Confused: recommend me a TV - PLEASE!

[mattdp]

Hi,

I've been looking to get an HDTV since Christmas, but the pros and cons of the various models had me thoroughly confused. And now. helpfully, all the manufacturers have changed their ranges. I'm really sick of looking and just want to settle on a model, check it and hopefully buy it.

My requirements are fairly simple:

* 40 or 42" screen size.

* Budget is up to about £1500 but I'd REALLY like to spend less if possible - I want something that offers good value for money.

* Low input lag and great motion display for console gaming

* Great SD upscaling because I still watch a lot of it

* Decent viewing angle because no-one sits directly opposite the TV

Now, I thought I'd settled on a Panasonic GT60. But after seeing one demoed in Richer Sounds, I was bothered by two things. Firstly, Plasma generally (and the GT60 is no exception) seem to have a slightly softer, fuzzier, picture than LED. Cinemaphiles might like that, but I think I honestly prefer the pin-sharp images on LED sets.

The more serious issue is that I thought the motion handling was very poor. When watching the cricket, fast balls blurred and ghosted very noticably - to the point where when you should see one round ball, there were sometimes three blurred smudges on the set at once. The shop staff turned off picture pre-processing which improved the situation a lot, but not totally, but that had the knock-on effect of turning panning shots into a smeary mess.

I always read that Plasma gives a better picture. But I'm not an AV enthusiast, and our TV will get watched in all light levels, from bright sunlight to dark nights with the curtains shut. I need something flexible. And I'm a little concerned about stories of Plasmas adding £100/yr to energy bills, heating up rooms. And then there's that soft focus issue.

Can anyone help? I had a look at the W9 series, but the viewing angle is limited and it's right at the top of my budget. I am really so sick of going through the options - I would really appreciate some advice from the viewpoint of the average consumer looking for a good value, decent quality set rather than the hardcore AV community at whom most of the reviews seem to be aimed.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[rocketrazor]

Hi matt,

do you know if richersounds turned off IFC (intelligent frame creation) setting. I found on my gt50 that if this is on I can't watch a game of football without swearing every 30 seconds. If I turn it off I can watch the game must happily (with the exception of my dse issue but that's another story). I personally am not that keen on the pin point sharp pictures you sometimes see in led sets, with the picture looking unnatural I think. For me my option would be the gt60 but I would check the settings again. Thx mode would probably do the trick in the shop, it's not the best colour for football but it turns almost everything that panasonic adds off for a more natural picture. I have mine in front of a large window and can see it perfectly but for the reflections, I also moved my g20 plasma into the conservatory and haven't had to many issues other than reflection.

If you a gamer I would suggest avoiding lg sets, there not great for lag, plasmas usually have the best input lag but the new Sony w9 just whooped everything with only 5ms recorded in a number of reviews, but a few people have said the viewing angel is poor while others don't see it as a problem. I know what your going through as I had the same issue a few years ago, I opted for plasma then and think it was the right choice for me.

plasma viewing angles are usually much better than led/LCD. It's the way the screens are made and I don't think you can avoid this.

im considering what to do with my faulty 50gt50 at the mo, a new gt60 or a 55" led, at the moment it's still looking like a plasma for me, I'm just not sure i would be happy with a led set.

as for energy bills, I haven't noticed much, but £100 per year is only £2 per month, and if its the best screen then that's worth it in my opinion?

heres hoping I haven't confused you even more

 

[simonlewis]

How about this,

Samsung UE40F8000 .

 

[mr malarky]

Hi Matt,

First up, that 'three cricket ball' effect is NOT typical of a plasma if its properly set up, so don't be out off a plasma just because of that.

There are differences between plasma and LED LCD sets; LED sets can give a slightly sharper image, and they generally produce a brighter image (which could be important if you do a lot of daytime viewing or get a lot of sunlight through your windows in the evening), while plasma's generally produce deeper blacks, better detail in dark scenes, and (to some eyes) a more 'natural' image.

Which is right for you will depend partly on whether you prefer a sharper image or a more natural image, and also whether you watch a lot of films on BluRay or whether the TV is mostly for family TV viewing.

If you settle on plasma then hard to look past the Panasonics, if you prefer LED and are worried about the sony's viewing angle then Samsung offer some cracking LED TV's.

Happy shopping.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

as for energy bills, I haven't noticed much, but £100 per year is only £2 per month

Eh??? Arithmetic must have changed during the two weeks that I've been away on holiday. Before then, £100 a year was £8.33 a month.

To mattdp, I have four plasma sets, and I've never noticed any problems with handling motion on any of them. I've just been watching the tennis from Queens (before the rain interruption) on my much-maligned LG 60PZ950T in the kitchen, and I could see the tennis ball clearly as it moved from side to side and front to back. Only one ball, not three!

 

[rocketrazor]

What hi fi just confirmed in another thread that they have a 42" and 40" super test in the aug edition. Worth waiting for that I'd say and see what they say, that might help in what tvs to demo.

 

[rocketrazor]

as for energy bills, I haven't noticed much, but £100 per year is only £2 per month

Eh??? Arithmetic must have changed during the two weeks that I've been away on holiday. Before then, £100 a year was £8.33 a month.

To mattdp, I have four plasma sets, and I've never noticed any problems with handling motion on any of them. I've just been watching the tennis from Queens (before the rain interruption) on my much-maligned LG 60PZ950T in the kitchen, and I could see the tennis ball clearly as it moved from side to side and front to back. Only one ball, not three!

i can't tell the difference between months and weeks :doh:

 

[Son_of_SJ]

i can't tell the difference between months and weeks :doh:

 

[mattdp]

Thanks for the replies everyone, and for trying to help.

Another question - how big an issue is posterization on Plasma TV? If there's one effect that would probably drive me to distraction, it'd be that. Is it any better on LCD or is it simply a side effect on non-Cathode ray technology?

Thx mode would probably do the trick in the shop, it's not the best colour for football but it turns almost everything that panasonic adds off for a more natural picture.

The shop staff mentioned something about THX. But to be honest I was overwhelmed by the amount of settings and adjustments that could be made, to the point where it seemed pointless messing about with them in the demo as I'd never properly get to grips with how they all interacted. Different once you get a set home, of course.

the new Sony w9 just whooped everything with only 5ms recorded in a number of reviews, but a few people have said the viewing angel is poor while others don't see it as a problem.

Yes, I know about the W9 input lag - that's why I was interested enough to drop such a big sum on one. But I've only heard bad things about the viewing angle - where have you seen a dissenting opinion? Sadly I saw one before reading any reviews and forgot to check the angle, although I did think the picture was spectacular.

Which is right for you will depend partly on whether you prefer a sharper image or a more natural image, and also whether you watch a lot of films on BluRay or whether the TV is mostly for family TV viewing.

We don't really watch Blu-Ray, but we would watch plenty of HD broadcasts on Freesat. And there's gaming, of course. The whole family does watch TV, at times all through the day, so whatever we have will need to cope with kids TV in full daylight as well as grown-up movies in the dark.

 

[mr malarky]

With that much daytime viewing of normal TV it may be worth considering an LED set. Your budget of £1,500 could be more than sufficient for a decent 40" LED set - richer sounds are offering one if last years decent Samsung 40" models for less than half that much:

http://www.m.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/samsung/ue40es7000/sams-ue40es7000

http://www.whathifi.com/review/samsung-ue40es7000

 

[rocketrazor]

With that much daytime viewing of normal TV it may be worth considering an LED set. Your budget of £1,500 could be more than sufficient for a decent 40" LED set - richer sounds are offering one if last years decent Samsung 40" models for less than half that much:

http://www.m.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/samsung/ue40es7000/sams-ue40es7000

http://www.whathifi.com/review/samsung-ue40es7000

my sister and brother in law have this set and are more than happy with it. He watches a lot of football and does some gaming, mostly FIFA, and.they both love it. Given your circumstances and the kids playing with it a lot an led set might be better for you.

there is a thread here somewhere about the w9 and a guy as brought it, he loves it and thinks the viewing angle issue isn't as much of an issue as it made out to be. I can't find the thread at the mo though sorry

 

[bigboss]

there is a thread here somewhere about the w9 and a guy as brought it, he loves it and thinks the viewing angle issue isn't as much of an issue as it made out to be. I can't find the thread at the mo though sorry

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/tvs-and-projectors/taken-delivery-of-w905a-and-did-my-own-test

 

[rocketrazor]

Cheers bigboss

 

[bigboss]

This thread may be of use to you:

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/tvs-and-projectors/philips-55pfl8008-or-something-else-confused

 

[mattdp]

This thread may be of use to you: http://www.whathifi.com/forum/tvs-and-projectors/philips-55pfl8008-or-something-else-confused

Thanks. Reading that made me wonder if I should grab an HX853 while they're still around. It was the model I'd settled on before actually going to the shop for a demo and discovering that they'd be discontinued! You can get 40" new ones direct from Sony for £900 - might be better deals elsewhere but I couldn't find any.

The older Samsung models that Richer Sounds is selling off apparently have input lag issues if the reviews are to be believed. So should probably steer clear.

The trouble with both of these is that it's going to be hard to find a demo model, and I do really need to see one before buying to check the viewing angle and upscaling. Spending that amount blindly seems like a bad idea.

 

[bigboss]

I won't pay £900 for an outgoing 40-inch HX853.

 

[mattdp]

Thanks all.

Finally managed to track down a W9 today. The SD upscaling was great and I found no problems with the viewing angle at all. And it had similar minor motion problems to those observed on the GT60. I didn't get to check the black levels because I couldn't find any appropriate content, but reviews suggest they're fine

So I guess it's just down to logistics. The £300 and 2" screen size difference, and the sharpness and brightness differences between LED and Plasma.

 

[Son_of_SJ]

Thanks all.

Finally managed to track down a W9 today.

Well done!

So I guess it's just down to logistics. The £300 and 2" screen size difference, and the sharpness and brightness differences between LED and Plasma.

Decisions, decisions ... I've slightly lost track of whch two specific TVs you are considering, but I'd go for the bigger one ...

 

[j4mm3r]

Hi i purchased the Panasonic TX-P50GT60B a couple of weeks ago and its perfect imo!

I looked at one in richer sounds in bath and it was the worst tv on display, motion was awful, jaggies etc. put me off.

Looked at another one in a different shop and the guy turned off all the settings and let me watch it for 10 mins and it was fine.

Anyway with mine i have turned off all processing settings and its great, ive watched football, tennis and rugby and no issues, sky hd looks brilliant as does bluray, its nice and bright too for a plasma and the colours look fantastic....

.....so what are you waiting for!

 

[mattdp]

...so what are you waiting for!

Well I'm certainly leaning heavily in that direction. But my hesitation is based largely on this thread:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/plasma-tvs/1764721-panasonic-gt60-owners-thread-part1.html

Which is full of people reporting bad image retention, ghosting and phosphor trails, even after many hours of settling in.

With any luck, it won't be long before I can find a shop that has both the W9 and the GT60 (I'm pretty much down to these to, unless there's a cheaper Panasonic model that's worth looking at (the ST60 for example might be better value - not sure what improvements the GT60 offers for the extra money). Then I can get everyone in the family to compare side by side and make a final choice.

 

[j4mm3r]

You've got to be careful reading these forums, i'm on my 3rd tv in 3 or 4 years and wish i stuck with my 1st tv 'Philips 42pfl9664. the only reason i got rid of it, is because i read on a forum some people noticed a dirty screen effect when it panned from left to right, i never noticed it until i read the forums!! and then exchanged it for a samsung ue46c8000.

ive just replaced the samsung ue46c8000 with the panasonic 50gt60b which i think has the most natural looking picture ive had but in hindsight i could of lived with the dirty screen effect on the philips or if i hadnt read the forum i probably still wouldnt have noticed it today.

the samsung also had issues such as backlight bleed all over the shop (something you may get more on a led) and it blinked quite a lot (hdmi handshake issue). i hand the screen replaced because of the bleeding.

ive noticed the comments regarding the plasma phosphor trails, image retention etc, ive not experienced any problems as of yet and this time round im not going looking for them, why? because every tv out there will have issues of some sort, my advice go test some out, buy one and dont look for anything while your watching it, just enjoy it, which is what ive finally learnt to do. if however you do notice something odd, then these forums etc are a wonderful help.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Hi i purchased the Panasonic TX-P50GT60B a couple of weeks ago and its perfect imo!

I looked at one in richer sounds in bath and it was the worst tv on display, motion was awful, jaggies etc. put me off.

Looked at another one in a different shop and the guy turned off all the settings and let me watch it for 10 mins and it was fine.

Anyway with mine i have turned off all processing settings and its great, ive watched football, tennis and rugby and no issues, sky hd looks brilliant as does bluray, its nice and bright too for a plasma and the colours look fantastic....

.....so what are you waiting for!

Richer Sounds need to sort their shops out! Ours is rubbish for demos too. The Panasonic 50VT50 looked rubbish in our one, and the Cambridge Audio 751 Blu-ray player looked pants!

 

[j4mm3r]

Yes its a shame as the staff are quite helpful. I also went to richer sounds in cheltenham and they had a 50vt65 playing a connected bluray, it looked good but i wanted to see what its digital tv picture looked like and they couldnt set it up as the aerial couldnt reach!! so that was that i couldnt make a decision from watching an animated bluray disc most tvs would look good playing kung fu panda!

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Yes its a shame as the staff are quite helpful. I also went to richer sounds in cheltenham and they had a 50vt65 playing a connected bluray, it looked good but i wanted to see what its digital tv picture looked like and they couldnt set it up as the aerial couldnt reach!! so that was that i couldnt make a decision from watching an animated bluray disc most tvs would look good playing kung fu panda!

Yep, the staff are quite good in ours too, and they did knock a bit of the price and treated me really well, when I said I read WHF. Just a shame they can't offer a good demo. The Panasonic had really bad motion, like at your shop, and the Blu-ray player was extremely grainy!