I am looking to purchase a new 52 inch lcd tv however i am confused with all the different brands and also what all the abreviations mean.

Can anyone recomend one for no more than £1500?

I would also prefer to order it online as there is not one shop that has all the different brands.

Thanks

As you've got a 36 inch Panasonic, why not get another Panasonic? - I'm presuming you've been happy with it?.

The bigger Panasonic tv's are all plasma.

Is there a reason why it has to be a LCD TV. You should not discount a plasma as they can offer the best picture quality and there is not much difference in energy consumption. Look at 50" as well as 52" for tv screen size. Screen resolution should be 1920 x 1080 full HD. Connectivity - I assume you need 2 scarts (as well as HDMI for future). Sony and Panansonic are generally considered the better makes.

Some suggestions:
Sony KDL52W4000 LCD slightly over budget (cheapest £1575 on-line)
Sony KDL52W3000 LCD (older model hence slightly cheaper)
Panasonic TH50PZ80B Plasma

I hesitate to recommend a Samsung at this size as as you may find the sound output disappointing for a larger room size.

Or disappointing for an average sized toilet!

Like it!!!!

The only reason is that i have heard on the gadget show that plasma's suffer from screen burn and they tend not to last as long as an LCD

Gadget show wouldn't know the difference between red or blue unless someone told them!
Plasma can suffer from screen burn, LCD can suffer from light failure, LCD can suffer from pixel drop out, as can plasma. Both have ther up and down sides. The lifespan on th50pz81 Panasonic plasma is quotec at 1,000,000 hours 'til half brightness. You would never keep the sets for anywhere near their screen lifespans on either LCD or Plasma.

Good god not those clowns.

They are useless incompetent people, and I find errors in the show every time Ive sat down to watch it.

-Chris

Yes but it's good for a laugh

Plasma's CAN suffer from screen burn, but it's nothing like as bad a problem as people seem to think. However, if you play a LOT of games, an LCD would be a better choice.

Plasma are less reliable though, with some insurance companies charging extra for extended warranties on Plasma. In my personal experience I've written off more Plamsa sets than LCD, despite selling at least 99 LCD's for every Plasma - but the Plasma's are mainly older sets.

Estimated life of the panel doesn't really matter (and it's about the same as an LCD anyway), the sets (both types) are likely to be scrapped for failure rather than the screen wearing out.

I've got a Plasma, and I'm very happy with it - but I would have been just as happy with an LCD.

Agree with everything Nigel says here, except we've wrtten off more LCD. We'd expect this due to the volumes sold however.

Most of my LCD write offs are due to physical damage, one was smashed with a pool cue and a current one was smashed by the customers daughter tripping and going head first into it - she went to hospital, but for a damaged arm, not her head.

One of the written off Plasma's was damage as well - it was on the wall of a local gym, and someone incorrectly released a machine instead of easing it back, and the arms swung back and smashed the screen to pieces!

Ahh but we used to deal with JVC!!!

Who are JVC buying their TV's from these days?

I've only seen one JVC LCD, I took a lady a larger Sharp set, and she asked me to move her existing JVC to the other room - to be honest it looked fairly good.

More to the point, who buys JVC tv nowadays?!?
I think they use vestel for the smaller sets but the reliability form our side of the fence was woeful so we ditched them, along with Hitachi & Philips!
To be fair the picture quality was quite good, even when compared to the Panasonic's at the time. We just had no confidence in the product so very rarley sold them.

Is there a big difference between LCD and plasma when watching sports as i have seen some TV's in pubs and they look very grainy especially when watching footie?

I now know that i am getting a Sony or Panasonic

The pubs I know have older generation or cheap makes for their screens, so I wouldn't hold them up as good examples of picture quality.

Hi,

Slightly over your budget at £1699 but the Sony Bravia 52'' KDL-W4000 HD Ready LCD TV seems impressive. Information about it states that this 1080p HD Sony W series TV provides superior definition and incredible clarity thanks to the advanced BRAVIA Engine 2 with Advanced Contrast Enhancer. Live Colour Creation with x.v. draws from a wider colour palette to produce even more sumptuous natural colour. It shows images at 24 frames a second, just like a real cinema screen and the Xcross Media Bar makes it much easier to operate. If this takes your fancy it can be found here:
Sony Bravia 52'' KDL-W4000 HD Ready LCD TV (PriceRunner best deals)

If you are unsure on the difference between LCD and Plasma, an excellent guide can be found at Modern Home Theater- How to Pick Your TV
I hope this helps!