Help needed with TV purchase...

DoubleT

DoubleT

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guys i thought you could help me?

I went out shopping today with the intention of getting a new TV,

i was looking at a panasonic 42" plasma 1080p

problem is i found the whole, " if you want it to display a HD picture you need this,this and this" totalling up to nearly twice the price as the TV!,

now i dont have SKY and according to my wife we wont be getting it! tbh we arent really huge TV watchers but just feel my 32" sony vega is getting a tad outdated!

thing is ive got LOADS of DVD's

obviously the picture output on a 1080p from a dvd source is going to be pixalated,

ive had a quick look for a 720p plasma but think its going to be worse because its old technology, or am i thinking wrong?

what would you recomend for me? i would like the same quality as my CRT or better, or am i asking for too much from a large plasma screen with my DVDs.

blue ray is good obviously but god damned expensive, and even IF i did get a sky HD box only a few channels are a HD source.

what would you do?

budget of around £700 but fairly flexible.

i had a look at a 40" sony LCD for £599 and a panasonic 42" plasma for £619 both in comet.

cheers
 
I bought a big 40" LCD telly from Tesco for about 500 quid, it's a no-name brand (Technika) and it's not full HD (only 720p) and you know what? I've had less problems than all of my mates who are the 'we'll only buy Sony' crowd. My point is don't worry too much about the name, go for the features you want. If you've not got sky HD is a waste of time & money (it is anyway in my book).
 
If it's the same Sony LCD I think you're talking about... then here's its review if it's any help: http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/sony-kdl40v4000-review-20080822127.htm. If you don't care about having the latest models then I reckon its good value for money, 1080p too.

Since you have a lot of DVDs you're gonna need a decent upscaling DVD player. Interestingly enough the PlayStation 3 is a great DVD upscaler, and since it plays Blurays too you're pretty much set for that in the future. Not forgetting that it plays games too of course... :p

But if can't stretch to that then you could just get a standalone upscaling DVD player. Trouble is these days their prices rival standalone Bluray players that have that option too. The Sony BDPS350 for example is a pretty decent BD player that upscales very well also.

Perhaps see if you can get the Comet guys to hook them up and bring along one of your own DVDs and see what it's like.
 
I think one of the most important things you can do is see it working. Specs are all very well but you're going to spend a lot of time watching it and you need to be happy with the picture quality.
 
the panasonic plasma will out perform the sony lcd on just about every front on standard feeds, as plasma's are generally smoother then lcds at 42 and above.

i have a pansonic pz81, and its simply stunning, and has built in freestat, which would get free tv channels including some hi-def ones, but is just under £900.

to get the most from any of the tv's then id agree you need a dvd player that will upscale to 1080p some dvd players will upscale other video sources i.e if your using freeview. i am not sure if the playstation will do that or not, but its worth considering for the future for dvd upscaling, andas a blueray player.
 
Joe T said:
1080i is upscaled 720p
Click to expand...

Not strictly true, as all feeds are scaled as there not filmed in the formats there broadcast in, its just upscaling to 1080p rather then 1080i takes more processing power.

I= Interlace, where only half of the screen picture is refreshed at a time, but its so quickly done you generally do not see it.

P= Progressive scan, where the whole screen is refreshed every cycle.

P is smoother for sports, and very fast action sceens.

Sky broadcast in 720p (sports) or 1080i (movies) some upscalers can upscale SD to 720i, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p.

1080p is considered by most to be the highest quility at the moment. Although theres not a great deal of differance between 1080i/p but id have a p tv if poss due to future proofing. Not all upscalers are equal either as its all done to software and processors fitted to the scalers. the other thing if possable from a tv is to get something with 24frames per sec as thats what films are recorded in, and what most HD films will offer for ulitmate.
 
ok, but looking at my situation at the moment with nearly 300 films on DVD ( and i still use vhs on occasions lol )
and clearly only watch SD channels at the moment ( unless the whole world is going to turn HD in the next 3 years)

would a 1080 be it i or p produce a picture as good as my 32" 100hz sony trinitron crt?

if not? what will or shall i just stick with what ive got untill i NEED to buy a new tv
 
so here is the TV im looking at

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/442143/PANASONIC-TH-42PX80BA/tab/specification#spec

actually i dont think it is a 1080, pixal dimentions 1024x768,

wo would that make it a 768?!

the bloke in comet was view quality displayes on a 1080p, and it wasnt even the tv i was interested in,

if i bought the above tv which dvd upscaler would i need?


another annoything, you pay 250 for a bluray player and it doesnt even come with a hdmi cable! how cheeky is that!
 
get the panny plas,a. and if you cant stretchto £250 for a bluray player then get a good upscaler. I have 42" plasma and even DVD looks fantastic upscaled on PS3, the bluray look even better
 
sainsburys have a sony DVD player that upscales to 1080p via HDMI for £60 in their christmas offers book, im considering getting one as a stop gap before i splash out on a blueray player.


tbh ive had no problems with SD on a 40" sony LCD, the picture looks great and im hoping will look even better with HD, the distance you sit from your tv is a massive factor in the overall 'look' of the image (i think the ratio is suposed to be 3:1 (i.e you should sit three times as far away from your screen as the image size- i think im 11foot away from my LCD, which is pretty much ideal)


sony do a blueray player for £180(amazon) which seems to be more than good enough for the majority of users
 
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DoubleT said:
so here is the TV im looking at

http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/442143/PANASONIC-TH-42PX80BA/tab/specification#spec

actually i dont think it is a 1080, pixal dimentions 1024x768,

wo would that make it a 768?!

the bloke in comet was view quality displayes on a 1080p, and it wasnt even the tv i was interested in,

if i bought the above tv which dvd upscaler would i need?


another annoything, you pay 250 for a bluray player and it doesnt even come with a hdmi cable! how cheeky is that!
Click to expand...


yeah that tv isnt 1080 anything, still HD though, and will be better then the Sony LCD you mentioned earlier on SD feeds.

Id proberly try and get these one if at all possible.
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/sto...duct&fm=12&sm=0&tm=1&sku=172727&category_oid=


Blueray players not much between them tbh just make sure if you get one it can have the firmware upgraded, and will play at 24hz(not all can) but as your not planning on upgrading to hd feeds then something like this is very effective.
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/sto...duct&fm=12&sm=2&tm=1&sku=839405&category_oid=

(upscalers dont quite meet full HD IQ but its a very good compromise.)

Or one like this if you want surround sound

http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/sto...duct&fm=12&sm=2&tm=2&sku=259389&category_oid=

(pretty sure it has a scart input so you can watch videos and standard SD upscaled to HD, but please check that before buying)

Personally id have the LG upscaler and buy a seperate surround system. Over getting a blueray player. even then for me the blueray player of choice is the playstation 3.
 
Looking at that Panasonic I'm confused, a resolution of 1024x768 isn't widescreen is it? yet they say it's 16x9
 
Steep said:
Looking at that Panasonic I'm confused, a resolution of 1024x768 isn't widescreen is it? yet they say it's 16x9
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thats why when watching wide screen films you get a small black frame top and bottom on all tvs including 1080's
 
Aye but 1024x768 is 4x3 not 16x9
 
well ive just been out and got the panasonic i posted the link to from comet, (but i got it for £555) and im really impressed with the picture quality, i dont know what i was worrying about,
DVD's look just as good as before even connected up through a scart cable, i may still get an upscaler, ive seen a panasonic that plays divx, mpeg and all types of stuff which is a bonus but doesnt have the out puts for the 5.1 which my sony dvd player has,


im gunna get a hdmi cable for my Wii which is another thing i bought this month, ontop of a d300!

does it really matter too much about which hdmi cable to get?


thanks for your replys guys
 
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For HDMI cables, buy a basic one for about £10 to £15 from somewhere like play.com

Don't be fooled into buying anything more expensive, they do not offer anything more for a digital signal (unlike analogue signals which are affected by cable quality).

You might also want to consider a 5.1 system with upscaling DVD, they are not that expensive and will give you everything you are looking for.
 
Defiance said:
Don't be fooled into buying anything more expensive, they do not offer anything more for a digital signal (unlike analogue signals which are affected by cable quality).
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To a certain extent. Very cheap cables have quite a low maximum bandwidth, and therefore cannot actually transmit 1080p. Just make sure the cable is HDMI 1.3a or b compatible.
 
Gazza_DJ said:
To a certain extent. Very cheap cables have quite a low maximum bandwidth, and therefore cannot actually transmit 1080p. Just make sure the cable is HDMI 1.3a or b compatible.
Click to expand...

with things like this i always follow the 'midfield' rule, dont buy the cheapest but at the same time dont buy the most expensive either.

oh and dont buy interconnects from comet/currys etc they absolutely rape for them, instead go to somewhere like maplin (although places like asda also sell them) for alot less, spend the money you've saved on a couple of DVD's or a bluray disc
 
Another thing to bear in mind is that on a 42" screen the human eye can't tell the difference between 768 / 1080 resolution if sat more than 5ft away as those pixel things are very small :D

Linky for info
 
mrgubby said:
Another thing to bear in mind is that on a 42" screen the human eye can't tell the difference between 768 / 1080 resolution if sat more than 5ft away as those pixel things are very small :D

Linky for info
Click to expand...

i think its subjective. ive been in many home cinemas, from full thx spec 100grand + systems to my own £48 and a bag of nuts, and i have seen screens from 3m to 9m and you really can tell a 1080p system..its just better
 
matty said:
i think its subjective. ive been in many home cinemas, from full thx spec 100grand + systems to my own £48 and a bag of nuts, and i have seen screens from 3m to 9m and you really can tell a 1080p system..its just better
Click to expand...

That's marketing for you :thumbs:






;)
 
Put a 1080p screen and a 720p screen next to each other, running the same HD source you will see a difference, guarunteed.
 
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