Choosing a new TV

MothballsWallet

My old TV's broken, it's a 22" Panasonic tube one. I've been advised that it can be repaired, but could cost as much getting a new set.

Now we're heading into the digital age, it's all so much more confusing now - LCD, LED, Plasma, 2D or 3D, screen size, HD read/full HD, argh! :eek:

(I'm of an age where I can still remember the days when all you had to worry about was: black & white/colour, screen size, teletext/no teletext, stereo/not stereo.)

So, does anyone here have any advice for choosing a new set?

I've got a simple list of what I'm looking for: I'd like a Freeview tuner built in, ideally LCD, and having a VGA/S-Video socket would be nice so I can hook my laptop up to it.

[Deleted User]

Personally I'd go for this: Samsung LE32C530 32-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 50Hz LCD TV with Freeview or something a little larger: Samsung LE40C530 40-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD TV with Freeview

LED is too expensive for what it offers (thin, power saving)
Plasma is great for watching sports on due to the lack of motion blur. Also the best choice if you buy a 3D TV
3D TV is still too much in it's infancy
Screen size depends on the size of the room and how far you'll be sitting away from the TV
HD ready means it'll scale down the feed to fit on the screen
Full HD means there's no lose of pixels and is the best choice for Bluray movies, PS3, Xbox's or sitting close to the TV

See these links

http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1207064684056
http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-led-lcd-tvs/1371167-lcd-led-edge-vs-lcd-ccfl.html
http://www.avforums.com/forums/tv-should-i-buy/1086331-led-vs-lcd-some-questions.html
http://www.avforums.com/forums/tv-should-i-buy/1185105-plasma-vs-lcd-led-lcd-power-consumption-image.html
http://www.avforums.com/forums/3d-tvs/1343280-will-you-getting-3d-tv-christmas.html
http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-led-lcd-tvs/1003898-realistically-how-much-difference-between-37-40-42-tv.html

penrhyn

Decide on what screen size you would like. If you are contemplating High Definition, then remember you need to sit closer for a given screen size.

The_Grandmaster

What's your budget? What size TV do you want?
Although totally depends on budget, I would be choosing a Panasonic, then probably Sony. Samsung and others, I am not keen on.

quinns2003

ive just bought the above mentioned Samsung LE32C530 32-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 50Hz LCD TV with Freeview and think its excellant i have a 165GB hardrive attatched via the USB and its brilliant

aliEnRIK

quinns2003 wrote: »

ive just bought the above mentioned Samsung LE32C530 32-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 50Hz LCD TV with Freeview and think its excellant i have a 165GB hardrive attatched via the USB and its brilliant

May I ask - is the hardrive formatted in NTFS or FAT?

savemoney

We have one of these for my daughter got her it for xmas

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003DNSJ22/ref=oss_product
Samsung UE32C5100 32-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 50Hz Slim LED TV with Freeview



It will pay media from usb ie mkv (hd too), xvid, mp3 and jpegs brilliant tv. I just got hear portable 500gb usb hard drive for her to watch things whilst in bed or sat on bed

penrhyn

Nice but no BBC iPlayer.

savemoney

You can get a wireless dongle that plays apps

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-WIS09ABGN-WiFi-Link-Stick/dp/B002669XKY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1293398797&sr=8-1

Its not cheap though not sure what apps it plays if it was iplayer I might get her it anything to make life better for her

It does say iplayer according to this site but whether it works for tv not 100% sure but its the right usb dongle for that tv I gave


http://www.homecinemabuyer.co.uk/essentials/samsung-wis09abgn-wireless-adapter/




The Samsung WIS09ABGN will allow compatible devices like the BD-C5500 Blu-ray Player and HT-C5500 home cinema system to access Samsung’s Internet@TV service wirelessly giving you access to YouTube videos and BBC iPlayer on compatible devices.

penrhyn wrote: »

Nice but no BBC iPlayer.

penrhyn

These are just wireless adapters so that the TV can connect to your router.
The TV itself would need to have, in the case of Samsung Internet@TV, for these to be of use, any internet capable TV would probably have an Ethernet connection as well.
A lot of Bluray players do have this facility as you point out, another way is to use a Wii, possibly PS3 and XBox as well but have not looked at these.

Willyk

I am also looking for a new tv and have sort of just about decided on the Samsung UE37C5800 37-inch Widescreen 50Hz Slim LED Full HD TV with Freeview HD. A tad more money than I planned to spend but I think its when you are spending this amount of money its worth paying a few quid extra to get exactly what you want. No internet connectivity, but the plan is buy a Sony BDP-S370 blu ray player which when connected up will give access to Youtube and a few other video related sites. TV also lets you play lots of different video files using the usb port. Kids should like this. Reviews are great for the tv but it would appear the sound can be a slight problem, but using a seperate amp for this anyway. With regards to LED lighting it should save some money on power and after talking to my cousin who has been repairing tvs for about 25 years he advised on LED. He reckons there is very little to go wrong with them. Hopefully he is right.