buying an lcd tv what connectors should i be looking for and how many ?

andykolo

I am researching in an attempt to buy a new tv. have seen various lcd tv i like but the number of connectors i.e scart, hdmi vary widely.
I plan to connect a Virgin Plus Box ;a laptop both hdmi and have a dvd recorder and video ( still in use for kiddies ) both scart. so that is 2 scarts and 2 hdmi i would need so far

can you techies tell me if i should be looking at anything else i might have forgotten so that i make it future proof ;also can you tell me what takes preference hdmi or scart i.e. if i have virgin plus box connected how do i connect the laptop and likewise with the scart cables ????

GunJack

On our hannspree you can manually select any of the inputs, sounds like this facility would be useful for you. Don't know offhand if many other models do it like this or rely on the auto switching provided by scart, etc.

You may have to consider a hdmi hub (like a USB hub, connect multiple devices via the single tv hdmi input) on a lot of tv's, unless you pay loads of dosh for one. 2 scarts is pretty standard these days, almost everything should have at least 2.

oh, and a lot of tellys have a D-Sub connector for your computer, so may not need to use a hdmi for the laptop...

totalsolutions

So you have decided against plasma?

Aerial, Memory card slot reader (jpegs), HDMI, scart, composite, RGB, Audio LR, RCA Pin Type, S-video, PC connection, component (Y,Pb,Pr), Digital , Fibre optic, Q-Link, headphones, PAL, SECAM, NTSC, M.NTSC,

SALOPMAN

We bought a Haanspree TV too off ebuyer.com just before xmas for £320 (32") and we are very pleased with it, it has loads of connections for what you need.

gnatschuffed

Get yourself over to the plasma and LCD forums at AVforums. I'm not a fan of LCD myself despite all the 1080p hype. Plasma all the way for me, Panasonic on a budget (sizes start at 37"). I would look for a TV with at least HDMI inputs as HDMI will pretty much be replacing SCART etc. eventually. If you are connecting a laptop with VGA, look for 1:1 pixel mapping. Tosh LCD/Panny Plasma would be a good place to start though.

D.K.

I bought a Daewoo and although plenty of inputs there was only one scart analogue output!!! Great picture...rubbish sound and it had a built in DVD. I had to send it back.
Do make sure you check the output too.

D.