New Tv wanted for bluray and gaming - recommendations please

Oldboy

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Hello all,

I think i'm going to change my current Panasonic 42G20 plasma tv as i've started to get some extreme image retention issues with it when used for gaming so i'm after your thoughts on what i should look at as a repacement, the main uses on it will be bluray and gaming.

I will use it for watching tv but it will be through a Virgin standard box (scart connection) or when the switchover happens later this month in my area through the built in tv tuner but i must admit i don't expect miracles from the picture of any potential replacement when watching through either of these sources. I would like some sort of HD tuner if possible at my price point and have thought about a Freesat installation for my 42G20 and am still open to that idea but Freeview HD would suffice if that's the better option for me but tv pictures are not the main priority for me.

I would like a screen size no smaller than my current 42 inch or bigger if my budget will stretch to a decent screen of a larger size, speaking of budget i have £1000 to spend and i would like to avoid a traditional LCD screen as every one i had prior to my plasma had backlight bleeding in the corners of the screen (i had 6 in total that all suffered!) so i guess it's between LED LCD or another plasma then...unless i can be convinced otherwise.

Internet features on the tv would be nice too but i appreciate that i may not get that with my budget but DLNA support is something i would really like as a minimum because i have a NAS drive with lots of tv and movies stored on it although i would be open to using my PS3 to stream these.

Picture quality is my priority for HD sources and the sound is of no concern as my surround system will take care of those duties.

What would you recommend i look at?

Many thanks.
 

andy_s

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Well Oldboy!, you may well feel your stuck between a rock and a hard place!, this is my personal view and after having a pioneer plasma switched to the latest Sony KDL55-HX923 which is the top of the range LED model, now having said that this is what you must take into account, LED/LCD TV's are all LCD panels but are backlit/edgelit with LED's, you have to decide if you go down the LCD route which you want in these terms, Full LED backlight with local dimming or Edge lit LED, personally Full LED is the way to go, The new Sony is as close to what plasma can do but expensive, at least you wont need pixel protector on it!!,

go out and take a look at some and see for yourself.
 

Oldboy

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Thanks andy!

It was going out last weekend to look at a host of new tvs that got me confused as to which way to go lol! I was of the opinion that full array led may be the way to go but you do pay a premium for those tvs for sure and i think my budget would have to be far more than i currently have in order to get what i want plus there seems to be far fewer full array led tvs on the market than any other tech with fewer reviews. I'm very jealous of your lovely 55HX923 as my local Sony centre has one and i was very impressed with what i saw but the £2999 price tag soon put me off!

I think i will wait for a little longer and see if i can up my budget to get something towards the top end of the tv market and hopefully get a tv i'm happy with. I did notice when looking around that quite a few edge lit led tvs still suffered with the dreaded backlight bleed and that was surprising to me as i thought led would banish that forever, how wrong was i! I looked at the new Panasonic VT and GT plasmas but i'm just concerned they will suffer from the extreme IR i currently have and that they wouldn't represent much of a step up in performance in that case....it's just so confusing.

More research needed then and hope that WHF review a tv i want very soon, many thanks for the reply and advice andy it's much appreciated.
 

Cofnchtr

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Hi,

Thought about a projector? Sure you could pick up a decent one for your purposes that would also allow you to keep the Pana for everyday TV watching?

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.
 

Oldboy

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Cofnchtr said:
Hi,

Thought about a projector? Sure you could pick up a decent one for your purposes that would also allow you to keep the Pana for everyday TV watching?

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.

Hmmm...good idea. My only issue with that idea is the cost of replacing the lamps and how often you need to change them, from what i have read it's about 3000hrs you get before they need to be replaced making owning one rather expensive but if i keep it for gaming and the occasional movie i could lengthen the life of the lamps considerably. They do tend to be quite loud in operation too but i'm going to look into it more seriously now and see what i come up with as you have planted the idea in my head!

I have no idea what to look for when it comes to projectors however so may have to create a new thread on the subject if i get lost lol...many thanks for the idea Cofnchtr, appreciate it.
 
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Anonymous

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Noticed you have a samsung LED lit LCD are you happy with that? If so how aout a bigger samsung?
 
A

Anonymous

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Noticed you have a samsung LED lit LCD are you happy with that? If so how aout a bigger samsung?
 

Cofnchtr

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Oldboy said:
Cofnchtr said:
Hi,

Thought about a projector? Sure you could pick up a decent one for your purposes that would also allow you to keep the Pana for everyday TV watching?

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.

Hmmm...good idea. My only issue with that idea is the cost of replacing the lamps and how often you need to change them, from what i have read it's about 3000hrs you get before they need to be replaced making owning one rather expensive but if i keep it for gaming and the occasional movie i could lengthen the life of the lamps considerably. They do tend to be quite loud in operation too but i'm going to look into it more seriously now and see what i come up with as you have planted the idea in my head!

I have no idea what to look for when it comes to projectors however so may have to create a new thread on the subject if i get lost lol...many thanks for the idea Cofnchtr, appreciate it.

Hi,

No problem accepting responsibility for planting the idea....don't blame me for the empty wallet!! Lol. Enjoy the research - I'm sure there's lots of projectors that are fairly quiet in operation.

I think some manufacturers offer 2 bulbs when buying new? This may have been an offer but I'm sure I read that somewhere. Some of the dealers on here or Clare may be able to assist you with costs and/or a shortlist.

Cheers,

Cofnchtr.
 
I remember Clare mentioning that she's never had to change her projector's bulb. Bear in mind that the refresh rate of LCDs & LED lit LCDs have a much slower refresh rate than plasmas. So you will notice a lag. I'm surprised at IR issues you've faced. I've played games on my PS3 for 13 hours at a stretch, but there was no IR on my plasma.
 

Cookie Monster

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Ive been looking at Freesat myself and the cost of a dish kit plus a satellite was only about £40 online. No climbing on the roof and a clearer more consistant picture. Bargain - especially when you wonder how many OAP's will be persuaded into believing that they need a new £300 aerial install to recieve digital TV!
 

Oldboy

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Snakey said:
Noticed you have a samsung LED lit LCD are you happy with that? If so how aout a bigger samsung?

Hello mate,

Yes i am happy with it especially when i paid so little for it...was only £300 brand new. It's exactly what i've been looking at and i have the Samsung UE46D7000 in mind as my prefered choice as an LED but it would be a wrench to not get another plasma as i enjoy the image so much from a plasma screen, it just seems more natural.

I'm going to audition the D7000 as soon as i can and see how it compares to a plasma image, if i'm impressed i may well go for this tv but if not it's back to the drawing board but no matter what happens i'm not going to dive in straight away and i will take my time and choose a tv i'm completely happy with.
 

Oldboy

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bigboss said:
I remember Clare mentioning that she's never had to change her projector's bulb. Bear in mind that the refresh rate of LCDs & LED lit LCDs have a much slower refresh rate than plasmas. So you will notice a lag. I'm surprised at IR issues you've faced. I've played games on my PS3 for 13 hours at a stretch, but there was no IR on my plasma.

Projector may well be out as it's just too expensive to justify buying a setup purely for gaming! Got to admit i don't want to move away from plasma and i've had a quick look at the Panny GT30 range and it seems there is some options for IR and burn this year so i'm tempted to look at one of these or even the VT30 if my budget will stretch to it...more research needed and a proper audition of the new pannys plus i'm going to audition the Samsung UE46D7000 LED and see how they compare.

Every LCD i have had i have noticed the lag when compared to plasma but suppose i could get used to it again but my COD scores may well suffer as a result lol!
 
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Anonymous

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oldboy

The gt30 seems to have more options that the vt30 they both have something called pixel orbitor I think you can have that on all the time not sure what it does the other is a scrolling bar which only the gt30 has! does this mean the vt30 panel is less likely to suffer from IR/ Screem burn?
 
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Anonymous

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I saw bothe the Gt30(50 inch) and the VT30(55inch) as usual in currys terrible feed it was via hdmi but just a stupid loop thing. But they did have another gt30 on a panasonic display and the 3d did seem much better this time around looks really fluid and sharp.
 

Oldboy

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Snakey,

I have seen the Samsung D7000 in action now and while the picture is very good indeed it still lacks that natural image that plasma's seem to have. I'm very pleased to hear of the various options on the gt30 panny plasma and want to see it in action myself this week but i do tend to avoid currys and comet as the feed is very poor, the customer service stinks and if you ask for the remote to tweak the image or see the menu options they tend to look at you like you just landed from outer space and the staff in general are completely clueless lol.

I'm so tempted to just get the gt30 to replace my g20 at the mo as the Samsung just didn't impress enough and although it doesn't really interest me the 3d from it was not good, lots of crosstalk and just gave me eye strain! It does look absolutely corking though and from a pure design stand point it stands out and i swear i have never seen such a small bezel and footprint from a tv like that before but it is quite expensive as a result. 2d images are splendid however and i can see why it gathered 5 stars from whf....i'm trying to talk myself into getting it here but i still have my doubts.

I will endevour to see the gt30 myself and then decide what i'm going to get in the meantime thanks very much for your input, it's very much appreciated! I have seen quite a few deals for the gt30 where 2 pairs of 3d glasses are thrown in for free so that could sway it if the tv is good enough.
 
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Anonymous

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Oldboy

comet usually have emotes stuck to the back of all te tv's and when one of the store imps come up just just fob em off with i will come see you when i have had a good look usually works. I saw a bloke in there hooking his own ps3 up to a set so maybe you could do that mate?
 

Oldboy

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So that's the secret then Snakey....

My plan is to take a look in Comet at the weekend now then and take full advantage of the remotes but i won't be paying much attention to the picture because of the awful feed they send to the tvs in there but it will give me an opportunity to have a look at the menus on the tvs i am looking at which would be very handy so many bthanks for the heads up mate i really appreciate it!

Might even take the PS3 just to really upset them lol.... :rofl:
 
A

Anonymous

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My own Personal Opinion is that Plasma technology is great for Movies /TV , but no ideal for gaming / PC use due to the potential of image rentention. I'd say LED is the best option as it can produce better contrast for Blu ray and will work fine for gaming !
 
midnight1uk said:
My own Personal Opinion is that Plasma technology is great for Movies /TV , but no ideal for gaming / PC use due to the potential of image rentention. I'd say LED is the best option as it can produce better contrast for Blu ray and will work fine for gaming !

It's not that straightforward. My plasma has never suffered from image retention despite more than 2 years of gaming, sometimes up to 13 hours a day. Also, LED-lit LCDs (commonly misnamed as LEDs) have slower refresh rate / input lag & suffer from motion artefacts as compared to plasmas.
 

Alantiggger

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A 42'' for gaming on .... what ? :shame: way too large for gaming, well online I mean.... do you just play single mode then ?

You could get a decent PC and a screen up to 24'' and join in the mayhem 8)
 

Oldboy

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Playing games on 24" screen....what?

I don't want a pc for gaming atall |( I just don't like gaming on a pc and have a set up that reflects this...i bought a laptop and a PS3 for a reason, i much prefer gaming on console especially as games companies increasingly pull out of the pc market altogether (Rockstar being the latest) meaning that in order to play the games i like i would need to own both a pc and a console. I am also short on space and money and even if i did buy a pc for gaming i would still need a tv to watch so your argument about price just doesn't make sense i'm afraid.

As for gaming on a 42" tv what exactly is the issue for you there? I for one would not go back to a small screen for gaming ever again and with a plasma tv you get none of the lag issues you do with LCD and LED so i just can't see an issue :?

I prefer having a controller to a mouse and keyboard and am just a casual gamer really so a console suits me just right as i don't have the time or money needed to invest in gaming pc, not to mention the continued cost of keeping the internal structure up to date with increasing specification, if gaming was more important to me then i would consider it but it's just not i'm afraid but i can see the value in it for the more commited gamers out there. I do spend most of my spare time with online games and have never had an issue apart from the occasional bouts of IR as i've mentioned in this thread.

I have the perfect setup for me personally and it's just the tv i want to replace as i've had some IR issues with games and bluray but many thanks for your input :grin:
 

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