Digihome 26" HD ready LCD TV

Lopo

yup....well said.

toshiba new 68 lcd range....MMmm!

pioneer plasma - 5000-ish model too! very swanky pieces of kit!

Morcerf

duncanda wrote:

Be careful of the statement about being "HD Ready" as well when selecting a TV. A weekend article in a newspaper said that a lot of "HD Ready" TV's can't actually display true HD because they don't have an HDMI interface. Apparently this interface is a high speed digital interface between HD tuners e.g. Sky box , etc. and the TV. Therefore providing digital HD. If your TV doesn't have at least one of these then you need a digital to analogue converter (at extra cost) which is a slower interface and reduces the image quality, thereby defeating the purpose of HD. The article went on to say that even if you got an analogue to digital converter, some TV manufacturers will not guarantee that they will work with their TV's. Do a Google search for an explanation of HDMI. Also as jamesd posted previously the "response time" is also important.

This is also incorrect - its completely possible to have a HD signal/picture without using HDMI. e.g. the xbox 360 outputs at high def but doesn't use HDMI. HDMI is just a new interface for connecting HD devices that handles both the picture and digital sound.

You are right that HD Ready is misleading - all it means is that you can connect HD devices, not that it will actually display them in HD. Ridiculous and very misleading really!

busabus

Morcerf wrote:

This is also incorrect - its completely possible to have a HD signal/picture without using HDMI. e.g. the xbox 360 outputs at high def but doesn't use HDMI. HDMI is just a new interface for connecting HD devices that handles both the picture and digital sound.

You are right that HD Ready is misleading - all it means is that you can connect HD devices, not that it will actually display them in HD. Ridiculous and very misleading really!

HDMI is just a connection type, you can watch HD content via component cables or a DVI cable, or even VGA with no loss in quality. HDMI will probably be the connection of choice in the future though.

This is were things gets more complicated though. HD-Ready is an industry specification (EICTA) and can only be put on TVs that meet the requirements. It means they will be able to display HD content when connected to an HD source. One of these specifications however is related to protected content. The next generation of DVD players, and probably things like Sky may have an extra anti-piracy layer so that their output can only be displayed on TVs that have a special decoding chip in, and the only way this can be connected is via a DVI or HDMI cable! So if you see HD-Ready and no HDMI or DVI connection then it will not play protected content.

See page 4 for the exact wording http://www.eicta.org/files/HDready-175437A.pdf

As for that TV, I was looking at it and umming. Would look nice next to the Xbox... But the slow response time put me off, and I've bought cheap LCD monitors before and been very dissapointed. I'd rather spend 50% more and get a brand I trust, or actually wait a few months for the prices to drop Oh, and I'd always recommend seeing the quality first hand before spending such a large amount of money!

leon103

Check this out.

http://uk.aldi.com/special_buys/productnl_461.html

GoodOlAl

Argos selling 26" HD ready for £299.99 + £4.99 delivery if required, in stock in Swindon today

MyUserNamesTaken

I've already posted this on another thread, but will post it here too. It beats the digihome deal in all ways. The Teco cost me £407 all in with my quidco cash back. The price has gone up slighting, but it's still great for the money.

MyUserNamesTaken wrote:

I would advise people to buy the Teco from Techfever, as it's a great TV for the price. It's got excellent reviews on the av forums, as well as on aria. Teco actually make the panels for Sony and Viewsonic. I've bought one of these and it's got great picture quality and excellent specifications. Only slight problem is that they are out of stock at Techfever at the moment, Stock's due in tomorrow, apparently.

http://www.techfever.co.uk/products.asp?partno=195546

Loads of threads on the Teco tv can be read here:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/search.php?searchid=5440501

Here it is on Play.com:

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/3256503/-/Product.html?searchstring=teco&searchsource=0

And the specs:

• Panel:
• Active Screen Size - 32"
• Aspect ratio: 16:9
• Brightness (cd/m2): 500
• Contrast: 1200:1
• Resolution: 1366x768
• Response time (Tr/Tf ms): 8/6
• View Angle: 176/176 degrees
• Video:
• Comb filter: 3D
• Progressive Scan: Yes
• 3:2 Pull down: Yes
• Noise reduction: Yes
• Audio:
• MTS/Nicam/A2: Nicam/A2
• AI audio: Yes
• Spacial sound: Yes
• Mute: Yes
• Audio output: 10W+10W
• Functions:
• OSD: English, French, Spanish, Finnish, German
• Swap 4:3-16:9: Yes
• TV/CATV channel: 250
• Channel return: Yes
• PIP/POP: Yes
• Picture settings: Yes
• Sound settings: Yes
• Off timer: Yes
• Channel edit: Yes
• No signal auto off (15mins): Yes
• Teletext: 1000
• APS: Yes
• I/O ports:
• HD ready: Yes
• HDTV input (Y Pb Pr): 1
• VGA input: 1
• HDMI (with HDCP): 1
• S-video input: 1
• AV input: 1
• Audio output: 1
• SCART: 2
• Earphone: 1
• Others:
• Dimensions (H x W x D): 650 x 820 x 230
• Weight: 26.5kg
• Power Consumption: 190W

Teco make LCD TV's for Viewsonic and Sony so you are getting real quality at a great low price. This product is comparible to some of the top LCD TV's on the market today. This model uses a Viewsonic LCD panel, and comes with the latest up to date technology - future proof, at an affordable price with superb picture quality.

Cheaper to get it from Techfever and don't forget Quidco for an extra 2.5% off.

Martin, there's something else to consider when buying one of these TVs. Read all the reviews you can find. Although there are some dirt cheap LCD tvs out there now, a lot of them are not worth buying. There have been a lot of complaints about the Woolies TV, for example. It's worth taking your time and reading what other people say about the TV before jumping in. I did with the Teco TV, as well as the other cheapy TVs out there. Some TVs have problems with "ghosting", etc. Response time is important if you want to hook up a games console or two to the TV (the lower the response time, the better). Contrast is also important. The Teco came up trumps across the board when reading the reviews.

jamesd

RedOnRed, it's impossible to buy a future-proof HDTV set in the UK today. There are no significant broadcasts of HDTV over the air so it's impossible to buy a set with a working HDTV tuner. This contrasts with the US, where you've been able to do that and watch broadcast HDTV for the last three years or so, at least in areas of high population density. Instead the UK is following a very consumer-unfriendly make your equipment obsolete three times instead of once approach: first replace it for digital TV widescreen and Freeview, then replace it again for HDTV ready and finally for over the air HDTV, which will possibly finally arrive ten years later than in the US.

With the current state of things in the UK, a set capable of displaying 1080p is the best future-proofing you can get. HDReady does not require this - it settles for the lower quality 720p capability. 1080p instead of 1080i is what you need to make the most of the new generation of digital film players that are to replace DVDs, and for the newest game consoles.

paddyrg

Personally, even though this is an encouraging price, I'm still going to hold off for 1080-line sets. Almost all theoneson the market at the moment are 720-line (normal TV is 576-line) so not *that* much better, especially compared with 1080-line. Some (all?) of the 720-line ones will play 1080 images, but they downconvert to 720 first, negating (in my opinion) the whole point. Similarly a 720 image played on a 1080 screen will be no better than 720 line quality.

But...there's another reason I'm holding off...

When I was in Asia earlier this year I saw 3DTV playing adverts in a shopping centre (Siam Paragon, if you're interested). All the men were standing there gawping in disbelief. No, you didn't need special glasses, yes I'm surprised they're not playing 3D adverts in UK shopping centres, yes the technology is still pretty young (the 3D was clearly madeup of several discrete layers still), but WOW. So you can keep your 720/50i...I'm waiting forthe good stuff - either HD worth upgrading to, or waiting for 3D...I'm such a luddite!

digitalsafari

jamesd wrote:

Apparently Sky broadcasts in 720p/50 (720 progressive, 50 frames per second).

Currently everything on Sky HD is 1080i 50, 720p 50 is supported by the box.

jamesd

digitalsafari, thanks for the correction. So it's "breathtaking picture detail ... without image blur" has to hide the fine details and blur all the current Sky content by downsampling it from 1080 to 720. So much for truth in advertising.