what should I buy for the best sd picture at 37 or 40 inch ish?

[admin_exported]

I have a reasonable budget, up to 1200 ish squidleys to purchase a new telly to put on the wall. I have been searching for ages but am really confused with all the differing reports. I want around a 37 to 40 inch screen with full HD. I am a little concerned with energy usage so have almost not considered Plasma but I don't really know in actual useage or real world costs what the differences are. I also heard plasmas are less reliable, is this true? I watch some DVD's and play some P3 but use predominantly SD sky and with the lack of HD channels on non premium channels I have no intent to upgrade in the near future.

I have looked at the sony 40W4500 (but there seems to be some problems listed on this site) and pany lzd85/800. I'm all ears to what you all have to suggest!!!!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

Save yourself a load of readies and get the best buy 37" on this site, the Panasonic TH37PX80. Cracking SD picture. Under £600. Realistic colours, good blacks and smooth motion handling. And the HD picture is good too. Accepts 1080/24p BluRay without judder. And a nice SD card slot to show off your digital photos.

720p plasmas use a little more electricity than LCDs but much less than the 1080p plasmas. And as for reliabilty, that's a myth, panels now last for 100,000 hours, even better than LCDs.

 

[Clare Newsome]

I'd agree on the Pana for best SD at this size- superb tuner, awesome value. Still the best bargain in TV!

 

[Anonymous]

Only thing I'm a bit worried about is the none 1080 hd format like some of the others tv's. When I do play the P3 or hd blue ray am actually gonna see a lot less definition than if I were to get one of the panny 42 plasma screens, albeit a bit more energy hungry. I don't want to waste my money but I am conscious that I can go up alot more than the £700 px80 and I don't want to have to change it again in two years time as its so out dated. Are these concerned valid or on this size will any differences in clarity be negligible?

Thanks for your replies by the way.

 

[Anonymous]

As you stated that you will use the tv primarily to watch broadcast tv, then you will lose nothing by not having full HD. If however you are conscious of keeping up with the latest specs, then the TH42PZ80 is the one for you.

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

physiochris:

Only thing I'm a bit worried about is the none 1080 hd format like some of the others tv's. When I do play the P3 or hd blue ray am actually gonna see a lot less definition than if I were to get one of the panny 42 plasma screens, albeit a bit more energy hungry. I don't want to waste my money but I am conscious that I can go up alot more than the £700 px80 and I don't want to have to change it again in two years time as its so out dated. Are these concerned valid or on this size will any differences in clarity be negligible?

Thanks for your replies by the way.

At 37 inch the PX80 is THE best value plasma.?Go for it.You will not see any difference on full HD TVs of similar size.

I continue to be in awe at the SD picture over my previous Panny LCD.Totally with Rewerb on this one.

 

[professorhat]

My concern here is you're considering a 42" TV which means you actually want a 42" TV. Yes or No?
Seriously, if you think you can fit a 42" here, then that is the right size to go for. You are never going to think, "Hmmm, that TV is too big, I should have got a 37" if you are considering a 42"...
If you're not sure, have a look at the dimensions of the screen, cut them out on a bit of paper and stick it against the wall. Then remember, this is the size of the telly, not the screen, so take into account the borders. Then decide if it's too big.

 

[Anonymous]

I got a Panasonic 42" PX 80 , the closest i sit is about 9 ft and get a very very, good picture, i done a lot of research and went in loads of shops, for SD stuff, HD and value for money you cannot beat it. I felt the PZ 1080 model was a worse SD picture than the PX, by far.

 

[Anonymous]

I sit 6ft away from my 40inch Sony and HD picture is great. I watch normal SD picture from the same distance and to be honest its fine, not great but fine. As for gaming i tend to sit 6ft away but end up nearly 4ft infront of the TV and the picture is still great.

I dont see the sense in sitting 10-15ft away from a screen because then whats the point of having a big screen? The further you sit the smaller it gets surely?? My advice is go to the retailers and pick something that you think looks great and then you can stand as close or as far as you like before deciding.

If you want an amazing SD picture then unfortunately there is no Flat Panel TV that can even match a CRT. I still have my 32inch CRT for watching normal SD broadcast and unless normal broadcast is sent through atleast a 720p HD signal i dont think any flat panel could come close to a CRT picture. HD Freeview should be the norm in this digital age!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi swampy,

On the 42inch you are getting in to the territories where they say you can really notice the difference beteen hd and full hd. Do you see many many downsides to the 42px80 or are the hd pics rally still very good?

With the sd loads of pepole talk about the quality of the source. How do you know what your source is like? I use simple sky, does the sky hd box broadcast at a higher output even on non hd channels or is it the same? I live in the middle of nowhere so can't vet virgin. Has anyone tries the free sat yet, is that any better or are the significant set up costs not worth it if you already have sky? if so, what are the 'normal' channels like on that with the panny sets?

Its true about seeing the tv's in real life and its a subjective choice but so many shops do the tricks of showing some tv's with hdmi and some without so sometimes cross comparison can be tricky.

Appreciate the help so far but keep the advice coming. There's nothing like a survey!!!!!!!!