help choosing 3d tv please

mccsavage

we've decided to treat ourselves to a new 50" 3d tv.

need help with all the tv lingo really and which is best for us. im slightly confused that some tv's say ''full hd'' and ''freeview hd''....how come it says it twice? (blonde!! sorry)

andsome say ''3d ready'' does that mean its not 3d straight away?? i dont get it sorry lol:o

this is the one we originally pickedhttp://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/samsung-ps50c680-50-full-hd-plasma-3d-tv-07890363-pdt.html

any help appreciated on if this is a good tv or not, or to please the HD abit more please

also any deals on similar tvs be great x

momoyama

Best advice is to leave it for at least another year.

3D is still in it's infancy both in terms of the filming and the technology being used to display it. Several companies are trying to get 3D TVs mainstream but they're going about it in different ways, for example trying "active" 3D glasses, "passive" 3D glasses and no glasses. As yet of course we don't know which will work and more importantly which will be most popular.

And then consider any possible sight limitations of your family - can you all actually watch 3D in it's current incarnation. Is the wearing of glasses feasible? Can everyone tollerate 3D?

So you get your 3D TV and then find that your box, be it Sky, Freeview or whatever isn't 3D compatible.

This year could be very interesting in the 3D stakes in terms of more filming being done in 3D and also in technological evolution.

Get your HD TV (ensuring that you first have an HD reciever at home) and enjoy it... but leave 3D well alone for now.

mccsavage

hanks for replying.i never realised buying a tv would be so tricky lol. makes sense what you said about it not being figured out properly yet, and i wouldnt want to buy the wrong one.

so im looking for a normal HD tv and reciever box?! this is all jinlge bells to us lol the last tv we bought was a 28" widescreen normal tv - whenit first come out lol!!

Esqui

The Sony ones are only "3D-ready" - you'll need to spend the best part of £300 to get a 3D transmitter and glasses. The 50" Samsung isn't bad at all, but I do prefer their LCD screens for 3D (the LED 8000 series is very nice...but very expensive). Also, in terms of glasses...

Samsung: 1 pair in box
LG: 2 pairs in box
Panasonic: 0 pairs in box
Sony: Even begrudge you having the TV in the box

Any Sky boxes from the last 6 months will be 3D compatible, but they'll give you a new one if you need it. Make sure you have a 1.4spec HDMI cable for 3D blu-rays and gaming though, the 1.3s aren't capable of 3D 1080p (it looked a bit grainy when I tried one)

aliEnRIK

LCD screens are bad for 3D as the pixel response time is FAR too slow and so you get 'crosstalk' of images (merging into one another)
So Plasmas are really the only way to go for 3D
The bad thing is that the Plasmas 'out of the box' settings are quite poor compared to a Sony LCDs so 2D and 3D images wont look as nice

macman

What size TV are you looking for and what platform are you intending to use it on (Freeview, Freesat, Sky etc)?
And what is your budget?
The main different resolution categories are 'Full HD' and 'HD Ready', but you'll only notice much difference above 32in.

letsbehonest

I saw a panasonic 50 inch 3D on demo in Curry's it had interactive viewing glasses and was playing Avatar, it was stunning, a bit pricey though and the glasses were £100 a pair, but as already said above give it another year, I personally don't want to wear special glasses to view TV,

DCFC79

Id rather buy a decent hd tv than a 3d tv,

clivejohnson

Hopefully, I can add my twopence worth:o)

As you have pointed out, there are two types of "HD"- HD and full HD.
HD consist of 720 lines, whereas "full" HD consist of 1080 lines, thus giving a far superior picture.

Just to confuse you even more (thats is not the intention by the way!) full HD (1080p) is divided into two categories-1080i (Interlaced) and 1080p (Pixels) The "interlaced" version only shows 540 lines on screen at a time, thus making up half the picture. The other 540 lines make up the other half of the picture a fraction of a millisecond later, but your brain is clever enough to work out the remainder of the image even before that- this is known as persistence of vision.- Ever tried looking at a light and then close your eyes, and fining the light is still there? 1080i works in exactly the same way.

Quite a few modern TV's have freesat tuners built in, with panasonic leading the way about two years ago. Pana also have just launched a range where they have 2D and 3D so you can switch between the two.

Freeview is standard definition. with HD ready meaning exactly that-its ready to recieve an HD signal, but to do this you will need either sky+, blu ray, virgin media or freeview+ HD. theres more info on freeview's website for this.

Also, as your getting a 50 inch tv, consider your viewing distance. (i.e. how far away you sit from the TV:o))

Oh, I almost forgot: please DON'T base your decison based on the picture you see on the saleroom floor. They always have the contrast/brightness setting turned right up to the max! If you can, try and find a specialist store who will let you watch your chosen tv before you buy it. YOu'll have a far better idea that way.:-)

mark1uk

in reply to original post......
I'm on the lookout for a new TV as well and considering the 3D option. If you buy a full HD with 3D then the spec and picture quality will be as good as a full HD without 3D , but you pay the premium for the 3D part ( about £400 on a samsung 50inch)
There have been some good deals on the Samsung PS50C680 before Xmas - bundles which included bluray player , extra glasses and 3d shrek package. At one time you get this from Currys/dixons for a little over £800 with discount vouchers which were running- I missed out on that however the reviews for that TV are really good. I'm waiting for new offers to come out as the Xmas/new year rush subsides and the manufacturers are bound to introduce some good bundles ( If you can wait a few weeks) Plasma is def the way to go for 3D as it responds very much faster than LCD/LED ( currently) which is needed for the high frame rate. The best samsung bundle deals at the moment are dixons, argos and richer sounds - but still more than the old price in early DEC. I will be waiting for the next round of discounts/bundles myself , for that model.
fyi if you're Blonde - freeview uses your standard TV aerial , freesat needs a dish and has more channels. The samsung has Freeview HD , some 3d tvs don't receive HD channels so watch out if you consider another model. You could add freesat later with a separate box like the humax foxsat which has a recorder built in for just over £100
There is new technology under development for glasses free 3D but don't hold your breath...

john87_2

momoyama wrote: »

Best advice is to leave it for at least another year.

3D is still in it's infancy both in terms of the filming and the technology being used to display it. Several companies are trying to get 3D TVs mainstream but they're going about it in different ways, for example trying "active" 3D glasses, "passive" 3D glasses and no glasses. As yet of course we don't know which will work and more importantly which will be most popular.

And then consider any possible sight limitations of your family - can you all actually watch 3D in it's current incarnation. Is the wearing of glasses feasible? Can everyone tollerate 3D?

So you get your 3D TV and then find that your box, be it Sky, Freeview or whatever isn't 3D compatible.

This year could be very interesting in the 3D stakes in terms of more filming being done in 3D and also in technological evolution.

Get your HD TV (ensuring that you first have an HD reciever at home) and enjoy it... but leave 3D well alone for now.

3d tv is just 2 images shown on the screen which the tv converts into 3d by merging the 2 pictures. The tv can be passive or active. Its going to be years before 3d with no glasses is available.

Because 2 images are required full hd is needed to get both pictures on the screen.

Passive and active both work now and just involve a different technology in how you see the TV with the glasses.

The bigger the screen the better. You need to focus on the tv without seeing the surrounding walls/windows to make the image more believable.

Watch out for the cost of extra glasses if you have a big family.