Advice Please - Choosing a new telly

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taxboy

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I'm looking to buy a new small telly for those times when I'm banished to my study to watch the sport, top gear etc :'( but have absolutely no idea about these things. Ideally it needs to be reasonably small so I'm guessing I need to be looking at an LCD and probably a 20 or 21 inch screen. Other than that any suggestions / recommendations for makes and models or minimum spec I need to check out.

Just one other thing it will need to come from John Lewis as I've got vouchers I can use towards the cost

TIA
Andrew
 
You don't mention a price range, but this 19" Grundig @ £279 looks nice - http://www.johnlewis.com/Technology/Televisions/Televisions/LCD+TV/1284/230425042/Product.aspx With John Lewis you get a 5 year guarantee on all tv's so you don't need to worry about quality so much.

Generally things to look for are.. Resolution 1440x900 seems average, don't go for less.
Viewing angle is important but JL don't quote it, basically the wider the vertical and horizontal angle the better you'll be able to see the picture if you are sitting off centre.
 
I'm looking into a new LCD at the moment, and the general opinion I've found so far is that Samsung are the best. A lot of more expensive brands also use Samsungs panels.
 
Samsung are good panels , the speakers USUALLY let them down. But on a small panel like that they are never going to blow you away!

Sharp would be my recommendation for anyone buying an LCD. Any model with an X in the model code is a safe bet. They are the most advanced technology on the scaler , which is the important component on a LCD.

Quick edit , just looked and found this:
http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=SHAR-LC20AD5E
Richer sounds are using this as a loss leader , something they often do.
Ring up local branch , reserve one. Go down and buy it.

WARNING: They will try everything to convince you to buy an alternative model , including telling you reasons why the other is 'better'
Ignore them , the sharp is top. I have 3 sharp LCD's and know the business inside out (Yep you guessed it I used to work for RS).
Richer sounds warranty is well worth having though , its spot on.
 
djbolf said:
Sharp would be my recommendation for anyone buying an LCD. Any model with an X in the model code is a safe bet. They are the most advanced technology on the scaler , which is the important component on a LCD.

WARNING: They will try everything to convince you to buy an alternative model , including telling you reasons why the other is 'better'
Ignore them , the sharp is top. I have 3 sharp LCD's and know the business inside out (Yep you guessed it I used to work for RS).
Richer sounds warranty is well worth having though , its spot on.
Click to expand...

Have Sharp sorted the banding problem that has plagued their Aqos range of LCD's?

I would personally recommend going for either Phillips, Samsung or LG (in that order).
 
I was in the market for a new TV recently so I did some research.

Which? have worked out the average scores they've given to various TV manufacturers. In order:
(69%) Panasonic - great picture quality, energy efficient, good functionality, but not cheap
(59%) Toshiba - big improvements recently, usability OK
(57%) Sony - good quality, well-featured, energy efficient, but tend to be pricey
(53%) Philips - much improved recently, energy efficient, but serious usability issues
(50%) JVC - sound and pictures disappointing, poor usability
(49%) LG - mediocre picture and sound quality, but affordable
(49%) Samsung - picture quality mediocre, sound poor, but well specified and cheap
(49%) Hitachi - mediocre, poor usability

Unfortunately Panasonic don't make anything smaller than 26".

Which? also did a comparison test of "portable" TVs (i.e up to 23") last month and their favourites were:
* Sony Bravia KDL-20S3000 (20")
* Toshiba 23W330DB (23")

There were 3 they recommended avoiding:
* Goodmans GTVL19W17HD
* Hitachi 15LD2550B
* Toshiba 19W330DB

(Strange that: one Tosh was a Best Buy and another, with a very similar set of letters in its name, was a Don't Buy.)

I also looked at dozens and dozens of TVs in shops and ended up going with the Sony 20".
 
I have to disagree with Stewart's Samsung rating. (no idea about the rest but..)

Ive seen quite a few Samsungs 42", 50" and i have to say they have one of the best picture qualities ive seen on these new style TV's.

I dont have one myself but i would recommend having a look at one compared to others before purchasing.
 
I don't like the strange "engine" that Samsung TV's use to do smoothing. It often makes films look very unrealistic. We have a Samsung 40" in our meeting room, and watching DVD's on it was just plain wierd when we first got it. It can be turned off, but I think if I had the money I'd go for a Sony or a Sharp.
 
Thank's for the input on this - sorry for the delay in responding. I'm sort of leaning towards the Sony at the moment - although the cost is a bit scary. The difficulty I've found with trying to compare telly's in the bigger shops is they all run off one signal but in the Sony shop you can only view Sony's but they are set up properly to show them off to the best effect
 
Sony used to be the bees' knees in tv sets but not so much in recent years, certainly not enough of a difference in quality to warrant the price hike.
 
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