You need to try harder on the VT30 price me thinks... It's simply a much better TV than the Samsung 6600 series - they torchlight like it's going out of fashion, the motion doesn't compare and the sound is just sub-par unless you're mating it with a home theatre system. To me, it's a prime example of aesthetic design coupled with tacked on 'smart features'... No wonder they have to give away a tablet with the TV to sell the thing!
So the final question, samsung 6000 or 6600? The panasonic equivalent would be the ST30 and sony's equivalent would be EX720, right? The VT is way above my budget, unfortunately. The ST30 and the EX720 is on special at $1599. Just check the price around again and samsung 6000 is selling at $1279 and the 6600 at $1839. On a side note the VT30 is on special at $2639.
I had the opportunity to see these models in the weekend. I was very unimpressed with the 6000 I saw, I guess it had lost the panel lottery. The 6600 and EX720 were similar with the EX720 being very slightly better on the day. I felt the ST30 gave superior realism to the extent that addressing the defaults on the 6600 and EX720 wouldn't be enough to make them catch up in that area.
Sony and Samsung both use marketing metrics of their own which are confused with the real panel Hz. I think the 6600 and EX720 are both really 100Hz panels and not 400 or 200 as they are being made out to be. As Samsung says the 6000 is "200" I guess that means it might be 50Hz?
Also how is the panasonic LED D series? It is panasonic's top LED model but I never heard of anyone putting panasonic and LED on the same sentence.
Panasonic has focused on plasma televisions and are also-rans with in the LCD market.
It looks like the original poster is done with this thread so I'll post here rather than open another 40" thread.
My flatmate moves out this weekend and with him goes the TV so I am looking for a replacement in fairly short order - don't want to miss any RWC action :).
Budget is $800-$1200 but I'm willing to stretch if it is worth it. 40" seems about right. I'm not really interested in smart or 3D functionality and I'm not really swayed by power consumption, weight or thinness. I want Full HD with a freeview decoder and the best panel/picture I can get at this pricepoint. I don't have a preference between plasma or LED but I suspect in my price range the LED TVs will be fairly low end so plasmas probably the go.
I'll head out and look at TVs tomorrow but preliminary suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.
I bought a Sony 40" led EX520 for $1099 last week, quite happy with it. Equivalent Samsung's do look nicer but cost slightly more. The non led back-lit Sony 40" CX520 is about $850 but otherwise has the same features as the led. Have a look at the Samsung UA40D 5000/6000 or 6003 as well depending on your budget.
If you're into sport, grab a 100Hz LCD / LED TV or a full HD Plasma. TV's that come to mind are... The Panasonic U series 42" plasma. The 6003 series 40" Samsung LED. Sony KDL40EX500 LCD.
My pick... the Panasonic 42" U series, but if you can, the 42ST. It's a NeoPlasma and will offer a better picture all around - but it will cost around 1.8k.
I had a chance to check most of them out today. It was pretty hard to get a good feel because the demo feed was so poor quality. The 42ST was very nice but its out of my price range, I also liked both the U30Z ($988) and the 6003 ($1199). The colours popped more on the 6003 and the U30Z had more of a cinematic feel, no surprises there and I don't really have a preference. I couldn't get a feel for the clarity of fast moving pictures - all of the TV's looked crap so I'm guessing/hoping it was a result of the poor demo feed. Can't find a detailed spec sheet for the 6003 (It's not even listed on the samsung website) so its hard to tell what you're getting for the extra $200.
The store didn't have the EX500 or the EX520 so I will have to hunt them down before I make my final decision. Out of interest what is the difference between these two? The EX520 looks like a product refresh with a few more features but the EX500 is more expensive. Am I missing something?
My advice is to buy a TV that is a good TV (stunning picture and good range of inputs), and forget about the rest.
By forget about the rest, I mean:
1. Don't base your decision on the range of video formats it will play (which you say matters). Leemings has the WD Live for $149, and there are other media players available that are comparable, I almost guarantee it will have a wider compatibility, upgradeability, networkability and storage options than anything built into the TV. Plus, if a new format comes along, you can always swap the media player out if it can't be upgraded. It would be silly to compromise on TV quality because of an inbuild video player.
2. Don't base your decision on sound quality. TV sound seems to range from the barely adequate to the bloody awful, especially if you watch music on the set (DVD/Blu Ray). Even a cheapish brand name home theatre in a box will outperform the sound on most TVs I have seen. Silly to compromise picture quality over sound.
As for inputs, they are critical. You will likely want to plug more stuff in in future than you have now (media player, sky, playstation, xbox, Wii, VCR, HTPC, Freeview PVR, video camera or whatever), and switch boxes can be a pain. Look for a Minimum of 3 HDMI, and at least one component, and at least 2 AV as inputs. More is better!
The EX500 is a 2010 TV carried on into 2011 apparently. Either because it was so popular, or because Samsung discontinued their 100Hz LCD range (6 series) - leaving that area of the market to Sony for the most part. The EX520 is a 50Hz LED lit LCD. Pretty much their bottom of the line effort. Both have cheap panels up front, leading to pretty poor colour performance / off axis-viewing. Neither would be my pick.
I bought the Samsung D6003 yesterday and am really pleased with it (upgrade from a 32" Samsung A550), got it for $1150 from Bond and Bond after quite a bit of haggling as apparently at $1199 it's already below their staff price).
Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly
to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.
