Was I mis-sold on a HD Ready TV?

techno79

A couple of months ago I purchased an advertised HD Ready TV (Samsung PS43D450) from John Lewis for my father. It was a discontinued model so they were selling them for a reasonable price.

My father (who is not very technical) managed to connect his current settop boxes up via scart and the output of this was sufficient for him to not raise any concern to me. However, I recently bought a nettop PC and only saw the TV for the first time when I was setting it up for him. I couldn't get the video output from the PC to look proper in anything but 1024 x 768.

I did a quick search on the internet and was shocked to find that 1024 x 768 is the native resolution for this TV (Samsung Website).

The John Lewis website no longer lists this product any more but it was definitely advertised as a HD Ready TV. My understanding is that HD Ready is a TV that supports 720 horizontal lines of resolution in a wide aspect ration (i.e. 1280 x 720). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_ready

The 1024 x 768 not only contains far fewer pixels, but it is in a 4:3 resolution on a 16:9 ratio screen which makes everything look stretched wide.

I know John Lewis normally have a great customer service and I am hoping they can refund the full cost based on the fact it was blatantly mis-sold. However, if they are more difficult, what options do I have? As mentioned before, the TV is about 2 months old.

TIA

vyle

It's not misselling, because it supports the resolutions in that if you plug an hdmi cable into it, you'll get a picture. It IS HD ready, but it isn't very good.

The terms "hd ready" and "full hd" are rather meaningless. It's the actual resolution that matters, because all you can be sure of with something that's "hd ready" is that you get an HDMI socket.

jaydeeuk1

Anything that has a vertical res of over 720 lines can be classed as 'hd ready' - horizontal isn't taken in to account. Lots of older plasmas have a 1024x768 res are the pixels are rectangular, but they're still HD ready, and the picture on the better models is pretty good.

Figment

Have you tried connecting via HDMI instead of SCART?

jaydeeuk1

You wont get 1024x768 via scart, so op will either be connected by hdmi or vga, and 1024x768 is the correct res for this TV.

Lifeforms

Plug it in with an hdmi cable, restart the computer and you should be able to choose a better resolution, although it might not be the recommended one, so picture might look weird/odd/dark/fuzzy/etc

techno79

vyle wrote: »

It's not misselling, because it supports the resolutions in that if you plug an hdmi cable into it, you'll get a picture. It IS HD ready, but it isn't very good.

The terms "hd ready" and "full hd" are rather meaningless. It's the actual resolution that matters, because all you can be sure of with something that's "hd ready" is that you get an HDMI socket.

But doesn't HD Ready require a wide aspect ratio resolution (i.e. 16:9). 1024 x 768 is only a 4:3 ratio. As explained here: http://www.dabs.com/learn-more/electronics/what-is-hd-ready-tv--dabs-explains-all-431.html

"The minimum native resolution of the display (e.g. LCD, PDP) or display engine (e.g. DLP) is 720 physical lines in wide aspect ratio."

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

Anything that has a vertical res of over 720 lines can be classed as 'hd ready' - horizontal isn't taken in to account. Lots of older plasmas have a 1024x768 res are the pixels are rectangular, but they're still HD ready, and the picture on the better models is pretty good.

Same reply as above, doesn't it need to be in a wide aspect ratio?

Figment wrote: »

Have you tried connecting via HDMI instead of SCART?

Yes, it's already connected via HDMI. It was just the existing settop boxes that were connected via SCART.

Lifeforms wrote: »

Plug it in with an hdmi cable, restart the computer and you should be able to choose a better resolution, although it might not be the recommended one, so picture might look weird/odd/dark/fuzzy/etc

Yes, the PC already allows me to select a higher resolution than 1024 x 768 but as you say, it looks weird as there aren't enough pixels to properly render the display at anything higher than 1024 x 768 so it isn't really an option in this case.

Jemma-T

techno79 wrote:

but it is in a 4:3 resolution on a 16:9 ratio screen which makes everything look stretched wide.

There's a setting in the menu which he'll have to change (to make the ratio different ie it'll fit correctly). Some TVs have it on the remote.

Userguide: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201201/20120117193146391/01_PX5DVBEU1A_ENG_0106-web.pdf



JL haven't done anything wrong.

People should do their homework on technology.

What's a "nettop PC"? If it's a real PC you should be able to also change the output to the TV's limitations (and maybe still have to adjust the TV on every occasion you use the PC).

vyle

Jemma-T wrote: »

There's a setting in the menu which he'll have to change (to make the ratio different ie it'll fit correctly). Some TVs have it on the remote.

Userguide: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201201/20120117193146391/01_PX5DVBEU1A_ENG_0106-web.pdf



JL haven't done anything wrong.

People should do their homework on technology.

What's a "nettop PC"? If it's a real PC you should be able to also change the output to the TV's limitations (and maybe still have to adjust the TV on every occasion you use the PC).

A nettop is basically a desktop version of a netbook. Weedy processing power, but very small.

OP: samsung themselves class the TV as HD ready, every other retailer classes is as HD ready. JL has done nothing wrong, but if you buy a cheap, big tv, the chances are that you get what you pay for. In this case, you did.

If you take it back for an exchange, you'll get one, but you will need to pay the extra to get a tv of the same sort of size with a superior resolution and picture quality.

McKneff

sigh !!..........

I wish the world would stop getting so technical,

Trying to tune into Radio Caroline was technical enough for me...............

rrf494g

Hey, let's not abuse the English language . . .

"I made an ill-judged/ill-researched purchase" IS NOT, "mis-sold".

I try to take responsibility for my own actions and don't claim "Mis-sold" or "Scam" or "Rip-off" when I make a mistake. JL have a great service policy, I'm sure they will treat you fairly. Don't claim they went out to cheat you.

good luck.