Big Screen TV - where do you go??

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davidcole

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Topic # 7580 25-Apr-2006 21:02

Hi

In this world of the internet, we do we go look look for prices, reviews and "real world" comparisons of LCD and plasma tvs??

I starting to think about which one to look at, and have no idea where to go for reviews and comparisons.

Any one know? Prefer to look at the NZ market only, and maybe Oz since they should have mostly the same models as us.

Cheers

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Reply # 34054 26-Apr-2006 21:51

Google: put "Plasma versus LCD" and look at the results

or

subscribe to www.consumer.org and see their test results

or buy

Tone magazine

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timbosan

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Reply # 34064 26-Apr-2006 22:35

Personally, I would go to somewhere like Stereo World, Paul Money or Smiths Sound (bit more high end) and trust my own eyes and money and be able to do side by side comparisons. Especially when talking this much money!

But, there is at least one good NZ based site, audioenz.co.nz. And it is free!

Otherwise, like Aloha said, buy Tone or FFWD, both carry decent reviews and don't aim at the top of the market like a lot of the overseas magazines do.

Good luck!

davidcole

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Reply # 34088 27-Apr-2006 07:56

Cheers

It was more to just narrow down some of the choices. The stock standard shops only carry the same stuff (Noel Leemings, Harvey Normans etc) and their salespeople aren't great. There's just so many models around and most of the sites around the internet now are price comparisons only.

Thanks for that.

timbosan

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Reply # 34089 27-Apr-2006 08:03

All too true my friend. Harvey norman et al are great places to go is you want to see a Vista of TV's, but it is not my scene. Personally I prefer a bit of style to my TV, hence I brought a Loewe a few years back, great looking and fantastic picture (it is a CRT based set). I got it from Shore HiFi, and Smiths Sound do them as well.

The Sony Shop is good, but of course only one brand ;-) but they don't work off a comission so you don't get 10 salesmen a minute asking if they can help you!

The website situation is getting poorer. Looking around for reviews of a product, especially a new one, I recon 90% of the results in google are shops. Another site I remember is audioreview.com, it is not NZ based but has user reviews and they come from all over the place, which is good. Amazon is another good one for user reviews, but unfortuatly overseas models and TV etc don't match up to the models here, making comparisons hard.

Let us know what you end of getting, or where you end up looking

davidcole

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Reply # 34091 27-Apr-2006 08:22

At the moment I'm quite keen in the Acer 3705-DTV - http://global.acer.com/products/lcd_tv/at3705-DTV.htm. This one has a media Centre version as well (MGW version) with memory cards readers and native Divx, MPEG viewing from a server machine....but I built an HTPC machine so don't need that.

Just want to find out where I can physically see one. I've seen the 32" at Dick Smiths and it looks quite nice. But htye don't stock the 37". Have to see if Harvey Normans stock them, failing that I should be off to Oz in June and have read the David Jones has them.

sbiddle

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Reply # 34096 27-Apr-2006 09:02

One thing to do before buying any big screen TV - get the store to show you the picture using terrestrial or sky tv if that if your normal viewing source. Many stores have their Plasmas and LCD's hooked up to a HDTV CATV box which is delivering a perfect HD picture to all the screens. There are significant differences between Plasmas and LCD's hooked up to a regular aerial or Sky TV, some offer good picture quality and some are just shocking on a poor signal.

If a store won't show you then go elsewhere, they obviously don't want your money..

timbosan

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Reply # 34113 27-Apr-2006 12:25

This is espesially true of the Sony Store in Newmarket. All there plasma/LCD sets are fed from a HDTV source. But hey, they sure look GREAT!

Aloha

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Reply # 34127 27-Apr-2006 17:00

davidcole: Cheers
It was more to just narrow down some of the choices. The stock standard shops only carry the same stuff (Noel Leemings, Harvey Normans etc) and their salespeople aren't great. There's just so many models around and most of the sites around the internet now are price comparisons only.
Thanks for that.

I have to disagree with this.
Go to Harvey Norman in Wairau Park and ask for Patrick or Bernhard. They will be very happy to help you, they know a lot about their stock and their specifications and they will help you to get a better price. And their tv's connected to Sky so you can compare them watching a rugby game from Sky Sports 1, which will give you better understanding of their quality for example.

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

davidcole

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Reply # 34130 27-Apr-2006 17:34

Aloha:
davidcole: Cheers
It was more to just narrow down some of the choices. The stock standard shops only carry the same stuff (Noel Leemings, Harvey Normans etc) and their salespeople aren't great. There's just so many models around and most of the sites around the internet now are price comparisons only.
Thanks for that.

I have to disagree with this.
Go to Harvey Norman in Wairau Park and ask for Patrick or Bernhard. They will be very happy to help you, they know a lot about their stock and their specifications and they will help you to get a better price. And their tv's connected to Sky so you can compare them watching a rugby game from Sky Sports 1, which will give you better understanding of their quality for example.

That was a sweeping generalisation I made, and while I have a quite a few salespeople fall into that category, I will admit there are some good ones...and I would take your advice, but I'm in Wellington.

jpwise

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Reply # 34531 2-May-2006 14:15

davidcole: At the moment I'm quite keen in the Acer 3705-DTV - http://global.acer.com/products/lcd_tv/at3705-DTV.htm. This one has a media Centre version as well (MGW version) with memory cards readers and native Divx, MPEG viewing from a server machine....but I built an HTPC machine so don't need that.

Just want to find out where I can physically see one. I've seen the 32" at Dick Smiths and it looks quite nice. But htye don't stock the 37". Have to see if Harvey Normans stock them, failing that I should be off to Oz in June and have read the David Jones has them.

Muahahhaa! Just got one. : ) Got it without the Media Gateway option though as I'll eventually put together a MediaCentre box which will be a bit more flexible especially with the more exotic codecs and container formats - OGM's, MKV's, etc.

TV looks great. Signal quality personally I'm still a bit undecided on, that was one of the reasons I jumped into this section of the forums to see if there was much more info on getting a better signal out of the sky box. Right now I've got it going from SCART on the skybox (can't remember which model it is), to RCA plugging into the back of a SCART converter plugged into the tele.

One thing I will say about this model. It has inputs galore. Analog Tuner, Digital Tuner, about 4 AV inputs, and about 4 SCART inputs. Plus the DVI/VGA input for PC. : )

Jp.

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davidcole

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Reply # 34548 2-May-2006 17:16

jpwise:
davidcole: At the moment I'm quite keen in the Acer 3705-DTV - http://global.acer.com/products/lcd_tv/at3705-DTV.htm. This one has a media Centre version as well (MGW version) with memory cards readers and native Divx, MPEG viewing from a server machine....but I built an HTPC machine so don't need that.

Just want to find out where I can physically see one. I've seen the 32" at Dick Smiths and it looks quite nice. But htye don't stock the 37". Have to see if Harvey Normans stock them, failing that I should be off to Oz in June and have read the David Jones has them.

Muahahhaa! Just got one. : ) Got it without the Media Gateway option though as I'll eventually put together a MediaCentre box which will be a bit more flexible especially with the more exotic codecs and container formats - OGM's, MKV's, etc.

TV looks great. Signal quality personally I'm still a bit undecided on, that was one of the reasons I jumped into this section of the forums to see if there was much more info on getting a better signal out of the sky box. Right now I've got it going from SCART on the skybox (can't remember which model it is), to RCA plugging into the back of a SCART converter plugged into the tele.

One thing I will say about this model. It has inputs galore. Analog Tuner, Digital Tuner, about 4 AV inputs, and about 4 SCART inputs. Plus the DVI/VGA input for PC. : )

Jp.

Yeah I like the range of inputs and price as well. Looked at the sony today, and it was about $1k more expensive and didn't have dvi, or hdmi???

Did you buy sight unseen, or did you manager to find a store selling them?? If so where??

jpwise

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Reply # 34559 2-May-2006 18:00

Sight unseen. Based on what I found on the net.

Also because of what I do for work I was able to buy it at Dealer pricing. So yeah. Ordered it Wednesday last week, and it showed up yesterday mid-morning. Got it at home and flatmates are already drooling over it. :-)

Jp.

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slinkytrips

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Reply # 36641 25-May-2006 23:07

when companies like Sony drop plasma you can see that the market for them has dropped out, the fact is they are too expensive to make. Any big screen TV is a big investment so make sure you are futureproofed, most screens at the moment say HDTV ready but they are not true HD resolution (1920x1080p) so dont waste your time getting anything that is not that. Yes there are not too many true HD tvs out there yet but there is no point watching HD if you dont get all the resolution.
Check out the Philips 37PF9830, 37" true HD LCD and 6ms response and even a cheesey motorised stand.

davidcole

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Reply # 36654 26-May-2006 08:14

slinkytrips - yes things had moved on since this thread, and I've looked into things a lot more.

I came to the same conclusion, I'm not buying a new TV until LCDs or Plasmas with native 1920 x 1080 resolution, support for 1080p, and possibly 2 or 3 HDMI/DVI connections. This seems to be where things are heading but they're not quite there yet.

I had seen the Philips 42PF9966 (HD PLasma) and was quite impressed. I hadn't seem any of the philps HD LCDs so will have to look out for that one you metnioned.

Aloha

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Reply # 36698 26-May-2006 12:28

With this kind of opinion you should stop buying any electronic equipment ever.. They will all develop and evolve to higher level as the time goes by.

Who knows when real HD broadcasting will start here? Maybe in 2011? Or later?
Too far.
That's why I am going to buy a plasma this weekend. At least I can already enjoy the World Cup in big.. :)

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

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