HDTV. £400. Need some help!
Discussion
Gents,
I am looking to buy a HDTV in the sales in a few weeks however I know not a lot about them! I have about £400 to spend absolute tops, quite fancy going for quality over quantity on the screen - a smaller but higher quality screen is OK.
Buying off digitaldirect is preferred however I do like the 5 years no cocking about guarantee that John Lewis do. Edging towards Panasonic / Sony in my head but welcome to be corrected.
Anything I need to look out for?
Thanks!
ETA: Crumbs, missed the Home Cinema section.
MODS!
I am looking to buy a HDTV in the sales in a few weeks however I know not a lot about them! I have about £400 to spend absolute tops, quite fancy going for quality over quantity on the screen - a smaller but higher quality screen is OK.
Buying off digitaldirect is preferred however I do like the 5 years no cocking about guarantee that John Lewis do. Edging towards Panasonic / Sony in my head but welcome to be corrected.
Anything I need to look out for?
Thanks!
ETA: Crumbs, missed the Home Cinema section.
MODS!Edited by Taita on Sunday 27th December 12:33
Its not really fair to say that JL always shove on a premium, for example I bought a Panasonic 42" G10 Plasma for £699 a couple of weeks back which was the cheapest available anywhere, plus it came with a free Bluray player worth about £150 which nobody else offered. That was on special offer but even at its usual price of £799 with Bluray, JL were pretty competitive on price for that particular model.
LocoBlade said:
Its not really fair to say that JL always shove on a premium, for example I bought a Panasonic 42" G10 Plasma for £699 a couple of weeks back which was the cheapest available anywhere, plus it came with a free Bluray player worth about £150 which nobody else offered. That was on special offer but even at its usual price of £799 with Bluray, JL were pretty competitive on price for that particular model.
JL wouldn't price match Richer Sounds for a TV a couple of years ago. They made all sorts of non-factual claims in order to avoid matching a TV which RC had for nearly £500 less including a 5 year guarantee and in stock. I've never stepped in to a JL store since then.Silver993tt said:
JL wouldn't price match Richer Sounds for a TV a couple of years ago. They made all sorts of non-factual claims in order to avoid matching a TV which RC had for nearly £500 less including a 5 year guarantee and in stock. I've never stepped in to a JL store since then.
Mine wasnt on a pricematch, it was their in store price which was ~£100 cheaper than Richer's basic price without 5 year warranty and without the Bluray player. I also think your experience with the pricematch service isnt the norm as lots of people seem to successfully use it time after time, I bought my 26" bedroom LCD via a JL pricematch a couple of years back and had no problems with them matching a shop over 150 miles away, as long as its a bricks and mortar shop and the product is actually in stock so you could walk in and collect it then there's usually no quibbles. They'll even refund if you buy a product and it subsequently goes down in price within 30 days either in store or at competing stores, several people on AVForums that recently bought the same TV as mine at £799 got £100 refunds when they spoke to customer services about the price drop. Having said that I have no loyalty to JL other than being a satisfied customer, Id have no issues buying from Richer Sounds if the price was right.
Sorry, was getting a bit OT 
Im no expert but having done some recent shopping for a slightly larger plasma, here's my thoughts.
First stop for me would be to look at a 37" X10 Panasonic Plasma, not seen one personally but they seem to get good reviews and for general TV viewing I prefer a more natural looking plasma to a generally over vibrant LCD. They're only HD ready but at that size you're probably not going to benefit from full HD anyway unless you're sitting with your feet tucked under the TV stand.
If you want full HD then it'll have to be LCD, which I didnt really look much into so not the best person to give any recommendations. The LCD section of AVForums.com has lots of info so might be worth a read there to see what others recommend.
Im no expert but having done some recent shopping for a slightly larger plasma, here's my thoughts.
First stop for me would be to look at a 37" X10 Panasonic Plasma, not seen one personally but they seem to get good reviews and for general TV viewing I prefer a more natural looking plasma to a generally over vibrant LCD. They're only HD ready but at that size you're probably not going to benefit from full HD anyway unless you're sitting with your feet tucked under the TV stand.
If you want full HD then it'll have to be LCD, which I didnt really look much into so not the best person to give any recommendations. The LCD section of AVForums.com has lots of info so might be worth a read there to see what others recommend.
I was tempted by that Comet Toshiba but it's a comet only model so there are no reviews and I think it's only 50Hz (for what it's worth). But figure in the bluray player for £80, 3% cashback from Quidco and the 12 months free LoveFilm on Toshiba's website and it's an awesome deal.
In the end though, I was sensible and yesterday I bought a Panasonic TX-P42X10B from a local retailer for £520 with a 5 year Panasonic guarantee (a huge selling point for me).
Not HDTV and not £400 but still a mega deal.
In the end though, I was sensible and yesterday I bought a Panasonic TX-P42X10B from a local retailer for £520 with a 5 year Panasonic guarantee (a huge selling point for me).
Not HDTV and not £400 but still a mega deal.
Well one is 32" and HD ready and the other is 40" and full HD, so quite a difference in specs and size, it seems more like you're choosing purely based on an arbitary price point rather than which TV is going to give you the best result in your room.
If you're sitting that far back that you won't get the benefit of full HD, then I'd recommend buying a bigger screen rather than a smaller one, especially as the bigger one in this case is Full HD too. Having said all that it might be worth you sending Derestrictor a message to see what deal he could offer you (I believe he owns/runs an AV shop) and I'd imagine he'd recommend another make other than the one's you've linked to, probably Panasonic.
If you're sitting that far back that you won't get the benefit of full HD, then I'd recommend buying a bigger screen rather than a smaller one, especially as the bigger one in this case is Full HD too. Having said all that it might be worth you sending Derestrictor a message to see what deal he could offer you (I believe he owns/runs an AV shop) and I'd imagine he'd recommend another make other than the one's you've linked to, probably Panasonic.
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