I'm in the market to get a new tv after the old one packed up, but there're a few things I want to check up on first before i waste loads of money. Perhaps some of you lot can help?

Firstly - LCD / plasma / whatever it is these days. I saw a lot of rubbish images on new LCD screens in pubs during the footy World Cup (and not only when England were playing).
Should i be avoiding LCD, or just cheap ones? Any recommendations?

Next thing is when I take it home to Sydney. Does anybody know if there are any compatibility problems i should be aware of with power, signal, etc?

I should point out it'll be connected through scart to my Sky dish whilst it's here.

Any advice that results in me getting a better telly, gratefully appreciated.

Cheers, Dan.

Plasma often have a glass in front of the screen which can reflect lights and windows - LCD are usually good for not reflecting.

I doubt it would in Oz though. Whats the system there?

Also from what I understand and have heard from a number of people is that LCD is beter in terms of :

. Seem to last alot longer, without having issues and having to have repairs as in the case with most Plasma TVs.

. LCD = Much beter with regards to glare. As AbFab mentioned.
. LCD TVs do not suffer from burn-in, where as Plasmas do.

Check out the following review sites :

http://www.flattvpeople.com/tutorials/lcd-vs-plasma.asp

http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtv-plasmavslcd.shtml

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/...s_Plasma3.html

Hope this helps

Plasmas

• have limited lifespan and need re-gassing (allegedly)
• have glass as part of construction

LCDs

• use light to light up the pixels and thus there is no true "black" with LCDs

Both could suffer from crappy inputs and are likely to need the colour, brightness and sharpness adjusting before you get a nice picture.

I have LCDs at home; 2 TVs and one projector (all 1080i not p).

With some work on the display properties, I have nice images. The 32" LCD which replaced my 32" 100Hz heavyweight produce similar quality pictures - close-ups on both with light skin tones can cause a dragging effect.

With a decent source and using the right setup (picture, cables, device supplying image), I think you'll be satisfied. If you have Sky+ consider using s-video (or at least RGB over scart).

As for carting it back to Oz....I think they have electicity there

I used a Samsung LE32R51B LCD with a Sky+ box when I was in Switzerland - absolutely great picture so long as the source was decent.

When the source was poor quality (many satellite channels) the end result was pretty rubbish looking. All DVDs that I tried looked great.

The main drawback of LCDs is that they cannot display 'true black'. This is only really a problem IMO if you are trying to watch the set in a really dark room and there's an image that is really dark (night scene). Under regular lighting conditions they look great.


One good thing about LCDs is that they are pretty lightweight - it was dead easy to transport a 32" set, something that could not be said about a CRT. That will help if you are transporting it to Oz at some stage in the future. There won't be any issue with power (uses same voltage/freq as Australia) and most TVs sold in Switzerland will support all the diffrent variants of PAL and SECAM as well as displaying NTSC material.


Gav

I am also in the market for a top of the line...cinema -ish set up. I was thinking of teh projector as an alternative to an LCD, for a bigger picture and I dont really fancy having a permanent fixture on a wall in one room.

Does this flexibility come at a price of quality? I would presumably be using a wall for this....I was think of B & O for the speakers...does this fit?

Sorry I don't want to hijack this thread at all, but it reminded me of my apartments needs.

if you don't have a dedicated room for home cinema then it's not worth paying over the odds (IMO).

If a plasma or LCD has a VESA-standard backplate then you can wall-mount if you wish.

If you go for projection then you should consider what you do on a sunny day to watch telly - lock yourself up?

You will basically need:

• one or more sources (DVD, sat, etc)
• an amp (2.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, ex, es, THX - who cares?)
• speakers - in theory matching the output of your amp (so I'd say 5.1 or greater)
• masses of cable (which you'll likely see)
• something to display your image

now if you have a small-ish room then a small tv will do; for example I have 32" in my living room - but 40" would possibly be better (but make the tv the centre of the room feature-wise).

I have a movie room and project 315cm diagonal in 16:9 aspect on my much-loved wall (yes, I've sweated over this rather than pay over-the-top for a screen). If I get too close (less than 4m away), I get headaches because it's too much).

So you need to search on the web as there are sites carrying info helping you make the best decision (size -vs- viewing distance).

I would try different models out in a shop. Some take a long time to change channels, so zapping becomes a bore... Also view from different angles, not just straight ahead.

the problem with that is often the displays are daisy-chained off one source and often look grainy and crap. Take that into consideration.

Thankfully, finally, there are some proper HD demos based on sat, DVD-HD or Bluehg-Ray out there to see

Don't forget, that for a third of the price of a Plasma/Lcd you can still buy a good 32/36 inch Sony/Philips flat screen CRT which apparantly still have a picture quality as good as the new Plasma/LCD's. Then you flog it before returning to OZ with a minimum loss and then you can set yourself up there with no compatability probs to worry about.

Nick.

We spent the past year researching a new TV purchase. We decided on an LCD for the richness of colours, full HD resolution, longevity, power consumption, weight, and black levels which have improved quite a bit in the past couple of years.

We were in the market for a 40-42", and narrowed it down to the following models:

Sony KDL-40X2000 (full HD 1080p display)
Philips 42PF9831D (768p panel)
Philips 37PF9731D (1080 panel, but only accepts up to 1080i signal)
Sharp LC-42XD1E (full HD 1080p display)

We went to dozens of shops around the area comparing sets (getting them side-by-side was difficult) and reading various forums and literature.

The decision came down to the Sony and the Sharp because we wanted a true future-proof TV that could accept 1080p signals. The Sharp can be had for 1k CHF less than the Sony, but the quality of colour and clarity on the Sony makes the 1k worth it IMHO.

Yes, standard definition signals will never look excellent on a large screen that has to perform up-scaling to fit the resolution. But the Bravia engine on the Sony does an excellent job with brilliant colours and no motion blur.

My Christmas gift was the Denon DVD-2930 DVD player, which uses some fancy internal chip processing to up-scale DVD's and output them at 1080p. When connected to the Sony X series over an HDMi cable, the result is breathtaking. All our friends want to do movie night only at our place from now on. Everyone has commented on how rich and vibrant the colours/picture is -- like no other TV.

If you don't wish to pay 1 grand more, the Sharp comes in second for me. Sharp makes great LCD's, but the casing & remote control seem a bit cheaply done.

If you can, go for the X series Sony.

As for compatibility in Australia, the power cable on the Sony plugs in at both ends, so you can replace it easily with an Australian connector. The voltage is the same (right?) and the DVB-T receiver can be configured for different countries in the setup menu.

Cheers,

Keith

Keandro

Thanks for your review above. www.azone.ch who I have used a couple of times in the past recommended the X2000 too. They are doing it for chf 4248 incl delivery (5849 for the 46 model). Did you see it cheaper in your travels?

Daniel

I'm also looking at the sony, but the KDL 40W2000. One shop assistant told me the X and W series were exactly the same screen, but the X came with nicer styling for a hefty price increase.

Toppreis gives me my best quote so far

The truth

The best

And only 11000 Chf




Nigel

Well that document puts things clearly in favour of plasma... Question is what kind of bias might they have?

I guess I should just follow the general theme and just get down the shop for a demo.

Useful link, although Pioneer are pretty much firmly aligned behind plasma no? and this is not independent market research in the true sense.

I am drawn towards LCD because
i) I want to use for PC games too
ii) weight considerations
iii) LCD have reputation to be less glare susceptible and I will be using in a very light room
iii) fact that contrast and black levels seem to have improved dramatically even in last year

Any views on the validity of this logic?

D

Before settling on my LCD model, I went to the various retailers with my portable DVD player and tested the picture quality of still photos, DVD movies etc.

Some of the movies I tested were chosen for action sequences (motion blur being a concern) and red green display.

I also visited www.hdtvexpert.com which I found to be a great help.

HTH

I suspect that this is similar to claiming that Skoda's and Audi's are pretty much the same cars




When going to view LCD's and Plasma's it is very important to find the right shop. Nasty fluorescent lighting will totally ruin the picture.


I just happened to be in my local Darty on Saturday. They have a nice section with about 20 different screens in very subdued lighting. They were showing a Blu Ray demo on most of them and it really was spectacular. This included a nice side by side section with normal DVD and Blu Ray and the HD was definately a huge leap forward. And of course it looked better on the plasma's



Nigel

i would like to soon replace my 32 inch flatscreen with something like a 40 inch or 46 inch. However, i would like there to be more HD material to actually view on the screen!!