Another Noob needing help......

[admin_exported]

hey there guys and gals, i'm looking to buy a new lcd tv but i'm a bit baffled by all the jargon. i know that i'm looking for something 1080p, 42-46 inch and the max i can spend is about £1300. I would like something out the Sony Bravia range as i hear they get good reviews but considering they only do either 40" then 46" i dont know if this will limit me. Just spotted an 42" LG42LF66 which apparently got a what hifi award and its only about £800, is this any good? any help would be greatly appreciated.

Stew

 

[Clare Newsome]

Hi Stew,

No LG set to date has won an Award from us, so I'd not pursue that angle.

If you really want a Sony, your main option at that price/spec is the KDL-40W3000, a great set available for £1300 if you shop around.

However, if it was my money at that size/price, i'd go for a Panasonic TH-42PZ700 - a 42in Full HD plasma with exceptional picture quality. It offers better contrast and motion-handling than the Sony, and true blacks - all of which helps everything from movies to sport to everyday TV. It's available for around £1249.

Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Clare Newsome"]However, if it was my money at that size/price, i'd go for a Panasonic TH-42PZ700 - a 42in Full HD plasma with exceptional picture quality. It offers better contrast and motion-handling than the Sony, and true blacks - all of which helps everything from movies to sport to everyday TV. It's available for around £1249.[/quote]
Clare I am also thinking of getting a new set (at the moment I'm stuck with a teeny 26" Sony Bravia LCD), and was also thinking about the Panny PZ700 like you mentioned, but came to the understanding that the PZ70 was basically just as good (picture wise) so now I am a little bit confused. With both sets now available for much less than their listed price, and much closer in price to each other, would you still only give the full 5 stars to the PZ70, with the PZ700 just receiving 4 stars? Apart from the extra HDMI and the better quality sound that you get with the PZ700, are there any other advantages of this set over the PZ70? Was I correct in thinking that both sets had the same picture quality? Also Clare, off the record, what do really think about these sets 24fps handling? I know that the official response from the great Panny said that these tvs convert 24fps material to 60Hz, but do you really believe that this is the case, considering the quality of these sets' motion handling?

 

[Anonymous]

700 model is Full HD, 70 model is HD Ready

 

[Clare Newsome]

The '70' and '700 are broadly the same - it's all up to the feature-set you want. I'd still consider the '70 as a better buy if you've going to add a home cinema system (which you should with a screen that big/good).

Re 24fps - people can talk about all the tech-specs in the world, but the proof is in performance: the sets look fantastic, with smooth HD delivery, as we had on display at our Show for three days. Yes, the Pioneers are even better - but then they should be for the money....

 

[Anonymous]

Remember you are not going to get the best picture quality out of a full HD TV screen unless you are going to feed it NATIVE (not upscaled from any other resoulution) HD 1080 signals.

Why ?

Simple. Other than a native 1080 HD signal, the most likely source would be a SD signal either from a DVD player or a SKY box. What's their resolution ? 480 or 576 (depending on color system; NTSC or PAL)

Now, if you upscale these to 1080, there is going to be a LOT of degradation in picture qaulity. Try dividing the TV's resolution 1080 by 480 or 576. The answer is the coefficient that the scalers have to apply to the original signal. Try the same caculation for 720 which is the resolution for a HD ready screen. The answer for both NTSC and PAL is far more simple than that for 720. Simpler coefficients mean LESS degradation in picture quality.

So, if you are to watch SD signals, you will be able to view it with better picture quality on a 720 HD ready screen than on a 1080 screeen, everything else being equal.

Sure, if you are going to watch HD 1080, there is no doubt that 1080 screens wil produce better results because it will display pixel to pixel.

But, down scaling from 1080 to 720 isn't too bad. Do the math again.

Also, exactly how many HD-DVD, Blu-ray softwares are available today or are being made available ?

How many more DVD's can you buy for the same price ?

How many hours of HD broadcast do you get on SKY HD ?

IMHO I'll buy a 720 HD ready TV that's being flogged at dirt cheap prices today and perhaps buy a 1080 full HD TV when there are actually 1080 HD programmes to watch. (If there isn't a super HD TV format by then LOL )

 

[Anonymous]

marvsins you are incorrect. The PZ70 and the PZ700 are both most definately full HD.