[Closed] What TV - Plasma or LCD? Recommendaitons please.

IMO - I'd go for something with built in Freesat if you're stuck for room

The Panasonic TX-P42G10B is superb
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/reviews/269110/panasonic-viera-txp42g10b.html

Whatever you get make sure it can handle things like iPlayer [starting beta tests this week]

Well, if it's going on a pivoting bracket, viewing angle is largly irrelevant, I would have thought, so a good LCD panel would be fine. I picked up a Sony Bravia 40" LCD nearly two years ago, and the quality is stunning, with a Sky HD box. Mine was £899, which was £99 more than each of my previous two CRT TV's had cost; a 21" Panasonic I gave away after 20 years, and a 32" Philips widescreen that died after 15 years. Not sure where that 'five year life' thing comes from, they were saying that about LCD watch displays twenty-odd years ago, and my six year old laptop screen is working just fine...

Is this a post from the 90's?
Sony haven't made a plasma for years, my last one cost 4k, lol.
My current Panasonic freesat one is quite good, better than the LCD's I saw, I prefer plasma, others may differ, get out a demo a few.
For what is worth a mate has just bought a LG plasma & says its great, I've not seen it so can't comment beyond that.

I've been looking around recently. The LGs and Panasonic LCDs have impressed me. The LED tvs look the best but they are pricey, though

Panasonic Viera.

Absolutely no contest. Had mine for 18 months and all good!

Consistently a which? best buy.

Whatever you do choose, be wary of the free 5 year warranties. They often don't cover for the most common faults.

Also, be prepared for it to be cheaper in 6 months!!!

If you can still find them Pioneer Kuro 37". They are still around in a few shops not that many bells and whistles but I haven't seen anything that comes close for picture quality save maybe for the OLED Samsung. I have a 37" and I love it.

Failing that the 7 series OLED Samsung ones are pretty darn faultless as well but they are quite a bit more expensive than similarly specced TVs of other brands. The smallest one I think is 42".

LG Plasma. LCDs don't come close unless you spend big money.

vrapan
OLED, are you sure? I don't think so, years away at the OP's budget 🙁

Sorry no not OLED. Just LED, the 42" one goes for 1200£ or there about but it is a great screen.

oleds are still tiny but apparently they are the next gen

its lcd with led backlighting

fwiw the bravia 3 i looked at in john lewis was noticeably nicer than the bravia 2 ones

i thought plasma was on the way out its all lcds now

I bought a Sharp LED/LCD combi screen thing a few weeks ago (LCD but with LED backlighting), that was £600 for the 32". Really good picture, much better contrast than plain LCD.

I've just bought one of these:
[url= http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/product/brand/samsung/product/420/product.aspx ]Samsung 40" LCD[/url]

For £650, I reckon it's pretty hard to beat. The pic quality is definitely better than my 40" Sony LCD that I bought a couple of years ago - might be just 2 years of progress and/or the 100Hz thing on the Samsung.

Nick

We've got a Pana P37X10 plasma that we're very happy with. It didn't look good against the LCDs in the brightly lit showroom but looks great in the home.

Amazon doing it for £441: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001TUYUT2/300003015-21/?m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Just make sure its full 1080 HD
and the resolution to be around 100

Have seen 50+ LCD screens in Harrods made by LG
last year.
Would not bother with a Plasma they have a shorter life span
and also you have to be careful with the screen as you dont
want to scratch it.

To be honest most people I have made home cinema or
lounge furniture to incorparate these TV's normaly
have Samsung, LG, Sony. TV's

A good place to try is Richersounds very good deals

DO you not think plasma has the wider viewing angle, making it a better choice? I'd heard the lifespan was the same.

Some info here: http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv-plasmavslcd.shtml

My views on some of the questions above...

Plasma does have a wider viewing angle.

While both LCD and Plasma TVs made ~5 years ago may now be starting to die, I expect that the current ones will last longer.

[i]"Just make sure its full 1080 HD..."[/i] [b]if[/b] you're going to be viewing a lot of 1080 content (Blu Ray and games) [b]AND[/b] you're going to be sat close enough for the human eye to resolve the individual pixels.

See the chart below. To get the full benefit of full 1080 HD on a 37" TV you've got to be sat about 5 feet from the screen. To get any benefit at all, you've got to be sat at around 7feet.

[img] [/img]

Well done Mighty Higs for posting that chart - most folk don't realise the distances required to benefit from HD.

I install TV/Home Cinema professionally so my advice would be:

In that size room get a 50" screen - no question. It won't seem big after a few days. If you get a 42" you'll soon realise you could've gone bigger.

Get a Plasma - I'd recommend LG if you're on a budget. The LG50PS6000 should be around £800 and looks cool as well as performing well. Good deals on Samsungs can be had too.

Buy from John Lewis (who will price match) or Costco. Both give a FREE 5yr warranty. If buying on the web look for 5yr warranties or at least buy from Pixmania (French site so 2yr warranty). Richer Sounds can be good if you have a local one. Their 5yr cover is cheap(ish). DON'T buy from Comet or Currys and get swindled by their extended warranties.

Extending/tilting brackets can be sourced on the web/eBay for £50 or less. Don't buy one in the high st for £150. A 50" Plasma is around 40kg but a properly fitted bracket will hold it fine - even with a swivel arm. Little bit of DIY knowledge and it's easy to fit - just take your time.

All the info you'll ever need at [url= http://www.avforums.com ]AVForums[/url]

I'd pretty much second what 'The mighty Higs' and 'namastebuzz' have already said, you need to be closer than you think to a HD TFT screen, and because they take up so little space when wall mounted, its worth going bigger than you think you need!
The 'Tinternet' has much better deals on wall mounts, than the highstreet, Google is your friend.
Don't buy in haste,plenty of deals about.

I'd pretty much second what 'The mighty Higs' and 'namastebuzz' have already said, you need to be closer than you think to a HD TFT screen, and because they take up so little space when wall mounted, its worth going bigger than you think you need!

Sort of.... my point really was the flip side, that if someone's limited to a given screen size it's often not necessary to get full HD. The right TV for someone may or may not be full HD but it's not a deal-breaker.

Like mountain bikes, it's easy to get hung up on the numbers rather than the experience.

I know the OP asked about a kitchen/dining room but generally I think if you want your room to look like a living room with a TV in it, you're not going to [i]need[/i] full HD. If you're setting up a home cinema you'll want a bigger full HD set.

I recently bought a Panasonic 37" plasma, it was pretty unbeatable for the money, £400. It was the X10 model. I got it from Pixmania.

50" seems awfully big. We'll be sitting no more than 4m away from it.

Size matters!!!! My 50" LG plasma is the bomb! Full HD with bluray and HD Tv it is GREAT.

Depending on the money you are spending it will be difficult to buy a bad TV!

Sorry to ask, but what leads do I need for a sky+ box. Is it HDMI?

I've run speaker cables to the corners of the room. Does that mean I need a multimedia player to feed the corner speakers?

Tv repair man told me to avoid Plasma (outdated technology and they use loads more power than an LCD)
Also only Toshiba or Panasonic are repairable the rest don't supply the parts.
www.tvdirect.co.uk are the cheapest on the net.