Need a 37" telly....it's hard when you're skint...

[dave_s13]

Like much in life getting hold of decent gear is really simple when you have money to burn.

After spunking millions of pounds on my new extension I'm left with a really nice big open plan kitchen/dining/family room but not enough cash left to just crack on and splurge on one of them lovely looking Philips sets that our Der sells.

Instead I'm thinking more along the lines of something like this??

Panasonic tx-P37x20b Plasma

or this

Panasonic tx-l37g20b LCD

Now it used to be the case that plasma was better and unless you had a fair wedge then Panasonic was the default. Is that still true?

House is wired for freesat (no coax to an aerial) so the built in freesat of the LCD one above is good. It negates the need for an extra telly box. Does it perform OK with an SD feed though?

I'm limited with space due to an akwardly placed chimey breast arrangement, hence the 37" option. Saying that a 40" with slimiline bezel would prob be ok too. It's not a main fillum telly if you know what I mean, the big telly and surround sound is in the other room. But, it will be plumbed into the media center so will have a fair amount of HD content available.

Given I didn't want to spend more than £400 what would you lot suggest?

[FlossyThePig]

dave_s13 said:

House is wired for freesat (no coax to an aerial) so the built in freesat of the LCD one above is good. It negates the need for an extra telly box. Does it perform OK with an SD feed though?

The feed from the dish provides all channels, both SD and HD. It's the tuner that differentiates.

Currently only BBC1HD, BBC-HD and ITV1HD on Freesat, with C4HD coming in April and possibly different 5 channels later in the year.

I have 2 Panasonic 32" TVs (in different rooms) with built in Freesat HD. That size suits me.

[dave_s13]

Yes you're right! I didn't realise you could wack a coax termination on the end of a Sky cable and also get Freeview.

It's just a matter of what telly to for really. Off to trawl the AV forums.

[ClassicMercs]

There is still a lot to be said for personal preference - often determined by what you view / use the TV for.

For me plasma is still best - and that means that at 37inch you will be getting a Panny. A work colleague got one a couple of years ago on my recommendation and loves it - and he's practically a dinosaur.

[LuS1fer]

Samsungs get good reviews and this one is only £422 on Amazon for a 40" set.

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/samsung-le40c580-le...

Full HD and Freeview

Only downside with samsungs is they have lots of HDMI connectors and not much SCART

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003DNSJ5Y/ref=...

[dave_s13]

LuS1fer said:

Samsungs get good reviews and this one is only £422 on Amazon for a 40" set.

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/samsung-le40c580-le...

Full HD and Freeview

Only downside with samsungs is they have lots of HDMI connectors and not much SCART

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003DNSJ5Y/ref=...

Well I ended up getting the "lesser" Le40c530 from Makro for £390. Also got a Freesat HD box.

Looks great in HD, SD is just great but it only ever is really.

I was always of the opinion that LCD was rubbish, especially Samsungs. I've ended up with one in the bedroom and this new one

They are perfectly decent.

Carry on....

[prand]

I'm not sure what you think is a bargain price, but I bought a Sony Bravia 37" freeview LCD HD tv just after Xmas for about £400 with the VAT deal, and it felt like a very good deal at the time. There may well be a newer model out now, so this model might be even cheaper.

I run it with a Freeview standard def Humax PVR and a seperate DVD player. Compared to what it replaces (a 24" widescreen CRT) it's a revelation, but I have found it's not perfect, although I'm perfectly happy with it.

Running through the PVR, the picture on could be better, but I blame that partly on an overcomplex aerial/booster/freeview box setup, but it ties in with some online reviews that say it's not the best. Sitting more than 3 feet away and I don't seem to notice any problems anyway.

On HD programmes it's great, 6 Nations, nature shows and Space/Universe shows with Brian Cox have been brilliant. But I'd say the way that football is filmed & broadcast, shows up an inherent motion blur problem (its not 100hz), which makes you feel a bit seasick - and this becomes apparent in some DVDs too. Luckily I don't mind not watching football! Animated films like Toy Story, Wall-e etc are absolutely faultless.

It has the famous Bravia "buzz" on startup, which a lot of people have reported but it soon fades and as soon as there is any volume on the telly its completely unnoticeable. The TV sound is not fantastic (compared to a seperate hi-fi or surround system), but does the job.

I also find the reponse speed of remote/menus a bit slow. It's worth trying this in a shop on different models before you buy to see if you would be happy waitign a few seconds before a menu screen appears or changes. It's a bit iritating but not life threatening!

A cool feature is the fact you can connect it to the web via an ethernet port and you can get free iplayer, youtube and lots of other content, sopme of which you can pay for. I can see this being used more and more in the future as web based services increase. Using the remote control as a keyboard is a bit of a pain though. You can also use it as a PC/Laptop monitor, watch Internet streamed TV and play films and music direct from a PC.

All in all I feel I got a good price for this TV (there were 32" tvs at Comet checkout at the same time for £299 which amazed me), adn it seems reasoable future proof with a load of connections (4 HDMI) networking ability. Although there are definitely issues with image & menu responsivenes, they never really detracts from the viewing experience, adn for the price I'm more than happy.

Edited by prand on Monday 7th March 12:06