LCD TV Advice

stphnstevey

I have a £90 voucher at Argos, need a new TV and thought may as well buy it there.

But - I know nothing about loans! (Sorry, I meant LCD TV's)

I have read that it is good to get a good contrast ratio of around 400:1 and that 1080p or something is better??

I am looking at this one - purely as it is the cheapest of the 32inch ones!
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5292882/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CSound%2Band%2Bvision%7C9555142/c_2/2%7Ccat_9555142%7CTelevisions%7C9555309/c_3/3%7Ccat_9555309%7C32%2Binch%2BLCD%2BTVs%7C9555312.htm

I am just looking for a cheap budget TV, that's technology won't be too outdated in a few years.

Any 'critical' review on this TV would be appreciated or any advice on what to look for ? Thanks

roxorx

Is your budget around £200 taking the vouchers into account, and definitely from Argos? A lot depends what you will use it for, movies, sport, normal TV? Personally I'd much rather have a decent 26" than a poor 32" purely for the reason you get a lot of 'ghosting' on cheaper LCD's that better makes don't have issues with.

penrhyn

1080P capable sets are usually 37" or larger. The smaller screens are usually 720P.
You would not see any difference betwen the two on a 32" screen, actually there are no plans to broadcast HD in 1080P, only Blue Ray players have this resolution.
Contrast ratio, the bigger the number the better, cheap sets are often around 800:1.
The other key specification is image persistence a figure of 5ms or less is best. Its effect is to blur fast moving images on sports.
I'd go for a well known brand (Japanese) but view before you buy and preferably with a freeview signal.

jamesd

stphnstevey, there are plans to broadcast Freeview HD as soon as the digital switchover happens in each region. The standard used is different from the current Freeview digital standard definition signal so no sets purchased today will be able to show it without a set-top box. This includes every HDTV set being sold today.

The earliest date on which sets will be available that can receive HD on Freeview is expected to be in the middle of 2009, once new chips that can handle the new format become available.

I'm not interested in buying something that'll be obsolete in a year so I'm just not buying a HDTV at the moment.

Inactive

jamesd wrote: »

I'm not interested in buying something that'll be obsolete in a year so I'm just not buying a HDTV at the moment.

Well .. quite simply, you will never buy anything.

Chances are that like now, there will be b*****r all worth watching on HD anyway.

superscaper

Inactive wrote: »

Well .. quite simply, you will never buy anything.

Chances are that like now, there will be b*****r all worth watching on HD anyway.

Yep, it's not as if the SD freeview will suddenly stop or something. And the absolute maximum that's proposed to fit on freeview is only 4 HD channels. You can't squeeze any more on. I really don't think even when DBT HD set top boxes come out or DBT HD tuners built in to TVs it'll actually be worth it just for 4 HD channels, and most of those are likely to simply be HD versions of existing SD channels anyway. Plus if you take into account the Freesat HD available already which'll probably carry all those same HD channels anyway and more...

TiTheRev

superscaper wrote: »

Yep, it's not as if the SD freeview will suddenly stop or something. And the absolute maximum that's proposed to fit on freeview is only 4 HD channels. You can't squeeze any more on. I really don't think even when DBT HD set top boxes come out or DBT HD tuners built in to TVs it'll actually be worth it just for 4 HD channels, and most of those are likely to simply be HD versions of existing SD channels anyway. Plus if you take into account the Freesat HD available already which'll probably carry all those same HD channels anyway and more...

So what type TV are you recommending there?

1080p too much? Or will there be something more suitable on the market anytime soon? I am curious as ive had my TV for about 8years now and is showing signs of age...like the owner

I too dont want to buy something too good for the use it will get, or too poor for the capabilities of TV/movies in the near future.

superscaper

TiTheRev wrote: »

So what type TV are you recommending there?

1080p too much? Or will there be something more suitable on the market anytime soon? I am curious as ive had my TV for about 8years now and is showing signs of age...like the owner

I too dont want to buy something too good for the use it will get, or too poor for the capabilities of TV/movies in the near future.

Well there are new panasonic's with freesat built in (all you need is a dish). We've got a panasonic plasma (larger) for the living room and a panasonic LCD (smaller) for one of the bedrooms. Been very please with them both. In terms of value for money I think it's still better getting plasma for the larger screens although I'm not sure where the cut off point should be. Best advice is go into a store and watch some. People tend to have their own preferences as well for display technology.

I think any decent set will do for the forseeable seing as most have digital tuners built in. Analogue TV tuners are the only thing that's soon going to be a legacy/dead technology. Everything else is down to preference and what you'll use it for. Even HD doesn't matter too much if you're never going to use an HD source.

jamesd

Inactive, I've already been through one HDTV switchover, in the US. Broadcast free to air HDTV has been there for about four years now. If you want 100 HDTV channels, head over to New York. Don't expect to find much more that's interesting to watch, though.

If all I wanted to do was watch standard definition digital TV with a set-top box, I already do that without having to get a HD TV set. HD is what makes having a HD set worth the price, and receiving broadcast signals is the point of the tuner in the set, so if it can't receive any HD signals the HD part is a waste of money.

You make a good point about HD channels, though. The list of candidate channels for HD Freeview is discouraging.

TiTheRev, usual technology rule applies to this: buy after the main rush, when the technology prices have dropped as low as they will get and the worthwhile features are standard. Next year's hot TV gadgets will probably be the screen types that are neither plasma not LCD but better than either, OLED perhaps. 2013 looks likely to be a good time to buy: a year after London has becomes the last part of the UK to switch to digital only TV and eight years after the US started.

There's no sign yet of anyone planning to broadcast 1080p so that's not likely to matter to you unless you plan to get lots of films on blu-ray.

Freesat looks like the way to go to get the greatest amount of free HD content. The decision to sell off the analogue spectrum has effectively killed terrestrial HD except as a backwater for those who can't afford anything else or who can't get a satellite signal.

If you just want to spend some money today a cheap 720p set looks like the way to go, then you can upgrade in a few years once the prices of the new technologies drop.

superscaper

jamesd wrote: »

Next year's hot TV gadgets will probably be the screen types that are neither plasma not LCD but better than either, OLED perhaps.

Having researched and made organic transistors myself, I'm definitely looking forward to OLED really taking off.

TiTheRev

Looks awesome (after a bit of research!), may just have to hope my TV holds out until these are cheap enough to buy or might that only be 4/5yrs down the line?