TV help please - totally confused (1 Viewer)

ourcampersbeentrashed

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Hi everyone

Need to get a new tv but as you all know Im pretty useless on the technology side of things.

What is the difference between these

LCD TV
LED TV
Plasma TV

Some TVs come with WIFI what does this mean - what can I do with the TV if I get one with WIFI?

What make

Panasonic? Sony? Samsung?

Totally confused.

Thanks in advance for all your help
 

Pikey Pete

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A cheap and cheerful LCD from Tesco is the way to go.

Pete:Cool:
 

pablomc

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Better way to look at it is what do you wish to use it for.

Will it be you main TV, do you what full HD etc?

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ourcampersbeentrashed

ourcampersbeentrashed

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Better way to look at it is what do you wish to use it for.

Will it be you main TV, do you what full HD etc?

Yes it will be the main TV - dont know much about HD is it needed? likely to be compulsory in the future if so then yes I suppose we need it.
 
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Bought a 16 inch TV from Argos last week for my mother-in-law, £99.99, fantastic picture. It was branded ALBA but available only in Argos. Easy to set up as well.

Rgds
Bill

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Terry

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Hi Gail you do not say what size ? LCD are good up to 42/46 ins after that start looking at plasma.There are some good deals around up to 42 ins from tesco,morry's and asda.all with 1080 P ( bigger P better pic ) ie 720 x 1080 will not be as good as 1080 x 1920 p but ask yourself if you need it. Most will come HD ready - 1080 p and fereeview :thumb: also some with DVD built in - it all depends on how much you want to pay. Better brands will cost quite a bit more say 350 for a 42 inch supermarket one as to 550 / 600 for a Sony one.better brands are IMO Sony,Panasonic, Mitsubishi - best thing to do is go into curry's etc where you can see the picture then decide which you like and search on the net.My mate repairs tvs etc and says to bite the bullet ( if paying expensive ) and pay for extra g/tee as the parts are very expensive -- he never tells me to get extended g/tee on anything except big tv's :ROFLMAO: Me I always take the cheaper Tesco ,Morrys option :ROFLMAO:::bigsmile:

terry
 

pablomc

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OK since you are mentioning plasma TVs I am assuming its your main TV for your home.

Really depends what you want from it, but plasma TVs tend to be the best (better at showing dark and light colours), however LCDs are getting better all of the time. It is a while since I looked at the latest models, but Panasonic where generally seen as the best for plasma although I think other manufacturers have caught them up.

Unless you are going for bigger than 42inch I would discount Plasma (great TVs but unless you had a plasma and LCD/ LED side by side you probably would not notice the difference. Plasma's tend to also have a better viewing angle), LCD TVs rely on a back light to enable the picture where as LEDs (newer to the market and very thin) don't.

Things I would look for is freeview with HD capability unless of course you have satellite then that might not be a major need. For full HD the TV will need to be 1080. 720 is a lesser version, sometimes referred to as HD compatible.

Wifi enabled is to allow the streaming of tv and video from the net say iplayer or just to say watch a movie you may have stored on your computer.

So if you are not too worried about the latest (3D for example) and greatest and are on a budget, you are probably better off with a decent quality LCD TV with HD freeview and 1080 HD. There is very little in the top branded LCD TVs these days, so it would down to personal choice and budget.

Hope that helps.
 

wivvy's dad

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Buy from John lewis. A bit more expensive, but you have the safety of their wonderful 3 - or is it 5 - year fully inclusive warranty.

We have a Samsung HD, and very good it is too.

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gozomike

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A medium priced LCD (liquid crystal display) is probably the best option.
As has been said Plasma are generally best for the big screens but do tend to use a lot more power.
However much you pay the programs are still not worth watching :RollEyes:
 
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ourcampersbeentrashed

ourcampersbeentrashed

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Thanks everyone this has been helpful and informative.

We are looking at a 32 inch - our lounge is not large and our old tv was a 28 inch and did us well.

I am sure things were simpler when I was younger.
 
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Hi Gail,

We have just bought a 37" Panasonic LCD TV with freeview and find it just right. Not too big, crisp picture, and vivid colours. I think it's super.

LED is light emitting diode, LCD is liquid chrystal display, and Plasma is similar to gas. That's about as much as l can tell you.

Craig

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scotjimland

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Buy from John lewis. A bit more expensive, but you have the safety of their wonderful 3 - or is it 5 - year fully inclusive warranty.

We have a Samsung HD, and very good it is too.

I'm looking to buy a 32" shortly and as said, John Lewis gives a FIVE year warranty .. now that is worth a few extra quid .. looking elsewhere it was little different in price ..

this model Link Removed
 
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ourcampersbeentrashed

ourcampersbeentrashed

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That's what I was hoping / waiting for .. but any saving may be lost by the VAT increase :Sad:

We have a few days before the VAT increase comes in and most sales start boxing day, although for John Lewis and Harrods, the queueing usually starts on Christmas day (sometime earlier)

not sure about a purple TV though nearly missed that important bit of data hahaha
 

Terry

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Hi Jim I have one of those in my bedroom and it is a very good picture :thumb: The only thing my wife ( not me :ROFLMAO: ) faults it on is when mute is pressed it blocks out some of the scrolling info on sky :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:::bigsmile: Cracking TV and with a 5 yr g/tee cracking price :thumb::winky: - I paid more than that about 7 mths ago without the g/tee
terry
 

IrasciBill

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Unless you are going for bigger than 42inch I would discount Plasma (great TVs but unless you had a plasma and LCD/ LED side by side you probably would not notice the difference. Plasma's tend to also have a better viewing angle), LCD TVs rely on a back light to enable the picture where as LEDs (newer to the market and very thin) don't.

Not strictly correct. LED TVs also use an LCD display . Difference is that LCD TV uses (normally a single) fluorescent light as backlight whereas LED TV uses multiple LEDs on 1, 2 or 4 edges as backlights. With the LCD setup, all parts of the screen get the same backlight but with LEDs the backlighting for the dark areas can be switched off to produce a better black.
Best thing to do is go into a large retail showroom and see how the sets compare with each other.
Hope this helps.

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pablomc

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Not strictly correct. LED TVs also use an LCD display . Difference is that LCD TV uses (normally a single) fluorescent light as backlight whereas LED TV uses multiple LEDs on 1, 2 or 4 edges as backlights. With the LCD setup, all parts of the screen get the same backlight but with LEDs the backlighting for the dark areas can be switched off to produce a better black.
Best thing to do is go into a large retail showroom and see how the sets compare with each other.
Hope this helps.

Yip fair comment and very correct. Thanks for clarifying for the OP. :thumb:

Edited the paragraph after posting as I had not finished it and did not read it back fully. :Doh:
 

barryd

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Is it just me are all these HD, Plasma, LED flatty tellys a con?

Ive yet to see one thats a better picture than the old glass front TV's (Cathode ray tube is it?).

Our house is really old and Mrs D wont have a modern flat screen job in the house as she thinks it will look out of place. Last year the telly in the back lounge blew up after years and years of service. I got a 24" traditional black (it has to be black) TV with glass screen that was like new of Ebay locally for...........£2.50. Still going strong and looks fine to me.
 
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Check out the s ound quality, many sets have the speakers underneath or at the back which does detract from the quality. We have two 32inchers, a Sony and a new LED Samsung. The Sony has the speakers along the bottom of the TV front facing into the roomand the sound quality is noticeably better than the newer Samsung which are underneath and seem to face rearwards. I'm actually toying with buying external speakers for it.

I have just purchased a 22" Technica for the cabin onboard my ship and am very impressed with the quality of it, (one of my colleagues tells me they are made by Hitachi?? don't know how true that is!) This set has the speakers underneath just behind the decorative front panel and they face downwards.

Just a thought

Stewart:Smile:

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scotjimland

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Is it just me are all these HD, Plasma, LED flatty tellys a con?

Ive yet to see one thats a better picture than the old glass front TV's (Cathode ray tube is it?).

Our house is really old and Mrs D wont have a modern flat screen job in the house as she thinks it will look out of place. Last year the telly in the back lounge blew up after years and years of service. I got a 24" traditional black (it has to be black) TV with glass screen that was like new of Ebay locally for...........£2.50. Still going strong and looks fine to me.

We have a 34" Panasonic CRT .. fabulous picture, great sound .. bought from a charity shop for £40 .. can't fault it..
Had it a year and to be frank wouldn't change it but we need more floor space .. it takes up the space of a large armchair :roflmto:
It will be a shame to scrap it but no one wants them :Sad:


Terry
Thanks for the review .. :thumb:
 

pappajohn

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love the comparison tv for HD in currys.:Doh:

split screen showing tne same video picture in standard and HD quality.

the standard pic is slightly blurred to make the HD look so much better.

do they really think we could be fooled by that little stunt ? :roflmto:

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barryd

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We have a 34" Panasonic CRT .. fabulous picture, great sound .. bought from a charity shop for £40 .. can't fault it..
Had it a year and to be frank wouldn't change it but we need more floor space .. it takes up the space of a large armchair :roflmto:
It will be a shame to scrap it but no one wants them :Sad:


Terry
Thanks for the review .. :thumb:

Pitty you dont live near Yorkshire / Co. Durham!
 

brodie

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We bought a new TV last year and after deciding on a Plasma we then changed our mind and went for an LCD.

The LCD picture was alot better quality in a 42inch than the Plasma. I would also recommend looking at the contrast ratio too as this makes a difference to the picture qaulity, some are say 250,000 to 1 and others are as much as 1,000,000 to 1.

The best thing we did was Google TV terms to find out what it all means before you go into the shop then you have a vague idea what they are talking about.

The sound quality is good too, (we have an LG) but we do have a separate Bose speaker system which is connected to the TV. I would be happy though if we didn't as the sound is impressive with TV speakers alone.

My sister has a Plasma, a Panasonic 42 inch and the picture is starting to suffer as it is on quite alot they do tend to wear out quite quickly thats another reason why we went for the LCD.

Hope this helps :thumb:
 

pablomc

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I have a 7 year Panasonic plasma and it is still going strong. LCDs do last longer though.

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IrasciBill

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Yip fair comment and very correct. Thanks for clarifying for the OP. :thumb:

Edited the paragraph after posting as I had not finished it and did not read it back fully. :Doh:
Sorry if I picked you up before you actually fell over :Smile::Smile:

Is it just me are all these HD, Plasma, LED flatty tellys a con?

Ive yet to see one thats a better picture than the old glass front TV's (Cathode ray tube is it?).

.

In a way, yes. A flat screen TV, whether Plasma, LCD or LED has a fixed maximum resolution (just like your computer monitor) and will reprocess the image to fit. A CRT screen is much more versatile and will often (especially in the smaller sizes) produce a better picture. Many of the CRT portables have far better looking pictures than the flat screens. With the bigger screens CRT is more of a problem because the screen needs to be curved.
Anyway, as an earlier contributor said "doesn't matter what type of TV the programmes are still cr@p" :Smile:
 

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