PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => AV Lounge => Topic started by: Simon on October 01, 2010, 17:48
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Nothing wrong with my plasma at the moment, but it's not full HD, so I'm not getting the best picture quality from Bluray discs. My problem is, I need a TV with a 'hard' screen, like a plasma, not 'soft', like an LCD is. Does anyone know what sort of screen the new(ish) LEDs have?
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Can't help, Simon, but I'll be following this thread with interest because we're thinking of getting a new TV this Christmas to replace our ageing CRT.
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I saw the LED TV's when I visited Bangkok last year. Wow! What a picture! And they are wafer thin too. I've found an interesting website for you: http://www.ledtvreviews.co.uk/
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Thanks Clive, I'll check that out later. It looks like the LED sets may be a little too fragile for my requirements.
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Having been more than happy with my Panasonic plasma, I'd probably go for this model (http://www.ledtvreviews.co.uk/panasonic-led-tv/panasonic-37-inch-led-tv/panasonic-tx-l37d25b-txl37d25b-review/), but I think I'd need to see one in the flesh, so as to decide whether it would be robust enough to withstand the treatment it would receive from sprog.
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Amazon price £749.99
Tesco price £1099.00
Every little bit helps. :o:
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Simon why do you need a "hard" screen. Here at daveeb towers we have 3 x LCD screens and two marauding kids and the screens (touch wood) have never been damaged. Hard screens tend to be far more reflective and can cause viewing problems with unwanted reflections depending on the lighting.
I spent ages agonising over the plasma/lcd debate. Supposedly plasmas are better in low light viewing and lcd are better for the brighter room. All i can say is lcd's have come on in leaps and bounds, the blacks look really black even when all the lights are out. Plasmas still need running in for the first thousand hours or so apparently so for me in the end it was a no brainer.
I'm feeling particularly smug right now as i've had my first taste of freeview hd courtesy the Sony Bravia (37ex503) tv i got a few weeks ago. i have to say i was very impressed particularly when i watched my first HD football match. Unfortunately it was Man U and they won (sorry chorley dave) but impressive never the less. :o:
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My lad has autism and severe learning challenges, Dave, and at 18, he can throw a fair punch at a TV screen, not to mention drinks cups and other handy missiles. I didn't think an LCD screen would stand up to that sort of punishment, hence my going for the seemingly more robust plasma. It seems that the LEDs are thinner, and presumably lighter, than LCDs, and as wall hanging isn't a practical option without a full redesign of the lounge, I need something with a bit of stability.
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My son has a 37" LED which he bought two months ago and is over the moon with it. I haven't seen it yet because he has tended to visit us since our last London trip in April. He says that he can't get over the depth of the picture - unlike anything he has seen previously. It cost him £600.
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Yes, they are less than I paid for my plasma 4 years ago.
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I'm feeling particularly smug right now as i've had my first taste of freeview hd courtesy the Sony Bravia (37ex503) tv i got a few weeks ago. i have to say i was very impressed particularly when i watched my first HD football match. Unfortunately it was Man U and they won (sorry chorley dave) but impressive never the less. :o:
His Lordship came home with a Sony catalogue today and I've got to say we are impressed by the specifications of the various Bravias. Thanks for giving us your opinion, Dave :thumb: .
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I'm going to have to have a look at the Sonys...
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Nothing wrong with my plasma at the moment, but it's not full HD, so I'm not getting the best picture quality from Bluray discs. My problem is, I need a TV with a 'hard' screen, like a plasma, not 'soft', like an LCD is. Does anyone know what sort of screen the new(ish) LEDs have?
Ive got a LG- LCD 42" Telly which is full HD, but I never did understand the difference between full HD and HD ready; anyone elighten me?
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It's all in the resolution, DG. 'HD Ready' is usually up to 720p resolution (1280×720), whereas Full HD is 1080p resolution (1920×1080). An 'HD Ready' set will usually accept the higher resolution input from, say, a Bluray player, but will downscale the output to it's native resolution, which, I think, to be precise, is usually 1366x768. A 'Full HD' set will display the picture at the full 1920x1080 resolution, hence, theoretically, a sharper image.
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His Lordship came home with a Sony catalogue today and I've got to say we are impressed by the specifications of the various Bravias. Thanks for giving us your opinion, Dave :thumb: .
I'm not always a big fan of Sony stuff Gill but this TV is excellent :thumbs:
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How much did you pay for yours, Dave? The cheapest I can find is at Marks & Sparks for £650. His Lordship is talking about buying one tomorrow.
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Now you're making me jealous Gill. ;)
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Some people are more decisive than others Simon. :o: ;D
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It's all in the resolution, DG. 'HD Ready' is usually up to 720p resolution (1280×720), whereas Full HD is 1080p resolution (1920×1080). An 'HD Ready' set will usually accept the higher resolution input from, say, a Bluray player, but will downscale the output to it's native resolution, which, I think, to be precise, is usually 1366x768. A 'Full HD' set will display the picture at the full 1920x1080 resolution, hence, theoretically, a sharper image.
Thanks for the info Simon.
:thumbs:
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Some people are more decisive than others Simon. :o: ;D
:shuddup: :tease:
As I said, nothing wrong with my plasma at the moment. ;)
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How much did you pay for yours, Dave? The cheapest I can find is at Marks & Sparks for £650. His Lordship is talking about buying one tomorrow.
I paid richer sounds £699-95 (including a 5 year guarantee). The price went down by £30 two days later so i went back and got that refunded along with £3 off the price of the guarantee, so long answer short i paid £666-95. RS will price match anyone as long as it's like for like and in stock. £650 sounds pretty good, does that include a guarantee and is it for the 37" set ?
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I've been scouring the net and apparently Amazon are doing the 40" set for £599. I found a discount voucher which will supposedly get a further 10% off.
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:bawl:
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I've been scouring the net and apparently Amazon are doing the 40" set for £599. I found a discount voucher which will supposedly get a further 10% off.
:bawl: :bawl:
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Sadly, the 10% discount voucher didn't work :( . Still, £599 is a good price and it should be delivered by 13 October :) .
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Well, I'm really glad I started this thread now. :bawl: ;)
Hope it's good, Gill - we'll look forward to your review. :)
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Gill the 40" is apparently even better than the (non standard sized) 37" as a different type of panel is used in construction. You should be in for a real treat !
(Hope i haven't talked it up too much). :thumbs:
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To think that back in January 2003 I paid Currys the princly sum of £2,500 for a 40" Sasung plasma and that had been reduced from £2999. I remember agonising over whether or not to buy it on this very forum. :laugh:
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I remember the agonising very well! ;D
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:laugh: It was a lot of money for a telly! I only kept it for 5 years because the sound packed in and nobody was prepared to fix it for me. That's when I bought my Sharp 40" LCD which isn't anywhere near as good. One good thing is that the Sharp is much smaller because the speakers are built in. The Samsung had large speakers attached to the sides and a separate "media centre" amplifier. Things were primitive in those days.
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I remember the drama trying to get that "media centre" to work for you! I don't think I ever grasped exactly what it was meant to do! ;D Oh, and didn't your cleaner ruin the TV with glass cleaner? :)x
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Spray polish Simon! ;D
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:laugh:
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You have a cleaner?
:o
Perhaps your cleaner was working on your dirty movies :devil: .
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You have a cleaner?
:o
Not any more Gill, we retired her a few years ago. She was in her eighties! :D
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She's now buried at the bottom of his garden. ;D
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:laugh: I had to bury her to stop her wrecking our furniture with bloody silicone polish. I swear she used to go through a whole cannister each visit!
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:pmsl:
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There's nothing worse than Mr Sheen all over a proper wax finish.
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There's got to be a joke there somewhere... :devil:
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:o:
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There's nothing worse than Mr Sheen all over a proper wax finish.
You are dead right Gill. No matter how many times we told her she would still spray with Pledge which left white marks in the grain. We managed to get most of them out using vinegar but we understand that wood furniture should be lightly polished using a good quality wax polish just once or twice a year.
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That's right, Clive. Aerosol furniture polishes such as Mr Sheen and Pledge contain silicones which are incompatible with wax and will make it hazy. I'm not an expert on finishing but if it ever happened to a piece of my furniture I'd strip the whole wax finish off with white spirits or paraffin, give it a very light scrape with a cabinet scraper, then apply a fresh coat of wax.
I hope your furniture wasn't antique, Clive - the thought of someone wrecking an antique in such a way brings a lump to my throat.
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No, it's replica antique Gill. Old Charm and Jaycee. The dining table is solid oak and that took most of the ill treatment. Not sure why the vinegar worked so well in removing the white marks but we wash all the oak furniture with vinegar before applying the annual polish. :D
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If it works, it can't be wrong :) . I'll try to remember that tip.
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Clive's the only genuine antique in the house. :laugh:
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If it works, it can't be wrong :) . I'll try to remember that tip.
I shall ignore Simon! I should hasten to add that the vinegar is well diluted with water Gill, and it's wiped dry straight away. It's a fairly well known method of cleaning and there are plenty of references to it on the internet such as HERE (http://www.ehow.com/how_5132147_naturally-clean-wood-furniture.html) and HERE (http://www.ehow.com/how_4678827_clean-furniture-floors-vinegar.html).
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:)x
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It's arrived!!!!!
:yeaah: :yeaah: :yeaah:
I'll have to wait for his Lordship to come home so that I can move our old telly out its current position - it's a huge Phillips CRT which should only be shifted by a fork-lift. Then it'll be a case of trying to connect our old Sky box and DVD players - I bet we'll need to buy some new cables.
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:thumbs:
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It's just a shame there's so little worth watching. :(
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Ah, but the crap will look so much better! ;D
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So true. ;D
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It's arrived!!!!!
:yeaah: :yeaah: :yeaah:
I'll have to wait for his Lordship to come home so that I can move our old telly out its current position - it's a huge Phillips CRT which should only be shifted by a fork-lift. Then it'll be a case of trying to connect our old Sky box and DVD players - I bet we'll need to buy some new cables.
Good fun! Hope you enjoy.
Just in time to watch that CRAP X Factor!!!
:laugh:
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I knew they'd missed a word in my TV listings. ;)
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I knew they'd missed a word in my TV listings. ;)
:laugh: :lol2: :clap:
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:ithank:
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Instead of writing a review, will it suffice to say my eyes will soon be square (or at least letterbox :) ) ?
I've just started watching an old DVD which I'm guessing is being upscaled to HD. It's great! I've only taken a break to download some DivX movies from my 'pooter onto a memory stick so I can check the USB connection.
I'm very happy indeed!
:thumbs:
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Have a look at channels 50, 51 and 52 Gill :thumbs:
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What model is it, Gill, and what's the screen itself like?
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:congrats2: Gill. It's no mean achievement to beat Simon to a new toy. ;D
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I know, and it's my bloody thread too! :bawl: ;D
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Our TV doesn't pick up those channels, Dave. What are they?
Simon - it's a SonyBravia KDL 40EX503U (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-KDL40EX503U-Widescreen-Internet-Freeview/dp/B003BVI4CQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1286483986&sr=8-1). I notice Amazon has just upped the price today by £108!
:yeaah:
The only thing His Lordship doesn't like about it is the absence of CEEFAX. He really likes reading the football gossip pages and checking his shares, which aren't in the FTSE350.
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Ah, that's an LCD, Gill. I'm sure it's wonderful, but I was specifically looking at LEDs, unless, of course, the Sony LCDs also have a glass screen. I guess the nearest equivalent to yours would be the Sony-KDL40EX603U (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-KDL40EX603U-Widescreen-Internet-Freeview/dp/B003BVI4D0/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1286485523&sr=1-7).
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Our TV doesn't pick up those channels, Dave. What are they?
Gill it should do, they are the 3 HD freeview channels. If there's nothing there try the "thorough" auto tuning (i can't remember the correct wording but there are two levels of tuning in the menu).
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I've tried both auto tunings but neither detect the HD channels. Perhaps it's because we don't switch over to digital in our area until April?
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Perhaps it's because we don't switch over to digital in our area until April?
Its well worth waiting for and by then there may be more channels (currently just BBC, ITV and C4 HD.)
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It seems that you need to change your current TV. The NuVision Company announced a while ago the 3D LED TV. It is absolutely "High-End" or HD and checks it out right now.
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:thanks: :welcome:
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I dont see the point in 3D tvs.
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I'm sure it's the way things will go, though, if maybe in a more advanced form.
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well it uses polarization and so when you move your heard you change the polarization angle and thus at some point you go from being 3D. I dunno, why would I want to sit wearing glasses all day when I don't need to.
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I agree, but won't they develop a way to not have the glasses in the future?
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They'll also have to develop a way to ensure everyone can see 3D. About 20% of the population have monocular vision.
I really don't think it is going to catch on in the way that the multi-nationals dream.
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Then again, they make colour TVs, and a percentage of the population are colour blind. ;)
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Being colour blind doesn't prevent you from seeing colours though - it just stops you from perceiving them in the same way as most other people (and butterflies). The whole point of 3D is to give the viewer an added dimension. Anyone who does not have true binocular vision will miss out on the whole dimension, not just a misperception of it.
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So, presumably, they would see in 2D, like everything else? They could never broadcast everything in 3D, or they'd never be able to show any old repeats! ;D
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it just stops you from perceiving them in the same way as most other people (and butterflies).
Won't somebody think of the poor cats? o:)
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Not only do my chihuahuas seem to think about cats, I reckon they plot against a variety of other potential victims :devil: .
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I don't envy your postman Gill. ;D
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well I dont see how they can develop technology that doesn't involve something being infront of your eye, though some small powered contact lenses might do the trick instead... but using polarization will still have the same angular problem.
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Before they develop anything they want to develop some interesting entertainers.