Cheap LCD TVs discussion

poor-but-happy

Just bought the Sony 32" LCD TV KDL32S5600U £299 +vat at MAkro. ( £499 in Comet) Seems to get pretty good reviews and 3 yr Sony warrantee

dave.trevena

Asda.com now in the running with this model:Videocon-5-Series-32+-Full-HD-LCD-TV/000592807
apparently a Dell but made in India... did not realise Dell making TVs but they make good PCs, and the reviews although sparse are not too bad.. major fault, no code to reprogram Sky remote yet.

almillar

zerolight makes good points apart from the contrast ratio part. Yes, the contrast ratio is important (its the difference between the brightest and the dimmest that the screen can display). But there's no set way for it to be measured, and manufacturers can basically throw around whatever numbers they like. From the example above, I bet that TV doesn't have 100x the contrast ratio of the other!
Just one of the tricks is 'dynamic' contrast ratio. Sounds good, doesn't it, with the word dynamic in it? A 'static' contrast ratio is the darkest black and the lightest white that a screen can produce in a single image, at the same time. For dynamic, they can go dark, then go light, making the test far easier, and far more impressive sounding, but actually, even more meaningless!
Best test of a TV? Set it up properly and LOOK AT IT!

Maryliz

Just called in to Tesco and neither the store nor Tesco direct will give a 2 year warranty - just the 1 year. Very disappointed as I was going to get it with the extra 1 year safeguard. Not sure what to do now - is it worth the risk?

Taffybiker

I bought one of the e-buyer 32 inch sets as featured in this weeks email, before it was featured. It has been in use as a DVD monitor since I had no aerial suitable for freeview. The chap came today to install a new aerial for me and I was surprised at how he picked up the remote and knew exactly what he was doing - he didn't even look to see what buttons were where. When he asked what brand the set was I told him I had no idea, that it was a cheapie from the internet. He told me he has one that looks exactly the same, has exactly the same remote control and exactly the same menu system, but his is branded Sanyo.
I began to wonder...

sooty&sweep

Hi

We're considering buying a new TV but looking for something that will last a few years.

We've been considering the Sony KDL 40W5500U or the 40W5851U.
The only difference we can see to our untrained eye is that the later has freesat. We have Sky so we're thinking more about the 40W5500U.

Any advice or views ?

Jen

pspdoggy

poor-but-happy wrote: »

Just bought the Sony 32" LCD TV KDL32S5600U £299 +vat at MAkro. ( £499 in Comet) Seems to get pretty good reviews and 3 yr Sony warrantee

thnxs alot for this info will be over the moon if this is stil on do you know if it is i will check it out tommorow though i live very far from makro 70miles. But if the deal is on will be the journey will be worth it lol. looking for 32inch full hd gaming purposes bluray watching films i am 12yrs old so only have £350 max to spend on telly for bedrom though ha ha.
btw thought i would share this deal with you as you have shared so many with me people
ACER V243HLbmd-LED, 8,000,000 contrast ratio, almost 26inch!
is awesome value for money if you want a top of the range led tv
doesnt come with tuner,£20, hdmi, scart adapter £15 ebay for £200 for led tv!
ebuyer.com/product/179160
add www. as i am not allowed to do links being a new user

hope you like and that i help some people

joolsybools

Beware of spammers on MSE who have very few posts.

pspdoggy

dont think of me as one just because i have low posts. i have been on it loads of times and finally thought it should join.

L.S.D.

kcolynot wrote: »

The reason there are so many cheap LCD TVs is perhaps that Freeview HD is beginning. If you want to watch the World Cup in HD this year (and you're in the right transmitter area) then you'll want a Freeview HDTV or a new set-top box. I think they're coming out around Easter. Se the Freeview site form more info.

Don't forget you can watch the world cup in HD via a Freesat TV, a Freesat box, sky & Virgin as well.

zerolight wrote: »

I say - be wary.

LCD's are great, but in order to be better than your old boxy CRT telly, they need to have more than just a high resolution. How crisp are the details? What sort of response time does the screen have? What's the contrast ratio?

These things don't just matter to the picky. Nobody wants a telly that can't deliver crisp sharp images. The average CRT delivers crisp sharp images of standard definition stuff, even if it costs £30. The average cheap LCD doesn't. They get a little better with high definition stuff but really struggle with standard definition stuff. Even high end LCDs can mush up standard definition broadcasts if they don't have lots of fancy (and costly technology in the background).

Response time matters because a cheap slow LCD screen will cause everything to get blurry whenever anything moves. Fast action movies can become a chore to watch.

The biggy - Contrast ratio. A telly with low contrast ratio struggles to differentiate between different shades - so a dark scene can become nothing but blackness - forget watching any movie or soap with nightime scenes. The higher the contrast ratio the better. Low end tellys like the Techwoods of this world have contrast ratios of 800:1. That's terrible. Mid range sets have a contrast ratio of up to 80,000:1. That's 100 times the contrast ratio of the Techwood. High end telly's have a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. That's a staggering 1000 times more than the techwood. It's not until you get up to these lofty heights that you are able to get a telly that can display a similar sort of night scene to an old boxy CRT. Mid range telly's do an acceptable job. Low end telly's just don't cut it.

The question to ask yourself. Do I want a telly that is thinner but delivers a significantly poorer picture than my current CRT? If the answer is yes, then go for a cheap LCD. Otherwise save your pennies. If you plan to use it for HD console gaming on a 360 and PS3 then you must aim for mid or high end.

Seriously, cheap telly's aren't a deal. Ever. If you really want to help people save their money, don't let them waste it on rubbish. They won't thank you for it when they realise that lump of plastic they bought makes viewing East Enders more of a chore than usual.

My heart says you are right but my head says it's not altogether true. Unfortunately a lot of these contrast ratios etc are meaningless, often a low one is as good or as near as good as the high ones due to the way they word the ratios etc. As for cheap TVs. I bought one of the Medion 32" LCD TVs 5 years back. It's picture is as good as my old crt, I put the 2 side by side to see for myself. That was some 5 years back. I recently bought a 32" LG. In the shops the picture was as good as the other TVs, Sony, Panasonic Samsung etc. At home it looked no better than my old Medion, I also didn't want to believe this but thats how it was. My Medion on HD TV was just fantastic. Many people have said how good it looked. My Medion is now in the bedroom & a larger Panasonic Plasma has replaced it in the main room. In spite of looking for an LCD TV I ended with the plasma because it is just that little bit better on larger screens. The main reason to avoid cheap makes is more to do with reliability, but some do have inferior pictures, but not all.