Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


Forums › Home Theatre (incl HTPC) › Big Screen TV - where do you go??


4169 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 574

Trusted

Topic # 7580 25-Apr-2006 21:02
Send private message

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




Previously known as psycik

NextPVR: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix --> Samsung LA46A650D via HDMI, NextPVR,
OpenHAB: ODroid C2 eMMC Drive, OpenHAB with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave and Bluetooth LE Sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4, Roku3, HDHomeRun Dual
Windows 2012 Host (Plex Server/Crashplan): 2x2TB, 2x3TB, 1x4TB using DriveBender, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Hyper-V Server with 1xW10, 1xW2k8, 2xUbuntu 16.04 LTS, Crashplan, NextPVR channel for Plex,NextPVR Metadata Agent and Scanner for Plex

View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2 | 3
676 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

  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




I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

1484 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 147

Subscriber

  Reply # 34064 26-Apr-2006 22:35
Send private message

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!

 
 
 
 




4169 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 574

Trusted

  Reply # 34088 27-Apr-2006 07:56
Send private message

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.




Previously known as psycik

NextPVR: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix --> Samsung LA46A650D via HDMI, NextPVR,
OpenHAB: ODroid C2 eMMC Drive, OpenHAB with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave and Bluetooth LE Sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4, Roku3, HDHomeRun Dual
Windows 2012 Host (Plex Server/Crashplan): 2x2TB, 2x3TB, 1x4TB using DriveBender, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Hyper-V Server with 1xW10, 1xW2k8, 2xUbuntu 16.04 LTS, Crashplan, NextPVR channel for Plex,NextPVR Metadata Agent and Scanner for Plex

1484 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 147

Subscriber

Reply # 34089 27-Apr-2006 08:03
Send private message

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



4169 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 574

Trusted

  Reply # 34091 27-Apr-2006 08:22
Send private message

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.




Previously known as psycik

NextPVR: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix --> Samsung LA46A650D via HDMI, NextPVR,
OpenHAB: ODroid C2 eMMC Drive, OpenHAB with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave and Bluetooth LE Sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4, Roku3, HDHomeRun Dual
Windows 2012 Host (Plex Server/Crashplan): 2x2TB, 2x3TB, 1x4TB using DriveBender, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Hyper-V Server with 1xW10, 1xW2k8, 2xUbuntu 16.04 LTS, Crashplan, NextPVR channel for Plex,NextPVR Metadata Agent and Scanner for Plex

27413 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 6857

Moderator
Trusted
Biddle Corp
Lifetime subscriber

  Reply # 34096 27-Apr-2006 09:02
Send private message

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..

1484 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 147

Subscriber

  Reply # 34113 27-Apr-2006 12:25
Send private message

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!

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

  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.



4169 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 574

Trusted

  Reply # 34130 27-Apr-2006 17:34
Send private message

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.




Previously known as psycik

NextPVR: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix --> Samsung LA46A650D via HDMI, NextPVR,
OpenHAB: ODroid C2 eMMC Drive, OpenHAB with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave and Bluetooth LE Sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4, Roku3, HDHomeRun Dual
Windows 2012 Host (Plex Server/Crashplan): 2x2TB, 2x3TB, 1x4TB using DriveBender, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Hyper-V Server with 1xW10, 1xW2k8, 2xUbuntu 16.04 LTS, Crashplan, NextPVR channel for Plex,NextPVR Metadata Agent and Scanner for Plex

576 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 9


  Reply # 34531 2-May-2006 14:15
Send private message

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.




Working for Service Plus - www.serviceplus.co.nz

Authorised Service Agent for Apple, BenQ, Sony, and Toshiba - warranty & non-warranty repairs.



4169 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 574

Trusted

  Reply # 34548 2-May-2006 17:16
Send private message

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??




Previously known as psycik

NextPVR: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix --> Samsung LA46A650D via HDMI, NextPVR,
OpenHAB: ODroid C2 eMMC Drive, OpenHAB with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave and Bluetooth LE Sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4, Roku3, HDHomeRun Dual
Windows 2012 Host (Plex Server/Crashplan): 2x2TB, 2x3TB, 1x4TB using DriveBender, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Hyper-V Server with 1xW10, 1xW2k8, 2xUbuntu 16.04 LTS, Crashplan, NextPVR channel for Plex,NextPVR Metadata Agent and Scanner for Plex

576 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 9


  Reply # 34559 2-May-2006 18:00
Send private message

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.




Working for Service Plus - www.serviceplus.co.nz

Authorised Service Agent for Apple, BenQ, Sony, and Toshiba - warranty & non-warranty repairs.

8 posts

Wannabe Geek


  Reply # 36641 25-May-2006 23:07
Send private message

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.



4169 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 574

Trusted

  Reply # 36654 26-May-2006 08:14
Send private message

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.




Previously known as psycik

NextPVR: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix --> Samsung LA46A650D via HDMI, NextPVR,
OpenHAB: ODroid C2 eMMC Drive, OpenHAB with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave and Bluetooth LE Sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4, Roku3, HDHomeRun Dual
Windows 2012 Host (Plex Server/Crashplan): 2x2TB, 2x3TB, 1x4TB using DriveBender, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Hyper-V Server with 1xW10, 1xW2k8, 2xUbuntu 16.04 LTS, Crashplan, NextPVR channel for Plex,NextPVR Metadata Agent and Scanner for Plex

676 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

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.

 1 | 2 | 3
View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic



Twitter »

Follow us to receive Twitter updates when new discussions are posted in our forums:



Follow us to receive Twitter updates when news items and blogs are posted in our frontpage:



Follow us to receive Twitter updates when tech item prices are listed in our price comparison site:



Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.


Geekzone Live »

Our community of supporters help make Geekzone possible. Click the button below to join them.

Support Geezone on PressPatron


Updates »

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.

Alternatively, you can receive a daily email with Geekzone updates.