Advice Needed.... Need a new TV!

S

skillick

Active member
 Longstanton, Cambs
Right then... I know you bunch on here will be up on the latest electronics... so I thought I'd see what you all suggest!

I currently have a 37" Sharp Aquos LCD hobby, which I've had for 7 years now. I've recently noticed a number thick black lines appearing on the screen (vertically), so I'd imagine the old girl is on her way out.

So... What do people suggest... I'm looking to up the size a bit, maybe to 46" or 50", not fussed on 3D, but I guess most these days are. Won't be using it for gaming much, just the occasional bit of Wii.

Don't want to spend loads, so under a grand if possible... not a fan of LG, so perhaps Samsung/Sharp or Sony?

Anyone bought one recently? Know of any good deals?

Cheers!!
 
Samsung Samsung Samsung Samsung!

The only thing that determines 3d is the refresh rate. You should get 200hertz (might be MHz), which will mean its a 3d compatible tv.

Can't go wrong with a Samsung though! :thumbsup:


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I would generally go for Panasonic for TVs. Tried other makes in the past and still think Panasonic is the best. If you are planning playing games and watching DVD Bluray films, you would probably be better off getting an LCD / LED TV, but if you mostly watch sports, I think Plasma gives a more realistic picture.

Aim for a high refresh rate 600 Hz + and as high a contract ratio as possible, 5,000,000:1 or higher.

This seems a good example: http://www.comet.co.uk/p/Plasma-TVs/buy-PANASONIC-TX-P50GT30B-Plasma-TV/707104

But I think 3D TV is a fad, and 3D TV without glasses will come out at some point soon, so I would get a non 3D TV for £400-£500 pounds and wait for the next generation.

I wouldn't just go for the biggest TV either. 50" may sound good but if you sit 2-3 m from your TV, you may find it too big and hard to take the whole image in at once. Picture quality wont seem as good being so close to a big TV. :)
 
spearman said:
Samsung Samsung Samsung Samsung!

The only thing that determines 3d is the refresh rate. You should get 200hertz (might be MHz), which will mean its a 3d compatible tv.

Can't go wrong with a Samsung though! :thumbsup:


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Click to expand...

Also Samsung TVs are really nice looking and the LED ones are very thin and look the part, but a big consideration for these, is the amount of room left for the TV speakers. Not an issue if you use surround sound all the time, but if you want to use the TV speakers, the slim line TVs speakers just sound a bit tinny ! :thumbsdown:
 
i spunked up over £1900 for a samsung LED 55" TV last year

If i was to buy another 55" i would go for a plasma - picture is great on the LED but not worth paying the extra £600+ for the ultra thin look
 
Z4 TEX said:
I would generally go for Panasonic for TVs. Tried other makes in the past and still think Panasonic is the best. If you are planning playing games and watching DVD Bluray films, you would probably be better off getting an LCD / LED TV, but if you mostly watch sports, I think Plasma gives a more realistic picture.

But I think 3D TV is a fad, and 3D TV without glasses will come out at some point soon, so I would get a non 3D TV for £400-£500 pounds and wait for the next generation.
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+1

I spent many days researching TV's a couple of months back and after watching/testing the same BluRay on them - IMHO nothing compared to the Panasonic Plasma's.

We have a decent size living room so opted for the 50" and I'm 'tickled pink' - (saying that we do have a Samsung LED in the bedroom BUT not as good as the Panasonic)

3D is a FAD and IMHO not worth the 'extra' dosh/faff!

Let us know what you go for!
 
Samsung 8000 range LED....Internet TV, great design, and just a great tv. Had one for a year now, and love it
 
We bought a 55" LED 3D Samsung from John Lewis earlier this year and it is great, to be honest 3D wasn't on our list of things we wanted at all, but that was because we thought it only applied to 3D dvds, when in fact you can watch anything on tv in 3D, just press the 3D button on the remote, put the supplied glasses on and hey presto your watching F1 in 3D, and it's brilliant.

Any DVD or HD tv channels look great in 3D, the European Cup football in HD and 3D has been brilliant to watch.

I would highly recommend John Lewis, because if there are any problems, they go out of their way to sort things out.

The sound and picture quality is excellent, but you need to adjust the standard settings to get the best picture.
 
LG / Samsung for me, go LED if you can, just bought a 60" Sammy LED (2011 model) for a pretty penny (£1850) not bad considering the 2012 models are £3k+

We've had LGs in the house for the last 6 years and theyre great, Sammys tend to be a bit more hit and miss but they do have more options at the larger scale.

3D wise the Sammy runs active and LG passive, there is a distinct difference between the 2011 and 2012 models (in 3D picture quality things like LED bleeding issues etc are prominent in 2011 sets) so look out for this. Most larger sets these days all have 3D so you may as well make a decision one way or the other.

All sammys models have codes such as: UE60D6505 UE the 55 is obviously the size of the set. the D in this case tells you the year (D was 2011, ES is 2012) the last 4 digits are the series and model number. Series 8 are the highest spec with all the toys (camera, gesture recognition, etc, etc), Series 7 are equally as good display wise with less toys. Series 6 have a slightly lesser quality panel but more value for money and series 5 are budget sets.

From the LG side you have model numbers such as LW55980T the LW indicates a 2011 model. 2012 sets are LM. 55 is the size and 980T is the model number and type. 980 is the top of the range going down as low as 400 I believe. U at the end is universal (no freeview / freesat HD). S at the end stands for Freesat HD. T at the end stands for Freeview HD but sometimes both and it can be a bit hit and miss depending on models themselves.

I was very impressed by the 2011 LG 55LW980T and would have bought it had it come in a 60".

Personally I would stay away from Sharp / Sony. Sharp sets are not as clear in my opinion. There is a 60" Sharp (no 3D) that was selling for £999 at the Dixons group recently. Sony are cutting down their TV business.

Panasonic use LG screens. Samsung and Sony share screens under 42" if I recall correctly.

OLED will be making its way onto the scene Q3 / Q4 this year, which should drive the LED price down.

Going to see them and checking your experience is the only thing to do. Also take into consideration how far back you sit from the set when you decide on size.

This is a handy tool:

http://www.which.co.uk/technology/tv-and-dvd/guides/what-size-tv-should-i-buy/

Best of luck, give me a shout if you want anymore info :thumbsup: (PS no this isnt my full time job I just researched alot when buying ours)
 
Z4 TEX said:
I would generally go for Panasonic for TVs.

I wouldn't just go for the biggest TV either. 50" may sound good but if you sit 2-3 m from your TV, you may find it too big and hard to take the whole image in at once. Picture quality wont seem as good being so close to a big TV. :)
Click to expand...

+1 on the Panasonic. I've had four recently and we have two 42" Panasonic TVs at the moment. All have been absolutely excellent.

My mate bought a Samsung 50" recently. It's so big that you can't watch a film without missing bits of the picture... unless you have a huge room, I would stick with 40 - 42" screens... :thumbsup:
 
We have a 50" Plasma that we view from 2.5metres with no problems. In fact when I upgrade in a couple of years I'll probably consider 55".


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bluestreak56 said:
LG / Samsung for me, go LED if you can, just bought a 60" Sammy LED (2011 model) for a pretty penny (£1850) not bad considering the 2012 models are £3k+

We've had LGs in the house for the last 6 years and theyre great, Sammys tend to be a bit more hit and miss but they do have more options at the larger scale.

3D wise the Sammy runs active and LG passive, there is a distinct difference between the 2011 and 2012 models so look out for this. Most larger sets these days all have 3D so you may as well make a decision one way or the other.

All sammys models have codes such as: UE60D6505 UE the 55 is obviously the size of the set. the D in this case tells you the year (D was 2011, ES is 2012) the last 4 digits are the series and model number. Series 8 are the highest spec with all the toys (camera, gesture recognition, etc, etc), Series 7 are equally as good display wise with less toys. Series 6 have a slightly lesser quality panel but more value for money and series 5 are budget sets.

From the LG side you have model numbers such as LW55980T the LW indicates a 2011 model. 2012 sets are LM 55 is the size and 980T is the model number and type. 980 is the top of the range going down as low as 400 I believe. U at the end is universal (no freeview / freesat HD). S at the end stands for Freesat HD. T at the end stands for Freeview HD but sometimes both and it can be a bit hit and miss depending on models themselves.

I was very impressed by the 2011 LG LW55980T and would have bought it had it come in a 60".

Personally I would stay away from Sharp / Sony. Sharp sets are not as clear in my opinion. There is a 60" Sharp that was selling for £999 at the Dixons group recently. Sony are cutting down their TV business.

Panasonic use LG screens. Samsung and Sony share screens under 42" if I recall correctly.

OLED will be making its way onto the scene Q3 / Q4 this year, which should drive the LED price down.

Going to see them and checking your experience is the only thing to do. Also take into consideration how far back you sit from the set when you decide on size.

This is a handy tool:

http://www.which.co.uk/technology/tv-and-dvd/guides/what-size-tv-should-i-buy/

Best of luck, give me a shout if you want anymore info :thumbsup: (PS no this isnt my full time job I just researched alot when buying ours)
Click to expand...


I thought I researched my purchases! Some great info there. I have a 50" 'sammy' plasma that's about 4 years old. Love the look of the LED 55's but going to wait for the world cup 2014 that England are going to win! :headbang:
 
i was told by an expert that pioneer made the best plasma screens , but when they folded panasonic got all their r & d on the back of that as my parents have an amazing 56 pioneer but you need a tuning box as its really only a display i bought a 42 panasonic viera i think its great and my brother who is somewhat of a techno snob even admitted my picture was way better than his 50 pioneer so i concur with the above panasonic for tv,s
 
Have recently purchased a Sony 46' LED 3D TV and have to say its absolutely fantastic! As has been said the 3D is a nice thing to have but really essential, only used it a hand full of times and that's generally only when people visit and want a go!

Only thing I would say is the sound out of these flat screen tv's is terrible so I would definitely recommend going for a home cinema system. The one we ending up going for has wireless rear speakers so very neat and saves the hassle of hiding wires everywhere to get to the back of the room, an iPod dock which allows you to take control of the iPod/ iPhone through the tv, Internet so it allows you to connect to your home network meaning you can watch films which are saved on your computer over the network, all with 1000 watts of sound, it's absolutely fantastic!




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Thanks for all the advice guys, looks like I now have my Saturday planned next week when SWMBO is away on a course... I'm sure I can justify it with man maths and she won't notice the difference when she comes home on Sunday evening :rofl:

I already have a decent amp and B&W speaker set up, so the in-built speakers aren't an issue for me.

Sounds like Panasonic are the favoured here, so I'll report back when I've been out and tested a few!

Cheers guys :thumbsup:
 
spearman said:
Samsung Samsung Samsung Samsung!

The only thing that determines 3d is the refresh rate. You should get 200hertz (might be MHz), which will mean its a 3d compatible tv.

Can't go wrong with a Samsung though! :thumbsup:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Not to be picky but you are completly wrong lol the refresh rate handle the motion and movement not the 3d, a 200hz tv will just be a smoother picture than say a 50hz set and doesn't make it 3d compatible or not.

And you can't compare the Hz rating between an led and plasma as they are measured in different ways, last years panasonic plasmas were 600hz and had much better motion than the 800hz samsungs


If you want a quality tv get a Panasonic!

I'm really not a fan of samsungs, I think the picture looks pretty naff (yes even the 8000 models) the screen has terrible contrast and makes colour look very unnatural and don't get me started on the sound quality and motion control

Lg are mid range, generally the motion on them isn't very good

Currently the best tv's on the market is the Panasonic VT50 for plasma and WT50 for LED (although I'd have the plasma every time)

Just to let you know my job is selling these tvs :D
 
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