Need advice on LCD TV's

joanne__rose

I'm thinking about buying a couple of LCD TV's, and would really appreciate some advice as it's all mind blowing.

I'm looking for a smaller (15"?) TV for the bedroom, and a larger (not sure of the size, but somewhere between 32" and 42") for the lounge. Am a complete novice and getting confused between 4:3, 16:9, HDTV ready etc....


Everything we have at the moment is JVC and it's useful being able to use e.g. the video remote for the television and vice versa but I'm happy to look at other brands.


I'm looking for a good tv that will last us for a long time (i.e. future proof). Also, should I be looking to buy now, or will prices start to come down soon?


Thanks for any help you can give.

mjr600

Due to its nature any LCD under 26" should be ruled out of the High Definition equation. High Definition viewing is only relevant on larger screen sizes, in simple terms, the more of the picture you see, the better the picture has to be.

To get the best picture on a smaller LCD you will need built in Freeview or a SCART which allows an RGB (Red Green Blue) signal from an external Freeview box.

This is currently one of the best small LCD deals on the market.

https://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index.asp?modelcode=HYU-L17T

When it comes to 32" + screens its a bit of a techie opinions minefield.

If you look at the mass market, High Def TV does not currently exist in the UK and only by the end of 2006, SKY and the cable co's will have limited High Def services running. These will cost a monthly subscription, there will be no High Def Freeview services for the next few years.

So what do you buy ? Ask 100 people get 100 views.

Its down to your eyes, your purse and what you watch.

An everyday TV-Freeview watcher with the odd weekend DVD thrown in will get little benefit from an LCD, your video tapes will look awful. The picture from you current JVC is likely to be better.

If you really must have an LCD my advice is buy the best there is at the moment, which is Phillips Ambilight series or something from Loewe. You could pay up to £2000 for a cutting edge 32" set from these companies and be reasonably happy it would be future proof.

OR

Buy cheap (less than £800) and accept technology moves fast and you may have to buy again to keep up in five years time. EBUYER have some good cheap LCD deals.

Whatever large LCD you buy it should have a resolution of at least 1280 x 720, a HDMI socket or a DVI socket or component sockets in addition to SCARTS etc etc

And finally

There are some new technologies called OLED and SED round the corner which may well give even better picture for less cash, whatever you buy today will be out of date tomorrow.