Buying a new telly

[Blue62]

I am looking to replace a Panasonic Viera (HD) and considering my options, as usual I am finding the process a little baffling. Could I plead for some answers to the following:

What is the real world difference between LED, OLED and Plasma?
Should I consider 4K, or are there issues with channel availability etc?
On a budget of up to 2k, what would the great and good here go for?

Edited by Blue62 on Monday 11th November 15:36

[mrdemon]

Blue62 said:

I am looking to replace a Panasonic Viera (HD) and considering my options, as usual I am finding the process a little baffling. Could I plead for some answers to the following:

What is the real world difference between LED, OLED and Plasma?
Should I consider 4K, or are there issues with channel availability etc?
On a budget of up to 2k, what would the great and good here go for?

Edited by Blue62 on Monday 11th November 15:36

oled is best but very expensive atm
Plasma is 2nd best but all about to vanish, I guess due to oled tech
LED is pants but the main seller

I would go for the best 50" Pana Plasma while they are still available, that's what I use and it blows me away on HD and films.

I run a TX-P50GT60B £1200 now, but you can get a TX-P50VT65B £1.6k which is better. or a 65" for 3k

[kingston12]

Blue62 said:

I am looking to replace a Panasonic Viera (HD) and considering my options, as usual I am finding the process a little baffling. Could I plead for some answers to the following:

What is the real world difference between LED, OLED and Plasma?
Should I consider 4K, or are there issues with channel availability etc?
On a budget of up to 2k, what would the great and good here go for?

Edited by Blue62 on Monday 11th November 15:36

On a budget of £2k you won't get OLED or 4K assuming that you want a good-sized screen.

4K is a bit of a strange one at the moment because there is little or no content available at the moment and you are not really future-proofing yourself by buying one of the currently available sets because they will come equipped with an HDMI 1.4 input which can't handle all of the different types of 4K content anyway. HDMI 2.0 is out next year.


OLED is similarly strange - the demo sets I have seen look wonderful, but I can't imagine too many people droppng £7k on a TV that only does 1080p with 4K around the corner.

In terms of LED vs plasma, I think most people agree that plasma is king in picture quality alone. Panasonic are about the best, but they have recently killed off their plasma production because less people care about the absolute picture quality than they do the weight/size/how it looks on the wall/power consumption which are all areas that LED beats plasma in.

I personally went for a Samsung LED to replace my plasma simply because the plasmas would have looked ridiculous where I wanted to hang it. I have been very pleased with it, but I'd still have gone for a plasma if it was going to sit on a stand.

[Steve Campbell]

I also struggle on this. My personal view...unless you are really "into" your home cinema experience and can tell a Plasma from an LED without thinking..it comes down to personal preference and look.

My advice (non techy !!) choose your TV size ( room dimension / location of the TV / hung or standing / viewing distance) then go look at the TV's and see which gives you your "preferred" picture. I'm assuming here that you are running audio via some external system or amp, otherwise you need to also consider sound quality as a lot of the current TV's are poor on their own.

I eventually went for a Samsung LED ... it has a very small bezzle around the edge so the TV is almost "all" picture which looked right for the location mine is in the room & the quality of the picture looked good to me (in the shop, I found it difficult to distinguish between the different makes (LED) at the higher price bracket you are looking at). Size of screen was determined by optimum viewing distance and the look in the room.

[Blue62]

Thanks fella's, as usual there are more questions than answers! I want to hang the TV, so I guess that Plasma will require more robust fixings?

[TEKNOPUG]

What sort of things do you watch?

[T1berious]

@Kingston,

Which Samsung unit did you go for? I'm currently finding the sheer amount of LED's Samsung do frankly baffling...

Cheers,

@ OP

I'm guessing with your budget you'll be looking at either a decent LED or a reference level Plasma. If wall mounting go LED if stand Mounting Plasma all the way (as long as you're happy with power consumption etc).

Sony W9 have been getting pretty good reviews.

Cheers

T1b

[kingston12]

Blue62 said:

Thanks fella's, as usual there are more questions than answers! I want to hang the TV, so I guess that Plasma will require more robust fixings?

When I had my previous plasma, it had one of those large wall brackets that took six screws and the whole lot must have weighed 30KG. I was shocked at the tiny screws that were recommended, but used them anyway and hung solidly for years.

My current LED hangs on on the of the Samsung wall mounts which takes one tiny screw per 'disc' and again had been totally solid and has the advantage that you can move it like a picture if you don't get it 100% straight!

http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/tv-audio-video/...

I have got brick walls, so if you need to hang on breeze/plasterboard, I'd expect bigger fixings to be required!

[kingston12]

T1berious said:

@Kingston,

Which Samsung unit did you go for? I'm currently finding the sheer amount of LED's Samsung do frankly baffling...

Cheers,

I went for the 7000 series as it was exactly the same as the range-topping 8000 series but had a clear plastic bezel which I actually preferred to the chrome one on the 8000.

I think this is the new equivalent:

http://www.johnlewis.com/samsung-ue55f7000-led-hd-...

My model number is the same but has a 'D' rather than the 'F' indicating it is 2 years old which seems about right. There seem to be a lot more models now.

I waited until after Christmas and got a good deal in advance of the new models coming out in about April.

[V8A*ndy]

The only real issue for me with the VT65 is screen brightness.

If you have a bright room it's not for you. 3D is also further dimmed by the glasses but I don't bother with 3d at all.

If you like your movies and upscaled DVDs it's a no brainer. The picture is stunning.

4K right now is a nonsense. To many worries over compatibility issues now and for the foreseeable.