Recommend me a T.V..

[SS004]

Lo All

Looking into buying a new T.V can some peeps post up what they would recommend pls...

I don't want one of those great big *******s, you know the 5 ft mofo's.

I have a budget of around £1500-£1700 but if the right thing catches my eye, will pay more :naughty:

Ta in advance.

SS

[[HB]RugRat]

the 36" Sony Wega is nice (and BIIIG) - with this DRC thing they're said to have reclaimed the "best quality" title for sub £3000 sets from Panasonic. However with a £2500 SRP as opposed to £1700 for the Panasonic equivalent its pretty expensive.

I've been looking to buy a TV too and im probably going to settle on the 32" Panasonic Tau thingummybob (the pro-logic version) for about £1300. The little old fella who fixes my ancient TV when it blows up also tells me that the switches Sony use are quite unreliable.

I'm told that the Philips sets are good too - personally i wouldn't touch anything philips with a barge pole (everything, *everything* i've ever owned made by them has broken down shortly after its warranty ran out)

[Snwbdr]

Get a Toshiba 40WHO8B. I bought a Sony KP41DS1 and swapped it for the Tosh after a month as I thought the Sony was rubbish (smearing, moire patterns on DVD). The Tosh is fantastic, with my DVD connected via component input the results are staggering. Price is about £1800 and is worth every penny, though only fault I have seen so far is that is doesn't hold black level very well, but if you set black level on a scene with an average picture level then this doesn't present many problems. Stay well clear of the Sony flat tube sets, geometry is awful, I have the 28FX60 upstairs.

I find the 40" Tosh is big enough to get that 'movie' feeling while the shallow depth of the set (RPTV) stops it from ruling the lounge - seriously improves the wife acceptance factor. Calibrate the set with VE or Avia, or better yet, buy from Pounds and get them to ISF calibrate it to 6500K like I did. Awesome.

[Psychic Cookie]

Hi SS

When I first read your post my immediate thought was what Snwbdr said above.

I saw one of these for about £1600 somewhere - can't remember where though but I'll try to find out. Must admit I was pretty tempted too.

Whatever you do though don't bid for one here (http://www.dabsxchange.com/Scripts/ListingInfo.asp?LotNo=11080361)!!!!!

I can't believe how much these people are gonna pay. They must be mad or very missinformed.

Incidently Spooksta has got the Sony 41" rear projection (I guess it's the same model mentioned above) and he swears by it (and knows alot about this stuff) so I'll try to gt him in here for his thoughts so don't purchase just yet.

Incidently I saw a 51" Sony rear projection in the local Sony Centre a few weeks ago for £2999. Ok, I know you ain't looking to spend that much by my god what an awesome piece of gear that was!!!

[[kray]Spooksta]

The Tosh is better Cookie,but the Sony isnt Rubbish lol
All the mags gave good reviews of the Tosh and Sony models mentioned.But at the Bennets Show near us Cookie,i saw the loads of RP TVs and the best ones there were the Tosh (but i saw the bigger one 50inch i think)and scenium.If i was SS004 id go for the Tosh or if ya want a slightly bigger screen get the Thompson Scenium 44inch RP
Its £1999 but ive got the price down to £1800 from a local dealer.Its had good reviews and is the cheapest 44inches you can get.
Ive had RP tvs for 5 years now,3 in all,and they get better and better.Probably why the probs with the Sony dont bother me.I did have the Pany TX47 but it was just,only just :( to big for my room.It also had a bad picture so i swapped it for the Sony.Next year im going to get a 43/44 RP tv cos thats the perfect size for my 11x11 room.Check it out here http://www.treky99.freeserve.co.uk/Films/TopFilms.htm

Cookie,i recon you should come over mine for some beer and a closer look at my setup.If ya got the bug for getting into homecinema more,then it will give you an idea of what youll be getting yaself into.
I never knew this forum was here :)
Ill Be Back :)


[Edited by [kray]Spooksta on 21-01-2001 at 05:22 PM]

[Snwbdr]

Oooops! Sorry guys, didn't mean to have a go at any Sony owners (I have a lot of Sony kit), I was just really disappointed with the 41DS1! Any owners of the set should complain to Sony that they aren't happy with the S-Video DVD playback, because as I mentioned, Sony told me there was a mod to improve matters and remove moire 'dot crawl' on heavily saturated colour fields.

If the Tosh 40" isn't big enough, there are 46" and 56" models which use the same chassis. Might be worth considering as you can get the 46" for £1800 now that stocks are plentiful. As I mentioned, I had my set calibrated with a colour analyser to achieve 6500K (or as close as possible), but the guy calibrating the set said that he had never seen such innacurate colour calibration 'out of the box' (24000K at the high end of the IRE scale). For this reason you should try before you buy, as I'm not sure what this would look like compared to my set. This is most important if you will be using component connections as the colour reproduction seems much more saturated.

[Ruskins]

How about a 36" Philips?? they go for about £1600 and ive got one and its class. :)

[SS004]

Lo

Cheers fellas...

I was edging towards a Sony, but think I might just plump for that Toshiba one now.

I own a Tosh atm and it's been trouble free for 5+ years.

Just gotta persuade the mrs that a 40 inch TV is just what we need :)

Cheers

SS

[Brocken]

I got a 28" Matsui telly the other day... really nice picture and sound...

I know its not brilliant but for my bedroom its amazin :E

[Snwbdr]

My wife much preferred the Tosh 40" after the Sony, as she thought it looked much better how the base tapers up to the screen, rather than the 'slab-like' look of the Sony. She still thinks it's way too much for the lounge, but it was defintely the lesser of the two evils...

[SS004]

Lo

snwbdr: out of interest how big is your lounge? This is where I'm struggling to convince the wifey, she thinks it's to big for our lounge, but if your pad is of similar size that would give me some ammunition :E

I can say..

"that bloke of the net said it's fine in his room, which is the same size as ours"

She'll prolly accept it then lol

Cheers

SS

[[kray]Spooksta]

Size DOES matter in the SS004 house then :cheese:
The Sony has a smaller foot print than the Tosh here is the size of the sony
Width 100cm
Hieght 110cm
Depth 40cm
Im not saying get the Sony cos id get the Tosh,but if ya stuck for room the Sony is slightly smaller.And dont think a 36" Tube TV is smaller cos they arnt,they are realy quite bloody big round the back infact.Like i said in an earlier post my room is 11x11.But it is for Homecinema only.My living room is 12x21 and i have a 41" RP 4:3 in there.And thats a bit ugly and stands out to much but the Sony will look great in the living room when i get a new RP for my Cinema room.Hope this helps.
(Just buy it m8) :cheese:

[Psychic Cookie]

The cheapest I could get the Tosh for would be £1540 :)
(and with Interest free credit over about 12 months too!)

Can anyone beat that?

Oh and btw SS, you know what I was saying on the Motoring thread about being psychic??? Well I shall prove it too you - I can see in the not too distant future my clenched fist meeting with your nose. :laugh:

[Snwbdr]

My lounge is about 20ft x 10ft (an educated guess), but I have the set flat against the wall and view from opposite at about 8ft distance. Picture is great at this distance.

If you drop me a private email then I could perhaps take a couple of digital snaps and send them to you, might help in your argument you can always choose not to show them if you think they'd have an adverse effect)!