[Closed] New telly - what would you do?

Our TV broke a couple of months ago.

Just watch the odd thing on iplayer now instead.

its quite nice.

I'd go to John Lewis for starters.

Yeah looking at John Lewis but they don't have the telly I like which is a shame.

For everyday listening I just plug a set of these into the headphone socket (assuming it has a headphone socket!)...

[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-LS21-Stereo-Speaker-System/dp/B0017915WA/&tag=singletrackma-21 ]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-LS21-Stereo-Speaker-System/dp/B0017915WA[/url]

They're better than built in speakers and the sub adds a bit of depth for everyday viewing.

You can still have a surround system, or run through your hi-fi if you want extra WOW!, but for normal viewing you don't want listen to the newsreader speaking to you from all corners of the room!

Hmm I have a couple of beefy speakers on my hi-fi so just output from the telly into my amp - that'll do for the moment.

pc speakers could be a cheap upgrade.

47" is massive!

Oh well they have 55" as well thought 47" sounded about right for one of these modern things. 42" better?

for normal viewing you don't want listen to the newsreader speaking to you from all corners of the room!

tmm, I think you've misunderstood the concept of "Surround Sound"

If you're going to get the Blu-Ray with internet apps, you can save money by not getting a "smart" TV.
My Panasonic Plasma TV is brilliant, but the internet apps are what I paid a premium for and they are pretty naff. You get iPlayer, Lovefilm, Youtube with the LG Blu-ray so wouldn't need a telly with those features.

[i]47" is massive![/i]
Depends on the size/shape of the room! Mines a 46 and I wish it was bigger (missus)

Yeah but as far as I can see with LG they all seem to have all the features. Kinda sold on LED but maybe plasma would be OK.

Our has iPlayer and Lovefilm built in - definitely useful.

We just went for a 32" Samsung 1080p from JL.

Sound I've got configured through an AV reciever, but TBH I'd rather have a smaller system plugged into the TV, it's a ball ache having to flick between 4 remotes to switch between the playstation and sky (playstation remote to switch it off, AV remote to switch to sky, sky remote to swich it on, TV remote to switch input to SCART). I'd just get some 5.1 PC speekers with an optical input from the TV.

LCD screens still look really artificial to me, in comparison to my plasma which has a nice natural feel to the picture and colours. Maybe it's just the way tellies are set in the shop though?

ry richer sounds, they have that tv in with 100 off atm. they also have lots of good surround stuff in too. i bought a new yamaha surround amp, tannoy speakers and a sony bluray player recently to go with my lg telly, and the difference in sound quality from the tv alone is night and day.

I went for a 43" plasma in the sales £270 Samsung, non smart, I have TiVo and ps3 so didn't need the extra smart stuff, best tele I've every had, picture quality is just amazing.

I did have to throw my surround sound out, it was old school analogue, hadn't felt the need to replace as yet, new one has virtual surround sound and that works ok

I remember paying a grand for our 42" Samsung just 5 years ago. To see something better for 200 quid now, makes my head hurt.

Our TV broke a couple of months ago.
Just watch the odd thing on iplayer now instead.
its quite nice.

That's good.

Is there any other stuff you don't have an opinion on that you would like to tell us about 🙂

Our TV broke a couple of months ago.

Just watch the odd thing on iplayer now instead.

its quite nice.

i unplugged mine about a year ago to do some works on the house.
Never plugged it back in. iplayer as you say is ideal. Catchup on the good stuff every so often.

Read tons and listen to radio now. Ironic considering my previous job.

Right, back to the beginning - try and budget for something other than LG. Get a Samsung, Sony or Panasonic if you can.

We got a 46". I posted a panicked thread on here when it arrived, worried it was too big. I now wish we'd gone bigger - HD is magnificent!

Don't think about going smaller, but do consider getting larger!

Oh, and yes, Panasonic all the way!

I don't get the obsession on here with iPlayer. You're still watching tv programmes that have already been on BBC - just huddled round a small laptop screen with tinny sound (ok, I know there will be exceptions) mostly it appears to then come on here and laud it about not watching tv.

it's a ball ache having to flick between 4 remotes to switch between the playstation and sky (playstation remote to switch it off, AV remote to switch to sky, sky remote to swich it on, TV remote to switch input to SCART).

get a logitech harmony remote - you program in the devices and then when you switch activities it takes care of turning all the non-needed boxes off, and turning the needed ones on.

I think you need their adapter for the PS3 though.

Screen size ought to be a maximum of 2.5 times the distance from your normal watching position.

And the only problem with the 'all-in-1' systems is that you are often limited on inputs/outputs on the unit.

I don't get the obsession on here with iPlayer

It sounds like you're missing the point. Many of us can watch and remote control iPlayer on the "big telly" without having to go anywhere near a computer. We then get to choose the programmes we want to watch when we want to watch them rather than channel hopping for something interesting. It's like going for a bike ride where you want when you want rather than being told you have to ride a certain trail at a certain time on a certain day 🙂

What BR said 2.5, most people with humungous teles cant sit far enough away unless they go outside and watch through the window.
Internet as well dont forget that, but make sure you dont have to buy a separate dongle or it van be pricey. Sony charge £65

2.5x - hmmm I could go up to 70". Was looking at the BIG tele's in Richer Sounds at the weekend before buying a 42". Maybe a smaller lounge or moving the sofa closer would be easier/cheaper.

25inch to 47 is a big jump, probably too much as it implies that you don't sit too far from the screen, based on your 25inch CRT.

So the 47 will look huge and pretty awful unless you are planning on sitting a lot further away or only planning on watching 1080P content from bluray or similar.

I might suggest that broadcast HD might not be great either, as it is only 720P or 1080i, not 1080P, and so will also require upscaling on a screen of that size.

If you watch a fair amount of SD channels I would limit the size of the set to something on the lower end of those appropriate to your viewing distance, and maybe even to a 720P screen as these seem to display SD better as they have less of a job to do (and mess up) with the upscaling.

I would look at something Panasonic from John Lewis - if you buy it mail order and then decide you have made an awful mistake with the size you should be able to return it under distance selling regs.

My mate has a 42inch Panasonic Plasma and it does have a good picture but is barely acceptable with freeview SD channels (to my eyes) as the seating is only about 10 feet away.

It sounds like you're missing the point. Many of us can watch and remote control iPlayer on the "big telly" without having to go anywhere near a computer. We then get to choose the programmes we want to watch when we want to watch them rather than channel hopping for something interesting. It's like going for a bike ride where you want when you want rather than being told you have to ride a certain trail at a certain time on a certain day 

Nah, I totally get iPlayer. Just not those that unplug their tv and only watch iPlayer. By the way, I'd say 50-75% of what we watch on sky is recorded or on demand

Samsung UE-46 8000
46"'s of wonderful picture quality. Combined with a sound bar and it's fekin ace.

Looking on Wikipedia at those recommended viewing distances, they all look a bit close to me.

Maybe if you have good quality HD content, but for any SD content you really can't get anywhere near that close.

mudshark - Member
Oh well they have 55" as well thought 47" sounded about right for one of these modern things. 42" better?

It depends on the size of your room, your seating distance from tele.

My Dad's 52" in an average sized living room was too big and it made our eyes sore, I bought one shortly after to fit in a similar size room and it is spot on (sitting opposite corner of the room from the t.v) fore watching tv. The only slight gripe would be that some text is too small when gaming. Having said that my eyesight could be better!

It's a Panasonic 42" Plasma btw (about 7 years old) but it still holds it's own against newer models. (We often get comments from guests about how good a picture it gives).

Coupled with a 'BOSE' system to bolster the sound, I couldn't ask for more and have no plans (or need) to upgrade in the foreseeable future.

In contrast my Mum paid £289 for 42" LG LCD and it's picture is terrible, the sound is just as bad and the interface is v.poor.

I'd hazard a guess that a good 50% of folk don't set their tv up correctly - makes an infinite difference to the viewing experience.

25inch to 47 is a big jump, probably too much as it implies that you don't sit too far from the screen, based on your 25inch CRT.

It's only that small because back in '96 that was quite a decent screen - cost me £530 which was big money in those days! A decent Panasonic.

OK so I've got my measuring thing out and we have 4.5 metres so that's OK for 50 - 55 inches right?

What about a TX-P50UT50B? 50" of Panasonic plasma.

Panasonic.
John Lewis.
Soundbar.

26'' CRT went up the spout, so we replaced it with a 37'' Panasonic, simply because we had a smaller one in the other room and because they used to be made in Wales so we've always had Panasonic TVs. (The latest being number 4).

http://www.johnlewis.com/231546906/Product.aspx

Hth
Marko

Just replaced a monstrous lump of dysfunctional Phillips TV with a Bush 39" HD with Freeview.

Definitely connect to the HiFi for extra WOW! You might find, as I did, that your previous cabling arrangement won't suit the new set due to differently-plugged audio output(s)?

If this is the case, go here:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/home.aspx

for your adapter.

PS: The three picture quality choices were rubbish - it took me a while to use the "Personal" setting to achieve a good reproduction (contrast/brightness/sharpness etc)...

OK so I've got my measuring thing out and we have 4.5 metres so that's OK for 50 - 55 inches right?

you sat 4.5 meters from a 25inch CRT ?

What channels do you normally watch, and can you get them in HD?

Well I think that's what people did in the old days!

I have Virgin TV so that has a few HD channels.

I have Virgin TV so that has a few HD channels.

The Virgin Tivo box makes a pretty good job of upscaling the SD channels (although the older Virgin HD seemed slightly better), but it is still broadcast HD and not 'Full HD', so still subject to upscaling artifacts which you will see if the screen is too large for your viewing distance.

So I would still think seriously about getting something that size.

Go into a store and get them to show some Freeview SD to see what bad artifacts look like, and then get them to show BBC HD to see how mediocre that is compared to the demonstration bluray they are probably using.

Plus I wouldn't personally get an LG, nor a Samsung as I think their picture processing is pants.

Out of the big brand name TV's out there the Samsung seem to be the worst for reliability(See loads of TV's everyday as a Satellite engineer and always seems to be Samsungs with the faults),also the SD picture on these can be pretty poor although the HD in comparison is pretty good.

The best all rounders seem to be Panasonic and Sony,oh and bigger is not always better it does depend a lot on your viewing distance.

Samsungs are highly regarded as amongst the best screens so not sure about the info above

Best picture or best reliability?

Well, the PQ on mine blows away most others I've seen (although maybe they weren't set up right) including a mates Sony that I adjusted for him from the out of the box settings.

And it must be getting on for 5 years old now with no issues (although I did brick it with a firmware update, but that was my fault).

How big a screen, what resolution you're going to watch, how far away you're going to be summed up here -

[img] [/img]

If you're going to be able to appreciate Full HD you'll have to go bigger than you might think. [url= http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter/ ]See the bit at the bottom of this page.[/url]

Not sure I totally buy all that BTW, to appreciate 1080p on my 37" TV the calculator suggests I need to be no more than 5ft away!

I prefer Panasonic, both me and a friend bought 42" LED's about 9 months ago within a week of each other similar price range. The Panasonic I bought has a much better picture than his Samsung. Settings fiddled with according to forums etc... He agreed the Panasonic was a better picture and the case seemed better made.

That graph seems to sit you very close to the TV unless I'm reading it wrong

My brother in law bought a 47" LG 3D SmartTV before Xmas. It's nice, but the picture had a strange "layered' effect. Everyone noticed it. And the 3D was awful. His room is large enough, but it just looked odd. Not sure if it had some daft mode to make normal programs look 3D but I wasn't impressed.

I have always preferred plasma to LCD, the picture, especially with sport, is so much more realistic, but LCD is catching up. I have a 5yo 42" Panasonic plasma that I sit 7' away from & a nearly new 47" Sony that I sit about 10' from in a different room. I'm thinking I need a bigger TV in my 'den' which currently houses the smaller plasma & [url= http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/panasonic/viera-txp50x50b/pana-txp50x50b ]this[/url] looks like an unbelievable bargain when I think I paid over £3k for my first 37' plasma.

Cheers.

I'm only saying what I have seen ,I dont go off reviews just what I see with my own eyes when I'm in folks houses.
As stated the HD pic on some Samsungs is superb but so are the pics on various Panasonics,Sony,LG,Pioneer even the odd Toshiba.
Samsung do manufacture a lot of panels for other companies but thats only half the story ,the rest depends on how well the electronics governing the screen do the processing.

panasonic plasma if you value picture quality

just get as large a screen as you can afford / sneak past SWMBO

most new ones will be hdmi connections - if you have a lot of devices just save for an av amp too!

We just bought this from JL at Christmas. Plasma, better value than many of the LCDs, and you get five years cover included. Bargin at £329.

http://www.johnlewis.com/231570054/Product.aspx?s_pccid=pc_rv_200_40000&

If I could justify a new tv at the moment, it would be one of these - Samsung ES8000 - shy of 2 grand for a 55" though

[img] [/img]

LCD screens still look really artificial to me, in comparison to my plasma which has a nice natural feel to the picture and colours. Maybe it's just the way tellies are set in the shop though?

So I ordered a Panasonic TX-P50UT50B Plasma and just set it up. Only got Freeview on it at the moment and looks fine. Thinking of getting a Youview box now.

If I could justify a new tv at the moment, it would be one of these - Samsung ES8000 - shy of 2 grand for a 55" though

A friend of mine has just bought one of those - it's very impressive!

50" is the biggest I wanted as that just fits into an alcove at the end of the room. It was a good deal from JLP at £599.

Wait for the 4k sets to come out.

HD 3D is so, like, 2012.