Azanti

I am about to get a new TV, I want to get a 42 - 52 inch tv or somewhere inbetween with a good sound system.

My budget at the top end will be around £1500. (Low end £500)

What would people recommend?

Windthrop

The 'new kid on the block' as far as flat screens is the LED screen TV (which is a development of the LCD system) which is being muted as the future for large flat screens and may replace both plasma and LCD. Samsung and others are producing them and the 46" versions are retailing at the top end of your budget (55" are generally over 2k). The LED's are very new and the prices are still on the high side.

You can't see the join !

Film Man

Go to 'Richer Sounds'...The only place where you will get a bargain and the information you want!
Film Man.

Wolfgang

If it is for mainly watching films definitely plasma.

ican

After spending the past few years researching whether to go for LCD or plasma and how much to spend, I finally had to take the plunge, ignored much of the negative user experiences to be found on the net and made my own value judgement. Just make sure you buy a screen that is FULL HD, not just HD ready and don't go too low with the price barrier.

For what its worth I purchased a Panasonic TX-P42V10 plasma a couple of months ago and all my real fears such as not being able to watch my collection of old British sci-fi movies washed away. The Blu-ray player I also purchased (Panasonic DMP-BD60) plays and upscales standard DVDs beautifully (but not Region 1). The only real downside is that DVDs via scart look poor compared to the Bluray (buy a DVD player with component or HDMI upscale), the audio on the TV itself is quite poor for something other than normal TV watching. You will need to purchase a separate sound system and if you do I would recommend buying one that accepts HDMI.

Yesterday I looked back at Panasonic TH-P42V10 and TH-P50V10 Owners Thread - Part 1 - AVForums.com which is where I looked for info before I made my purchase. I did find it useful but having lived with the set for a while some of the negatives in that forum are IMHO due to user error or misplaced fears. All in all though despite loving my new purchase I think the LCD/Plasma/Digital TV market is appalling for the average person who just wants a good telly. The quality of some of the lower end products is astoundingly bad or the user interface is too complicated to understand, the abandonement of the traditional CRT was a mistake.

Bedelia

I'd recommend Sony LCD (Amazon's good for comparing models and customer reviews; and their delivery service is speedy) - great picture quality and value for money.

GoggleboxUK

If price is important I'd recommend BigPockets.co.uk Blank Media, CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R, DL+, Dual Layer, 8cm, Recordable Discs, Epson, HP, Cartridges, PCs, Laptops, DVD Cases, LCD HD TVs, Free Delivery

Sign up for their newsletter and they'll email you extremely good but very limited offers. I got a very nice 32" HD LCD for my son about 16 months ago for £229 including delivery.

"There's always something"

Lord Brett

I got an LG LCD model from Richer Sounds which has built-in Freeview and Freesat, solving the problem of having nothing to watch is you're recording from satellite once the analogue system is switcvhed off in the next year or so.

LG 42LF7700 42in LCD TV Review - TV Reviews - TrustedReviews

autolycus

I'd recommend an extended warranty whichever set you go for. Repairs can be horrendously expensive. John Lewis do a "free" 5 year warranty on all TVs. Prices tend to be high, but they do price match and they are very good to deal with if you have any problems. I finally settled on a Sony LCD from them and i've been very pleased with it.

BTW as i understand it the so-called LED sets are actually just LED backlit LCD TVs, which gives them a slimmer profile; true (organic) OLED TVs are some time away yet although i believe Sony do a 5" one for about £1500 :-)

Film Man

As I said ...Try Richer Sounds...this bunch will tie you up in knots!
Film Man

Lord Brett

I agree with Film Man. You're guaranteed at Richer Sounds to get an assistant who knows what they're talking about, instead of the dreaded 'Saturday Lad' one tends to wind up with at Curry's.

Carl V

I'm not an expert on TV technology, but I have heard that plasmas suffer from "screen burn" where a channel logo or on-screen graphic can somehow "burn" itself onto the screen if it has been on for too long. Maybe this was just when they first came out, but I would be interested in knowing if this is true, if there are any plasma owners here.

GoggleboxUK

Plasmas are still prone to this but 2 minutes with a DVD on fast forward will clear it. In the early days it was there forever. No fun if you had Sky where every channel has a permanent logo on screen.

"There's always something"

Carl V

Thank you Gogglebox. It was the channel logos that would be of a concern if I were to get one, especially now with the red interactive dots that seem to be on all the time. Let's see how much longer my current CRT television lasts.

Wolfgang

I imagine if you watch lots of black and white films another thing going for plasma is their superior contrast. I bet Blu-Ray black and white classics look gorgeous on plasma.

I am also wondering if you watch many films taped off TV like we do on Britmovie or copied from deleted videos unlikely to get Blu-Ray releases if 720 HD ready would be better option than 1080 Full HD? Do your normal VHS tapes look noticeably worse if they are upscaled to 1080?