New televisions from China or Taiwan

Have now given up on the idea of having our old crt television set repaired,
and am looking at the televisions listed in Argos etc, the sheer choice
seems a bit daunting.

We thought we would go for a new 40 or 42" LCD flat screen. Sometime in the
future we would get a FreeSat digital box, so I guess that means we would
benefit from the 1080p resolution spec on the set to take advantage of
future high definition broadcasts.

Am I right in thinking that most of these sets, whatever the brand name are
probably manufactured in China or Taiwan? If so I guess its not worth paying
extra for a Japanese name?

Grateful for any advice on what you might think is a good buy of reasonable
quality around at the moment, bearing in mind I would prefer to keep the
price down if possible. Many thanks for any advice.

"john hamilton" wrote in message
...
Have now given up on the idea of having our old crt television set
repaired, and am looking at the televisions listed in Argos etc, the sheer
choice seems a bit daunting.

We thought we would go for a new 40 or 42" LCD flat screen. Sometime in
the future we would get a FreeSat digital box, so I guess that means we
would benefit from the 1080p resolution spec on the set to take advantage
of future high definition broadcasts.

Am I right in thinking that most of these sets, whatever the brand name
are probably manufactured in China or Taiwan? If so I guess its not worth
paying extra for a Japanese name?

Grateful for any advice on what you might think is a good buy of
reasonable quality around at the moment, bearing in mind I would prefer to
keep the price down if possible. Many thanks for any advice.



I have a Panasonic with Freesat HD built in, Panasonic always seem to be
"Best Buys" in reviews.
Personally would not buy a new TV without a Freesat HD or Freeview HD built
in.
I doubt my Panasonic was any much dearer than the equivalent non Freesat
model, but I did shop around and priced matched at Comet with the Richerr
Sounds price.
Regards
David

"john hamilton" wrote in message
...
Have now given up on the idea of having our old crt television set
repaired, and am looking at the televisions listed in Argos etc, the sheer
choice seems a bit daunting.

We thought we would go for a new 40 or 42" LCD flat screen. Sometime in
the future we would get a FreeSat digital box, so I guess that means we
would benefit from the 1080p resolution spec on the set to take advantage
of future high definition broadcasts.

Am I right in thinking that most of these sets, whatever the brand name
are probably manufactured in China or Taiwan? If so I guess its not worth
paying extra for a Japanese name?

Grateful for any advice on what you might think is a good buy of
reasonable quality around at the moment, bearing in mind I would prefer to
keep the price down if possible. Many thanks for any advice.



I have a Panasonic with Freesat HD built in, Panasonic always seem to be
"Best Buys" in reviews.
Personally would not buy a new TV without a Freesat HD or Freeview HD built
in.
I doubt my Panasonic was any much dearer than the equivalent non Freesat
model, but I did shop around and priced matched at Comet with the Richerr
Sounds price.
Regards
David

CRT TVs were invariably repairable.
A CRT TV has a lot of discrete components. A component failure did not
write-off the TV despite a bit of labour involved particularly having
to resolder everything in sight.

LCD & Plasma TVs are invariably not repairable.
An LCD TV is Panel + Processing + Backlight + PSU, and that is about
it. Of those PSU & backlight are replaceable if you have a branded
unit - on cheaper TVs it can prove difficult to source the parts
rendering it landfill..

So look for a TV with free 3yr or 5yr warranty, I say free to the
extent of paying £29 or £75 - but not the overpriced high street
warranties. A flip side is that in 5yrs it may be out of date, but
alternatively not everyone wants to spend £300-500 every 5yrs.

Panel type matters if you are viewing from below the TV or around a
room.
TN panels do 6-bit colour with limited viewing angle (contrast lost &
colours go AWOL), whereas (S-)PVA & (S-)IPS do 8-bit colour with wider
viewing angle before suffering degradation. If you are used to CRT, no
LCD is a perfect replacement - the top ones are good on foliage &
particularly sea scenes, but not so good on dark scenes & human face
colours. In particular the cheaper panels can do quite poorly re dark
scenes & suffer backlight "spotlight casts".

Plasma do a lot better, there used to be a good Hitachi unit quite
cheaply at Richer Sounds. On plasma you really do want a free 5yr
warranty - they run hotter, consumer more power, more dependent on
active cooling (fans).

Check Online, Richer Sounds, John Lewis, even the local supermarket.

Samsung have good picture, the smaller end models can have diabolical
sound (3W mono cassette recorder). Toshiba have good picture, not so
good sound. Hitachi a bit better. Sony & Panasonic better. Now gone
Pioneer plasma the best at a price to match. No-name can be variable.
The better models have better sound, not just better picture BTW.

Shop LCD are rarely set up correctly.
The most immediate thing to change is the noise reduction & sharpness
settings, too high a sharpness setting and it looks like a jaggy
grainy jiggery computer image. If you can see motion judder you need a
better TV, some cheap TVs suffer it quite badly on motion and even the
major names can suffer it slightly on slow panning of foliage scenes.
Some people are very sensitive to it and once pointed out to them or
noticed they do not like it.

Look for Freeview HD if you want to avoid another box. You can often
pick up last years models very cheaply, eg, Asda & Sainsburys, however
check what the specs are. A while back the typical cost-cutting was a
cheaper panel or cheap sound or one HDMI input. Today another item to
check is no Freeview HD built-in.

Tesco Direct is another good source - and check on Ebay because they
have a refurbished store. I think they do various LG & other TVs are
heavily discounted prices, refurbished, 12 months warranty. LG are
Lucky Goldstar of Tottenham Court road fame in the early 1980s and
slightly below Samsung, although both LG & Samsung PSU designs are a
weak point (on anything).

Amazon UK website is a good place to read reviews, just read the bad
ones first because they are often from people who can tell the
difference between a junk TN panel and IPS panel rather than someone
who just stuck an Xbox on it.

In article ,
"David" writes:


"john hamilton" wrote in message
...
Have now given up on the idea of having our old crt television set
repaired, and am looking at the televisions listed in Argos etc, the sheer
choice seems a bit daunting.

We thought we would go for a new 40 or 42" LCD flat screen. Sometime in
the future we would get a FreeSat digital box, so I guess that means we
would benefit from the 1080p resolution spec on the set to take advantage
of future high definition broadcasts.

Am I right in thinking that most of these sets, whatever the brand name
are probably manufactured in China or Taiwan? If so I guess its not worth
paying extra for a Japanese name?

Grateful for any advice on what you might think is a good buy of
reasonable quality around at the moment, bearing in mind I would prefer to
keep the price down if possible. Many thanks for any advice.



I have a Panasonic with Freesat HD built in, Panasonic always seem to be
"Best Buys" in reviews.
Personally would not buy a new TV without a Freesat HD or Freeview HD built
in.
I doubt my Panasonic was any much dearer than the equivalent non Freesat
model, but I did shop around and priced matched at Comet with the Richerr
Sounds price.

Check out Costco too, if you have a card, or are eligable for one.
A couple of friends ended up buying TVs on my card last year,
as they were over £100 cheaper than high street for a £500 TV,
and that included a 5 year guarantee. High street shops probably
won't price-match Costco.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
"David" writes:


"john hamilton" wrote in message
...
Have now given up on the idea of having our old crt television set
repaired, and am looking at the televisions listed in Argos etc, the sheer
choice seems a bit daunting.

We thought we would go for a new 40 or 42" LCD flat screen. Sometime in
the future we would get a FreeSat digital box, so I guess that means we
would benefit from the 1080p resolution spec on the set to take advantage
of future high definition broadcasts.

Am I right in thinking that most of these sets, whatever the brand name
are probably manufactured in China or Taiwan? If so I guess its not worth
paying extra for a Japanese name?

Grateful for any advice on what you might think is a good buy of
reasonable quality around at the moment, bearing in mind I would prefer to
keep the price down if possible. Many thanks for any advice.



I have a Panasonic with Freesat HD built in, Panasonic always seem to be
"Best Buys" in reviews.
Personally would not buy a new TV without a Freesat HD or Freeview HD built
in.
I doubt my Panasonic was any much dearer than the equivalent non Freesat
model, but I did shop around and priced matched at Comet with the Richerr
Sounds price.

Check out Costco too, if you have a card, or are eligable for one.
A couple of friends ended up buying TVs on my card last year,
as they were over £100 cheaper than high street for a £500 TV,
and that included a 5 year guarantee. High street shops probably
won't price-match Costco.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
In article ,
"David" writes:


"john hamilton" wrote in message
...
Have now given up on the idea of having our old crt television set
repaired, and am looking at the televisions listed in Argos etc, the sheer
choice seems a bit daunting.

We thought we would go for a new 40 or 42" LCD flat screen. Sometime in
the future we would get a FreeSat digital box, so I guess that means we
would benefit from the 1080p resolution spec on the set to take advantage
of future high definition broadcasts.

Am I right in thinking that most of these sets, whatever the brand name
are probably manufactured in China or Taiwan? If so I guess its not worth
paying extra for a Japanese name?

Grateful for any advice on what you might think is a good buy of
reasonable quality around at the moment, bearing in mind I would prefer to
keep the price down if possible. Many thanks for any advice.



I have a Panasonic with Freesat HD built in, Panasonic always seem to be
"Best Buys" in reviews.
Personally would not buy a new TV without a Freesat HD or Freeview HD built
in.
I doubt my Panasonic was any much dearer than the equivalent non Freesat
model, but I did shop around and priced matched at Comet with the Richerr
Sounds price.

Check out Costco too, if you have a card, or are eligable for one.
A couple of friends ended up buying TVs on my card last year,
as they were over £100 cheaper than high street for a £500 TV,
and that included a 5 year guarantee. High street shops probably
won't price-match Costco.

Seconded, the TV I bought last year (or was it the year before, maybe I
should join the silversurfers ...) from Richer Sounds was cheaper and
had a longer warranty in Costco



--
geoff

On Jul 25, 2:25*pm, "js.b1" wrote:

If you are used to CRT, no LCD is a perfect replacement

Given that, until a few years ago, we were all used to CRT, how come
so many have gone over to LCD and CRT are now impossible to buy new?

We still have a CRT. I hope it keeps going because all the LCDs I've
seen have been pretty poor in comparison.

In message
,
js.b1 writes
CRT TVs were invariably repairable.
A CRT TV has a lot of discrete components. A component failure did not
write-off the TV despite a bit of labour involved particularly having
to resolder everything in sight.

It does in most cases - all the TV repair shops around here have gone.
Unless you know what you are doing, TV repair is becoming a thing of the
past


--
geoff

js.b1
wibbled on Sunday 25 July 2010 14:25


Panel type matters if you are viewing from below the TV or around a
room.
TN panels do 6-bit colour with limited viewing angle (contrast lost &
colours go AWOL), whereas (S-)PVA & (S-)IPS do 8-bit colour with wider
viewing angle before suffering degradation. If you are used to CRT, no
LCD is a perfect replacement - the top ones are good on foliage &
particularly sea scenes, but not so good on dark scenes & human face
colours. In particular the cheaper panels can do quite poorly re dark
scenes & suffer backlight "spotlight casts".

Agree. Half the quality is to do with the Panel. Sony Bravia panels are
brilliant, but many Samsungs have the same panel - do some reading and know
what's in the set. Panel is everything for vibrance, contrast (blacks on
LCDs are sometimes not actually very black - look for the contrast ratio
figures). And as js says, viewing angle. I have 2 Samsungs. One 42" decent
on with a Sony panel and it is brilliant. And one little cheap one that is
OK until you look at it from the floor and it blacks out fast below 0
degrees.

snip


Samsung have good picture, the smaller end models can have diabolical
sound (3W mono cassette recorder). Toshiba have good picture, not so
good sound. Hitachi a bit better. Sony & Panasonic better. Now gone
Pioneer plasma the best at a price to match. No-name can be variable.
The better models have better sound, not just better picture BTW.

The other thing you get with a decent make is more likely a decent decoder.
It's not just about reception and picture anymore - with DTV it's aboout how
good the MPEG decoder is. Some are bloody awful with rapid degeneration to
artifacts and motion blur, and coupled with a poor tuner that takes ages to
lock on and present the multiplexes, leads to a crap viewing experience. OK
for a kitchen table TV, but you'd want to avoid such nastinesses on your
main set.

--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.