New TV? PLasma, LCD HD, HD Ready???

tjgr00me

Hi All

Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

Im looking at buying a new tv but ive not bought one for over 6 years and have fallen behind in the latest technology/terminology.

I have a budget of around £300 (dont want to go above £350) and im looking for a size of 40".

I think ive narrowed it down to 2:

PANASONIC VIERA TXP42X50B

SAMSUNG UE40EH5000

2 different types, a panasonic plasma HD ready or a samsung LCD Full HD (more towards the basic end).
Im not bothered by smart, 3D etc.
It will be used for standard TV (primarily sports, i have no blu-ray or HD input but this may be a future option) and a small amount of gaming on a Xbox 360.

The room is slightly darker than usual, but not pitch black, tend to have the lights on a lot, thinking about glare.

Ive been told plasma's are better for sports due to refresh rates etc. but Full HD is better than HD ready.

Im due to buy one on friday but im not sure which one is better or if there is another out there, ive tried speaking to the sales guys but i glazed over a bit when they went into all the full details!

Any advice anyone could give would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!!

Toxteth_OGrady

There's an AV Forums discussion on the Panny here:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/tv-should-i-buy/1620527-slight-concern-over-rss-marketing-panasonic-txp42x50b.html

My advice would be to go to a retailer where you can view the 2 sets side-by-side.

Form your viewing distance you may find that the lack of 1080p on the Panny is irrelevant - as mentioned in the AVF thread a Which review rated it a Best Buy with a better picture than other LCD/LED 1080p sets.

Also TV HD sports broadcasts are not 1080p.

I prefer plasma for watching sports.

Inner_Zone

Defiantly the Panasonic, I have two older 37" models, picture is great. Get it from JL or RS both for £330 with five year guarantee.

almillar

tjgr00me - you've got it about right actually! Both of these TVs are HD Ready. The Samsung is Full HD Ready but you can only remove the 'Ready' part if it has an internal HD tuner - it does not. You have to plug something into it to get HD pictures.
I'd go for the bigger screen of the Pana.

joe134

almillar wrote: »

tjgr00me - you've got it about right actually! Both of these TVs are HD Ready. The Samsung is Full HD Ready but you can only remove the 'Ready' part if it has an internal HD tuner - it does not. You have to plug something into it to get HD pictures.
I'd go for the bigger screen of the Pana.

As I have found out to my cost. buying three thinking that they were HD but weren,t
I viewed in the shop as TOG said, but, was viewing a Blueray dvd, was told it would be same at home, but as my long thread shows, HD FREEVIEW, has to be on the box, other wise it aint HD,;;; guys in shops lie.
Wish I,d read this thread before I bought.
Best of luck

joe134

joe134 wrote: »

As I have found out to my cost. buying three thinking that they were HD but weren,t
I viewed in the shop as TOG said, but, was viewing a Blueray dvd, was told it would be same at home, but as my long thread shows, HD FREEVIEW, has to be on the box, other wise it aint HD,;;; guys in shops lie.
Wish I,d read this thread before I bought.
Best of luck

upMoneyineptitude 31-12-2012, 6:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joe134
Cannot run all 3 from 1 source.?
No, you really need a separate HD decoder for each TV-especially if you want to want different channels in each room.

Based on what you've said,though, you'll probably be content with the decoders built into the TVs albeit in standard definition.


Here's a real "sickener" for you;
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lg-42l...xmxaa&istBid=t
Only £30 dearer than the model you bought from ASDA.

don,t know if this is any good to OP, wish I was back in his position,instead of looking for hd freeview boxes for new tv,s, which was told were in.

InsideInsurance

Plasma is not as bright as LED/LCD and has a glass front and so more prone to glare but does have a much more natural picture, darker blacks and less motion smeering.

Given your room is dark then plasma would be the better route as long as the glare isnt going to be an issue.

LED/LCD are the same basic tech just with different lighting mechanisms. They have non-glass fronts and so deal better with glare, have a brighter picture and so suite bright rooms but their picture simply isnt as good looking and they suffer from problems with their back lighting (eg LED have clouding).

Since pioneer pulled out of plasma I'd argue that Panny are the best for plasma and samsung the best for LED/LCD so your looking at the right brands

almillar

Blueray dvd

No such thing. Blu-Ray disc. Joe, you should have taken those TVs back if you were missold, and spent that extra £30 on the one with the Freeview HD tuner.
InsideInsurance - glossy plasmas - yes, but you need to be careful as this is getting a bit out of date. Lots of LCD/LED TVs are now coming with glossy screens too, which will give you the same reflections (actually plasma makers have been applying anti glare coatings to their screens for years, so may be better developed in this regard). So for reflections, its not plasma vs LCD, it's simply glossy vs matte.

tjgr00me

Cheers for everyone's replies.

I have bought the plasma Panasonic and initially it looks ok, screen a little bit fuzzy but not sure if it needs setting up/bedding in.
Does anyone have any recommendations for the best bedding in procedure and potential settings?

The picture is sharper on Game mode and looks to give the best picture with no adjustments (is there a pro/con for using game mode), in terms of bedding it in i have turned everything fairly low, colour, contrast etc.

If anyone has any suggestions to to get the best out of it,it would be most appreciated!

Thank you.

Toxteth_OGrady

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pictureperfect-tv-picture-setup-help/1675217-panasonic-plasma-2012-tv-recommended-picture-settings-shown-menu-examples.html

almillar

Fuzzy, of course, depends on the source. If it's a rubbish Freeview channel, it'll be fuzzy. If it's Frozen Planet on BBC HD, it should not be Fuzzy! Good general rule without going into mega detail (and I've got a Panasonic plasma) is put it into Cinema mode. Turn off all the enhancements like 600Hz etc. The 'sharpness' bar should be in the middle. Going right artificially sharpens the picture, going left will artificially soften it. After checking all that, have a play with the contrast, colour and brightness settings to your taste. You need to make sure that black still looks black (not grey) whilst white is a nice crisp white. People usually reach straight for brightness to achieve this, but I find contrast is more useful.
Nothing wrong with game mode. It turns off lots of enhancements and throws out quite a pure image from what came into the TV - this is any TV's 'fastest' mode, so that people can react faster to being shot at in games etc. For watching TV, it's usually better to go with the microscopic delay, let the TV do some basic processing on the picture, and hopefully make it a bit better.
But then, you should set YOUR TV up for YOUR eyes!