Best choice for watching sport?

[admin_exported]

I am looking for a new TV to replace my ancient 28inch monster. From looking around at the site it seems that there is no clear winner from plasma, LCD or LED and each has their champion. If my budget was up to £1000 and I wanted a 42 inch or more TV that was not to be mounted on the wall, which would people recommend? As the title suggests, I am most interested in watching sport and the rest of my family viewing will be kids TV and regular mainstream stuff with movies well down my list of priorities.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[professorhat]

There isn't really a winner for a type of technology because they all have their upsides and downsides and everyone has their own personal preference. In theory, the lower response times of plasma screens should be good for sport, but advances in LCD (and thus LED) technology mean this isn't really the case any more - some LCDs will outperform some plasmas and some plasmas will outperform other LCDs.

Forget the technology being used, just decide on your budget, read some reviews and draw up a shortlist, then go and audition them, preferably somewhere which has a decent showroom where you can see a TV in conditions similar to your front room i.e. not in a big warehouse like space lit by 10,000 watt halogens! If sport is your thing, I'd see if you can take a DVD of your favourite sport so you can ask to play it as a demo to compare each TV.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I now have a Plasma, having previously owned an LCD. In my case, the Plasma is definitely better for watching sport, though the LCD wasn't poor, with just very occasional judder.

There are compensations on LCDs, with 100hz / 200 hz to help smoother motion, but in my case on the LE40B650, these created artefacts which I found difficult to live with.

If I was you, I would look for Plasma, and with a £1000 budget, an excellent TV is almost guaranteed. Panasonic, Samsung or LG would be my choice, with a preference for the TX-P42V20 or TX-P50G20 which can both be bought under budget

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks to both the Prof and Big Bern. Looking around it seems that plasma might offer better value for money for someone not concerned with all mounting or having a thin TV. From what I can tell plasma TVs are at worst, as good as LCD and LED for watching sport, and often better.

 

[Alantiggger]

Plasma for football ........ and I think movies as well from all that I have read over many, many forums on this very subject. (just an opinion mind)

 

[Miggs]

As can be seen from the list of my kit below I have a Panasonic LCD and for watching sport in High Def I have found it to be really good. Picture quality is perfect, no problems at all.

Miggs.