LED TV - Is it worthwhile to buy it now?

[El Hefe]

Hi,

Come new year, I am planning to upgrade my TV to either a 52" LCD TV or 55" LED TV. Here in Malaysia, only Samsung seems to be offering LED TVs. The LED TV is about GBP1100 more expensive than the LCD. However, I may cough up that extra dough if its really worthwhile. Of course, comparing it in store, the LED shows a better quality running at 200 Hz. But I have a feeling that I may not be able to see much different once I set it up at home.

Should I wait for more things to come for LED or should I just plunge myself into it now?

 

[Anonymous]

Hey.

I believe that the 'LED' part refers only to the backlight technology. The Samsung marketing is somewhat misleading but they are still just LCD displays but with an LED backlight.

 

[El Hefe]

Are u saying its actually just a gimmick and we are getting an LCD screen as well? How did they manage to make it really slim if its the same technology?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Because the space taken up by LED backlights is much smaller than that required for conventional tube lighting.

See my response to this thread earlier today, where I gave a simplified explanation of the differences.

 

[El Hefe]

Hence, only the backlight mechanism is different. Still getting an LCD eventhough its being marketed as LED TV.

Then, the additional cost does not really justify getting something different.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Yes, an LED TV is actually an LED-backlit LCD. But depending on how the LED lighting is implemented it can give better contrast - through local dimming, for example - and LED lighting should make the TV more energy-efficient than a conventional tube-lit one.

 

[tvspecv]

so this means the edge lit lcd does not use a tube? and every other lcd uses one?

 

[Andrew Everard]

No LED-lit TVs use fluorescent tubes to light the screen. Conventional LCDs do - usually many of them lined up behind a diffuser.

Not, of course, to be confused with a picture tube, as used in CRT TVs.

 

[matthewpiano]

Too many people assume that an LED lit set is intrinsically better than a flourescent tube lit set. This is completely wrong. It all depends on the execution and, to my mind, LED only really proves its worth when used as a full array directly behind the screen and with local dimming. One problem of some LED lit TVs is that the improvement in contrast ratio and the blackness of the blacks is offset by a loss of detail in those darker areas.

Personally I'd take a W5500/W5710/W5810 over Sony's edge-lit ZX1 every time for picture quality even though its substantially cheaper and nowhere near as slim. Move up to the X4500, with its locally dimming RGB LED array, and its a different matter. I'd also be very interested to see Sharp's new LED array sets. Sharp are capable of great things and I'd love to see them making a truly superb TV.

 

[Anonymous]

Think 'thin', energy saving and eye popping contrast and you have three great reasons to buy an LED TV but it wouldn't have the Sony name on it in 2010. But who cares, its the Sharp Aquos LED range that is the most talked about. That TV isn't as thin as the Samsungs. Its the one of its kind with the LED arrangement.

EDITED BY MODS

First time I saw the Samsung LED it was running a demo scene of Batman with the Gotham sky scrappers all lit up, it was sight to behold.It looked like HD video rather than film.

 

[El Hefe]

I do agree that the LED gives a better picture. Well, at least in the shops. And if LED truly provides power saving, then maybe its worthwhile to think about it. I have another couple of months to go before buying the TV set, hence will continue my sleepless nights to decide on which to choose

 

[Andrew Everard]

saw5suffer:It looked like HD video rather than film.

So not good, then...?

 

[El Hefe]

Couldnt wait tilll New Year. Took the plunge and bought the Samsung 55" Series 7 LED TV. It costs about GBP2200. Received a Samsung HMX R10 Camcorder as a free gift. Delivery of the TV should be just after work tomorrow.

 

[robjcooper]

Considering what you saw on that screenit was more than likely mostly shot on 35mm film and after all the editing and post effects would have been downresed from the 4K and 6K scanned files out onto HD Video (probably HDCam SR at 4:4:4), I can't quite see what you're getting at. 35mm film has a far higher 'resolution' than HD video.

Perhaps time for a magazine special explaining some of the misconceptions surrounding HD ?

Rob

 

[El Hefe]

Rob,

Are u talking about the TV or the Camcorder?

Putting aside technical specs of the TV, I hope to get the same ambience and picture quality at home similar to what I see in the shop.

 

[robjcooper]

Sorry El Hefe. It was a response to saw5suffers' post - 'First time I saw the Samsung LED it was running a demo scene of Batman with the Gotham sky scrappers all lit up, it was sight to behold.It looked like HD video rather than film.' I was merely bemused as to whether he meant that the picture was bad as he said it looked like HD video considering that it would have originated on film.

I'm sure your new samsung will be great and if you get bored with what's on tv or blu-ray you can shoot your own programmes (did have a look at the 8 series a couple of weeks and they are impressive.). Personally I'd have tried to find a Pioneer Kuro.

Enjoy

Rob

 

[Anonymous]

El Hefe:

Rob,

Are u talking about the TV or the Camcorder?

Putting aside technical specs of the TV, I hope to get the same ambience and picture quality at home similar to what I see in the shop.

Remember that most TVs of this ilk (LCD, plasma, LED, dilthium crystal, or whatever) have a store or shop mode for the display that boosts the brightness and contrast for displays in , erm, stores or shops. Before you buy, get the salesman to put the TV into "normal" mode and compare on that basis.

 

[sonycentre]

Yes people will buy the store set-ups.on vivid maxed out setting.and a lot of stores i *** round to most of the time show cars,animation,so that will always look good,Try asking the sales people put freeview on,then watch thier faces drop.We show the cust all standerds of pictures.freeview sky hd.blu-ray,dvd.we even dim the lights for them and ask them to try to stand or sit where they would be at home.Gives the cust a better understanding of what they are buying.And samsung have changed the tv ad say led backlight lcd tvs,guess the court case went well then.

 

[El Hefe]

Thanks all for the comments. Received the TV at 6 pm yesterday. Firstly, the TV could not fit on my elevated stand I used for my 40" TV. So had to opt for a wall bracket. It was a good thing that the delivery guy has spare wall bracket.

Once installed, tested it with Transformers 2 BD. It was superb. Very close to the quality that I saw in the store (Yes, I did compare with the Demo mode and normal viewinh when I was in the store).

Then, I tried Love Actually DVD. Slight drop in picture quality but of course, the DVD was just upscaled by my DVD player. So cant really compare it with BD. BUt still much better than my previous 40" Full HD TV.

Last but not least, tried it with my satellite. I connect my satellite in 2 ways. I know that the picture quality for this will not be the best. And the store did mention this to me as well.

1. Using the RF antenna conncetion - picture was of course not the best. Comparing to my 40" TV, the picture was a bit fuzzy and grainy.

2. Via my Philip DVD recorder (analogue to Philips and HDMI from Philips to TV) - Had to connect like this because of the limited input on the TV. The TV only has 4 HDMI and 1 composite. I use the composite to connect my iPod Dock. Improvement on the picture quality. Less grainy and smoother.

Next I tried the internet. Suuupeerb. I have not purchased the wifi dongle so connected it with cable directly to my router. Youtube is superb. Speed was good. Typing using the remote a little bit difficult but still manageable.

One negative side though, the AnyNet+ on the HDMI ,only works with Samsung product. A bit odd since my 40" was a Samsung as well and worked fine with my Sony BD and DVD player. Read the manual and it did say only works with Samsung products. Well, my BD and DVD players does turn off when I turn off the TV. But if I turn off the BD or DVD player, it does not go to my satellite channel as my previous 40" TV. I still have to switch to the Satellite channel manually.And it also does not automatically switch to the corresponding HDMI input whenevr I turn on my DVD or BD player.

Overall, fully satisfied. Although the first hour, I was starting to develop a headache due to the large screen.

Fully recommend LED TV despite theso called 'wrong' information by Samsung.

 

[El Hefe]

El Hefe:

One negative side though, the AnyNet+ on the HDMI ,only works with Samsung product. A bit odd since my 40" was a Samsung as well and worked fine with my Sony BD and DVD player. Read the manual and it did say only works with Samsung products. Well, my BD and DVD players does turn off when I turn off the TV. But if I turn off the BD or DVD player, it does not go to my satellite channel as my previous 40" TV. I still have to switch to the Satellite channel manually.And it also does not automatically switch to the corresponding HDMI input whenevr I turn on my DVD or BD player.

Overall, fully satisfied. Although the first hour, I was starting to develop a headache due to the large screen.

Fully recommend LED TV despite theso called 'wrong' information by Samsung.

I am taking my review back on the above in bold. It does work. I set it up wrongly the first time around

Additionally, over the weekend, I have managed to stream all my Full HD photos and movies from my laptop and also all my songs. I just love this TV. I can now browse and play all the movies I have on my laptop using the TV remote. Picture quality is superb.