i bought the largest most expensive plasma i could afford,i can't remember how big but i think its a 50"

Ive read the whole of this thread and still dont have a clue which kind of TV i should buy!! It was a lot simpler when you could rent a TV from a shop on the High St and you got your 3 channels from the Rediffusion switch on the wall!!!!

Ive read the whole of this thread and still dont have a clue which kind of TV i should buy!! It was a lot simpler when you could rent a TV from a shop on the High St and you got your 3 channels from the Rediffusion switch on the wall!!!!

Buy any Plasma made by a company who has a name beginning with P

Well anything will be an improvement on the 10 yr old 32" 4:3 aspect CRT Hitachi telly that I've got just now!! I had heard that Plasmas were unreliable compared to LCD is this not the case anymore? Mind you I'm not getting one till this TV blows up so might be a few years before I get one. I dont really want to spend much more than £6-700 either. Ive not got Sky HD (not even Sky + ) just boggo Sky Digital. It wont be used for games either because I'm not a big gaming fan , got a PS2 that does more dust-gathering than gaming. Oh and 37" would be the max size for my living room as it has to fit in the corner of the room.

Well anything will be an improvement on the 10 yr old 32" 4:3 aspect CRT Hitachi telly that I've got just now!! I had heard that Plasmas were unreliable compared to LCD is this not the case anymore? Mind you I'm not getting one till this TV blows up so might be a few years before I get one. I dont really want to spend much more than £6-700 either. Ive not got Sky HD (not even Sky + ) just boggo Sky Digital. It wont be used for games either because I'm not a big gaming fan , got a PS2 that does more dust-gathering than gaming. Oh and 37" would be the max size for my living room as it has to fit in the corner of the room.

Nope, don't worry, they ore often quoted at around 60,000 hours and that is only meaning the screen dims to about half the brightness (3db drop). I think I read somewhere that it equates to around 27 years of operation with average viewing figures. Plasma works more like lots of tiny CRT tubes for it’s pixels. LCD just tries (and fails a little) to block out the back light with polarising filters.

You could get a cracking Panasonic for your budget and don't worry to much if it isn't 1080 spec. the differences aren't as great as people would have you believe. True Blacks, faithful colours and low noise are all as important in their own way and the Panny is very good at those things.

Nope, don't worry, they ore often quoted at around 60,000 hours and that is only meaning the screen dims to about half the brightness (3db drop). I think I read somewhere that it equates to around 27 years of operation with average viewing figures. Plasma works more like lots of tiny CRT tubes for it’s pixels. LCD just tries (and fails a little) to block out the back light with polarising filters.

You could get a cracking Panasonic for your budget and don't worry to much if it isn't 1080 spec. the differences aren't as great as people would have you believe. True Blacks, faithful colours and low noise are all as important in their own way and the Panny is very good at those things.

Thanks for than Amanda , I'll keep that in mind when Tweed televisions cant breathe life back into the Hitachi anymore!!

Ive read the whole of this thread and still dont have a clue which kind of TV i should buy!!

Buy the one you like the look of , having had a proper demo of a selection of sets viewing the sort of programming you normally watch.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both types and with no single right answer it's going to be different for each person.

Buy any Plasma made by a company who has a name beginning with P

Or any LCD made by a company who has a name beginning with S

Or any LCD made by a company who has a name beginning with S

If you have to have an LCD (and the inferior movie picture) then I agree Sonys look pretty good.

If you have to have an LCD (and the inferior movie picture) then I agree Sonys look pretty good.

Samsungs tend to be better

Samsungs tend to be better

Samsungs tend to be better

Yet somehow the Sonys seem to win all the awards...

Yet somehow the Sonys seem to win all the awards...

Probably, because they're better

I'm sure I read somewhere that the Samsungs are made by Sony :confused:

Anyway, our situation is only getting more complicated. Went out to Tesco last night and stood there comparing the actual sizes of the TV's. A 37 inch looks smaller every time I do this I still think a 40 inch is a happy medium but so far nobody has come up with any suggestions. I did see the Panny 42 inch whilst there and it looks like a bit of a beast to be honest. I think we were both trying to convince ourselves that it wouldn't be too big in the room, but to be honest, what's the point in going big if the viewing distance is so far out for quality viewing that we end up with something close to useless?

Hi Pixi, follow the link for some usefull advice on 'High street demo-ing',

if you explore the site further, there are other articles of general hdtv advice.

There are also comprehensive and (unlike many magazines) unbiased reviews

of many current models you may be interested in.

There is an article dedicated to viewing distances also:)

Happy shopping

HDTV Demo: Be Wary Of Showroom Pitfalls

(Also yes, Sony and Samsung panels come the from same factory, but

picture processing technology is developed indipendantly.)

Edited 3 December, 200817 yr by leeland

Yet somehow the Sonys seem to win all the awards...

Never used too

Awards are nearly always biased anyway. As are certain tech reviewers.

Never used too

Awards are nearly always biased anyway. As are certain tech reviewers.

Skodas never used to win any awards or tests either....

I would recommend Samsung LCD's, i have a series 4 32" and my dad has a series 6 37", both cracking tv's.