Freeview HD tuner in a 27" telly?
Discussion
Been looking for small telly (around 26") for my daughter and I'm a bit puzzled...
There seem to be plenty of models even offering 1080p panels at this size but seemingly few, unless I'm missing something, that incorporate an HD-capable Freeview tuner. Surely the expectation of simply being able to watch BBC HD and ITV1 HD (where/when available) via the aerial without needing a separate tuner box isn't that much to ask for?
The Panny TXL24E3 seems to fit the bill but I'd have preferred a 26" screen size. Any ideas??
There seem to be plenty of models even offering 1080p panels at this size but seemingly few, unless I'm missing something, that incorporate an HD-capable Freeview tuner. Surely the expectation of simply being able to watch BBC HD and ITV1 HD (where/when available) via the aerial without needing a separate tuner box isn't that much to ask for?
The Panny TXL24E3 seems to fit the bill but I'd have preferred a 26" screen size. Any ideas??
Theres a lot of confusion regarding all the HD business.
Most flat screens are HD ready which means that the TV will display HD via an HD source, eg blu ray, sky hd ,virgin tivo etc.
Some tvs have hd freeview tuners in them which means you will be able to recieve 4 hd channels via aerial (bbc 1,bbc hd, itv,ch4) Most tvs that have the freeview hd in them tend to be the higher quality products eg panasonic.
If it is for your daughter do you need the extra expense of hd? unless shes really into nature programmes i find most teens watch either music channels or e4!
Yes in general the industry have not made this clear to people and i often have to educate my customers to the fact that even with freeview hd they need to tune to different channels to view hd content, channels 1 to 4 are still sd.
The extra cost of making a freeview hd tuner in a tv is minimal but the manurfacturers seem to like to drip feed technology into the market, fist flat screens, then hd flatsreens, then hd tuners,and now 3d, coming soon internet tv (oh joy! emails and facebook on your telly
)
As i have said in earlier post buy a branded tv lg, samsung,panasonic etc as supermarket clones have no spare part availability and so end up being being skiped for the sake of a 20p component!
Good luck
Most flat screens are HD ready which means that the TV will display HD via an HD source, eg blu ray, sky hd ,virgin tivo etc.
Some tvs have hd freeview tuners in them which means you will be able to recieve 4 hd channels via aerial (bbc 1,bbc hd, itv,ch4) Most tvs that have the freeview hd in them tend to be the higher quality products eg panasonic.
If it is for your daughter do you need the extra expense of hd? unless shes really into nature programmes i find most teens watch either music channels or e4!
Yes in general the industry have not made this clear to people and i often have to educate my customers to the fact that even with freeview hd they need to tune to different channels to view hd content, channels 1 to 4 are still sd.
The extra cost of making a freeview hd tuner in a tv is minimal but the manurfacturers seem to like to drip feed technology into the market, fist flat screens, then hd flatsreens, then hd tuners,and now 3d, coming soon internet tv (oh joy! emails and facebook on your telly
)As i have said in earlier post buy a branded tv lg, samsung,panasonic etc as supermarket clones have no spare part availability and so end up being being skiped for the sake of a 20p component!
Good luck
If you think you can't tell the difference between SD and HD on a small screen, I would say try the test on your own PC screen. There is a huge difference. Yes, if you are viewing it from 20ft away you won't see any difference, but small screens tend to be viewed closer anyway. I wouldn't buy a TV of any size without an HD tuner now.
It is like your dad telling you that you don't need anything more than a Fiesta 1.1L with wind-down windows and a cassette radio.
It is like your dad telling you that you don't need anything more than a Fiesta 1.1L with wind-down windows and a cassette radio.
Thanks for the input, chaps.
Bristolracer's probably on the money as far as the likely viewing habits go. Viewing distance is only going to be 5-6 feet so, equally, anything like X-Factor () which is on BBC/ITV is going to look better in HD on a 26" screen.
It just bugs me that for a small telly, which is less likely to form part of a system with a load of attached external HD sources, that an HD Freeview tuner isn't included when the incremental cost is small.
Bristolracer's probably on the money as far as the likely viewing habits go. Viewing distance is only going to be 5-6 feet so, equally, anything like X-Factor (
) which is on BBC/ITV is going to look better in HD on a 26" screen.It just bugs me that for a small telly, which is less likely to form part of a system with a load of attached external HD sources, that an HD Freeview tuner isn't included when the incremental cost is small.
Zad said:
If you think you can't tell the difference between SD and HD on a small screen, I would say try the test on your own PC screen. There is a huge difference. Yes, if you are viewing it from 20ft away you won't see any difference, but small screens tend to be viewed closer anyway. I wouldn't buy a TV of any size without an HD tuner now.
It is like your dad telling you that you don't need anything more than a Fiesta 1.1L with wind-down windows and a cassette radio.
There is a huge difference with text, images are a totally different thing, I go out to people on a daily basis banging on about how good HD is only to find them connected up with a SCART lead, really truthfully and honestly at 26" there isnt a noticeable difference on the picture, 32" just about noticeable, personally I wouldn't entertain HD below 40".It is like your dad telling you that you don't need anything more than a Fiesta 1.1L with wind-down windows and a cassette radio.
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