I had this exact problem last year. I picked the 32 Sony since it was the nicest looking out of the lot.

All the rest looked like scaled up computer monitors, but the sony has a small bezel, a good remote and the metal frame base looks great. Richer Sounds for less than £325ish IIRC

I’d look for a sound bar though. I regarded my TV speakers as “average” before we got one. Now I would grade them as “shi…

Someone in the industry told me those razor-sharp images you see on TV’s on store might not be the same in your home….due to some stores having a satelitte ariel/boosted thing to make it all look great

Not sure about that but they do leave all the picture processing on which give it that super sharp “popped” look, ultimately though this isn’t really a good/realistic picture and quickly becomes tiring to watch. Mate of mine bought a top end Samsung a couple of years ago, hasn’t touched any of the image processing, can barely watch it, horrific although on first glance it totally has the wow factor. You can find a sets of “recommended” settings at places like AV Forums.

Mine has a “Shop” and “Home” modes. The Shop one turns everything up to 11 and it’s designed to look good under the bright lights in a showroom. It’s unwatchable at home like that.

I read this

http://www.whathifi.com/review/panasonic-tx-l32e6b

then compared it in shops with the equivalent Sony and Samsung. Bought the Panasonic and it’s bl**dy brilliant – love it. Sound’s not amazing but it’s good enough, and we have it through the hi-fi for films anyway. John Lewis, 5-year warranty, paid around £360 delivered.

Someone in the industry told me those razor-sharp images you see on TV’s on store might not be the same in your home….due to some stores having a satelitte ariel/boosted thing to make it all look great.

yes, that’s because they correctly deduced that you are gullible…

They have it in shop mode and then feed it material that won’t suffer too much from the processing – so nothing much that moves quickly, etc.

In the local Richer Sounds they were feeding all their HD tvs some action from the latest Batman and you could see them all breaking up on the motion, so they choose the wrong material there.

But most buyers aren’t particularly smart so it doesn’t matter.

I remember a few years ago where everyone was rushing out to buy new HD-ready LCD TVs in time for the world cup football – only problem was that there was no HD sources for the football, or much else at the time.

I read this

http://www.whathifi.com/review/panasonic-tx-l32e6b

then compared it in shops with the equivalent Sony and Samsung. Bought the Panasonic and it’s bl**dy brilliant – love it. Sound’s not amazing but it’s good enough, and we have it through the hi-fi for films anyway. John Lewis, 5-year warranty, paid around £360 delivered.

that’s several mentions for how good that panny is, so I would get it.

I believe Currys/PC World have their own version of the E6 range, that is where I saw it and was quite impressed, one of the few impressive pictures in the store – and not a glossy screen either.

Rule of thumb for screen diagonal size always used to be to divide the distance you were sitting from the screen by 3, and that was the biggest diagonal screen you should get – your eyes have a limited width vision “sweet spot” and if you’re too close to a big screen your brain/eyes can’t process quickly enough what’s happening at the edges of the screen – your eyes then have to “hunt” side-to-side to see everything, which can be mentally tiring and lead to headaches.

Rule of thumb for screen diagonal size always used to be to divide the distance you were sitting from the screen by 3, and that was the biggest diagonal screen you should get – your eyes have a limited width vision “sweet spot” and if you’re too close to a big screen your brain/eyes can’t process quickly enough what’s happening at the edges of the screen – your eyes then have to “hunt” side-to-side to see everything, which can be mentally tiring and lead to headaches.

how’s that work with those awesome iMax cinemas ?

This could be a problem with flourescent lighting though, as that can make your eyes hunt during the dark bits of the 50Hz flicker.

On an iMax you’ll only see real sharp detail over a pretty small area – to see what I mean look at anything which is about an arm’s length away – you’ll “see” a central area about the size of a newspaper in sharp detail, but everything else around it will be lacking detail until you actually LOOK at it. . . move further out to the sides and you’ll again see something, but not in any great detail. Move right to the extremes of your peripheral vision and you’ll only really be aware of stuff that moves in that area – you won’t know what it is that you’ve seen moving, but you will see something – this is a hang-over from history where your peripheral vision kept you from being eaten by wild beasts creeping up on your from the sides/rear.

Is it not also to do with your color receptors only covering a small area?

so at night if you are looking for movement you look to the side of the area you are scanning.

Anyway – ideally you want as big a screen as you can get to get the most immersive experience – particularly important if you insist on using surround sound otherwise the two experiences are a bit divorced.

but with a TV you are stymied by the quality of the source and the (lack-of) quality of the upscaling, and also the wife…

TurnerGuy – Member

but with a TV you are stymied by the quality of the source and the(lack-of) quality of the upscaling, and also the wife…

Oh yes the “I doesn’t need to be any bigger than the old one” line.

We have reached the giddy heights of 40″ now though!

That was via 21″ – 28″ & 32″ bearing in mind the closest you can sit in our lounge layout is 4 meters away :/

Thanks all. Perhaps the most commented on thread I have ever started 😮

I am going to go for the Panasonic as TurnerGuy observes it seems to be getting good comments in the round and on viewing the same channel on all three in John Lewis last night the picture looked as good if not marginally better than the other two.

The Panasonic is £20 cheaper at Richer Sounds than John Lewis, both have 5 year guarantees. Any reason not to save £20?

Oh and the room is pretty small, the most sat in sofa can’t be much more than 8ft away. It’s going to be 32″.

I got a ‘free’ 32″ Sony beast as part of my new phone deal…felt a bit done with it though as the phone does some real fancy stuff, but none of it works on the tv.

Anyway, it appears to be ok, but given I’m staying in a 160 year old house with 2″ thick walls, it doesn’t pick up any aerial tv…so I’ve no idea how the picture looks, but when I do get my phone connected, I can share a film from it and the picture looks good and sound is fine.

Unsure why you’d need to go above 32″ for a tv but I guess it depends on how much tv you watch – I don’t watch much so have no need to sit for hours looking at it.

The tv I have in the living room has a built-in dvd player and gets used more often, so I’m going to be boxing the Sony back up and probably selling it.

Has built-in wifi but it won’t actually connect to my hub, so I’m unsure what the wifi part of it is actually for. A real shame as I was hoping to get the benefits the phone gives me on the free tv but with a bigger screen (32″ instead of 5″)…it’ll just go back in the box until I get round to selling it.

The Panasonic is £20 cheaper at Richer Sounds than John Lewis, both have 5 year guarantees. Any reason not to save £20?

I would pay the £20 just to not buy from Richer Sounds !

You had the demo in JL so I would probably buy there. JL will probable price match against RS anyway.

Could Richer Sounds even do an equivalent demo with normal material being shown on the TV?

And there is also the possibility that they would deliver to your local Waitrose so making picking it up easier and cheaper.

Are the warranties equivalent?

The JL ones used to be domestic and general and would cover accidental damage, which is worth it with an LCD and the panel is fragile (don’t go near it with cables or take care that the cable end doesn’t ‘swing’ into the screen).

I have used a Richer Sounds warranty before and it went OK.

Also look to see if the Richer Souonds one does a buy back scheme as they used to do that, or maybe it was for an extra small fee.

I’d definitely buy it in JL, they will match the price too I suspect. The 5yr guaranty comes from who, if it’s from Richer Sounds they are more likely to go bust than JL.

if it’s from Richer Sounds they are more likely to go bust than JL.

same group as Jessops, although I note that Jessops are now very competitive on price on the web.

I also note that their London Bridge store, which was an iconic location for them and where I bought my ‘managers choice’ Uzi submachine water pistol years ago, has moved away to a much less convenient location on Tooley street.

HDTVTest

avforums

Got a Sony KDL32W653 which is probably one iteration behind your Sony option.

As an infrequent viewer, i think it’s brilliant. Size is about right for the room. Picture quality on HD channels is brilliant and the Smart features are pretty cool – can control it all from my phone. Youtube apps on both devices pair over wifi so you can make a playlist on the phone and play it over the TV with the sound through a soundbar or stereo. Netflix playback is also excellent.

Very pleased.

Got a Sony KDL32W653 which is probably one iteration behind your Sony option

That’s the one I’ll be buying in a week or so (but in 42″) – glad you’re happy with it.

Earlier this year, I bought the 42″ version of the Panasonic up there ^, from John Lewis. I can’t fault the telly or the service we got from JL.
I paid £480 delivered. Cock on.

house with 2″ thick walls

Thin walls back in those days?