Are hd big tvs worth the money? and what is the downside?

Hammyman

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

I've had 50 inch Plasma Full HD @ eleven foot for over a year and before that a 42 inch Full HD on the same wall mount at the same distance and never had any problem whatsoever with the screen / distance ratio.

You're missing the point of the Lecher Chart. It shows the screen size at various distances where the eye can actually perceive a difference in resolution. So as you get to around 8ft away, you need a 50" telly just to START to notice the difference between 720p and 1080p and a whopping 70" telly to get the full benefit. From 10ft away, you need a 60" TV to start to notice the difference between 720p and 1080p and a whopping 90" TV to get the full benefit of 1080p.

tony6403

corbyboy wrote: »

My personal opinion is a big HD TV is only better if you have a HD source.

I think that a normal, non-HD programme looks better on a 32 inch TV than a 52 inch TV.

The cabling makes a considerable difference.
Even if you are watching from SD, the use of a good HDMI cable upgrades the picture over that which you get from scart.
My 50" Panasonic gives excellent SD picture quality through its HDMI input , obviously it upscales when receiving a HD signal.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Hammyman wrote: »

You're missing the point of the Lecher Chart. It shows the screen size at various distances where the eye can actually perceive a difference in resolution. So as you get to around 8ft away, you need a 50" telly just to START to notice the difference between 720p and 1080p and a whopping 70" telly to get the full benefit. From 10ft away, you need a 60" TV to start to notice the difference between 720p and 1080p and a whopping 90" TV to get the full benefit of 1080p.

Who's eye Hammy ? yours or mine with my ' cosmo smallpiece bottle bottom specs ' ?

davester

Also check to see what the TV is connected to and by what cables, There have been situations where the image in the shop looks better but they are using different cables, to what you get with the TV, thus get a lower quality image. Or they make out the cables that come with it are not good and try to sell you more expensive cables that you not need.

Richie-from-the-Boro

davester wrote: »

Also check to see what the TV is connected to and by what cables, There have been situations where the image in the shop looks better but they are using different cables, to what you get with the TV, thus get a lower quality image. Or they make out the cables that come with it are not good and try to sell you more expensive cables that you not need.

Which cables ?

de1amo

i have just got some more details on the tvs i am considering--the 2 i am drawn to for price and name are toshiba 40lv703 lcd tv 1920x1080 full hd 45000-1 contrast at 525quid or a phillips 42pfl3405 1920x1080 50000-1 contrast hd lcd at 545quid

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there is a led samsung 1920x1080 UE-40cc5100 but its 755 quid

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i get a 120 quid if i buy from this shop between the 21st to 31 dec to be OS and they come on 12 months interest free

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anybody any suggestions out of the 3--they all have the right connectionsHDMİ etc

Enterprise-D

If anyone here thinks that getting an expensive, high quality HDMI cable will make a difference in picture quality, they're an idiot.

A £5 HDMI cable from Argos will yield the same picture/sound quality as a £50 fancy-pants cable sold to you by a smart salesman. HDMI cables are completely digital, which means they either work or they don't work. You can of course get a faulty/dodgy HDMI cable that will provide very obvious picture problems, but a good one will not provide a better than source picture.

almillar

So much outdated pub trivia in this thread!
Plasma screens do not suffer from screen burn, unless you leave a static image on for 24hrs or something stupid. Even then I have my doubts, but I'l not gonna test it!
They also use SLIGHTLY (10-20%) more power than LCD, size for size. If you want to save electric, buy a CRT!
JasX is slightly confused with CRT and SD. CRTs don't have a native resolution (ie a physical number of pixels across and up) like LCD and plasma do, so the resolution of a CRT screen (TVs and monitors) is down to the hardware inside, not the glass screen. It just so happens that around the time HD came in, CRT TVs were going out. My friend has a 720p 36" CRT TV, which has an absolutely stunning picture with colour and blacks that even modern LCD's can't touch. But yes, for 99.9% of the time, a CRT TV will be SD.
You DO NOT have to watch a plasma screen in a dark room!
An LCD screen is NOT better in bright conditions, if there's sun glaring in on a screen, you'll get a reflection off the glass plasma screen, and a big white blob off the matte LCD screen - you don't want either!
The part that I do agree with, is that after checking out specs and working out what's best on paper, and taking with a pinch of salt what us loonies tell you to do, go and look at the picture on the TV for yourself, and don't just buy one with 'the brightest picture'!

de1amo

will a 50hz lcd be any good for watching footie--given what has been said about blurring.

bosseyed

What was your budget OP? I may have missed it.

If you can stretch to it, then forget LCD or Plasma, get an LED TV. My 40" Samsung was £550 and is, frankly, spectacular in every way. Best telly I've ever owned. Great contrast, great deep blacks, sharp picture, slim line looks. Love it.

Prior to that I had a 42" Sharp Aquos which was also brilliant until it died (screen burn! on an LCD....odd)

I watch a lot of sport in both Hi Def and Standard Def and it looks fine in SD, but phenomenal in HD. It really does, sometimes I just flick back and forth between the SD and HD broadcast of the same game to enjoy the difference that HD brings. So, if you can get and HD source then great, but if not then SD still looks good on a big LCD and won't impair your viewing.

And agreed with anyone who points out that there is no need to spend a fortune on HDMI cables - there really isn't, my what hi-fi best buy HDMI leads (I think it was them) worth £5 each perform no differently to the £60 HDMI lead I got free with a DD player from Richer sounds. So don't waste your money on expensive cables.