A TV good enough to emmigrate with

[admin_exported]

Hi All

I'm trying to work out which TV will be the best for me to take with me when I emmigrate to New Zealand in a few weeks time.

I'm buying it in the UK before I go because it's relatively cheaper over here and there is considerably more choice.

I'm looking for a 40in (ish) LCD TV to compliment a Pioneer BDP-320 Blu-Ray player, Pioneer VSX-1019 AV Receiver and KEF 3005SE Surround-Sound speakers.

The reason I'm struggling is probably budget, I can only spend about £800-£1000 and all the TVs seem horribly compromised in one way or another.

Of the 5 star TVs in the size and price bracket it seems that the Sony's all seem to suffer from clouding and backlight bleed and the Philips are just a tad too expensive and in my local store looked less than impresve with an SD feed.

To complicate matters, I'm not even sure if SD performance is even an issue as I think New Zealand freeview is HD (MPEG 4).

Please will someone choose for me!?!

JB

 

[Anonymous]

cant choose for you , but id be looking at a samsung 40b650 , 40b7020 , the latter is a gorgeous edge lit led tv with a stunning pic ..

i like the sony 40w5500 too , but i guess its still a gamble with clouding ...

 

[Anonymous]

All of those have been on my shortlist at one time or another but the Samsung UE40B7020 is just the wrong side of my budget and I think if I stretch that far my wife will kill me. I've not managed to view the Samsung LE40B650 as I haven't been able to find one to view but I've read that the blacks while deep are a little purplish (even after calibration) and that the dynamic contrast is noticable (and annoying) unless tuned back or disabled. Also, the in built tuner(s) are going to be useless to me once I emmigrate but does anyone know if the online connectivity features will be usable. Obviously if money were no object I'd buy a Philips 9704 or 9664 as no one seems to have anything but great things to say about them; does anyone know if the 7404 is worth the money, the ones I've seen didn't seem to look as good as other cheaper sets when set up in the shops.

 

[Anonymous]

If I drop down to a 37in screen I can probably afford the Philips 37PFL9604 (if I beat up the sales assist for another reduction or a trade in), it's got a good review here at whathifi; do any of you think this would be a good idea?

 

[Anonymous]

im afraid to say there are some people who have had problems with both the 7404 and 9664....

 

[Anonymous]

People have problems with all sets though... The joys of modern day manufacturing

I would say...

Sony W, or Z if you can afford and get one with a good backlight (Especially the W is always considered great value...)

Panny G 10 (I think the only difference with G15 is more tuners and/or connectivity...?)

Philips 7000/8000 series, I wouldn't sacrifice the size for the 37PFL9604, especially at the top of your budget, but that's just my opinion...

The afformentioned Samsungs.

As far as I know those are all obtainable with 1k...

 

[bigboss]

I can understand your points to buy a TV in UK, but do consider the following things:

1) UK warranty will be void in New Zealand. If your TV develops a fault within the warranty period, the repairs will be much more than the savings you're getting by buying it here.

2) You're risking damage to the TV during transportation.

3) It's quite a large carbon footprint to transport your TV across to New Zealand, if you're conscious about the environment.

 

[bigboss]

EDIT: Sorry, my computer was playing up, & I couldn't see my posted message, so had to repost. Deleted now.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm, some good points; and on top of all that, I'd be without a TV for 12 weeks while it is being shipped.

Thanks for all the advice, but I'm out of time so I think I'll just have to see what New Zealand HiFi shops are like.

I'll let you know once I get there, I think that it'll be a toss up between the Samsungs or the Sonys (as Philips have stopped selling in New Zealand and Australia).

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

If you haven't left the UK yet, let me know. I emmigrated out to NZ about 3 months ago. I brought my TV (and the rest of the home cinema & household) with me, via container and it took about 10 weeks door to door. We weren't too bothered though as we went travelling on the way over.

On getting here I was quite (pleasantly) surprised at the TV prices compared to when I lived here 5 years ago. The prices have dropped dramitically and are almost matching the UK in price on a lot of the models (my Samsung is only 30GBP more here!)

Things like av receivers are much more expensive though, and it actually works out cheaper to purchase the item online from the UK and get a friend to courier it out here for about 100quid(up to 20kg)!!

If you need any more info, give me a shout

 

[plastic penguin]

theboards:

Hi All

I'm trying to work out which TV will be the best for me to take with me when I emmigrate to New Zealand in a few weeks time.

I'm buying it in the UK before I go because it's relatively cheaper over here and there is considerably more choice.

I'm looking for a 40in (ish) LCD TV to compliment a Pioneer BDP-320 Blu-Ray player, Pioneer VSX-1019 AV Receiver and KEF 3005SE Surround-Sound speakers.

The reason I'm struggling is probably budget, I can only spend about £800-£1000 and all the TVs seem horribly compromised in one way or another.

Of the 5 star TVs in the size and price bracket it seems that the Sony's all seem to suffer from clouding and backlight bleed and the Philips are just a tad too expensive and in my local store looked less than impresve with an SD feed.

To complicate matters, I'm not even sure if SD performance is even an issue as I think New Zealand freeview is HD (MPEG 4).

Please will someone choose for me!?!

JB

This is what they mean by Departure screening.... not a good joke, pp.

I'm going for a lay down...

 

[bigboss]

I'm sure he would've gone to New Zealand by now......he posed the question over a year ago!

 

[Anonymous]

and btw, I have the Samsung LE40B650 and its a fantastic picture - I can't find a fault with it. My sister has the newer C650 and again, another excellent choice with no problems with purplish tinges as other people have mentioned.

The only point I would make is that the sound is terrible from the built in speakers, but I knew this whenI bought it, and didn't care, as it all gets piped through the avr anyway.

As for the built in tuner, most people(I know of) have cable/sky here so this isn't really an issue.
Be prepared for more expensive broadband/sky and phoneline though!!

 

[Anonymous]

LOL - completely misread the date and forgot which year we're in !!!

Oh well, the info's always useful for the next person !!

 

[Anonymous]

Info for the next person!

NZ has two freeview systems

Freeview which is satellite using MPEG2 and called DVB-S

Freeview HD which uses terrestrial UHF MPEG4 and called DVB-T

Yes prices have dropped considerably over the year.