Guest mike-oh Posted December 30, 2005 Report Posted December 30, 2005 Hello fellow gadget lovers! I'm looking at getting a HD LCD TV (abc BSc MVP :D ) mainly for films and eventually i'm going to hook up an Xbox 360 or PS3. Can any of you guys recommend any ones in particular? I'm currently eyeing up the Panasonic TX26LXD52 and the Philips 26PF5520D. 26" is about the ideal size for my room and budget of around £800. I prefer the design (and price) of the Philips as it has the speakers on the side. I'm not bothered about sound power or quality as i'll be routeing the sound through my surround sound amp. Anyhow if you have any thoughts please share them! Thanks, Mike ;)
Guest fluffcat1 Posted December 30, 2005 Report Posted December 30, 2005 Hi Mike, I know *nothing* about HDTV, but can recommend a fellow called John Dawson at Richer sounds on Vicar Lane in Leeds. He's the manager and is a top bloke, they have a massive display of plasmas there. HTH. Richard
Guest mike-oh Posted December 30, 2005 Report Posted December 30, 2005 Ta! I plan on going there but just haven't got around to doing it yet! That's where most of my other A/V equipment has come from ;)
Guest mike-oh Posted December 31, 2005 Report Posted December 31, 2005 Ahwell, i couldn't resist. Went and got the Philips from empire direct earlier today and it's pretty neat ;) . Just waiting to get some High-def material on it now. DVDs look good, analogue tele is fine, but sadly i have no freeview coverage here so i can't use that. Will eventually get my PC and a PS3 or the likes hooked up to it :D Incedentally anyone know where i can get a cheap DVI cable to hook up my PC to it. Needs to be no less than 3m long.
Guest peekie Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 you should have waited a month with sky going hdtv there will be a few nice offers on the tv side from them ;)
Guest fluffcat1 Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 you should have waited a month with sky going hdtv there will be a few nice offers on the tv side from them ;) Their branded plasma panels used to be made by Tiny :cry: :evil: :roll: Richard
Guest AaronW Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 You would of been better getting a LCD with a 7 or 8 ms response time. The Philips listed has a 16ms response time so you may have some ghosting when playing xbox games.
Guest mupwangle Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 (edited) >>you should have waited a month with sky going hdtv there will be a few nice offers on the tv side from them I'm not sure about that. There is talk about the EU putting a 14% duty hike on all imported TVs. >>Their branded plasma panels used to be made by Tiny Since tiny went bust they'll probably be made by a random company like atec or haier. I'm waiting on delivery of an LG 32LX2R from Currys. Looks awesome. £867 on 9 months Interest free option. Went into the store and they matched the price on their website. (8ms response time) The thing to be careful of with these, I found, was connectivity. I've got a 360 and need component video (which most seem not to have). If you want Sky-HD you need HDMI. My brother's got a £1000 toshiba that has HDMI and HDCP-DVI (two emerging HD standards) but no component (so no 360). Edited January 4, 2006 by mupwangle
Guest mike-oh Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 My philips came with a component to DVI connector so no problem there! It can also be hooked up to my PC so i'm typing this on my TV (and with PIP i'm watching the TV at the same time too 8) )! Have just played UT2004 from the PC and there was no problem with ghosting at all. Additionally HDCP-DVI and HDMI are compatable, you just need a converter if you wish to cross between the 2. For a TV to be given the 'HD Ready' badge it needs either or both of those connections. Judging by the fact that by the time i get round to getting sky HD i'll be in my own house, married with kids and this TV will be used in the bedroom on the brand new PS4, then i'm very happy where i stand!
Guest mupwangle Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 Yeah, you're right - there are converters between the standards - but it's not a good thing to have to rely on it. For example I was looking at a philips that only had 2 scarts and a HDCP/DVI. I could connect the xbox with a converter but would have to buy additional hardware switches (if such a thing exists) if I wanted to connect anything else on HD. The LG had 3 seperate HD inputs so with converters I could use 3xcomponent or 1x component+2xHDMI and so on. It's like the old days where if you wanted a video, console, cable box and whatever plugged into Scart then you needed a switch box if you didn't have enough scarts. That HD ready thing's started to annoy me. I've seen a couple of HD Ready marked screens that are only capable of displaying 570 lines - it got the HD Ready logo since it had HDMI but it would have to downsize the picture to display it. Conning barstewards.
Guest mike-oh Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 That HD ready thing's started to annoy me. I've seen a couple of HD Ready marked screens that are only capable of displaying 570 lines - it got the HD Ready logo since it had HDMI but it would have to downsize the picture to display it. Conning barstewards. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Crap! That's suprised me has that! Didn't think they could get away with it. Oh and for the uneducated.....look out for high definition displays that have the equivalent lines of a HD TV but don't actually have the inputs to support that. Then there's the whole confusion with the various DVI-I, DVI-D, DVI-A etc etc. And don't even start with the next VHS vs Betamax battle that is going to be happening with the next gen of high res DVDs (Blue ray/HD DVD) :roll:
Guest mupwangle Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 Currys sell the Sharp LC32P50E "HD Ready" LCD for £800. Component input and HDMI. Not bad, I thought. Maximum screen resolution is 960 x 540. "HD Ready" my arse. According to Sharp - "HD-Compatible AQUOS new optimum panel for PAL/SECAM is designed with 540 vertical dots. This number means exactly 1/2 of the 1080i high-definition signal and exactly 3/4 of the 720p high-definition signal, thus resulting in crystal-clear picture reproduction from a simple algorithm." That means my S110 is perfect for HD as it has exactly 1/3 of the vertical dots of 720p. I thought the whole point of HD (at least 720p anyhoo) was to show all the "dots"? Thinking of the VHS/Betamax thing - would it be sensible backing Sony again?
Guest mike-oh Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 I really don't know as each sides have several big backers! I'm currently reading this http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-8900_7-5600201-1.html which seems to be pretty informative.
Guest mupwangle Posted January 4, 2006 Report Posted January 4, 2006 Good article. What is missed though (through being out of date rather than omission) is that HP have decided to back HD-DVD AND Blu-ray now due to some sort of DRM issue, and Microsoft have said HD-DVD support will be in Windows Vista (as mentioned) but Blu-ray support will be subject to a licence fee. This kinda tips the scales towards HD again. Also Samsung, part of the Blu-ray group, have already said they'll release dual-format players from day one. There are still rumours of MSFT launching an HD-DVD upgrade for the 360 to rival Sony's blu-ray ps3. I can only see consumers losing out again. :-(
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