Hope to get advice on a 3D TV? :)

JamesK10

dsavvy83 wrote: »

Hi Martyp
<good stuff> Oh and don't forget to play around with the settings when you are at the shop they can make a lot of difference to the quality in picture.

Thanks for that advice dsavvy. I have a Samsung Blu Ray player so already have access to all their apps. For the TV I'm sticking with Sony's general purpose 32inch, this year the EX524. Last year's CX523 would have been the CCFL choice but I didn't trust Sony with my details for the giftcard cashback deal when they'd always given you a cheque before.

Like you say, it's all in the settings and what you're watching, newer films like the Bourne series and the last two of Spooks that were HD, I saw no bleed from my Mum's CCFL flatscreen, but 80s films like The Thing on ITV4, I did need to adjust the backlight downwards.

Just like the OP, I don't want to get rid of my CRT either, I have the room for it, it works and (sadly) I know it'll have better speakers than any flat screen I buy. Depends whether John Lewis actually make sure it goes to a good home when they take it away. There will come a time when better sound won't be worth an extra 100W to watch the whole thing though.

dsavvy83

JamesK10 wrote: »

Thanks for that advice dsavvy. I have a Samsung Blu Ray player so already have access to all their apps. For the TV I'm sticking with Sony's general purpose 32inch, this year the EX524. Last year's CX523 would have been the CCFL choice but I didn't trust Sony with my details for the giftcard cashback deal when they'd always given you a cheque before.

Like you say, it's all in the settings and what you're watching, newer films like the Bourne series and the last two of Spooks that were HD, I saw no bleed from my Mum's CCFL flatscreen, but 80s films like The Thing on ITV4, I did need to adjust the backlight downwards.

Just like the OP, I don't want to get rid of my CRT either, I have the room for it, it works and (sadly) I know it'll have better speakers than any flat screen I buy. Depends whether John Lewis actually make sure it goes to a good home when they take it away.

Good luck with the TV i spent many months looking for mine, and use to sell them, there are hundreds to choose from. But the ones which stuck out for me where the Pioneer ones sadly they no longer make them, but panasonic has bought their technology, and also the 9000 series Philips go to there website and have look at them they are really good, but pricey.

I have nice yamaha amp with bowers and wilkins M1 speakers they sound amazing, I wish i still had money to spend on AV equipment, i had to spend it on a house purchase and wedding arrrgh lol.

But there is plenty of good advice out there and review websites.

and always always go and see the tv for yourself.

and be very aware of the software they use on the tv, because sometimes the navigation can sometimes be clunky and slow. I have a sony blu ray player with really slow XMB bar, but i mainly use my ps3 for blu-rays.

martyp

John_Gray wrote: »

My Sony Trinitron from about 1994 still works well, apart from slightly deteriorating sound quality. I may well have to buy one of them thar LCD jobbies in the next few years, and line up a squad of hunky chaps to remove the Sony to the recycling area...

I don't think I'd risk lifting mine by myself, I believe such strong people exist that could lift it with one hand but I'll probably break something, either in the house or in my body!

martyp

Many thanks for the advice all, that's great to help me work out what to do. I think I'll have to go round a few shops and try the TVs out a bit rather than jump on something off the net based on an online review. I'll have to look out for that bleeding thing, also regarding the headaches when I tried active shutter in a shop I felt I could see the shutter movement and it really bothered me. Not sure if that was subconsciously or something or if I could really see it but it didn't feel comfortable using them really. I was at a show yesterday and they had a booth advertising a new film on flatscreen TVs and it appeared as if the characters came out at you but might just be because it was HD and I'm used to a CRT image.
One thing a colleague is obsessed with is contrast ratio, does anyone else worry about that?
I think I'll really enjoy 'playing' with all the menus and features on a new TV. I'm not generally someone that upgrades devices constantly, I like to leave it for a nice gap so that there is a big change in technology and more stuff to keep me interested and to learn from the change. Like letting the car get really dirty then washing it and admiring the change rather than washing it every week.

TheSaint_2

Avoid 3d... Huge waste of time and money. For blue ray the sony bdv 870 is amazing and has the interactive features. We have a tosh blue ray too and it is rubbish.

vyle

Seek out a panasonic ET5, they're tasty, and do passive 3d.

to everyone saying "avoid 3D," these days that basically means "Buy a crap tv" because you don't get the same grade of picture processing engine in the 2d sets as you do in the 3d ones, even if you never watch 3d, you still get the benefit.

Esqui

martyp wrote: »

Many thanks Esqui, I was thinking of the 47LW550T which seems to do quite well in reviews. I was unsure of a comment about 3d bluray not working that well on passive 3D or something? Also I did worry about a review saying there was really bad lag for gaming? I'm not a big gamer really but if I did start playing lots of games, especially 3D ones I wondered if that was an issue as you say the PS3 works great with yours?
Daft question probably but would a 3d Bluray player mean I wouldn't have any use for my DVD recorder anymore? I didn't know if they burnt DVDs?

The difference with passive 3D (and this is a bone of contention between LG and others) is that it doesn't give true 1080p 3D. Whereas the active TVs work by showing a 1080p image for the left eye, then a 1080p image for the right eye, and so on hundreds of times a second, passive TVs show two 860x1080 (?), i.e. half screen images at the same time.

If you have the LG set incorrectly, then there is lag on gaming - I often play games on mine, and turning on the Trumotion really detaches you from the game. Luckily, there's a special game mode which turns off things like that and reduces the lag.

Most Blu-ray players don't record onto DVD/Blu-ray (except the hugely expensive ones). So you may want to keep your current recorder as well.

I would only partly agree with going for the Samsung TVs. While they have a good picture (the D8000 remains the best picture I've seen on a TV in a long time), the sound quality of them is not that fantastic, particularly on their LED TVs. It would be worth considering a soundbar if you're not happy with the quality of the sound.

wymondham

3D TV's without specs are about now arnt they?

jaydeeuk1

Yeah, Toshiba launched one last week (expensive though, £4000)
Hopefully all these ridiculous glasses requiring sets will become extinct over the next 3 or 4 years.

VoucherMan

wymondham wrote: »

3D TV's without specs are about now arnt they?

Yes.

Just under £7000 from John Lewis.
Available for pre-order