Possibly buying a new telly - Mrs say to avoid Philips like theplague - should I?

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Albert Ross
saying something like:

Really? I thought Samsung along with LG were the major manufacturers
of panels and were also used in Sonys. Or am I not keeping up?

I don't know about other makes, but the Samsung panels can come from
four places, one of them worse than the others.
url:http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-l...anel-type.html
From what I gather, the poster isn't necessarily accurate - other
sources suggest the other letters are the key. Who knows for sure, other
than Samsung themselves - it's all speculation.

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:00:41 +0000, Albert Ross

wrote:

On Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:15:23 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember MartinR
saying something like:

Do they not all use the same display
panels like all CRT TVs used the same tubes? Someone told me that
most LCD panels were made by Samsung and most plasmas by Panasonic.

I can only speak of my own purchase, a Samsung. Turns out Samsung use
panels from several makers, some reputed to be better than others. In
their most recent production they have removed all means of reliably
identifying the panel fitted to any particular set. shrug Perhaps I
won the panel lottery, but I've no complaints about the picture quality
of mine.

Really? I thought Samsung along with LG were the major manufacturers
of panels and were also used in Sonys. Or am I not keeping up?

If you buy a Sony you should be aware that you are expected to take part
in the
software development phase.
--



Yesterday I attempted to show some video camera footage (which I had
converted to divx and put on to a USB flash memory stick) on friends newish
Sony 32" LCD TV, using one of those little devices (set to 4:3 output) which
enables the displaying of jpegs or movies from SD cards or USB sticks onto a
TV, via a component lead connection.
The sound and vision was OK, except that the picture was displayed in a
stretched widescreen format and no matter what we did it was impossible to
get the recording to display in its original (4:3) format, pressing the
button on the remote for changing the aspect ratio simply produced an
onscreen messages saying something like 'function not available', we then
tried switching back to TV where IIRC the main menu offered the choice of
16:9, 4:3, or Smart.
After choosing either 4:3 or Smart, switching the player back on resulted in
the picture immediately jumping back into widescreen, we were then left with
the impression that there was absolutely no way of getting it to play in
4:3.. strange however that it plays perfectly OK on my 37" LCD Philips,
which allows me to configure a desired aspect ratio when viewing from any
playback source, likewise an older 32" LCD Lexor I use in my den, so we were
forced to watch the whole thing in a grossly stretched format, I'm not
convinced that it was due to a faulty receiver, as the broadcast
transmissions automatically switched to the correct screen format.

MartinR wrote:
My Mrs has had all sorts of problems with Philips bits falling apart,
mainly irons and hairdryers. I can't seem to persuade her that the
tellys are probably made in a different part of China/Vietnam/Moldova
from the irons and they probably undergo a tighter QC regime. I
personally think Philps TVs look ok and they score well in reviews
(usually).

Being a tad more general, what are the group's opinions on the various
flat panel HD displays on offer? Do they not all use the same display
panels like all CRT TVs used the same tubes? Someone told me that
most LCD panels were made by Samsung and most plasmas by Panasonic.

I get the feeling that the piano black monstrosities in the corners of
living rooms or plastered to the wall of the loft apartment are all
much of a muchness; or am I just displaying a lot of ignorance here?

I would also be interested to know if any of our installer colleagues
have ever calibrated any of these beasts, and does it make much
difference from the default settings if you do?

MR

This isn't really a technical question at all.

What position will you be in if you override your wife's wishes and buy
one - and the slightest thing goes wrong with it?

Andy

In article , Graham.
writes

Sorry I can't remember the model, but it also had a torturous tape-wrap
more like a Betamax than a VHS

V2000, and yes, they liked lunching on tapes. You could turn them over
and record on the 'other side'.

--
Mike Tomlinson

On Feb 19, 1:28*pm, MartinR wrote:
My Mrs has had all sorts of problems with Philips bits falling apart,
mainly irons and hairdryers. *I can't seem to persuade her that the
tellys are probably made in a different part of China/Vietnam/Moldova
from the irons and they probably undergo a tighter QC regime. *I
personally think Philps TVs look ok and they score well in reviews
(usually).

My longest-lasting piece of AV kit is the Philips 20" portable I
bought in 1995.

The Sony widescreen I got in 1998 only lasted four years before the
tube went. I'll never buy another Sony TV.

Tony

In message , Mike Tomlinson
writes
In article , Graham.
writes

Sorry I can't remember the model, but it also had a torturous tape-wrap
more like a Betamax than a VHS

V2000, and yes, they liked lunching on tapes. You could turn them over
and record on the 'other side'.

Not necessarily V2000, some of the Philips VHS ones did the omega wrap
but in a very odd way, a bit like V2000 if my memory serves.
--
Clint Sharp

On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:18:39 -0800 (PST),
said...
The Sony widescreen I got in 1998 only lasted four years before the
tube went. I'll never buy another Sony TV.

On only one data point, that seems a bit harsh. My 28" WS Sony CRT has
been going for over 10 years in my lounge, and it was second hand when I
got it.

--
Mark Myers

On Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:40:08 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Albert Ross
saying something like:

Really? I thought Samsung along with LG were the major manufacturers
of panels and were also used in Sonys. Or am I not keeping up?

I don't know about other makes, but the Samsung panels can come from
four places, one of them worse than the others.
url:http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-l...anel-type.html
From what I gather, the poster isn't necessarily accurate - other
sources suggest the other letters are the key. Who knows for sure, other
than Samsung themselves - it's all speculation.

Good lord, obviously I'm NOT keeping up.

On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:21:44 -0000, Mark Myers
wrote:

On Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:18:39 -0800 (PST),
said...
The Sony widescreen I got in 1998 only lasted four years before the
tube went. I'll never buy another Sony TV.

On only one data point, that seems a bit harsh. My 28" WS Sony CRT has
been going for over 10 years in my lounge, and it was second hand when I
got it.

My non-widescreen Trinitron lasted about 25 years before it went tits
up

AFAICR it had one repair for a faulty switch/dry joint, and the colour
needed readjusting at one point. Finally the tuners screwed up and
after I last moved I couldn't retune it so I put it out of its misery.
Don't make them like they used to.