2k, 4k, Curved, Not Curved

[John Duncan]

Oh and Sony do a 50" as well...

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Oh and Sony do a 50" as well...

Yep, WHF gave it five stars.

 

[John Duncan]

Right so we have Sony and Samsung 50" and 55" contenders, a requirement for a bluray player and games console which a PS4 looks as if it would satisfy, with Spotify either there or coming, an old Yamaha receiver and a pair of Diamond 9.1s, how does that sound for starters in a bachelor pad?

 

[The_Lhc]

Right so we have Sony and Samsung 50" and 55" contenders, a requirement for a bluray player and games console which a PS4 looks as if it would satisfy, with Spotify either there or coming, an old Yamaha receiver and a pair of Diamond 9.1s, how does that sound for starters in a bachelor pad?

Crunchy, I think I'll have the soup.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Right so we have Sony and Samsung 50" and 55" contenders, a requirement for a bluray player and games console which a PS4 looks as if it would satisfy, with Spotify either there or coming, an old Yamaha receiver and a pair of Diamond 9.1s, how does that sound for starters in a bachelor pad?

Sounds good. *smile*

 

[BenLaw]

Right so we have Sony and Samsung 50" and 55" contenders, a requirement for a bluray player and games console which a PS4 looks as if it would satisfy, with Spotify either there or coming, an old Yamaha receiver and a pair of Diamond 9.1s, how does that sound for starters in a bachelor pad?

Plausible. How old is the receiver?

Sorry to hear will be in a bachelor pad.

 

[John Duncan]

It's a DSP-AX620, so not high def audio or even HDMI, but I propose in the first instance to play only in stereo so it's not an enormous issue IMO, and is to my mind a temporary arrangement (a mwa ha ha).

Thank you, I appreciate it.

 

[BenLaw]

No worries. Best of luck with everything.

You'll need a BDP with outputs compatible with your receiver. Receiver then speakers would be the obvious upgrades in the fullness of time, if necessary.

Your slot is still free in film club.

 

[John Duncan]

Thank you.

The PS4 has an optical out AFAICT, and presumably can downmix to stereo. As far as upgrade paths go, I am of a mind to have a receiver with preouts, active fronts, small passive rears in a 4.0 setup. But that may be a long way off, rental prices being what they are and television outlay a priority (over, say, bed, sofa, plates etc).

Thanks also for the film club invite; I'm not ready yet, but give me a couple/few weeks and it may very well be possible.

 

[John Duncan]

Oh and, as a bonus, a friend has offered me one of his 1200s which is sitting in a loft doing nothing

 

[relocated]

Best of luck with your new toys, but most of all, the very best for your life.

 

[Native_bon]

I got my self a sony 60inch for a much cheaper price & I have never looked back. The thing that really sold me on sony is the way the sets handle motion. I must say I do get dots on lines on low resolution stuff, but you cannot tell the difference between 4k tV & this set with 1080p stuff. For now yes I still think 1080p is the way to go.

 

[John Duncan]

Best of luck with your new toys, but most of all, the very best for your life.

Thank you, I appreciate it. In some sense they are 'toys', but I need a television and a games console otherwise the kids would never bloody come round, and the property I am close to agreeing rental on accommodates a big screen so I thought I may as well. The opportunity to borrow a turntable is a bonus (though I'm sure some would disagree, obviously).

 

[daveh75]

If you're going to be getting a PS4 is there really a need for a BDP too?

Just a thought. Personally i'd save the cash, or spend it elsewhere.

 

[John Duncan]

No, the PS4 is the proposed disk player. If it were just me I'd just get a BD player as have no need for a console, but since the boys -need- one I might as well get that. Unless an XBox One has similar BD/Spotify capability, I know nothing of such matters.

 

[John Duncan]

a requirement for a bluray player and games console which a PS4 looks as if it would satisfy, with Spotify either there or coming

Specifically, I meant the PS4 would do all of those things.

Unless its really noisy? I hate that.

 

[bigboss]

Sorry to hear that JD. I'm sure there are greener pastures ahead.

4K standards have just been confirmed at CES which includes HDR. I would stick with 1080p for now.

 

[drummerman]

Oh and, as a bonus, a friend has offered me one of his 1200s which is sitting in a loft doing nothing

Sorry to hear about the bachelor situation JD. I never normally dabble on the dark side (tv's).

As for the TV, I too would plump for a nice 2k flat screen, they really are gvfm nowadays. Give 4k a couple of years to mature. I don't think there is enough content at present to warrant such a tv and the upscaling issue would bother me too.

Don't forget the Ikea birchwood super comfy chair to go with it.

PS. When I had my 50" Kuro in my reasonably sized lounge (5m x 6m) I found it to be increasingly to big. A 42" would, for me, have been more appropriate.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Thanks, Son_of_SJ. If we err on the side of 1080p for now, I'd welcome suggestions yes. Be aware that I am shallow and will be informed by looks...

PS. When I had my 50" Kuro in my reasonably sized lounge (5m x 6m) I found it to be increasingly to big. A 42" would, for me, have been more appropriate.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Bigger definitely the better. *smile*

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Apologies, I was just starting to compose post number 44 when the phone rang. I'll try again.

Thanks, Son_of_SJ. If we err on the side of 1080p for now, I'd welcome suggestions yes. Be aware that I am shallow and will be informed by looks...

Well, in that case most of the women whom I've met have also been shallow and influenced by looks! That's why I've been single all my life, sob!

Okay, televisions for Mr Duncan. There was flurry of activity just after you started this thread then it all went quiet for almost two weeks, I apologise for not getting back to you sooner. To summarise, the televisions that have been mentioned so far are:

50" Sony http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kdl50w8-led-hd-1080p-3d-smart-tv-50-with-freeview-hd-2x-3d-glasses/p1169391?colour=Silver

55" Sony http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kdl55w8-led-hd-1080p-3d-smart-tv-55-with-freeview-hd-2x-3d-glasses/p1491213?colour=Silver

55" Samsung, here at Richer Sounds http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/samsung/ue55h6400/sams-ue55h6400, £50 cheaper than at John Lewis http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue55h6400-led-hd-1080p-3d-smart-tv-55-with-freeview-hd-voice-control-and-2x-3d-glasses/p1299053
Reviews of the Samsung (which I do like!) here http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-ue55h6400-review

60" Sony KDL 60W855BBU. This is the machine that Native_bon chose after being dissatisified with the LG OLED 55EC930V, and he says that he is very happy with it. Same £1,099 price at John Lewis and Richer Sounds, here http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/sony/bravia-kdl60w855/sony-kdl60w855 and this a review of the American equivalent set http://uk.pcmag.com/sony-kdl-60w850b/33497/review/sony-kdl-60w850b.

However, this is where I go completely off-message and in a minority of one. Would you consider one of the last plasmas, with their excellent viewing angles? The last plasmas on sale are these three at Currys http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd-blu-ray/televisions/large-screen-tvs-32-and-over/301_3002_30002_xx_ba00004484-bv00298766/xx-criteria.html. They have all recently dropped in price by at least £50. I would probably discount the first one because it doesn't do 3D, so that leaves a choice of the 50" and 60" models. Now, I realise that I'm the only person on these forums who advocates LG plasmas, but hey. This is a photo of my LG 60PZ950T plasma in the kitchen as Steve Withers was calibrating it (pity that despite my clicking on the padlock icon as I imported it from photobucket, the aspect ratio is still wrong).

The test lines look sharp enough, huh? The one knock on LG's plasmas is that their black levels are not that good, and I concur with that. However, the models that Currys has, which I presume are the last plasmas that will be available, have had three years more development than my set, so the black levels will be no worse than on mine. And, with my LG plasma, I would rate it at 10/10 on every other measure of picture quality, but only 7/10 overall because of the fairly weak black levels, which however are not apparent in a full-size picture, and many people say that the LG picture is very good. And since you will still be well within your £1,500 budget even if you buy the 60" LG, I would urge you to get calibrated whatever set you end up buying. Calibration made a substantial improvement to all four of the televisions that I had in July 2013.

PS. When I had my 50" Kuro in my reasonably sized lounge (5m x 6m) I found it to be increasingly to big. A 42" would, for me, have been more appropriate.

I could not agree with drummerman less. His room is quite a bit bigger than any of my rooms, my kitchen is 17' by 14'. My 50" Pioneer 5090 used to be in the kitchen - after being demoted from the parlour - and towards the end of its time in the kitchen I increasingly felt that it was too small! Hence it has now been shunted to my front bedroom. For some time now I have thought that nice though the 60" LG plasma is, it would be nicer if it were bigger! Especially when I am ironing at the far end of the kitchen. However, I NEVER think that the LG is too big, not even when I'm only about seven feet away (and I've just been to the kitchen to check!). So I would urge you to buy at least a 55" set, and preferably a 60". It might seem too big when you first get it, but only for two weeks. Drummerman's opinion is perfectly valid, by the way, I just happen to disagree.

 

[John Duncan]

Thanks for your additional replies. I had a quick look at the 50" and 55" Sonys. The 50" was terrific, though I think too small, so I had settled on the 55" (in size at least, I'm ambivalent on make and model for time being), but itnlookes rather grainy with the QoS bluray so I will need to look again with more familiar material and preferably at the same time.

In other, spanner/works news, however, the flat I had lined up fell through so depending on where I end up a 55 may not be practical, so am deferring until a place is in the bag before more detailed investigation.

To answer your other question, other than the famed black levels and obvious 'backlight' uniformity, I'm fairly oblivious to the relative pros and cons of LCD versus plasma - can somebody summarise?

 

[Deleted member 2457]

This Panasonic is not bad:

http://www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk/p-11817-pan-tx50ax802b.aspx

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Is OLED to over budget? because it's a sensational TV and LG's in general are good too here is a couple of LG's here:

http://www.totaldigital.biz/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=43_160

Try and get John Lewis to price match instore they are more flexible with their price matches instore. LG's are pretty good with 3D too.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Here's the LG reviewed:

http://www.whathifi.com/lg/55ub950v/review