LCD, LED Plasma - which is best

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#337316 2-Jun-2010 12:00

clevedon:
lissie: We are shopping for a new TV - the old CRT with crap reception has got to go. I want freeview with HD recorder no question. We are moving too - hopefully to a townhouse so a 32" TV will be fine and wouldn't pay more than a $1000 for a TV

What size CRT are you replacing? A CRT screen size is around 2 inches smaller than the equivalent quoted diagonal size of a flat panel TV.
To get the full benefit of a HD TV broadcast your viewing distance for a 32" flat panel TV is around seven feet away.
I reckon a 42" would be mininum personally.

The CRT is 22" across or 26" on the diagonal - so I thought 32" was about equivalent for awidescreen thin screen. 7' - that's a worry - we are moving to a smaller place - I'd say we'd more likely be 5' away from the TV

I help authors publish their books - DIYPublishing.co.nz

clevedon

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#337320 2-Jun-2010 12:08

lissie: The CRT is 22" across or 26" on the diagonal - so I thought 32" was about equivalent for awidescreen thin screen. 7' - that's a worry - we are moving to a smaller place - I'd say we'd more likely be 5' away from the TV

No, it will be alright at five feet. Must be a small place!

cgrew

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#337324 2-Jun-2010 12:14

Jaxson:
cgrew: I'm just not confident 3D TVs will take off in today's market
Technology is only going in one direction. 3D will drop in price and then everyone will get that one when they purchase a new TV. There is very little content now, but it is coming, just check out what 3D films are out now or in production.

Re Plasma disappearing. Plasma has a lot of unpopular attributes, like weight and power consumption. However it has hung in there, primarily with those who value picture quality (ie how it performs) over how it looks cosmetically (ie how thin it is etc). Panasonic has released this technology in 3D so I don't see it being dropped right away, though who knows future wise as other technologies improve.

It will be interesting to see how slow or fast the prices drop on the new 3D TVs - In my opinion 3D is in it's prime at the movies but I'm not too sure how well it is going to do in the lounge.

lissie

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#337326 2-Jun-2010 12:18

oops - feet meter confusion - its not that small 3m away I'd say. I have looked at a lot of houses the last few days and I am amazed at the huge size of TVs that many people seem happy to have dominate their living rooms! 42" seems the most common even in really small areas.

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Kiwi1971

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#337332 2-Jun-2010 12:28

lissie: oops - feet meter confusion - its not that small 3m away I'd say. I have looked at a lot of houses the last few days and I am amazed at the huge size of TVs that many people seem happy to have dominate their living rooms! 42" seems the most common even in really small areas.

The longer you live with it, the smaller it seems.
I have a 43" plasma that I once had in a bedroom in the UK before I shipped it out here. When it was new it seemed huge but after a few months I was wishing I had bought the 50"

If the picture is good, the size doesn't matter so much. You just don't want a huge screen with a poor picture, because you will notice it and if you are anything like me, it will annoy you.

DLS

clevedon

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#337336 2-Jun-2010 12:37

lissie: oops - feet meter confusion - its not that small 3m away I'd say. I have looked at a lot of houses the last few days and I am amazed at the huge size of TVs that many people seem happy to have dominate their living rooms! 42" seems the most common even in really small areas.

http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.png
http://wwwthx.com/consumer/home-entertainment/home-theatre/hdtv-set-up/

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Jaxson

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#337346 2-Jun-2010 13:08

In my humble opinion, get the biggest you can afford

.
Seriously, within a month it will just be your TV.
The only thing that ever consistantly made me go wow was a 110" projector, which is like 4 50" TV's joined really.

3D will take off, but it's not worth it now if you're just after a small TV.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/3766375/Sport-porn-to-lure-French-to-3D-TV

Oh yeah, (all the comments here are spot on too), at 32" it doesn't really matter if you go HD ready or Full HD at most normal viewing distances, but once you go past say 42" I'd seriously be pushing for full HD, (especially if you're in a freeview HD area or have a bluray player, or will in the future.)

GBristow

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#337359 2-Jun-2010 13:32

Kiwi1971: I have a Pioneer Plasma

As I said, those Pioneers are basically the best television money could buy. My comparison was between the plasmas (all Panasonic) and LCDs my friends and I have owned.

minimoke

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#337360 2-Jun-2010 13:44

lissie: oops - feet meter confusion - its not that small 3m away I'd say. I have looked at a lot of houses the last few days and I am amazed at the huge size of TVs that many people seem happy to have dominate their living rooms! 42" seems the most common even in really small areas.

OK, 3 metres is 118 inches. Using the Lechner optimal Viewing distance chart you should be looking at a 50 or 51 inch 720p TV. Don't bother with the 1080 because you are sitting too far away to appreciate the fine picture. For example if you could settle for a 42" your optimal sitting distance is a mere 66 inches or 1.7m away.

Your closest bet might now be something like a LG 50" HD Ready at Noel Leeming for $1799 - wait for their next 20% off sale and you're close to your $1,000 budget. Don't worry about the "TV Dominating the Room" business - after a while it wont and you'll get to sit back and enjoy TV's and movies rather than squinting at that teeny 32 inches and rueing the day you should have gone larger when you could have!.

robjg63

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#337364 2-Jun-2010 13:46

lissie: oops - feet meter confusion - its not that small 3m away I'd say. I have looked at a lot of houses the last few days and I am amazed at the huge size of TVs that many people seem happy to have dominate their living rooms! 42" seems the most common even in really small areas.

A living room is generally the TV/Movie room for most people there days so they want the best experience they can get - and thats why they have a large display.

I'm a +1 for the biggest screen you can get school of though.

We have quite a small lounge and I went and got a 50" plasma (yep +1 for plasma) and when I set it up I was all "What have I done - its massive!". By the next night my wife said "thats just the right size" - and a couple of nights later she said "65" probably would have been too big, but....."

When they are switched off they tend to look large (and black) - you have to imagine that you are absorbed watching your favourite program in all its HD glory - it will look great and you arent looking at the TV so much as the picture. Hope that makes sense.

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robbyp

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#337368 2-Jun-2010 14:03

lissie: Wow guys thanks for all the replies - both the Sony and Samsung seem like options for me - time to go and annoy some salesmen!

SOny rate way higher than Samsung for reliability. Samsung don't rate well at all in Consumer for reliability.

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minimoke

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#337371 2-Jun-2010 14:05

I'm a +1 for the biggest screen you can get school of though.

I'll bet, on the grave of my grandmother Lissie will be having one of two thoughts one month after she moves in.

If she gets a 32 inch she'll be saying "Oh I wish I had got that bigger TV"

Or if she does get a big TV she'll be thinking "Oh those kind folks at Geekzone were right - its not so big after all"

Nety

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#337373 2-Jun-2010 14:07

minimoke:

OK, 3 metres is 118 inches. Using the Lechner optimal Viewing distance chart you should be looking at a 50 or 51 inch 720p TV. Don't bother with the 1080 because you are sitting too far away to appreciate the fine picture. For example if you could settle for a 42" your optimal sitting distance is a mere 66 inches or 1.7m away.

IMHO I used to believe those charts for suggestions on 720p or 1080p but experience has shown me that 1080p is almost always worth while.
We have a 46" 1080p TV that we sit around 13 feet away from and I can VERY clearly see increased detail compared to the old 42" 720p TV that we used to have using a blu-ray source. I know our eyes are not supposed to be able to see the extra detail at that distance but my eyes tell me otherwise.

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lissie

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#337375 2-Jun-2010 14:10

Interesting guys - I don't find the current TV small at all - in fact its quite good on TV3 - unfortunately the reception on the other channel is bad to worse - hence the need for freeview. I'd like the thin screen to take up LESS space than the CRT - not more LOL.

3D left me cold when watching avatar at the movies - I wear glasses and wearing more glasses over the top is way uncomfortable - and as a women I generally do something else like reading when watching TV - as I think most people do - and that won't work with those glasses - so not going there ever.

My removal guy put me off plasma saying they are extremely heavy and fragile to move - have to go in their original box etc - they consider LEDs the easiest TVs to move.

I help authors publish their books - DIYPublishing.co.nz

lissie

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#337380 2-Jun-2010 14:19

minimoke:

I'm a +1 for the biggest screen you can get school of though.

I'll bet, on the grave of my grandmother Lissie will be having one of two thoughts one month after she moves in.

If she gets a 32 inch she'll be saying "Oh I wish I had got that bigger TV"

Or if she does get a big TV she'll be thinking "Oh those kind folks at Geekzone were right - its not so big after all"

LOL I am tending to buying from LVMartins because they have a try at home policy which allows you to return the TV for a more expensive one if you want to!

I help authors publish their books - DIYPublishing.co.nz

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