As above – planning on buying a new tv, about 40″ – it’ll be used, initially, with a bt vision box, but will eventually be used with sky hd. So, do I go for full hd or hd ready, and what difference is there between plasma, LCD or LED? Mrs Mitch says I’m over thinking this, and maybe she’s right – what does the STW hive mind reckon?

when it states a telly’s LED it means that its LED backlight, better colours/picture and possibly better viewing angles. Other people may have something to say though!

As far as I’m aware, HD ready is 720p and HD is 1080 (better resolution).

Just make sure it has HDMI’s for your magical new skybox 😉

As above, I think the main difference between HD ready and full HD is that HD ready is 720p, whereas 1080p is full HD. Currently, I think that “HD” TV broadcasts are only up to 720p, so they’d be near identical on both systems, but for things like Blurays there would be a difference. How noticeable a difference is up for debate though..

I just bought myself a new TV, 32″ Samsung – very happy with it. My advice – go for one of the big brands (Samsung, Toshiba, LG). Apart from that, they’re all much of a muchness

we recently bought a 42″ lg led tv for about 600 quid but i think you can get the same one now for 450 🙁

43″ samsung plasma hd ready in Tesco , 350 quid – whoo, and indeed, hoo!

only ONE place to shop.. john lewis they guarantee to be the cheapest and you get a FREE 5yr warranty anywhereelse and your insane.. and i say that barnsleymitch knowing the mrs would get 10% off the tesco price BUT thier 5yr warranty is 170..

Dont buy a plasma like i did, i got a bargin lg 50″ for 130smackers yes a bargin i hear u cry only 1 year old, but on plasmas they need to be run in to gradually warm the pixels and ease into fast moving images, they also suffer from screen burn, the previous owner nor 90% of plasma owners know this so i have skysports burned into my screen with red snow in the top corner, ive used the in built screen wash systems to small improvements, and bought a dvd which uses white noise to move the stuck pixels and rid the red snow, worked a bit, now just have red snow in top corner, but for the price its viable, so buy either a lcd or led if you can afford it, panasonic or sony are top notch samsung n lg tend to be cheaper as the internals are “buget”, also plasmas tend to have a protective plastic screen which can cause glare, if transporting keep upright as the screens are so close to the internals the weight of the screen can bow against the internals and pop or cause damage, believe me ive done it twice !!!!!! Que effing n jeffing and throwing my tvs on the pavement!!!!

only ONE place to shop.. john lewis

^^This^^

I think the main difference between HD ready and full HD is that HD ready is 720p, whereas 1080p is full HD. Currently, I think that “HD” TV broadcasts are only up to 720p, so they’d be near identical on both systems

All the TV broadcasts I’m aware of are 1080i 50 hz – ie half the lines sent 25 times each second. At 40″ you may as well go for full-HD now.

Personally I still think Plasma gives better and more natural images and viewing angles but there’s not much in it. That LG must have been seriously mistreated – I can only think it ran in the shop, at full brightness, on a single channel for a long time. You’re unlikely to do that in your own home.

Whatever you buy, pretty universal advice is to disable every form of picture ‘enhancement’ the set has (noise reduction/higher scan rates/etc etc) and don’t use it on the ‘vivid’ picture setting that they’re normally set on by default to appear bright under shop lights. Usually best to set to ‘movie’ and tweak a little from there to get the most natural colours. It will look a little dull at first after the hyper bright default setting.

The BBC HD channel runs a testcard and other tools as part of the barker that runs during the day.

Broadcasts are at 1080 now. We bought a Panasonic Vieira P42X50B plasma for £350. Only 720p but amazing for the price. Bought plasma as the hard glass screen is far more toddler proof than LCD or led.