Please help me find an LCD TV.

CathWales

Hi.

I have been wanting to buy a new LCD tv for sometime but I am the worlds most indecisive, nit-picking person! I know I want a 1080p Full HD LCD, either 32", but am leaning towards 37" as I have an 'ordinary' 32" widescreen that has grown too small for me lol. My room isn't huge and I do sit fairly near the tv in my wheelchair. The problem I am having is tho I have visited both my local Comet and Tesco and have also looked at the specs on the website, I can't make up my mind! I have Sky, but am wondering wether to get a tv with Freeview or Freeview HD in as I looked at a friends Sky HD channels vs SD and don't see much of a difference. I have also read some reviews of the tv's I did like and if they were unfavourable then I have been put off. Can anyone help recommend a good tv please? Also the on/off switch would be handy on the front of the tv as opposed to the side or top (Samsung ones have a touchpad on the front) tho only necessary when power needs to be on for recording as otherwise I use a remote socket to knock power to tv off. I also do not have any other HD equipment and am thinking of upgrading my DVD player to a Blu-Ray. Thanks in advance.

russ331

A rough guide to the correct distance to sit from a tv is 2.5 x screen size. If you sit about 7 feet from your 32" tv, then you don't need a 37" tv.

If 32" is the right size for you, then you don't need a full HD tv, as the screen is too small to benefit from the higher resolution. An HD-Ready tv would be adequate, however, most tvs on sale today seem to be full HD, & HD-Ready tvs aren't much cheaper.

I suggest you visit hotukdeals.com, click on the Audiovisual tab & scroll through the deals on tvs. If you see one that looks promising, see if it's been reviewed at hdtvtest.co.uk or by Which? Magazine ... available at your local library, or you can subscribe to the Which? website for a month for £1.

If possible, it's preferable to buy from Amazon or John Lewis, as their returns policy is better than the rest.

If you would like a suggestion for a 32" tv, then I would say the Samsung LE32C580. I bought the 40" version after much research, & it is really excellent, not only for picture & sound quality & features, but also for build quality & style. Many tvs look cheap & plasticky, but not this model.

Hope this helps.

Enterprise_1701C

If it is any help, we have been looking for a few months now and, having looked at a lot of screens (in shops and in friend's houses). we have come to the conclusion that we want either LG, Panasonic or Samsung.

We have been told by a couple of our friends that Sony are not as reliable as they used to be.

CathWales

Thanks for your replies:)

Jane, those are the tv models I am looking at mostly too lol.

russ331, thanks also for your advise, the Samsung 580 is one I have also been looking at, tho the one review in Comet said to avoid it as the blacks look grey and reviews on Tesco complain about the sound not being as good. I went to Comet earlier and looked around and all the pics on the tv did not look so clear, probably due to the power set up and being so many tv's to share the power source (or so I had previously been told). I then went to Tesco where the pictures on the tv were clearer, I also had some advice from a lady there and took away some tickets and prices. But I am now back on the Comet site and also considering LED's!!

One thing I was wondering tho was DNLA. I have hard you can watch youtube through some tv's, would this be the feature needed for this or would I be better looking for a Blu-Ray player with similar feature?

CathWales

I have another question: Does V-Audio mean Virtual and would I need extra speakers? Is it a better sound than Dolby?

Am currently looking at an LG32LE900 32" LED and Panasonic TX-L32s20BA LCD tv.

russ331

Reviews by individual purchasers are best ignored as subjective & unreliable.

If hdtvtest.co.uk say a tv is 'highly recommended', or Which? Magazine award a tv 'Best Buy' status, then look no further.

The 40" version of the Samsung C580 is renowned as the only LCD in it's price bracket with plasma-beating blacks. My 40" has properly inky blacks & is one of the reasons I chose it. I cannot imagine the 32" model having a panel significantly different from the 40".

IMHO, trying to assess picture quality in a shop environment is a waste of time. TVs have a 'shop setting', to supposedly show off picture quality to best effect. But has the individual tv you're looking at had this setting turned-on? Is it indicative of how it it will look in your home? Is the feed to that particular tv ok? Is that tv functioning perfectly?

I live 10 minutes walk from a John Lewis, & spent ages there in a vain attempt to objectively compare tvs. I gave it up in favour of using hdtvtest.co.uk & Which? to obtain a shortlist of tvs. I visited avforums.com to read the threads on the individual tvs, & then returned to John Lewis to check the build quality & aesthetics of the tvs, to decide whether they were classy-enough to grace my lounge. That last stage was decisive, as the LE40C580 looks very expensive & well-made by comparison with the typical £400 tv. I then checked hotukdeals.com until a good deal came along for my chosen tv.

As for sound quality, the C580 is above average ... see the review at hdtvtest.co.uk. Having said that, all flat panel tvs are limited by the lack of space available for large speakers. Mine sounds much better than it's predecessor, however, I have a Denon sound surround system, so that was connected within minutes of unpacking the tv.

As for DNLA, I haven't researched this issue as it doesn't interest me. I recall a post on the avforums.com C580 thread about getting connected via some £10 'dongle', so I believe it can be done easily enough.

You may also want to consider the Toshiba 32RV753. See the review at hdtvtest.co.uk. It's every bit as good as the C580 Samsung on picture quality, but is let down by lack of desirabilty ... cheap & plasticky looking ... the review doesn't say this but compare it with the Samsung in the shop!

OK_Sauce

What's your maximum budget for tv and blu ray combined?

CathWales

Hi

I went to Comet earlier. Met my bro in law, Sis and niece. I took a list with me of 32" tv's that I had collated from my visits yesterday to Comet and Tesco. We started to look around and a salesman approached us, saying he had seen me instore yesterday and asked us all if we needed help, to which my bro in law said yes. Salesman asked my budget and showed us some tv's (one which was over what I wanted to spend) I had been fancying the Panasonic TLX32S20BA @£429.99 and almost went for that when bro in law showed me a Samsung 650 37" . It had everything the Panasonic did but with the addition of a bigger screen, USB and internet tiv (via dongle apparently), the latter of which I don't know if I will use, but asked about. Both models I was interested in then turned out to be ex display models, we asked if I could get a discount on the tv, the man went and spoke to his manager, but he came back and said no as the tv already had £50 (it was priced @£494.99) off it, but offered me a 5 year warranty for £25 instead of £134.99. I don't usually think ex warranties are worth it, but at this point my brain was frazzled, total price on receipt is £519.98 so scuse me if my maths is wrong lol. Is this a good deal? TV is set up and sound and pic seem great.

xxxdarlingxxx

Hi there

I bought this TV at Christmas from Richer Sounds ~ £303 with 5 yr Guarantee, I am delighted with it, especially the USB playback which is so handy.

Samsung LE32C530 32-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 50Hz LCD TV with Freeview

It had great reviews on Amazon

lucylucky

"I know I want a 1080p Full HD LCD"

"I looked at a friends Sky HD channels vs SD and don't see much of a difference"

Why do you need full HD then if you can't see any difference?

russ331

CathWales wrote: »

Samsung 650 37" £494.99

I didn't realise you were willing to spend this much. It would've helped if you said so from the outset.

The Samsung LE40C650 is one of the highest scoring Which? Best Buy TVs they've ever tested. The LE37C650 should be as good, provided it uses the same make & type of panel ... there's no guarantee of this with flat panel tvs. You can get the 37" brand new from Richer Sounds for £520 & the 40" from Amazon for £578.