The right TV for Xbox 360 and Blu-ray

[admin_exported]

Hi,

First off, apologies if this has been asked elsewhere but I did a search and couldn't find anything recent matching my question.

In short, it has come time for me to part with cash and buy a new TV for our sitting room. Ideally it would be 40 or 42", 1080p and suited to playing Xbox 360 or watching Blu-ray (I'm not a fan of TV and I don't have Sky). I'm not bothered about slimness as the TV will be in the corner of the room so LED-LCD isn't really necessary. We don't have freesat and won't have Freeview HD in our area until 2012.

As regards the Blu-ray, I'm aiming to buy a BDP-S370. I had been keen to get a 100hz or a 200hz TV after seeing the effect it had on even a basic analogue signal. The movement just looked more fluid. I had seen an LG 42LH5000 for sale in Currys before christmas but decided against it at the time and I've read lately about the 200hz not being that impressive or consistent.

With all of this in mind, would anyone have an recommendations? I've looked on so many sites but very few actually mention performance when it comes to consoles and game modes.

Thanks and Regards,

Crow555/Dave

 

[Anonymous]

My sony w4500 is spot on when it comes to my xbox360. Response times are fast (under 10ms according to another review site) and theres no noticeable input lag either but then my 360 is connected directly to the tv with no reciever inbetween. Obviously the Sony w4500 is a few years old now so take a look at the new range.

Gaming is such a big part of the entertainment industry nowadays that its a shame WHF dont mention gaming attributes, input lag and response times in their tv reviews...

 

[DrizztDan]

every sony tv i have had has broken or had problems. I would go for pany g20 or samsung B650

 

[Anonymous]

trouble is sammys, when i bought my sony, had lag times of around 30ms which is a tad too much i think

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys for the replies, they've been really helpful.

As I've pointed out here and in other threads, it's very frustrating to no have at least some sort of game test or long termer test when it comes to these TV's. Car magazines run certain models for 6 months at a time to see what they are like to run with and TV's these days are a significant investment (at least to me it is) so I would like more balanced reviews, if at all please.

Furthermore, some TV's get glowing reviews and the resultant comments from a few months later suggest a different story. It alls seems too inconsistant.

Anyway, I'd noticed a story on here about richer sounds' bank holiday offers and checked with the Belfast branch for a UE40B7020. They didn't have any sadly but said they would check the warehouse and phone me back today which they did. They had a few left so I decided to just go for it. All the xbox demo pods use Samsung 32" TVs so there must be some reason for that. Without independent Lag and response tests however, it does seem like stabbing in the dark.

Anyway, once again guys thank you for your suggestions as I did weigh them up. I'll post back with my findings once I recieve my TV.

 

[Anonymous]

My new Philips 47PFL9664 has a response time of 1ms

 

[Anonymous]

Funny you should mention that. I saw a 42PFL9664 in the shop and it was giving the best picture on BBC HD. Sadly it was £1299 and well out of my price range.

 

[Anonymous]

i have played 360's on alot of tv's and at 32inch i havent seen a better set than a samsung, the response time is around 5m/s and the picture is nice and crisp. The tv you get should also depend on how competive you are on your 360, i play alot of high level halo/MW2 and i have a philips 42" 100hz which in all honesty is horrible for playing fast paced fps games and i had to purchase a viewsonic, but on the flipside for driving and football games the philips is fantastic. my point is if you game for fun go for a big tv but if you are serious then buy a monitor.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip. I'm a very casual player when it comes to xbox live. I mostly play Forza 3 or Bad Company 2 and even then it's just for fun. Hopefully I'll have the B7020 by next week and update then.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Personally I play my 360 on a Plasma as no issues with either response times or input lag as IMHO there is nothing mroe frustration than taking a head shot in COD MW2 due to the fact your TV is marginally behind the game.

 

[Anonymous]

Sadly Richer Sounds don't have any warehouse stock in and won't be getting that TV in again, so I'm back to square one.

I'm toying with the idea of the EX503 or another Samsung that roughly matches the spec of the B7020.

It's also still very annoying that WH don't take into account gaming when reviewing these.