HDTV Info

[AlanHo]

Our lounge TV is due for replacement and I am researching the pros and cons of the various HDTV's on the market.

It's a minefield - do you choose Plasma - or LCD - or back projection, what size, what make, from where etc

I have narrowed it down to a choice between Plasma versus LCD - I have eliminated back projection sets from consideration, although they are much cheaper, because unless you sit right in front of the screen it is very dark. You don't have to be too far off centre to lose the picture completely.

I googled this site which has some useful information Click here

[-pops-]

The viewing angle of some LCD screens is quite narrrow as well - careful in your selection if you want family (wide(ish)) angle viewing.

[djohn]

Hi Alan, I would go LCD every time over Plasma. The latter seems to be losing favour now in the quality stakes of slimline TV's. One of the best LCD screens at 32" size is Toshiba at the moment, with Samsung coming a close second.

Both the tosh and sam will give viewing angles every bit as good as a CRT tube and of course the HDTV is far better than the normal signal being output at the moment. We have a small specialist shop near us and I've had the pleasure of viewing HD and normal digital signal side by side on the same monitors and the difference is jaw dropping when properly set up. I will be replacing my 4 month old Toshiba 32" CRT for a 32" Toshiba LCD in the coming weeks.

This is the one I'm going for, look at the awards it has. Toshiba

[Thos]

I agree with djohn here. Other good choices are Sony Bravia and the Panasonic is a good looking set. I would like to get a new one but am reluctant to off load a 3 year old widescreen, 100 mhertz TV in perfect working order. Anyone know of a charity or home for these things?

Thos.

[djohn]

Same here Thos. Only thing I'm waiting for is a decent price on my current TV. I did originally buy it over a year back but in the 12th month it developed a fault, or so I thought. Every time I used the volume button on the remote it would leave the display bar on the screen and I had to do a quick on/off to remove it.

I called out Comet and they replaced something in the TV but it didn't cure it and at the same time it took my TV down two models in the range, losing loads of things to play with.

I complained about this and they apologised telling me to go round to the store and pick up a new one. So, although I first bought it over 14 months back, this unit is only 4 months old with a full 12 month warranty. :)

The problem turned out to be the Sky receiver after all that and I needed to get that replaced but being 5 years old they [sky] did not want to know. I threatened to cancel my account so they sent me a new receiver by courier the following day. :lol:

[Chris]

;)

[AlanHo]

Djohn

Your advice about buying Toshiba is well founded. After considerable research I decided to buy a Toshiba LCD set - but being cursed with a rather large lounge - was able to accommodate the 42" model which has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels - the maximum that will be broadcast.

On standard freeview TV the picture quality is outstanding - on cable HD it is fantastic. I have hooked up my computer to the TV just as an experiment and could not believe the quality. A 42” computer monitor is awesome – management’s grandson had a whale of a time using his games console on it.

One of our friends bought a 32” LCD of Korean origin for less than £700 – and it serves to prove the point that you get what you pay for. There is no comparison in picture or sound quality. Needless to say I would now recommend Toshiba for both performance and value for money.