Sorry, another "what TV" topic.... 40inch up to £500

[Longers]

Hi all

In this topic (which contained some great advice but slightly over my budget)...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

...there was a link to this site...

https://www.avforums.com/article/buying-a-tv-in-a-...

...which said "Outside of buying a house or a car, there’s perhaps no more difficult consumer decision than choosing your next TV". How very very true!

As per the title, I'm looking for a new 40 inch TV with a budget of £500. I didn't think it'd be this hard to choose one but after looking for a few weeks I'm now suffering analysis paralysis!

I'm not interested in 3D or a huge amount of complex functionality and don't have Sky - all I want is a good quality picture and something that does a decent job of handling moving objects because I like my motorsport and be able to connect the kid's Wii, a dvd recorder and a soundbar.

Will be off out at the weekend to hopefully buy one. John Lewis and Richer Sounds are close to home and have a good selection but happy to look elsewhere if there is a "must buy" model they don't stock.

Any help / advice will be very gratefully received.

Cheers,
L'rs

[nitrodave]

bargain

http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/blaup...

[carreauchompeur]

:|

I've bought a couple of the Panasonic 42inch Viera LEDs and can't complain with either, comfortably below budget too.

[Russ_H]

When I was looking for a kitchen TV, I struggled to see past this......

40" Samsung

Bought in John Lewis with a 5 year guarantee - for the money you can't go wrong

[gizlaroc]

http://www.whathifi.com/sony/kdl-40w605b/review

Stunning set. Backlit led rather than crappy edge lit. Decent processing. Can be had for £300.

[gizlaroc]

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/led-tv/sony-bravia-kdl-4...

[Longers]

Thanks for the replies guys

The Sony KDL40W605B and Samsung UE40H5500 have already been on/off/on/off my (not very) shortlist and are now back on it.

Any other recommendations out there?

[Adam B]

I am looking for a TV, 55" but seems to be about range rather than size

Seems to be a straight choice between Sony and Samsung but Panasonic are also rated well for picture quality on some models.

Difficult to audition them properly in any shop though so I might just flip a damn coin

[Rosscow]

I've just got the Samsung 40" 6700 and I have to say it is very, very good. Speakers are a weak point though if you haven't got external surround, etc.

Slightly over budget at £549 (from Amazon, possibly cheaper elsewhere).

[curlyks2]

This Samsung 40 incher at £359 (at time of writing).

[gizlaroc]

Longers said:

Thanks for the replies guys

The Sony KDL40W605B and Samsung UE40H5500 have already been on/off/on/off my (not very) shortlist and are now back on it.

Any other recommendations out there?

Stick with the Sony mate. One of the best LCD based displays you can buy at the moment, regardless of price.

Pixmania £299 at the moment, perfect.

[jontysafe]

Seems to have gone up in price on pix mania?

[gizlaroc]

Now £338.

It did say that the £299 offer was ending on 31st. Still £60 cheaper than anyone else and still better than anything else out there at even twice the price.

[Longers]

Thanks for the replies. Ended up with this one...
http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kdl42w8-led-h...
Chose it partly because of the way it handles moving images. Got home with it late on Sunday afternoon, set up quickly and sat back to enjoy the F1 GP. Delighted with it (although would've been happier if Lewis had won!)

Now all I need to investigate is an upgrade to the audio - soundbar will be favourite with Mrs L'rs although I'm going to start by looking for a 5.1 AV amp...

Cheers,
L'rs

[Adam B]

Longers said:

Thanks for the replies. Ended up with this one...
http://www.johnlewis.com/sony-bravia-kdl42w8-led-h...
Chose it partly because of the way it handles moving images. Got home with it late on Sunday afternoon, set up quickly and sat back to enjoy the F1 GP. Delighted with it

The 55" version is on my shortlist - what are the apps like and you tried things like youtube? Interested to hear how easy the navigation is and hwat the speed is like.

[Longers]

Not had a chance to find out myself yet, all I've seen so far is the GP on Sunday evening! My 8 year old daughter has found it pretty simple to use though....

Will hopefully have a proper play myself at the weekend. I'll let you know how I get on

[The Nur]

Adam B said:

The 55" version is on my shortlist - what are the apps like and you tried things like youtube? Interested to hear how easy the navigation is and hwat the speed is like.

I have the kdl42w705b and the navigation speeds are fine, assuming that the software is the same.

[Some Gump]

OP,

TV's are so good these days that the transmission is almost the limiting factor. Is a grands worth of posh better than 350 quids worth of Samsung? Yes of course - but not if you feed it SD.
IMO, choose the one with the best interface / planner / smart function you'll actually use, or the one which looks nicest as an object.

Spend the money you've saved on audio, job done. If you're happy with a soundbar (shudder), spend it on petrol =)

[gizlaroc]

Still think the 605B is the better set.

[bastiangraaf]

I just bought the samsung 40 h6200.. http://www.whathifi.com/samsung/ue40h6200ak/overvi... Slightly under your budget I think. I bought it in the Netherlands because I work overseas. It was 600 euro's http://www.plasma-discounter.nl/product/1814654/sa...