Tv / dvd combo

Donnie

duncan32 wrote: »

Hello everyone,Well, this thread seems to have taken on an interesting and at the same time quite hilarious life of its own while I have been away!?!I am so indecisive on this one, its untrue. I'm trying to take the good advice everyone has offered and come to a sensible decision, but it changes like the wind, I must say.This is my current plan. Get a Bush 19" HD Ready, digital widescreen LCD tv (from Argos looks the best bet price wise £219.99- and you don't have to pay anything for 6 months, which will get Xmas out of the way etc). You also get a 1/2 price wall bracket (so that's £14.99) with this. Because of my worries that the burnt DVDs that I have won't play, I have decided to go with the seperate option (good idea, also bearing in mind the what if one bit goes wrong thing) and just use the DVD player from my living room (which has always played anything I have tried on it) and stick it on a nice shelf under the new tv. Then, get a new cheap DVD player for the living room. Am I right that the cheaper the DVD player the more likely it is to play burnt DVDs because its the dearer DVD players that have the security features built in?Also, I am going to go for a philips SBCHC8440 FM cordless headphone for £34.79 (also at Argos). Another question, when a tv mentions it is HD ready, but doesn't mention that it is digital, does that mean that it probably isn't digital. There seems to be a lot of confusion, and dare I say it but it looks to me that stores are trying to shift the non digital sets without being strictly honest that they will be useless in a few years. And how will I know if the 32 inch tv I have had in my living room for the last couple of years is digital? Thanks all!Duncan

Don't get confused.

Digital is just being used to describe Freeview.
So equipment marked Digital simply indicates that it has a built in Freeview tuner. If your existing 32" TV does not have a built in TV tuner, you can purchase a seperate Freeview tuner set top box(around £20) and voila!, your TV is Digital!

Similarly for the Bush LCD you are considering. £219 is a lot to pay, just to have a £20 tuner built in.
As for paying extra for something that is HD Ready, what HD equipment do you currently own?
Even if you could receive HD on Freeview, you would possibly need a seperate Freeview box with upgraded firmware.

Anyway, for an all in one unit, you can take a look at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-Touch-Widescreen-Integrated-Multi-Region/dp/B000OY4XVY £200 inc delivery.

duncan32

Donnie wrote: »

Don't get confused.

Digital is just being used to describe Freeview.
So equipment marked Digital simply indicates that it has a built in Freeview tuner. If your existing 32" TV does not have a built in TV tuner, you can purchase a seperate Freeview tuner set top box(around £20) and voila!, your TV is Digital!

Similarly for the Bush LCD you are considering. £219 is a lot to pay, just to have a £20 tuner built in.
As for paying extra for something that is HD Ready, what HD equipment do you currently own?
Even if you could receive HD on Freeview, you would possibly need a seperate Freeview box with upgraded firmware.

Anyway, for an all in one unit, you can take a look at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-Touch-Widescreen-Integrated-Multi-Region/dp/B000OY4XVY £200 inc delivery.

Too late for that mate (not getting confused!?!)

So, all this "digital" business is not something for me to get too focussed on? I notice that a lot of the tv's that do not mention that they are "digital" are a good deal cheaper. Does that just mean that they do not have freeview then? So, you would still be able to use them when the switchover happens in a few years? On our 32" tv in the living room, we watch what I assume are digital channels, they come through on NTL cable, and I have a special adapter thing that means I can also watch analogue channels seperately (you know, if I want to watch digital and record analogue?) That's what I thought was happening anyway. Make sense?

I like the price of the Amazon one you linked too, but it is all in one - and that's something I am shying away from now due to the worry that the DVD player breaking makes the whole unit redundant (and also the worry that it wouldn't play my burnt DVDs....).

So, overall, are you saying that the one I have looked at to probably buy is not the best option in your opinion?

What about this one then: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5291883/Trail/C%24cip%3D1500006565.Sound%2Band%2Bvision%3EC%24cip%3D1500006586.Televisions%3EC%24Screen+Size+%28inches%29%3D19.19.htm

and then I thought I could maybe have a word with NTL and get them to do whatever it is they do to enable me to watch digital from the bedroom too?


Thanks.

Duncan

Donnie

Exactly. Digital means Freeview and HD Ready usually means it has a HDMI input. Just because it doesn't have an HDMI input doesn't mean that you cannot view High Definition material.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

I would say that the Combi I linked to would play everything you threw at it, including MPEG4, but I know nothing about it's reliability.

With the Argos item, you get a three year warranty, so I would be tempted.

Just think about your likely usage and how you plan to receive your NTL service via the new TV. Are you in a Freeview area? Will you need an external aerial if you decide to go for Freeview as opposed to the NTL service?
Questions for you to ask yourself.

duncan32

Glad that I seem to be getting the idea! Well, we don't really get a freeview reception where I am, so would have to fork out for the extra aerial. I imagine that sometime in the future I will be just using my existing NTL digital supply to feed off to the upstairs tv, if that sounds plausible? For now, I would be happy just to stick the analogue aerial that's already up there into the back of the new tv!

Thanks.

Duncan