£2000 for a new 52 inch TV ... but which one?

[bobo]

Hi guys

Im in the mkt for a new 50/52 inch 1080 TV, will play a few PC/Playstation games on it but its mostly for DVD/TV viewing.

Anyone got any idea on what the cutting edge stuff is now at that price?

Any roccomendations welcome

Many thanks

[RRS_Staffs]

Google Pioneer Kuro and Panasonic V10

[Plotloss]

5090 is the correct choice, if you can find one, which is unlikely.

Failing that the 50V10

[headcase]

The LED stuff is worth a look too. Had a good look at the V10 and a Z1 the other day and tbh at that price i wasnt too impressed by them.

[CRACKIE]

£2K will get you a 100Hz series 7 type 55" Samsung LCD/LED ~ the picture on the 46" ( £1350) version I saw this weekend is up with the best out there. Plenty of connections too + all sorts of online access too via Yahoo widgets as well.

Think I'll be getting one of these or maybe LG's similar 47" SL9000 very soon. These recent LED backlit LCD type of displays have amazing contrast & colour and appear to cope far better than either plasma or conventional LCD when the room is bright. Just my 2p worth of course ~ Plotloss is very experienced ref. the latest hardware and the Panasonic's I saw at the weekend were being fed a very ropey signal

Edited by CRACKIE on Wednesday 18th November 22:47

[bobo]

Plotloss said:

5090 is the correct choice, if you can find one, which is unlikely.

Failing that the 50V10

how come currys dont stock either? what about those Sharp Aquos screens?

[Plotloss]

Currys sell washing machines and bread makers and are staffed by teenagers with acne.

If you want good advice and a good range of products buy from a specialist, not a shed.

[derestrictor]

5090s gone; 50V10s impossible to get in any quantity.

You can calibrate a 50G10 to near THX if you're so inclined although I'll wager 99% of folk will not elect this preset mode as it represents the antithesis of naff, Korean spec overcontrastednastiness and is not an automatic gobsmacker the way the cheap crap is flogged by the 17 year olds.

I keep saying this (but nobody is listening) re the slightly smaller sized JVC LT-47DV1: quite simply, a remarkable rendition for larger LCD.

Philips' 47PFL9664 would - I guarantee - strike anyone viewing these things in an optimised environment - with hitherto unachieved blacks and colour tones in the LCD arena.

I must admit, revisiting Sony's KDL-52Z4500 the other day was also a reminder of basic chassis engineering integrity when cost compromises are held at bay.

I have to say, one of the Koreans mentioned above (despite a recent accolade) is indeed, very slim, very backlit but quite frankly, ball bouncingly also ran; we remain incredulous as to the march of these brands.

It really is akin to the hordes of Germanic car fetishists suddenly deciding that el Llantra, after all, makes infinitely more sense than the D3 S8.

[FunkyGibbon]

derestrictor said:

You can calibrate a 50G10 to near THX if you're so inclined although I'll wager 99% of folk will not elect this preset mode as it represents the antithesis of naff, Korean spec overcontrastednastiness and is not an automatic gobsmacker the way the cheap crap is flogged by the 17 year olds.

I know what you mean, the THX mode on the V10 took me a while to get used to, mainly getting the room lighting sorted. But now I'm used to it WOW it is fantastic. The opening scenes of Dark Night are simply awesome.

[Plotloss]

This is what people forget, the idea of film reproduction is to recreate what the director sees and hears when he masters the film.

In 100% of cases he isn't doing that on an overdriven, cheaply made Korean trinket.

There is an absolute 'correct' in terms of reproduction and that can be achieved through calibration and measurement it is then simply down to consumer ignorance as to how far removed their viewing experience is front that.

I've not seen one done properly yet but if a V10 was set up by someone who had done THX Video Calibration I suspect the results would be mindbending.

[thehawk]

Was staunchly a Panasonic or Pioneer fan - until I recently saw the latest 50" Samsung Series 8 Plasma, was simply stunning and incredibly thin.

[bobo]

Thanks chaps will look at those mentioned.... have to use Currys or PC World as i have a voucher with them. Thats the limiting factor.

If i were to run the occasional PC/Playstation game on those mentioned would some perform better than others?

many thanks

[FunkyGibbon]

Plotloss said:

I've not seen one done properly yet but if a V10 was set up by someone who had done THX Video Calibration I suspect the results would be mindbending.

I presume certified THX mode on the V10 still require professional calibration to get the best out of the environment the TV is actually used in?

I've played with the THX calibration disc and also the tools from AVforums, and I have improved the picture (IMHO) vastly from the default. How much better can it get I wonder? What is a typical cost of professional calibration?

(apologies OP for going slightly off-topic)

[CraigW]

also having spent a fair bit of time looking at those led big tv's in al fayed's shop if you look for long enough, yes they are very bright and crisp because they have every single digital aid turned on in their "shop mode" and sharpness is all the way up BUT, after watching for a while it all looks a bit "disney", like Mcdonalds tv's is how I see them.

having spent a reasonable amount of wonga constantly updating I have come to trust 2 people, derestrictor and plotloss above have never failed to deliver on advice, setup & actually buying the tv's

[Plotloss]

FunkyGibbon said:

Plotloss said:

I've not seen one done properly yet but if a V10 was set up by someone who had done THX Video Calibration I suspect the results would be mindbending.

I presume certified THX mode on the V10 still require professional calibration to get the best out of the environment the TV is actually used in?

I've played with the THX calibration disc and also the tools from AVforums, and I have improved the picture (IMHO) vastly from the default. How much better can it get I wonder? What is a typical cost of professional calibration?

(apologies OP for going slightly off-topic)

I'm not sure if there is anyone in the UK yet that has done THX Video Cert training. I've toyed with the idea of doing it in the States but you need to do a lot of calibrations to make it pay and sadly the whole THX concept has been somewhat muddied by them putting the logo on a variety of products the detract from the central tenet of ensuring a cohesive standard throughout the production and reproduction process in the mind of the average or even enthusiast consumer.

ISF calibration is very much worth it and is done on a per source basis with the calibration covering the entire signal chain. You're looking at around £200 per source I believe and there are a couple of great calibrators on AVForums, to be found in the ISF subforum usually.

[CRACKIE]

thehawk said:

Was staunchly a Panasonic or Pioneer fan - until I recently saw the latest 50" Samsung Series 8 Plasma, was simply stunning and incredibly thin.

+1........Agree with you there thehawk.

I appreciate that Plotloss & deristrictor have great experience here and understand why they might be critical of the "overcontrastednasty Korean trinkets" ; their colour & contast can be lurid with the factory settings however, with minimal optimisation ( of the type being suggested for the Panasonic I should add ) great results are possible. I've set up hundreds displays over the years and can still determine a good one from a bad one.

A motoring analogy might be Panasonic = 997 Turbo and Samsung = Skyline GT-R, the Porsche has the heritage and polish but its hard to deny the Nissan's achievement particularly for the money.

Edited by CRACKIE on Thursday 19th November 21:45

[headcase]

Ill +2 that, i have installed thousands of plasma/LCD's over the years and have always been in the Panasonic camp ( I even have 2 myself), for straight out of the box performance then i really do rate the latest that Samsung have to offer, if i were in the market for a new one right now then i would be seriously considering one. For me it would be a showdown between the Panna G15 and the 8 Series Samsung.

[OldSkoolRS]

Probably even more off topic, but I just wanted to say that having doen a full greyscale and gamma calibration on my (ancient by today's standards) Sony 40W2000, the picture is actually quite passable and a world away from the default 'Vivid' mode or even the 'Standard' mode.

I've cheated slightly on the colour gamut side of things as I have an external video processor for my projector, but I had a spare memory on it so why not feed the TV as well? All I'm saying is that a well setup TV can look much better than the out of the box settings might imply (although I'm no way trained ISF, I've managed to get a fair grasp on the whole calibration thing). Getting an already good current TV ISF'd should give an amazing image compared to mine.

Just to drag this back on topic, I'm also looking for a new 46-52" set myself in the new year, so the 40W2000 can go into the kitchen/family room. I'll be looking at the suggested models from the posts above (and I'll be doing a full calibration too or maybe pay for a pro to do it, just to make I get my money's worth ).

[ukwill]

What I would give to see a panel review done where all the panels were put in an identical chassis... (no direct tweaking allowed, so no chance to see the menu and know what manufacturer it was!).

oh, and an hdmi cable review done the same way.

I would laugh. I'm sure of that.

Edited by ukwill on Thursday 19th November 17:18

[derestrictor]

I've sold hundreds of thousands of sets and I'm telling you the best LCD is the bit where Jabba tries to bone Leia whilst Sy Snootles serenades them with choice tracks from Star Turtle by Harry Connick, Jnr.