Budget £400-500
Size 40-42″ ish
Want it to be HD freeview too
It’s just for watching tv, DVDs etc, no gaming. Might buy blueray player in the future, maybe occasional iPlayer stuff
Don’t want 3D

There’s a lot of choice so any help or top tips gratefully received
Thanks

Plasma, either samsung or Panasonic

Just pondering getting my folks a new TV for their kitchen… found this:

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue32es5500-led-hd-1080p-smart-tv-32-inch-with-freeview-hd/p231878324#default

full HD
Freeview HD
100Hz screen
Wireless capable ( with optional dongle )
5 year guarantee

Would a larger screened version suit you ?

Funny, I was talking to a friend in the coffee shop this afternoon who’s sort of looking for a new telly, and he was interested in a Panasonic Viera, 42″, with Freeview, Internet access, etc, which is somewhere around the £480-490 mark in Curry’s.

I bought one of those £480 quid Panasonics just before chrimbo and its a great telly. Then the lad broke the other telly so was in the market for another one and had ordered one for collection (was happy for 140 mile round trip) however when they phoned it was explained that they are ex display which was a deal breaker for me. However I have ordered this and its coming on Wednesday but has 5 year warranty and excellent reviews at £450.
http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue40es5500-led-hd-1080p-smart-tv-40-inch-with-freeview-hd/p231560690
HTH

We used to have a 42″ Samsung plasma until it literally went bang. Replaced with a 49″ Panasonic plasma and I prefer it. Just bought a 3 year old 42″ Panasonic on eBay for £170 and I’m very pleased with it.
If you cant find a smart tv in budget, give seriously consideration to a Raspberry Pi running Raspbmc for iplayer, YouTube, media streaming etc.

Samsung are the King of TVs at the moment, I’d look at LED it really is far better now than Plasma even the cheaper ones.

Above post +1
I got a Samsung led when comet closed down its far superior to my LG Plasma

Samsung are the King of TVs at the moment

rubbish…

Their picture processing is poor, imho.

The OP should review the balance of the the source quality and the viewing distance from the TV.

If you buy a 1080P screen but don’t feed it blurays all the time it will have to ‘upscale’ the picture – effectively guessing the missing information.

If you sit too close (or the TV is too large for your viewing distance) and/or the picture processing performed by the TV is poor, the artifacts produced may be unacceptable.

Even watching broadcast HD will cause a 1080P to have to upscale, so then you become dependent on the quality of the upscaling. If you watch a lot of freeview SD channels this is even more of a consideration, although if you have Virgin the Tivo box does a fairly good pretty good job with these channels.

Samsung is, in my opinion, the worst at this.

I would get a Panasonic, or the new Sony’s seem pretty good as well.

And don’t be tempted to go big…

Compare it to watching something that is 480P on your computer screen in full screen mode – it looks OK from a distance but awful the closer you get.

Samsung led when comet closed down its far superior to my LG Plasma

that doesn’t mean Samsung are king, just that LG aren’t generally very good – which isn’t a surprise.

No it’s not rubbish have a look at many reviews they come out top regular. My daughters cheap Samsung is way better than my Panasonic and it was much more.

Samsung tellies + 1

The JL smart one above looks good.

No it’s not rubbish have a look at many reviews they come out top regular.

That’s like believing bike reviews from MTBR, etc, isn’t it?

I wonder what Samsung’s marketing budget is?

I still say it is rubbish – I don’t think I have seen a Samsung TV where I think it has a good picture, only ones where there was lots to criticize. I have seen loads of Panasonics, and Sony’s which I thought were decent.

Maybe I have different criteria for PQ, mine is based on seeing the HD that the BBC were working on 25 years ago when I worked at Research Department, 1280 lines of uncompressed analogue goodness and shed loads better than anything I have seen since.

And I did recommend a Samsung to my sister as she wanted a small set – it lost lots of its screen around the edges a few days after it’s warranty passed 🙁

I have 2 samsungs (1 of them a one year old led smart tv), a 3 year old Sony LCD and a 5 year old Panasonic plasma. Samsungs seem good VFM and look nice but the pana and Sony are far superior. Picture and build quality are a few notches above either Samsung. If I was buying another, it would definitely be a Panasonic or Sony.

andyflaw – the cheque is in the post…

I always think Sony’s reliability is suspect – which has been somewhat confirmed by stuff I and mates have had – so I would probably plump for a Panasonic, plasma if you can afford the electricity…

Interesting comments
My head says Panasonic cos they’re good and I’ve had them in the past, my wallet says LG or Samsung cos they’re good vfm
Looked at about 10 in Richer Sounds today and the 37″ LG looked the best picture but it was Sky Sports News on, so don’t know if it was HD or not. The Toshiba units looked awful with insipid colours. Bloke reckons that all TVs are on default settings. I’ve bought a lot of stuff there over the last 20 years and would hope they’re being truthful

Is Plasma noticeably better picture and are the running costs much higher?
Currently have 2006 Philips widescreen CRT tv which is okayish so would think most new units are better in this price range

That’s like believing bike reviews from MTBR, etc, isn’t it?

There are many independent reviews out there now on the thing called the internet.

You clearly think different and prefer Panasonic, my Panasonic has been brilliant it’s still is but the newer ones compared to Samsung I find just don’t aren’t as good. Sony were once very good I find them pretty average now but what ever set I’d go LED Plasma doesn’t quite match it.

My view is based on what is available not what isn’t but I seen 25 years ago. 🙂

Okay, what spec should see me thru the next 5 years then?
what screen refresh rate
which tech will be good enough for say blue-ray films and watching sports on Freeview HD but still have good picture for SD freeview stuff?

My view is based on what is available not what isn’t but I seen 25 years ago.

is not having a high-quality benchmark available a good thing?

Their screens might be good but I don’t like the mess they make of picture processing – skin doesn’t look natural, etc.

is not having a high-quality benchmark available a good thing?

Well yes but not if what you want isn’t available. Yet, Super HD is on it’s way as main form soonish.

Their screens might be good but I don’t like the mess they make of picture processing – skin doesn’t look natural, etc.

I guess it’s down to who they’re setup as I’ve noticed that on pretty much all TVs, first thing you need to do adjust the settings.

Okay, what spec should see me thru the next 5 years then?

Any really they all will work.

what screen refresh rate

Depends are you after watching sports? Doesn’t seem to be an issue with more recent TVs.

which tech will be good enough for say blue-ray films and watching sports on Freeview HD but still have good picture for SD freeview stuff?

Both Plasma and LED will be fine but check on places like AVForums for the one you fancy, it gets very anal though about small details most people will never even notice never mind care about.

thanks
back to shops and more prodding and poking required

I’ve been looking at similar, and this was most tempting: http://www.johnlewis.com/lg-42lm620t-led-hd-1080p-3d-smart-tv-42-inch-with-freeview-hd-and-4x-3d-glasses/p231571216

JL will pricematch and someone is usually doing it for under £500.

Else there’s this: http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv—all/lg/42ls570t/lg-42ls570t with no 3D.

Okay, what spec should see me thru the next 5 years then?
what screen refresh rate
which tech will be good enough for say blue-ray films and watching sports on Freeview HD but still have good picture for SD freeview stuff?

A 720P screen will be best for watching broadcast HD as that will either be 720P or 1080i, so you will minimise the amount of upscaling the TV has to do.

This will be even truer for SD channels.

This is easily seen if you can find a 1080P and a 720P version of the same TV next to each other, showing an SD channel. Selfridges had a couple of Panasonics set up like this when I was last in there. The 720P screen looked much better.

If you want a 1080P screen, or have ot have one becasue of the size required, then the better, often more expensive, TVs have better upscaling processing, and if you don’t watch from too close a distance they work OK.

Refresh rate is largely a marketing number, if you can watch football on the TV without the ball smearing, or jaggies appearing, then the TV is good enough. Turn off the picture processing, as this often makes it worse.

Some TVs have anti-glare screens on the front, which make the picture look better but actually have more reflections on than the matt screens, which perversely might cause screen glare – so consider where you are putting the TV – a matt screen (like most Sony’s) might work better if in a bright, well light room, or with lots of Windows.

Recently been through all this – we just wanted ‘a telly’ – nothing fancy, just a decent picture….

Found ourselves going round in circles – unable to decide, particularly driven by ‘well reviewed’ tv’s looking decidedly shonky ‘in store’

Got bored of trying to work it all out so, signed up to Which!

Ended up with one that had caught our eye in the 1st place

40″ samsung. £449.
Set up up based on recommendations from the huge thread about this model on AV forum. Overall, happy with it.

With a bigger budget i’d 100%’ve gone for a £800 Panasonic Plasma but, £800 notes on a telly, Nah…..

That’s the samsung that I have. OK for the money but I was very disappointed with the picture. Doesnt do well with dark scenes at all (IMO of course) and very reflective screen (obviously my own fault for putting it in a bright room) are my main issues. Thought i’d give it a go as it had great reviews but wish i had splashed out on another panny or Sony.

Went through this recently .
Samsung won in the Samsung/LG choice .
Pleased with it so far,but it did take a bit of faffing about to get the picture looking good for films ( everything looked like a live documentary style ) .

I looked at which? they only seem to recommend LG and Samsung in best buys
Does anyone else think this is weird?

looked at which? they only seem to recommend LG and Samsung in best buys
Does anyone else think this is weird?

No – they seem to have funny values about what they think is good.

And if you read a review in an area you know something about you will often not agree with them.

I had a subscription and then cancelled it – the girl asked why and I said this, and she said that many cancelers said this!

For instance, in their old reviews of HiFi they would recommend a Dual 505 over a Rega Planar (probably 2) when the price difference was not actually very much and the Dual 505 is a dead-end whereas the Rega 2 is a very capable deck that will see you through many upgrades and was therefore far better value for money.

Samsung for LCD, Panasonic for plasma. Decide on size and budget. I have a 32″ Samsung and a Pioneer plasma (now effectively Panasonic), when both calibrated and fed a good signal, the pictures are very good. Forget HD/HD ready, you won’t see the difference. Concentrate on getting the best signal. Then find the settings on avforums.

TurnerGuy – Member
No – they seem to have funny values about what they think is good.

Good point.
I remember 20 years ago when I got my first separates system how they poo-pooed separates as extravagant and expensive. I’m sure the crappy 1 box systems they were recommending are very dead now whereas my units are still being happily used by my nephew

From hours looking on the web, it does seem that the shops are falling over themselves flogging LEDs now and that there aren’t that many plasma available. The choice of LED is huge in comparison

another daft question: most new TVs seem to be 3D but we don’t have any 3D sources and I would imagine most people are like us.
Can you watch normal standard def programmes on 3D TVs without glasses? Or will it just give you a headache?

It’s all just confusing witchcraft. I’m increasingly tempted to not change TV until the current one dies

samsung +1

John Lewis (for the free 5yr guarantee) + lots

Can you watch normal standard def programmes on 3D TVs without glasses? Or will it just give you a headache?

Yes. The 3d setting is switch-on-and-offable.
and the 3d only works with the glasses.
95% of the time you’ll not have the glasses on, and will be watching 2d HD telly.
But you’ve got the option of using it when you settle down for a movie, more blue-rays are coming out 3d all the time.

another daft question: most new TVs seem to be 3D but we don’t have any 3D sources and I would imagine most people are like us.
Can you watch normal standard def programmes on 3D TVs without glasses? Or will it just give you a headache?

ordinary TV is fine, it won’t be shown as 3D as there is no 3D information in the source.

whether you want 3D is another matter as the field of vision from your TV will be a lot smaller than at the cinema and so the ‘immerse’ experience of 3D will not be as good.

[The same argument goes for surround sound…]

A TV with 3D facility will have had some of its budget spent on the 3D facility, so may not be as good as a similarly priced one that does not have the facility.

Personally I wish they would give up on 3D and concentrate on higher frame-rate and higher definition 2D.

At the moment 3D is often like the 3D you get on postcards at the seaside with moments when it works well.

Plus you now get movies with long drawn-out sequences where you are just supposed to be in awe of the 3D-ness, as opposed to there being a decent storyline.

agreed – im not interested in 3D in the slightest, but as soon as you get above 500 quid, youre paying for technology you dont want.

thanks again guys
right then Plasma 2D it is, Panasonic if available