tv and home cinema buying advice

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i want to buy a new tv for around £1000 and home cinema surround for around £300. i understand it'll be a budget setup.

i sit about 3 metres from the telly and watch a lot of films and playstation 3.

i also want to future proof the set up with up and coming technology.

can anyone suggest a good set up for the price?

thanks guys

 

[Clare Newsome]

Hi there

The knee-jerk response - what with you having a PS3 and wanting future-proofing - is to suggest a Full HD set.
However, for two reasons, i'm not going to....

Firstly, sitting 3m away means much bigger than a 37in set will dominate your room. Even a 32in would be fine. And at these sizes, the difference between an HD Ready set and a Full HD set wouldn't be visible.

Secondly, we've just tested sets of this size, and found the HD Ready versions outperformed all the Full HD ones we tested, even when playing Blu-ray. See the 37in Supertest in the current, August issue for all the details.

So, for that money (or less if you shop around - i've seen both these sets for £850 or under) i'd consider the 37in Panasonic plasma that wins that test - the TH37PX70, list price £1000 - or the 32in LCD (TX-32LXD700) that we First Test in the same issue.

The plasma is obviously bigger for the money, and as you love movies, you may prefer its exceptional contrast. However, the LCD TV boasts three HDMI sockets - including one on the front, that would be rather handy for that PS3 - and is also a superb performer: one of the best LCDs we've seen, in fact.

As for home cinema. Obvious answer is the Samsung HT-XQ100, iist price £330, but as it's at end-of-line, I know people are finding it hard to track down. Empire Direct were reported to have some stock. Personally, i'd wait a while, as there are a load of brand-new budget home cinema systems just hitting the market, with promises of better specs and performance for the money. We plan to do a round-up of these newcomers in our October issue, which - bizarrely - is out in August....

 

[Anonymous]

Great, thank you. Its actually refreshing to get a proper answer from a forum for once. I will have a little shop round for the plasma and keep an eye out for the home cinema issue next month. Thanks.