New Best Quality Value Television

Snooze

Vindicator wrote: »

Im thinking, so far panasonic first choice. But whats the difference between the them? What do you guys think?

PANASONIC VIERA TXL42U2B42 inch LCD TV 1080p HD Ready Freeview (richer sounds)


Panasonic TX-P42X10B 42-inch Widescreen HD Ready Plasma TV with Freeview (amazon)

PANASONIC VIERA TXP42X1042 inch Plasma TV HD Ready Freeview (richer sounds)

Samsung LE40B550A5 40 inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p Crystal LCD TV with Freeview (amazon)

The Samsung has a really nice picture and is excellent value for money but the sound quality is awful on them. If you'll be hooking up your TV to a separate sound system then I'd say buy it, but if you'll be using it as stand alone through the built-in speakers then avoid it. That applies to the LE37B550 model as well, fyi.

By the way, you should avoid all Samsung's if you're into fast-paced gaming. They lag really bad vs. other makes.

KillerWatt

moonrakerz wrote: »

LG and Samsung (in particular) are VERY heavily promoted,

That's probably because those two companies (along with one other) are the only manufacturers of the actual panels themselves, all the rest of them (Sony, Philips, et al) buy the panels from them and then wrap their own electronics around them.

Richie-from-the-Boro

KillerWatt wrote: »

That's probably because those two companies (along with one other) are the only manufacturers of the actual panels themselves, all the rest of them (Sony, Philips, et al) buy the panels from them and then wrap their own electronics around them.

TN panels are cheap, poor viewing angles, highly responsive and pixel colour values are usually 6-bit instead of 8-bit

PVA panels are more expensive, but have better colour accuracy and wider viewing angles, but poor text legibility.

IPS panels have the best colour accuracy and the sharpest text.

KillerWatt

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

TN panels are cheap, poor viewing angles, highly responsive and pixel colour values are usually 6-bit instead of 8-bit

PVA panels are more expensive, but have better colour accuracy and wider viewing angles, but poor text legibility.

IPS panels have the best colour accuracy and the sharpest text.

Absolutely correct, but there are still only 3 manufacturers of the actual panels - they just make them to the spec that is ordered.

John_Gray

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

IPS panels have the best colour accuracy and the sharpest text.

Is there any simple and foolproof way (other than, perhaps, price!) to determine whether a particular TV (or computer monitor) has an IPS panel? Will this fact figure prominently in the manufacturer's blurb, in your experience?

aliEnRIK

Vindicator wrote: »

I'm just really going for best quality picture, largest screen, most reliable, least depreciation. Budget maybe £500, but flexible either way.

You really need to tell us what screen size your after, and whats being plugged into it (Will it be used for online gaming for example?)


Obviously a 32" screen would have a much better picture than a 50" screen at the same price, so you need to weigh up whats more important

Richie-from-the-Boro

KillerWatt wrote: »

Absolutely correct, but there are still only 3 manufacturers of the actual panels - they just make them to the spec that is ordered.

Sir, you misrepresent me, I'm not in disagreement with you KillerWatt !

If it's in RED it's the panel manufacturer

OEM LCD Suppliers, Panel Types and Contractors:

LG Display: TN, IPS, S-IPS, SA-IPS, e-IPS and H-IPS --- Samsung, LGE, Philips, Vizo, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, AmTRAN and Skyworth

Sharp Japan: ASV (Variant of VA) --- Toshiba, Philips, Sony and Sharp

Chi Mei Optoelectronics: TN, S-MVA and LCS MVA --- Samsung, Philips, Funai, LGE, Toshiba and Sony

AU Optronics: TN, P-MVA and A-MVA --- Sony, Samsung, Philips, LGE, Toshiba, Proview, Panasonic

Chunghwa Picture Tubes: TN and MVA Variant --- Sony, Samsung and Konka

Samsung: TN, PVA and S-PVA --- JVC, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, Philips, Sanyo and Panasonic

Wistron Optronics: Unknown --- Sony
IPS Alpha Technology (Hitachi-Matsushita): IPS Pro --- Hitachi and Panasonic
Delta Electronics: Unknown
TPV Technology Limited: Unknown

.1. For John Gray and others, I can't yet find a supplier list for plasma's but I suspect they are made by the above makers anyway. I'll have a~n~other look on the Jap sites later

.2. My Samsung went Blanco at Christmas and I bought an LG, not because LG were favourite but because Samsung were using carp power [ capacitors costing 18p each (retail) ] boards in their models.

.3. Since that change I've decided that HDMi is 1000% better than SCART, Plasma is much better [ used to be carp ] than LCD, a 50" screen is an ok size in a 12 foot room if it's high definition - regardless of what experts who read rather than test - tell you.

Richie-from-the-Boro

John_Gray wrote: »

Is there any simple and foolproof way (other than, perhaps, price!) to determine whether a particular TV (or computer monitor) has an IPS panel? Will this fact figure prominently in the manufacturer's blurb, in your experience?

See #28 John Gray

mongoose2009

I repair these things and I am shocked at the poor quality of the components used inside them
I regularly fix power supplies that are only 15 months old normally under rated capacitors bulgeing
I would offer this advice make sure they have good ventilation.
If you can make sure they have at least 4 inches of space around them
mounting them on the wall often shortens the life.
And never mount them IN the wall they get no ventilation and it kills them rapidly

aliEnRIK

mongoose2009 wrote: »

I repair these things and I am shocked at the poor quality of the components used inside them
I regularly fix power supplies that are only 15 months old normally under rated capacitors bulgeing
I would offer this advice make sure they have good ventilation.
If you can make sure they have at least 4 inches of space around them
mounting them on the wall often shortens the life.
And never mount them IN the wall they get no ventilation and it kills them rapidly

Interesting

Its suprising how many forum posts ive seen that say how person X has fitted theirs to the wall above the fireplace with no 'ill effects'. I assume this degrades longevity even further?