Well I saw this advertised on the TV yesterday and wondered if it was the good deal it seemed:

Sony KDL40P3020U 40" HD Ready LCD TV - Tesco.Direct

I've googled on the model number but it only seems to be sold by 2 places, one of which is Tesco, so I'm guessing Tesco are just clearing out their end-of-line stock? Spec looked good to me and it seems to have all the right inputs and outputs. Not too worried about sound quality as I have an AV amp that Sky, DVD, etc go through....

Any thoughts? Are there better LCDs of similar size (32"+) for this sort of money?

Chris

Looks like it ticks all the right boxes

Looks like it ticks all the right boxes

You're meant to tell me it's rubbish and save me some money!

Chris

Just spend your money and enjoy it as you can't take it with you. if you know what i mean

It seems OK , but nothing outstanding.

I'd try and get a full 1080p TV is possible

It does look a good deal, if they have get any instock! Sorry christmas scepticism!

If you are not using the integrated speakers I like the samsungs, there is a 37" for similar money here Samsung LE37R87BDX from Home Cinema TV

Highlights the value of the sony (albeit slightly older and only 2 HDMI's) that both the sonys and samsung panels are made in the same factory as a joint venture!

It seems OK , but nothing outstanding.

I'd try and get a full 1080p TV is possible

:agree: plus, having recently got a new telly, more than 2 HDMI would be nice.

plasma looks nicer though

If you can stretch to the new V series (3000), they're full HD panels and have three HDMI inputs IIRC We had a christmas special offer on where you'd get a 32inch V3000 and a PS3 or the 300 series bluray player with change from a grand But I think that's over now :(

Whats the score with Blu-ray compatibility?

I've got a fairly new Sony 'massive great big LCD telly', but when I play blu-ray films via my PS3 (also made by Sony:rolleyes:) the picture is annoyingly jerky.

You'd think both of them being made by Sony and the TV coming out after the PS3 was released that they'd f*cking work together properly:mad:

When I play HD DVD via my laptop on the telly the picture is just as good as blu-ray but without the jerk-o-vision, sadly I think blu-ray is going to win the HD war judging by the number of places that dont sell the miniscule number of HD-DVD's available!

Hi Chris

From my 'research' over the last week I would also say that the Toshiba is a good deal. Unfortunately, like a lot of the good deals I came across, it's out of stock!

How about this 40" Samsung? It's the same model range as the one I've just bought & I actually looked at the 40" in PC World & the picture seemed very good.

It's spec is almost identical to the Toshiba you've mentioned & you can get it from £577.70 Look here. (assuming they have stock of course). The lowest price is Pixmania & I have been warned off them (No personal experience though) but they are several vendors around the £600 mark.

Good Luck

Darren

Or how about this: (from a reply to 'my' thread)

argos were doing this,

Buy Wharfedale LCD42F1080P 42in 1080p HD Ready Digital LCD TV. at Argos.co.uk

for 450 before xmas,price has gone up but thats still a pretty good tv.

Looks even better value. £599, 42" & 1080p but I would want to see the picture 'in the flesh' as the quality seemed to vary a lot between different makes when I was looking.

Whats the score with Blu-ray compatibility?

I've got a fairly new Sony 'massive great big LCD telly', but when I play blu-ray films via my PS3 (also made by Sony:rolleyes:) the picture is annoyingly jerky.

You'd think both of them being made by Sony and the TV coming out after the PS3 was released that they'd f*cking work together properly:mad:

When I play HD DVD via my laptop on the telly the picture is just as good as blu-ray but without the jerk-o-vision, sadly I think blu-ray is going to win the HD war judging by the number of places that dont sell the miniscule number of HD-DVD's available!

i think that's more of a blu-ray thing rather than something up with your telly/ps3. something to do with how 24p stuff is converted to display on a 50/100Hz display :confused:

yeah a TV can't be blue ray compatable as its only an image and as long as the tv has the right inputs etc et should be fine. the only thing that would stop it working is the input res being too high but then nothing would be displayed.

another reason not to get a PS3, right now i can't see any reason to get one other than its cool

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. As I want to "future-proof" as much as possible, I think I want to hold out for a TV that supports 1080p and from looking around it looks like the branded TV's (Samsung/Sony/Philips/Toshiba) have better pictures when compared to the cheaper ones of similar size. I also take Andy's point that with more and more devices going to be HD-compatible it makes sense to have more HDMI inputs rather than less.

I've used Pixmania in the past with no problems, so I'm happy to buy from them.

Back to the research!

Chris

i think that's more of a blu-ray thing rather than something up with your telly/ps3. something to do with how 24p stuff is converted to display on a 50/100Hz display :confused:

i thought it was something to do with the frame rate of the Blu-ray discs being 24 fps and the tele is looking for 30 fps , i think it is adjustable

Argos had/has the offer on for a 40" Sony tele with free PS3 , John Lewis did price match that but are out of stock now :( would of bought it off them to get the benefit of the 5 year TV guarantee and free delivery

yeah a TV can't be blue ray compatable as its only an image and as long as the tv has the right inputs etc et should be fine. the only thing that would stop it working is the input res being too high but then nothing would be displayed.

another reason not to get a PS3, right now i can't see any reason to get one other than its cool

I thought the PS3 was one of the few full spec Blue Ray players? (many of the current BR players wont be able to play the next generation of discs once the full Blue Ray spec is fully realised—this apparently includes the might Pioneer Model) It also boasts HDMI 1.3, so when the movie studios stop bickering it will be one of the very few players to be able to play uncompressed DTS and Dolby Sound tracks.

My Pioneer Kuro Plasma plays 24 frame vid without a problem, don’t know if you have considered them Chris? Bit pricy though.

My Pioneer Kuro Plasma plays 24 frame vid without a problem, don’t know if you have considered them Chris? Bit pricy though.

If you know anywhere I can get one for under £600 I'll happily add it to my shortlist :rofl:

Chris

If you know anywhere I can get one for under £600 I'll happily add it to my shortlist :rofl:

Chris

Point taken:D

Might come down when the next new gen appears, but then we’ll all want the next new ‘best’ thing.

:(

I've just ordered on of these from Curry's and it should turn up on Saturday.

Toshiba 42Z3030D

Its £1099 down from £1599. You can find it for around £950 on Amazon, but I wanted the security of being able to go into a shop and shout at people if anything goes wrong! Its one of the few 1080p 100hz tv's that I could find at a reasonable(ish) price. It turns up Saturday and I'll be running my PS3 and 360 through it, so I'll try and give you an impression if you're interested.

On a side note, if you do get a flat panel and want to wall mount it, don't be talked into buying one from Currys, Comet etc... they wanted to charge me around £100-125 for one from them, where as I can get a very similar one that has been recommended on avforums for around £20 from Amazon!

Point taken:D

Might come down when the next new gen appears, but then we’ll all want the next new ‘best’ thing.

:(

I had my fingers crossed you'd negotiated a stonking discount on one and were going to post up a link! I'm in no desperate rush to buy today so I'll bide my time, which might also increase my budget

Chris

I had my fingers crossed you'd negotiated a stonking discount on one and were going to post up a link! I'm in no desperate rush to buy today so I'll bide my time, which might also increase my budget

Chris

Sorry, £1,369 seems to be the going rate for the 42’’ 4280XD and I doubt you would get much off that price, but you never know. Perhaps £1,300 for a quick sale??

the pioneers are awesome, its what we were planning on buying till we realised we were too tight to buy a £3500 TV

but it did look awesome :(

the pioneers are awesome, its what we were planning on buying till we realised we were too tight to buy a £3500 TV

but it did look awesome :(

I take it you were looking at the 50’’ 1080P version.:eek:

Interestingly enough, there is quite a bit of evidence that at 42’’ plasmas don’t really benefit by going all the way up to 1080 lines. Certainly the extra pixels can’t usually be seen by the average human eye, although the extra lines may help a little. At 50’’ the wisdom seems to be the difference is noticeable.

428XD? what you really want is a PDP-LX508D or a PDP-LX608D :drool: but like he's already said, they ain't cheap

428XD? what you really want is a PDP-LX508D or a PDP-LX608D :drool: but like he's already said, they ain't cheap

I thought it was me that said they were pricey?? :confused::D

I'd need a much bigger room/house for a 50''/60'' telly. So I guess that they are REALLY REALLY expensive.