[Waynester]

Hi everyone

i have searched all these forums and am still racking my brains about a choice of NEW LCD TV for my bedroom
my viewing distance is just over 9 feet away from where its going to go

i have a budget of £700 MAX
cant decide on a 32" or a 37"
worried about this "burning" on screen issue, "decent black levels" and "motion blur" etc etc etc

anyone found the "perfect" LCD?
i doubt this even exists at my price range?

not looking for Plasma, heard they can be even worse for "screen burn"

i have a very good 5.1 surround sound setup now, so the sound isnt a major issue

i watch a lot of Live Music DVD Concerts, NEVER watch ANY sport apart from Boxing, watch a few action movies now and then

is it majorly important to get the FULL HD 1080i or 1080p compatibility? and with the "24" HD viewing thingy me jig ?

anyone help me make a choice?
will be buying online as to save money.........hopefully!
its so difficult to make a choice going down to Comet or Currys as i will be there for hours!

anyone of these shops doing buy now and pay 9 - 12 months later still?



Cheers

[BallroomBear]

There is no pefect LCD television. They all have the same issues of motion blur/smear when watching sport, mostly poor blacks, and artifacts around small moving objects regardless of the manufacturer or price. It's just that at the top price bracket these issues may be slightly less prevalent. There is no plasma style screen burn with LCD, although I've read about some instances of short term image retention on some sets ie things like the news tickertape graphics which you get on News 24 and Sky News.

I did test a decent Phillips in Currys last summer, but it was too big for what you want.

Very few LCDs will show an SD analogue or digital signal in a quality you would want to watch, however any HD ready LCD will show at least a good HD picture if you have access to SKY HD or an upscaler.

As prices have tumbled recently, you'll get quite a lot for £700, but personally I'm no fan of LCD so I won't and can't objectively advise you, other than to say that in my experience of shop testing, Sony LCDs are universally awful for standard def.

As you don't watch sport, the motion blur won't be an issue, but for watching concerts you'll want rich blacks. Maybe take a look at LG who produce some good blacks on their more expensive sets. My advice would be to go to Currys, Comet, and anywhere else that sells LCDs, test any set you like the look of (with a portable DVD player if at all possible), and then go and find it on the internet for £300+ cheaper.

[mikw]

Brought a 27inch LG from Richer Sounds for £350 in January.

Picture quality on Freeview is more than acceptable, at least equivalent to my old man's Sony Bravia.

HD Picture is phenominal to be honest.

[Waynester]

my god, i think im swaying in to getting a Plasma!
http://www.plasma-lcd-facts.co.uk/home/

very very interesting read indeed

[BallroomBear]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waynester

my god, i think im swaying in to getting a Plasma!
http://www.plasma-lcd-facts.co.uk/home/

very very interesting read indeed

Plasmas are far better than LCD in all respects. Your only problem is you can't get plasmas smaller than 42", at least you'll be hard pushed to.

[Waynester]

thats ok, i want a 37" for my room, which is a Plasma

im thinking of a PANASONIC TH37PX80

seems to have glowing reviews everywhere

[Erlang]

Panasonic do a very good range of LCD's
32LDX70 is right for your budget and requirements.
They aren't the cheapest 32" as they have very good upscalers.

Bowled over with mine, I watch Sky+ on it, and Bluray knocks your socks off

[Waynester]

hi mate, i thought about that model and similar but i reckon a 37" would be great for my room...
i also want to be fully "future" proof with 1080p or whatever its called...

currently i have a 28" CRT Sony and its just about had it

[call100]

LCD's are great. you won't be disappointed..... Best move I made from CRT to LCD.
32" or 37" would be ideal for you. Panasonic are an excellent make. Samsung are a good budget make....
Best try relatives or friends who have one. See them in real action.....Good luck.

[Orbitalzone]

I thought that either the Panasonic 32LXD70 (due to be replaced by a 32LZD80 version soon, with a higher spec 1080P panel) or the Sony KVL-D3000 were two of the best at the moment. The sony has 24P whereas the Panasonic doesn't.

If you're abe to wait a month or two there are some new models due from Sony and Panasonic and you'll either pick up a last year model much cheaper or possibly get better specs for the same price.

[atvmidlands]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erlang

Panasonic do a very good range of LCD's
32LDX70 is right for your budget and requirements.
They aren't the cheapest 32" as they have very good upscalers.

Bowled over with mine, I watch Sky+ on it, and Bluray knocks your socks off

I have a Panny 32" and I'm pleased with the viewing experience on the whole but I would definitely take issue with your claim they have good upscalers.

Whether their upscalers are better than other tv sets I dont know , but my old Sky+ box was awful via scart in RGB as many dvd's from my current DVDR's via RGB.

But the upscaling done by the Sky HD box and the PS3 via HDMI wipes the floor with the tv's upscaling.

I got my lcd for high def disc viewing but found Sky to be so bad that I had to go and get the HD box to return the SD channels back to acceptable quality

[stvn758]

All the faults are overated, get a decent brand and you will get a decent picture.

[paulyoung666]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stvn758

All the faults are overated, get a decent brand and you will get a decent picture.

gotta agree with that , the inlaws have a 32" crt panasonic , and it looks awful , i know most of it is down to the aerial though , i have a 32" toshiba lcd and it does me proud , and i am picky when it comes to technology , my next step is sky hd , dont think it is going to be for a while yet though , i totally object to the £10 / month hd charge

[atvmidlands]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

gotta agree with that , the inlaws have a 32" crt panasonic , and it looks awful , i know most of it is down to the aerial though , i have a 32" toshiba lcd and it does me proud , and i am picky when it comes to technology , my next step is sky hd , dont think it is going to be for a while yet though , i totally object to the £10 / month hd charge

Do what I did then.

Get a brand new HD box off ebay and enjoy BBC HD and C4HD aswell as enjoying all the SD channels upscaled.

Unless you have movies and sport the £10 is a bit OTT and having sampled it for one month I cancelled it as the amount of HD that was of interest was very limited and those channels that do show HD repeat the same stuff over and over again

[SeaviewHome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waynester

thats ok, i want a 37" for my room, which is a Plasma

im thinking of a PANASONIC TH37PX80

seems to have glowing reviews everywhere

Indeed some good reviews here.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=742741

Had my set almost 2 weeks now, blacks, blues and yellows look stunning. No motion blur and no image retention.
Any movies that have lots of darkness/black colours stand out really well as does anything involving underwater shots, beaches, trees etc.

I tried desperately for months to find an LCD for £650 that gave as good a picture in standard def as this plasma but failed. Still plenty of codes around to get it for that price including pedestal.

All sets pretty much look good in HD but as mentioned above, alot of HD gets repeated and 90% of your viewing time will be spent watching SD after the initial novelty.

I used to watch sport round a friends house on his £900 LCD but now his PQ is not up to the standard of my tv he watches sport on my TV, in fact he is coming round to watch the Liverpool game tonight.

Once you have viewed the 37inch plasma panny against an equivalent LCD, its a bit like comparing business class with economy. Once you have tried black there's no turning back.

[Zincubus]

Sorry but what does " upscalers" mean ??

[roddydogs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BallroomBear

Plasmas are far better than LCD in all respects. Your only problem is you can't get plasmas smaller than 42", at least you'll be hard pushed to.

Apart from, heavier weight, higher power consumption, glass front that reflects any lights, higher extended warranty prices.
the old chestnuts about LCD worse blacks, motion Blur were dispelled years ago ON GOOD SETS. im amazed people are still pedalling them!

[chrisjr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zincubus

Sorry but what does " upscalers" mean ??

Standard definition TV pictures, such as those received via Freeview or analogue broadcasts or a standard DVD\VCR player have a lower resolution than a HD TV screen.

In other words there are fewer pixels horizontally and vertically in the picture then the TV is capable of displaying. If you displayed the raw picture on the TV you would get a black border round it.

An upscaler converts the picture to the native resolution of the set. Scales it up in other words so it fills the screen

[dennisspooner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisjr

Standard definition TV pictures, such as those received via Freeview or analogue broadcasts or a standard DVD\VCR player have a lower resolution than a HD TV screen.

In other words there are fewer pixels horizontally and vertically in the picture then the TV is capable of displaying. If you displayed the raw picture on the TV you would get a black border round it.

An upscaler converts the picture to the native resolution of the set. Scales it up in other words so it fills the screen

What upscaling does not do is make sd pictures near to HD quality as some devices claim.

A good upscaler will return your sd pictures back to acceptable quality that you were used to on a crt.

LCD and plasma dont like standard def much and some non upscaled stuff is dreadful

[bobcar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddydogs

Apart from, heavier weight, higher power consumption, glass front that reflects any lights, higher extended warranty prices.
the old chestnuts about LCD worse blacks, motion Blur were dispelled years ago ON GOOD SETS. im amazed people are still pedalling them!

There are advantages and disadvantages to both technologies - though plasmas do have better blacks than LCDs and handle motion better. I prefer the glass front though for anyone who has problems with reflections (I have zero) or use it in a bright room LCD would be better.

What is without doubt correct is that if you want a large TV plasmas are much better value for money.