, the Panny that I mentioned above still looked quite good!

Pioneer Plasma!

I suspect what they were doing was taking a signal from a separate Freeview box and sending it to all the TV's. If they're doing it via analogue, you'll get degradation. If they upscale and send via HDMI, which is what Richer Sounds seems to do, then you're left with no idea of how the TV itself upscales the image from its own tuner.

I think it's probably too hard to boost an aerial signal for so many TV's.

Can anyone tell me how good the following TV's are at SD content:

LG 42LF66 - Can't find any reviews on this
Samsung LE40M87BD - I've heard this one isn't great

Thanks

Can't comment on that as mine is not in direct sunlight, but I bet you would get a fair amount of glare off the piano black frame as well