Bargain alert! 32" HD Ready LCD TV for £399...can you get one?

Searcher2

hopefulfooluk wrote:

It's a complete myth that more expensive means better quality. If you are looking to invest in a TV like this, you must do your research first.

Several months ago I bought a Novatech Q321 32" HD LCD TV. I paid £599 for it. Now this TV was actually a *branded* Hyundai Q321 - just that the vendor couldn't advertise it as being Hyundai if they were being sold at that price. These TV's have a panel that is made by Samsung and used in the top of the range Samsung 32" LCD's that sell for about £1000. The same panel was also badged up as a Marantz TV and sold for £1000 more than I paid for it.

So this shows that if I'd have bought the Marantz telly for £1600 I'd have NO BETTER a TV than I bought for £600. It's exactly the same TV just with a different badge.

Do your research - there's plenty of information out there on the internet - and don't make a spontaneous purchase of one of these before you know exactly what you are buying.

I am not sure this is completely true.... there is a huge difference between LCD sets using the same panel and two LCDs being identical but being rebadged. Quite a few manufacturers use the same panel (e.g. the Samsung panels) but the electronics inside is the important thing - and at least on the big names this is completely different. This can make a huge difference - in particular how a signal is converted to be fed to the screen. If you want to do your research properly I suggest visiting AVForums website. If you just fancy a cheap trendy flatscreen then maybe any old £399 will do.

Was the Novatech the same TV with a different badge or did it contain the same panel as the Marantz?

Uniscots97

I tried Martin's link as my parents are looking for a tv but can't get it to work. Anyone know why?

gatra_2

There is a lot of good advice in this column but you need to sit down and think what will you be using the TV for?

• Do you want it just to use in the bedroom?
• Do you want it for the lounge?
• Do you want it for the computer?
• Do you want it for the latest movie's?
• Do you want it for general viewing?
• Do you want it for you kids?
• Do you need two tuners in it?
• Do you need a DVD built in to it?

Don't just rush out and buy one just cause it's cheap, a plasma will give a better picture at better viewing angles but you can't use a computer on it for to long otherwise the image will burn itself on to the screen. even leaving a picture on pause to long will do this if you are using for a computer for long durations (longer than 5 or 10 mins) then you need LCD.

If you watch the tv face on then LCD is okay for you.
If you sit around the tv at different angles then a PLASMA is a must.
Once you move as much as 30 degrees on some LCDs you can loose the picture and finish up looking at a black screen.

Although LCD manufactures have been trying to get around this problem and things are moving on.

A plasma will last you for about 10 years after 5 years your picture will start to fade/burn out but who keeps a TV more than ten year now a days with technology moving on faster than we can keep up.

Also check to see if it “HD ready” or just “HD compatible” as there is a big difference in price between them. HD ready comes with a HD tuner. HD compatible needs a receiver IE: Sky HD box.

Also don’t confuse a Digital tuner with a Digital HD tuner. this is as different as Analog and digital.

The next thing to watch out for is Blue Ray v HD DVD recorders this is going to be the next Betamax VHS battle once more.

Personally I went for a 37” Panasonic Plasma for the lounge and a cheep cello LCD DVD from Aldi in the bedroom.

But at the end of the day ask to see it working then if you like the picture then go for it or leave it. It’s no use going for a high spec Panasonic /Sony /LG /Samsung if the picture isn’t right for you. I spent 3 months looking around surfing the web and price beating before I went for the Panasonic, It has a fantastic picture but it's crap with the computer when I change over to another channel you still see an image from the computer burned in to the screen (Once I left this web site on screen for an hour then changed over and had Martins face looking at me You know the one in the top left corner, for around two hours, only got rid after it had been tuned off at night) so we tend to use the old computer that just sits in the corner of the room hooked up to an old LCD monitor and not the new computer connected to the TV. One day I will change things around………..

[FONT=&quot]Sorry for going on this was only going to be as a short post......[/FONT]

Gawdblessyerguv

Another issue to wacth out for when buying HD-ready is to check that the set has one or more HDMI connections. This is, I believe, the most up-to-date connectivity for receiving HD transmissions.

We recently bought a 27" LG LCD HD ready set from PC World for £499. When I got it home and set it up, I found that the connections for HD were DVI not HDMI. DVI needs two cables, one for the RGB signals and one for the audio and although I understand it will work OK, it is older technology and will in fact only receive a subset of the HD signals. The odd thing was, the LG website specifically stated that the model number we had bought was fitted with an HDMI connection.

I went back to PC World and they agreed to exchange it for another model. I was planning to go for the 32" LG set, but they no longer had any at the 'special' price of £599. The manager has told me more should be coming in, so I am waiting.

It is true though that relatively few people can get HD yet. We could since we are with Telewest, but in order to actually get the transmissions we would have to upgrade to the TV Drive box which is another £15 a month.

Anyone else has this problem?

MyUserNamesTaken

codger wrote:

Re this latest AV bargain offer.

A

For those who don't think they're stupid, then, here's a link to be going on with. It might lead into topics so arcane that only Richard Dawkins can understand them, but that kind of stuff only represents a tiny fraction of the input:

http://www.avforums.com/index.php

In the old days, a good rule of thumb for wise buyers was to buy something endorsed by someone you knew who already owned it.

In today's fast moving times, that's not always possible. But there are people "out there" who are owners, and there are owner forums for entire products.

Checking out what they have to say first, rather than rushing off to Woollies or Argos or anywhere else for that matter, is actually the most sensible "money saving" advice of all. . .

As you know, the Teco 32inch HD LCD gets rave reviews on the AVForums (as well as everywhere else). I got mine for £407 from Techfever. It's gone up in price now, but it's still a damn fine TV. It's a rebadged viewsonic, by the way.

Martinslovechild

Bear in mind if you're thinking of purchasing an 'HD Ready' TV that all of these are being replaced with 'Full HD'. The difference? 700 lines for HD Ready against 1000+ for Full HD.

My bet is that all sets will be Full HD in 2 years time and there'll be a lot of folk who wished that they waited a while longer...

RedOnRed

MyUserNamesTaken wrote:

As you know, the Teco 32inch HD LCD gets rave reviews on the AVForums (as well as everywhere else). I got mine for £407 from Techfever. It's gone up in price now, but it's still a damn fine TV. It's a rebadged viewsonic, by the way.

Are there any Sky+ remote codes for it?

Nail_Lad

When considering HDTV there are indeed many issues to consider. Firstly Hi def tv isn't a single great new tv signal, not yet anyway. There are different resolutions to consider 720p, 1080i, 1080p, (progressive vs interlaced etc). As yet as I understand it different TV's are only capable of displaying in certain HD resolutions. Check this first!

The decision by the beeb hasn't even been made as to what resolution they'll use to broadcast from. Anyone know what Sky's HD signal is? I suspect only 720. So indeed, my advice would be to wait. Its what I intend to do.

However I have a projector capable of accepting a 1080i HD signal from my HD wireless media player and I know before hand exactly what resolution my media files are in before displaying so I can make the most of the picture and sound! Wikipedia was the only resource I used to help me with this.

As far as TV HD broadcasts, HDTV's themselves, Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD I'm leaving well alone until the market has settled down and there is a consistent HD standard currently I don't believe this to be the case. Why buy a TV only capable of handling 720p when next year TV broadcasts in 1080i?

720p vs 1080i

mat01

I'm interested in two things.... why is Martin recommending what is almost certainly a very bad quality TV, that has no built in Freeview tuner (normal analogue telly turns off as soon as next year) when he almost certainly knows nothing about TVs.

And - why when you click on the links does it go through something called 'commission junction'?

Is it possible that Martin Lewis is using the huge subscriber base of his website to generate pay-per click revenue by getting us all to look at a few rubbish tellys?

Discuss.

MyUserNamesTaken

RedOnRed wrote:

Are there any Sky+ remote codes for it?

I don't have Sky +, so never bothered looking for the remote codes. Try the AVForums. Chances are someone over there will be able to answer your question.