Buying a new small TV (to last)

fracturedsun

I have had the same trusty small TV since I went off to university 12 years ago. It has lasted me well and seen me faithfully through the a move from video to DVD, addition of freeview boxes, and internet TV., I have been ignoring the advent of flat screen TVs, HD and inbuilt freeview but I think it is time to send it off to the great TV showroom in the sky.

What I want is to update it with a small flat screen TV, which will hopefully last me a good long while too. What I was hoping for some advce on was what to look for. Digital obviously and everything seem to be HD ready but considering this is a small set, which will probably eventually be relegated to a bedroom the next time I move house (probably 19 inch) is there anything else to look out for, will LCD vs LED make much difference, Is 3D worth paying extra for, should I care whether it's HD ready or full HD?

Thanks in advance.

Barneysmom

Something like this should do you, it's got built-in freeview (most tellys do now) so just plug and play.
I wouldn't bother with all the 3d gubbins.


http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5298099/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome+entertainment+and+sat+nav%7C14419512/c_2/2%7C14419512%7CTelevisions%7C14419667.htm

Have a good shop around though, it's amazing the difference in prices you can find for the same or very similar item.

macman

Get a decent brand: top end, Panasonic or Sony.
Medium-end, LG or Samsung.
Avoid supermarket/store own brands like the plague-Technika or John Lewis.

Moneymaker

Modern TVs so far have not had a good record for reliability. There's a lot of cr*p on the market. The problem is that manufacturers change the design every 6 months so, by the time you discover a reliable model, it has been superseded by a different model - probably cheaper and less reliable. Probably best to buy from a reputable dealer such as Richer Sounds or John Lewis (there are others) and get a 5 year warranty.

Pincher

I find the thickness affects the sound quality.
A 4" unfashionable flat panel is more likely to have good sound than a more expensive 1" skinny one.

smjxm09

If you want a 19 inch TV then have a look at the Panasonic TX-L19E3B. It is the only 19 inch TV on the market with built in Freeview HD. Got ours for £249 from Amazon. The HD picture is fantastic but there are only 4 HD freeview channels which are BBC1HD, BBCHD, ITV1HD and channel4HD.

The TV is LED and the picture is fine from any angle.

MattLFC

I would also like to boost the support for buying from Richer Sounds and taking their 5 year insurance. The only major thing it does not cover however (which may/may not be an issue for a small LCD in a bedroom) is accidental damage (,ay be covered by household contents insurance though).

However... generally most TV's are reliable nowadays. I would hazard a guess the bigger makes probably have "overall" better reliability levels, however I doubt it would be by a large margin, and there has certainly been mass-problems with brand name TV's and other appliances over the years. The thing that usually allows a low-end TV to be so cheap in comparison to a higher-end TV, is because they are re-badged "run-out models" (ie. last years big-brand model or 2 years ago etc), are imports from the likes of Chile (lower-priced Samsungs are quite common for this), or they feature technologies and panels that are not quite "cutting edge (for instance Technika TV's quite often use Samsung panels that have been rendered obsolete by a newer panel or two, and thus Samsung sold half a warehouse full of left-overs to someone like Vestel to make new TV's for cheap brands - the likes Vestel incidentally make a lot of cheaper TV's for the bigger brands, because they manage to produce them at lower cost than the bigger brands can, somehow.

At the end of the day, so long as you have 5 years or more insurance, you should be okay.

As for HD/3D/38DD on a 19" TV - don't bother paying a premium for them. The screen size is far too small to appreciate either unless you're sitting 5 inches from the screen...

:j

MattLFC

smjxm09 wrote: »

Panasonic TX-L19E3B <snip> £249 from Amazon.

The TV is LED and the picture is fine from any angle.

So it bloddy-well should be at that price for a 19'er lol. No to be fair, the Panasonic IPS-alpha panels are legendary for viewing angles, I have a Panny IPS-alpha panel on my Hitachi TV, and the viewing angles are immense - not that anyone else ever notices enough to comment lol.