How much better are modern TVs?

[ayjaycee]

Any opinions on whether a modern TV would offer much of an improvement over my current set - a Panasonic TH-42PX70 which is now about 4 years old. I ask as I was in a store earlier today and a couple of the TVs on display looked very sharp. That said, I didn't notice what they were being fed (but it was definitely HD, probably Sky). I use a Humax Freesat HD box (and therefore have limited access to HD channels) and watch Blue Rays and some MKV HD files.

Comments please.

 

[Andy Clough]

Well I've just swapped my two-year-old Philips 42in (our 2009 Award winner) for a 2011 Samsung 46in and there's a definite improvement, especially with HD. It's not night and day, but there's no question it's better, particularly the motion handling.

 

[grdunn123]

Been thinking the same on and off for the last few months - I have a Panasonic TH-46PZ81 which is coming on 3 years old and I'm looking for a 50' plus model sometime this year.

 

[strapped for cash]

Well I've just swapped my two-year-old Philips 42in (our 2009 Award winner) for a 2011 Samsung 46in and there's a definite improvement, especially with HD. It's not night and day, but there's no question it's better, particularly the motion handling.

Funny that. I was viewing a 9664 in store at Richer Sounds a couple of weeks back (ex display) and I thought the only other TV in stock that could compete, picture wise, was the Samsung UE40D7000 (I presume you bought the 46D8000, Andy).

The Philips still looked excellent, but you could tell there was a lot of processing going on behind the scenes, especially with regard to motion (not sure how they had it set up, though).

They didn't have any Pansonics on display (2010 models sold out, 2011 models had not arrived), so I couldn't do a side by side comparison there, but the D7000 looked very good in store. How's backlight unformity on your set? It's difficult to tell in bright shop conditions.