A good LCD tv please

[bonj2]

you could jst get a MASSIVE monitor, then you could do away with the tv license?
Somebody unveiled one at work today that had been used for a demo, it was huge!

 

[Smokin Joe]

I've been thinking of an LCD TV myself, probably 32". One thing nobody has referred to here is the contrast ratio. All sets have it listed and it seems to vary wildly, even among sets at the same price. How important is it, or is it just a bit of marketing hype?

 

[marinyork]

OK. So, £400, what's your recommendation? The Panasonic?

Actually I didn't notice earlier the 32 inch older philips the 32PFL5322 is £300 . That's quite an interesting concept. It doesn't have a built in digital tuner but if you have freeview you have a box right, I mean who gives a monkeys about that really? It doesn't have direct pc input either. I was trying to find out some specs, seemed all right had 3/2 pulldown on it. I was trying to find out whether that and the model up were the older TNs which I suspect they are and they seem to have some very old processing engine not mentioned.

So I'd go and have another look at those two, see what you think of the philips (the 32" is cheaper than the 26"). I mean what do they plug their gear into at richer sounds? They got a reasonable satellite or freeview feed or some blu-ray players they can plug in for you to look at?

For £300 the Philips PFL5322

For £400 the Panasonic TX32LMD70

For £500 the TX32LXD85 at a few places or a bit more. Or countless other newer panels.

Still a bit disturbed about that 32" philips panel and what philips won't say about it but for the price it's extremely interesting as a concept.

 

[marinyork]

I've been thinking of an LCD TV myself, probably 32". One thing nobody has referred to here is the contrast ratio. All sets have it listed and it seems to vary wildly, even among sets at the same price. How important is it, or is it just a bit of marketing hype?

It's very important, it's also a load of bollocks on the whole especially dynamic contrast. Constant arguments about it. No one can really agree on the standards.

 

[Shaun]

I recently bought the Sony Bravia KDL32D3000 32" and am very impressed with it.

May well be out of your budget, but it is a cracking telly (if you manage to find one on offer somewhere.)

 

[Night Train]

I've got into the habit of advising people who are changing from old CRT 4:3 format to wide screen to measure the height of the visible image on their CRT and then compare it to the height of the visible image on the wide screen.
My old 24" CRT gave an image height of 14"
My new 26" LCD has an image height of only 13" and it shows. It gets even smaller when it places black bars on the screen and does letterbox format.

I have a Toshiba WLT66 which was on mega cheap offer last year at Curries.

 

[marinyork]

But User already had a widescreen tv, so we can't pull that trick to justify a bigger one unfortunately .

 

[Night Train]

In that case, measure the amount of plastic case around the visible image and find one that has less plastic and more screen.

 

[fossyant]

Go for the viewing angle - very important. We have a 15" widescreen LCD in the bedroom (bought for us as a pressie) but the viewing angle is rubbish - not a problem if watching in bed, but get out...no chance.

Our main TV is a last of generation 100hz Panasonic CRT - fantastic picture, colour/contract - kicks the whatsit's off any LCD I've seen so far......but of course not HD, but I'll wait till all this gets properly sorted. I don't have Sky, nor do I want it.

Have a good look at them, viewing angle is important - up/down left/right, and of course colour, brightness and contrast.

Marinyork sounds like a bit of a telly buff - he didn't let that slip on Sunday !!!

 

[Keith Oates]

I think if it has Sony written on the front then it will be OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[twowheelsgood]

I've been impressed with my LG. Fairly cheap and looks stylish in an understated way. Really you haven't had to worry about movement artifacts for the last year or two and the contrast ratios are now pretty good.

There is really only two things top look out for. Firstly absolute black levels. LCDs can't do true black because current technology is backlit, meaning the black looks dark grey - this is more of a problem with a TV with a black cabinet as you notice the contrast more. The second thing to look out for is how uniform the backlight is. Normally you don't notice this so much, however, if the picture is a solid block of colour, you can notice patterns of light and dark.

finally you can get away with a much bigger TV as they don't dominate the room anywhere near as much as a CRT. If you had 25/26" before then 32" would not look any more out of place.

Full HD isn't an issue at 32" at any normal viewing distance.

 

[Lardyboy]

I think if it has Sony written on the front then it will be OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haven't laughed so much in ages Keith! you know how to tell 'em.