Sub £500 TV.... LCD or Plasma?

geordie_ben

I'm looking to spend no more than £500 on a TV, defs want something flat screen and HD if possible

Any ideas?

penrhyn

All TVs are HD ready these days.
Any thoughts on screen size, freeview or freesat HD, internet etc.

geordie_ben

penrhyn wrote: »

All TVs are HD ready these days.
Any thoughts on screen size, freeview or freesat HD, internet etc.

I need to measure up but I think max would be 42

We've got a Humax PVR so as long as I can hook that up I'll be happy.

Not bothered about it having fancy features as its for my parents who arent tech savvy

dg1dd1ngs_2

Bargain ~~

geordie_ben

dg1dd1ngs wrote: »

Bargain ~~

HD Ready vs Full HD... :huh:

Andrew1472

http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/sony/bravia-kdl37ex401/sony-kdl37ex401

They have a lot more to choose from and a cheap (10% extra) 5 year warranty.

geordie_ben

Should I go for full HD or HD ready? I only watch tv thru my pvr

aliEnRIK

geordie_ben wrote: »

Should I go for full HD or HD ready? I only watch tv thru my pvr

You should go for one with a decent scaler (scales the image to fit the screen)

Id recommend a Samsung or a Panasonic
I wouldnt touch that 'bargain' above as its scaler is BAD

you wouldnt gain anything from getting 1080P (full HD), but at least it will be ready for the future in case you get sky HD, bluray or a PS3 etc. That is unless you have a HD PVR in which case 1080P is the way to go so it doesnt have to downscale

Enterprise_1701C

We are looking at getting a Panasonic plasma - in a plasma the blacks are blacker, the contrast should be better and the definition is better, and the refresh rate is better too!

Going for Panasonic because they use the best panels.

Their new range is coming out within the next few weeks, so you might be able to get the old ones within your price range, although the HD Ready ones might already be. We are going for full HD because, although we may not have too much of a requirement for it already, we will be annoyed if such an investment does not last 10 years and by then we will need it. We are going for a 42" so it will really show.

aliEnRIK

Jane_Blackford wrote: »

We are looking at getting a Panasonic plasma - in a plasma the blacks are blacker, the contrast should be better and the definition is better, and the refresh rate is better too!

Blacks are better, but few people would notice the difference between a sony LCD and a pan plasma as theres so very little in it now

Contrast is a BS figure - completely meaningless, mostly as theres no actual standard. Its the ratio of black to white. So a plasma might have a very low black figure and an LCD might have a very high white figure (plasmas dont do whites well). All colours are in 8 bit anyways (so they all display the same number of colours) so its totally irrelevant

Definiton - totally wrong. LCDs tend to look a little sharper than plasmas. And if your talking about true definition (number of pixels) 1080P is the same regardless of what its one

Refresh rates are all the same, I think you mean 'pixel response times' are better on plasmas

geordie_ben

aliEnRIK wrote: »

You should go for one with a decent scaler (scales the image to fit the screen)

Id recommend a Samsung or a Panasonic
I wouldnt touch that 'bargain' above as its scaler is BAD

you wouldnt gain anything from getting 1080P (full HD), but at least it will be ready for the future in case you get sky HD, bluray or a PS3 etc. That is unless you have a HD PVR in which case 1080P is the way to go so it doesnt have to downscale

I've got a Humax PVR-9300T.... not entirely sure its its HD or not