Ok, buying my first TV for quite some time and need to advise on what to look for, what to avoid and other general info.

Basically I want around about a 40" – 42" screen, I don't want to pay any more than £700 and ideally nearer £450, I would like it to be HD ready and include freeview. I have no idea whether I want LCD or plasma as I don't know the relative merits. It will be used for normal TV watching, with some sport as well but not a huge amount of films.

Having been to a well known electrical retailer who were as much use as a chocolate teapot I thought I would turn to the Oracle that is STW for more knowledgeable advice.

Thanks in advance.

A mate of mine gets through tellies at a frightening rate (buys one, doesn't like it, sells it on and buys another). The best one I saw was a smaller (32"?) one that was apparently loads better quality than some of the others, yet cost more.

He sold that one too, so I can't tell you what it was. The worst was a huuuuge 50+" thing; just too 'pixelated' and fuzzy. I don't know why anyone wants one of those for the average sized living room. Think about the space the thing's going to be in, and how far away from it you'll be. I make do with a 28" monitor for DVDs and stuff; it's more than adequate for me.

Quality over quantity. Go to a place where you can sit as close to the equivalent position to your home, and try a few out.

Bear in mind something large can really dominate a space. You don't want some ugly behemoth sitting taking up loads of space when it's not in use.

Personally I'd go for LCD over Plasma, I have a 32" Toshiba LCD that's a few years old now and it's great, really good picture quality, and audio, though I use a seperate amp and speakers for watching dvds.

Go here and learn all you need to know: http://www.avforums.com/forums/tvs/

my£320 Tosh seems fine. Apparently 1080 is not worth having on screens this size – you can't see it.

Thanks all. The reason it need to be that size is that it is going at the opposite end of the room to the sofa.

Any other ideas?

lunge – I can send you my Which? password if you want to have look at their reviews/opinions?

Let me know.

Barry, that would be very useful indeed, can you mail it to me? spc old icott at hotmail .com without the spaces if you please!

Thanks very much.

The biggest thing I noticed was the differance between 50Hz and 100Hz on slow moving images. You usually have to pay about £100 more for a 100Hz 32" TV bu I thought it was worth it. I spent £600 on a Panasonic from John Lewis and the picture is awsome. It has freesat built in so I can watch BBC HD and now ITV HD over the satelite connection lovely just to watch anything on. Was absorbed by the Guiness advert earlier 🙂