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Upgrade Dilemma - which would you choose? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Slightly round the bend
Posts: 12,685
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Upgrade Dilemma - which would you choose?
Our desktop PC is currently little more than a glorified TV & DVD player for our daughter, and very rarely is getting used as a PC - this is far from ideal, as Mrs C wants to work on her photography on it, and where it is, it is a pain to get at or even use the printer when our wee one is asleep. So, I have decided that it needs to be moved, whilst still providing something for the wee one - and I have essentially narrowed it down to a couple of ideas.
- First idea is to buy a 26 or 32" LCD TV, and wall mount it on the wall (I have a nice flat chimney breast wall in the perfect location in the bedroom), and hook up a DVD player to this for the wee one to use (we've got one spare now, and will have two when we get the Blu-Ray player that we have talked ourselves into )- Second idea (and I prefer this idea, Mrs C is less sure), is to put our existing Toshiba 37WLT66 into the bedroom on a wall bracket, connected to one of the spare DVD players, and then buy a new TV for the living room (a Full HD one to go with the Blu-Ray?). Which idea seems the best, and which models (if any) should I be considering? |
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#2 |
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Aberfeldy
Posts: 7,035
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whats your budget?
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Slightly round the bend
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Quote:
whats your budget?
- I tend to find what I want/like, then tailor the budget around it. I suppose up to £2000 including a Blu Ray player wouldn't upset me too much - if I could get a new DVD recorder too for that money, then all the better.I had a notion to go back to either a Sony or a Panasonic (not that I'm unhappy with the Tosh, I just feel that the others give superior performance now) |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: S.West England.
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Idea No2 gets you and Mrs C a nice new tv - that would get my vote, especially when connected to the new Blu-Ray player (dont forget to use an HDMI connection).
For tv's, I am very happy with our new Sony LCD - its a smaller one that you want, but I find it to be very good with normal (SD) tv (freeview) and DVD's - played back via the combi Hard disc/dvd recorder/Freeview/HDMI. Other stuff I have seen running is a 42inch Sharp - I know people with one and that looks great, even on SD (digital Cable). Saw a "full HD-1080p" 37inch Sharp in a demo room, and I was blown away by that on a HD feed - but that was around £1,200. Neighbour has a 32inch Philips, and I have seen several similar Philips LCD's, and the picture is good - maybe a tad up on the Sony's, but I bought the Sony anyway in the hope it might last longer than a year, which seems quite common these days. Our neighbour also showed me the tv's upside down scart sockets, which as she said are useless - the scart plugs keep falling out. Dave |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Chesterfield
Posts: 422
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Quote:
Hadn't really considered it
- I tend to find what I want/like, then tailor the budget around it. I suppose up to £2000 including a Blu Ray player wouldn't upset me too much - if I could get a new DVD recorder too for that money, then all the better.I had a notion to go back to either a Sony or a Panasonic (not that I'm unhappy with the Tosh, I just feel that the others give superior performance now) |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Nottinghamshire
Posts: 1,098
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Have a look at this. Its a Sony 40" 1080p LCD and Bluray player for £1048. This would leave plenty of the £2000 for a DVD recorder (I would recomend a Panasonic DVD/HDD but thats just my personal choice). I have seen this TV in action and the picture is excellent from a HD source and as its a Sony, it sould be reliable.
It is a profile one machine which in itself is not a problem but firmware can only be done via downloading to a PC & burning to disc as it does not have Ethernet. I would look at the TV seriously but go for a Samsung BD P1500 player which is profile 1.1 currently but will be upgraded in the autumn to profile 2. The player is getting excellent reviews from buyers (check AVForum) it is very quiet as it does not have a fan & if connected to an older AV Amp. will reencode the new sound formats to Max bitrate DTS or if connected to a HDMI 1.3 Amp. will give True HD & a later update will give DTS HD Master audio, all for £185. If for some reason you feel Samsung is not for you, then you can go for the less well specified profile 1.1 Panasonic BD30, not anything like the SamsunG spec. but costs another £100 (£299) which tends to make some people feel better
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#7 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: North Derbyshire
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whilst the BD picture quality will be excellent the machine itself is incredably slow loading (I believe the slowest there is) some java heavy discs can take up to 5 minutes to start playing from turning the player on!
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#8 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Nottinghamshire
Posts: 1,098
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Yes, BD does tend to be slow!
![]() I don't have a problem with waiting a while for a disct to load; I have a Samsung BD P1400 which I initially bought as a stop gap until the profiles were sorted but I would not now swap it despite it being profile 1. The wrost disc I have takes 2 mins 15 secs. from boot but most are on in less than a minute.
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#9 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: North Derbyshire
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The wrost disc I have takes 2 mins 15 secs. from boot but most are on in less than a minute.
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#10 |
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Slightly round the bend
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The Sony TV is one that I had looked at today (browsing the net at work), and I liked the look of it. I'm on holiday in a couple of weeks, so I see a trip to John Lewis happening during the hols
. A friend at work reckoned that Panasonic made one of the best Blu-Ray players going - does that sound about right to you guys?As for DVD Recorders, I had been looking at the Sony RDRGX870, purely because the price was right, and I thought it would be enough to cope with our (fairly minimal) usage. Are the Panasonic DVD recorders generally better then? |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: North Derbyshire
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As for DVD Recorders, I had been looking at the Sony RDRGX870, purely because the price was right, and I thought it would be enough to cope with our (fairly minimal) usage. Are the Panasonic DVD recorders generally better then?
Panasonic have a pretty poor reputation for DVD/HDD recorders, with massive reliability problems with the PSU's. Hopefully they 'might' have sorted them out by now, but they were still making duff PSU's at least three years or so after they knew of the design problems. |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Chesterfield
Posts: 422
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The Sony 870 has been a great success, reliability has been exceptionally good - according to reports here (and elsewhere) they are made by Pioneer.
Panasonic have a pretty poor reputation for DVD/HDD recorders, with massive reliability problems with the PSU's. Hopefully they 'might' have sorted them out by now, but they were still making duff PSU's at least three years or so after they knew of the design problems. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Slightly round the bend
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So my instincts were right in liking the Sony 870, which is good. Having said that, I won't completely discount Panasonic, as our current DMRE55 has been a reliable beast.
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#14 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Nottinghamshire
Posts: 1,098
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Quote:
The Sony TV is one that I had looked at today (browsing the net at work), and I liked the look of it. I'm on holiday in a couple of weeks, so I see a trip to John Lewis happening during the hols
. A friend at work reckoned that Panasonic made one of the best Blu-Ray players going - does that sound about right to you guys?As for DVD Recorders, I had been looking at the Sony RDRGX870, purely because the price was right, and I thought it would be enough to cope with our (fairly minimal) usage. Are the Panasonic DVD recorders generally better then? |
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#15 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Nottinghamshire
Posts: 1,098
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Can't beat a VCR, chuck the tape in, press play - job done!
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#16 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
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Just to chuck my 2p in, you can't go wrong with a Samsung 1080p set. We have the 37" from the 5 series, cost us £850 but I've seen it cheaper elsewhere since. We had a Samsung 720p set before that, and it was also fantastic.
For a blu-ray player, why the hell not just get a PS3? It's one of the best blu-ray players on the market and if you can hook it up to the net you've got future-proofing - how many existing blu ray players are already obsolete because their firmware can't be updated? You can get a remote control for the PS3 in Game for about £8 (or a proper Sony one for about £20), bung the controller in a drawer and forget about it. |
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#17 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Nottinghamshire
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Just to chuck my 2p in, you can't go wrong with a Samsung 1080p set. We have the 37" from the 5 series, cost us £850 but I've seen it cheaper elsewhere since. We had a Samsung 720p set before that, and it was also fantastic.
For a blu-ray player, why the hell not just get a PS3? It's one of the best blu-ray players on the market and if you can hook it up to the net you've got future-proofing - how many existing blu ray players are already obsolete because their firmware can't be updated? You can get a remote control for the PS3 in Game for about £8 (or a proper Sony one for about £20), bung the controller in a drawer and forget about it. I think what you mean is BD Profile, i.e. 1. 1.1 or 2 Profile 1 & 1.1 are certainly not obsolete, I use a profile 1 Samsung BD P1400 every day without any hitches, it simply means I cant view PIP or Interactive stuff (which I never would anyway & some studios will not be supporting for some time anyway). There is as I have said in an earlier post now a real alternative to the PS3 for people like me who dont want the look of a Games machine in their kit & will not work with a Harmony Remote; The Samsung BD P1500, profile 1.1 with Autumn update to profile 2 (Same as PS3) for a fraction of the cost, looks good & is Silent compared to a PS3
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#18 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Posts: 4,386
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I agree about the TV (I have a LE40M86) but you are so wrong about BD players! all BD players can have their Firmware Updated by either disc or some via Ethernet.
I think what you mean is BD Profile, i.e. 1. 1.1 or 2 Profile 1 & 1.1 are certainly not obsolete, I use a profile 1 Samsung BD P1400 every day without any hitches, it simply means I cant view PIP or Interactive stuff (which I never would anyway & some studios will not be supporting for some time anyway). There is as I have said in an earlier post now a real alternative to the PS3 for people like me who dont want the look of a Games machine in their kit & will not work with a Harmony Remote; The Samsung BD P1500, profile 1.1 with Autumn update to profile 2 (Same as PS3) for a fraction of the cost, looks good & is Silent compared to a PS3 ![]() Our current TV's the LE37A557, and we really love it. Would have had a 6 series if funds would have permitted!
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#19 |
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Nottinghamshire
Posts: 1,098
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That's fair enough! To be honest we wanted the convenience of a games machine/BD player in one, so it was a bit of a no-brainer and we did virtually no research into standalone players. Having said that, with a little on in the house a PS3 is a good choice; you can download games from the PSN for a fiver, and a lot of them are pretty good.
Our current TV's the LE37A557, and we really love it. Would have had a 6 series if funds would have permitted! ![]() Yes very good TV's, I usually change my TV's ever 1-2 Years but to be honest unless this one goes wrong I will not bother as the Picture quality is stunning. It cost me £1050 about 14 months ago but was worth every penny!
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- I tend to find what I want/like, then tailor the budget around it. I suppose up to £2000 including a Blu Ray player wouldn't upset me too much - if I could get a new DVD recorder too for that money, then all the better.