Sub £500 TV.... LCD or Plasma?

Toxteth_OGrady

OK_Sauce wrote: »

No Ch4HD or CH5HD on Freesat yet.

My bad. C4HD coming to Freesat in April.

Channel 4 and Freesat today announced that Freesat HD viewers will soon be able to enjoy C4HD when the channel launches on the subscription free satellite TV service in April.C4HD becomes the fourth HD channel on Freesat joining BBC1 HD, The BBC HD Channel and ITV1 HD.

Iconic

aliEnRIK wrote: »

Some of the latest Pan plasmas have bad input lag

Input Lag? Does this only affect gamers?

aliEnRIK

Iconic wrote: »

Input Lag? Does this only affect gamers?

Anything over 20ms will also affect lip sync for those listening through an external amp. Not a problem if the amp has a delay feature

loracan1

You could do worse than get the Panasonic txp42s20 - saw one yesterday in Currys for £500. 'Which' have it as their best buy amongst plasma tvs.

Iconic

loracan1 wrote: »

You could do worse than get the Panasonic txp42s20 - saw one yesterday in Currys for £500. 'Which' have it as their best buy amongst plasma tvs.

Is that the TXP42G20 without Freesat?

£500 would be a good price but Curry's do not seem to have it online. Some online retailer I have never heard of is doing it for £450 but I wouldn't risk it!

geordie_ben

RIK, i know you've metioned scaler but what am i lookin for? this is the spec of one TV.. is the figure you're on about listed there?

Screen
Format 16:9
Screen size 42" (107 cm)
HD ready Yes
Frame rate 600 Hz
Brightness (in cd/m²) 1,300
Contrast 2,000,000:1 native
Response time (in ms) 0.001
Resolution (horizontal x vertical - in pixels) 1024 x 768
Viewing angle (horizontal/vertical - in°) Viewing angle free
Audio
Audio Power 2 x 10 W
Noise reduction DNR (digital noise reduction)
Mono/Stereo Sound A2 / NiCAM
Speakers Yes
Connectivity
Connectivity 2 x HDMI
1 x Composite Video
1 x RCA Phono (L/R) (side, rear)
1 x Component Video Input
1 x SCART
1 s RJ-45 Ethernet
1 x Analogue Audio Out (RCA Phono)
1 x Digital Audio Output (Optical)
Headphone jack
VIERA Image Viewer (SD card input)
CI interface
SCART connectors 2
DVI Input No
HDMI Input 1
PC Input No
Audio output Digital (Optical)
RCA analogue audio output
Tuner
DVB-T tuner DVB-T2
Standard Digital Freeview HD tuner
Double Tuner No
Functions
TV text 1,000 pages
Other functions EPG
VIERA Tools
VIERA Link
Multi Window (PAT)
Game Mode
Q-Link
Off Timer
Child Lock
V-Audio Surround
Sound modes: Music/Speech/User
Power Save Mode
General
Power consumption 123W average power consumption
0.4W standby
Remote control Yes
Accessories supplied Batteries (AA type)
Internal menu languages 22 languages
Dimensions (mm) Without stand: 1023 x 637 x 93 mm (W x H x D)
With stand: 1023 x 671 x 288 mm (W x H x D)
Weight (kg) Without stand: 23.5kg
With stand: 26.5kg

aliEnRIK

No

You cant read scaler specs as theyre never given

Thats why I said look on http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/

Heres 2 examples
Scroll down to 'Benchmark test results' which gives most measurements etc
Look for scaling

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/toshiba-46sv685d-46sv685-20100118163.htm
The toshiba is 'above average'. Not really what your after

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/samsung-le40c750-le46c750-20100709761.htm
The samsung is 'very good' in 2D and 'below average' in 3D (Its a 3D capable tv)

All your interested in is 2D (Although I personally find it interesting that just because a tv has decent normal scaling, it might not mean it scales well in 3D)

geordie_ben

Ah yeah, I saw that yesterday. Looks like a good site, and defs gonna use it to calibrate whatever TV I get (hopefully they'll have it on the website)

Do you know any other website like that one? I had a look at AV Forums but it just confused me haha

aliEnRIK

You cant just use whatever settings they have as each tv is different (Im talking the same model tvs) and it can depend on the source being used. That said, brightness, contrast etc should be fairly similar

Theres a few sites about, but if AV Forums confuses you then youve no chance with the others im afraid

divadee

Im just off to but the samsung le40c580 from john lewis. Its got v good reviews. Will let you know what its like if you want.