Non-showroom comparison

[admin_exported]

I live in a small town (4th largest in Sweden, but still less than 200.000 live here) and none of my local dealers sport any showrooms for TV testing. So all are really supermarket style stores, brightly lit and two or maybe even three brands of manufacturers.

Is there any good rule of thumb when viewing TV's on how deep blacks go and contrast? Should I assume a TV that goes way black in such a bright enviroment probably would look better at home? Or the other way, it'll look far worse?

Some do let customers play with remotes, some don't, even when asked to. It's their loss, doesn't make for good customer care, does it?

I have been looking around a lot lately but each time I seem to find a good set it's either extremely expensive, only available from online stores or not comparable to other brands. A wall full of all Samsungs models is maybe a good thing for some, but comparing it with the Sony isn't practical if I have to walk 50 metres away...

I've been adding sets and removing them after looking through older issues., I*ll gladly take comments on these if someone actually managed to view them side by sde:

Philips 40PFL9664 (at €1800 at cheapest online retailer, it's a tad bit expensive)

Philips 40PFL7404

Sony 40NX700

Sony 40HX700 ( same style as the NX, and 200 Hz. no need for WiFi)

Samsung 40C7700

Samsung 40B8000 (was settled for this until I saw the test, looked good to me in store, but the review 10.09 made me think about above stated problem)

Panasonic 40G20 (same as the Samsung 40B8000)

Finally, the Philips 40PFL8664 seems good to me but I can't find a review in WHF on them? Never tested?

/Cheers, Martin

 

[Anonymous]

how is the panasonic the same as the samsung ? typo?

any one of the tvs you mention will probably be fine , they are all good , the philips 7404 is much cheaper than the 9664 , and nearly as good according to whfi .. why not look at the sony kdl40ex503 ? cheaper than the nx and hx , but said to be very good , just got 5 stars here ..

if deep blacks and contrast , and a more natural pic is your thing , look at the panasonic g20 ..very good tv ..

in a bright shop envoirement the lcd tvs will always look better than the plasmas , they may even appear to have better blacks , but under the right lighting , and calibrated , panny plasmas will have deeper blacks than any of the lcds mentioned (maybe , cos its not been reviiewed yet , with the exception of the sony hx) ..

 

[Anonymous]

Ah, I see, the Pansonic was at the top of the list as when I saw it in a store, looked really good in a well-lit store, compared to LCD/LED's. The Samsung 8050 and panasoic TV's where my top choices as I started my quest for a new TV. The budget for a TV has now expanded beyond my original ?1200 I planned for first up to ?1800 (thanks to much better warranty than expected and more functionability than my current set). So I added some more expensive sets to the list.

I've also looked at the Sony ex 500. But I don't like the design on it, the HX/NX series looks far better, the price on those haven't passed my budget so might as well go for something that looks good in my back cabinett.

As it stands now, I'll probably for for either the Philips 9664/9704 (if I can find that one with a good discount) or the Samsung C7700. Would be fun to be 3D ready for when the 3D BD discs appear. And players become more and cheaper.