Anyone know anything about TV's?

[Dr LuKas]

LCD, HD Ready, Digital, Freeview, I don't really understand this to be honest? Can anyone help?

So I want to buy a TV, it often gives me a choice of a LCD HD ready TV without digital freeview and the same thing with digital freeview. The later costs about £50-£100 more. What's the difference, what's it mean?

Also on sky there are channels that are HD like Sky Movies 1 HD, how can I watch them, do I need a seperate box, or can I watch it with a plain HD ready TV?

Also does it really matter what make of TV even if they have roughly the same specifications what is the difference between a Beko or a Wharfdale compared to a Philips or a Sony apart from about £500?

Thanks dudes any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Katiekins]

You seen them adverts that say you need digital TV cause its gonig to change soon, that maybe the difference
Also you need a sky HD box to watch teh HD channels

[Dr LuKas]

Ah I thought so, what do you have to pay for one of those boxes do you know Spozz?

[Travis]

lucasledge said:

LCD, HD Ready, Digital, Freeview, I don't really understand this to be honest? Can anyone help?

So I want to buy a TV, it often gives me a choice of a LCD HD ready TV without digital freeview and the same thing with digital freeview. The later costs about £50-£100 more. What's the difference, what's it mean?

Also on sky there are channels that are HD like Sky Movies 1 HD, how can I watch them, do I need a seperate box, or can I watch it with a plain HD ready TV?

Also does it really matter what make of TV even if they have roughly the same specifications what is the difference between a Beko or a Wharfdale compared to a Philips or a Sony apart from about £500?

Thanks dudes any help would be greatly appreciated.

Evening Funk Lord.

Right.....

Essentially you have a choice between two types of flat screen television; LCD and plasma. Until recently plasma's have dominated the market, especially as you move towards the larger screen sizes (40 inch+). However the cost of producing LCD screens has steadily come down, and as such are now more able to compete. For smaller screens, LCD offers a superior picture (PC flat screens are LCD), and finally LCD's are also beginning to surpass plasmas for the bigger screens. LCD is for me undoubtedly the better of the two, plasmas have a poor reputation for smudging and gas leaks (plasmas contain gas, LCD pictures use liquid), and are more difficult to see in the sun.

To be honest, the built in freeview is not worth the money, channel choice is very limited and you'll still need a new aerial if you are in a poor reception area. A far better free-standing box can be bought at less expense.

To watch HD, you'll need a HD box, whether that is through Sky, Telewest or Virgin, otherwise you will not be able to receive the pictures. A Sky box costs £299 plus a £10 a month subscription, you can by the box without a subscription for £399, but you will only receive the BBC HD channel, and possibly Discovery and National Geographic. Whether the subscription fee will be shelved as with Sky+, remains to be seen.

Sky HD is also worth the investment if you want a home cinema system. The box decodes many of the new shows, the sport, and all the new films in Dolby 5.1 surround, splitting if you require it, the audio into six channel sound.

As for televisions? You tend to get what you pay for. I have a Sony, it cost me more, but picture, design and build quality all show, whats more, I have bought 2 past Sony TV's, both still work, one of which I bought over 15 years ago. I've had similarly good experience with Philips. Some brands do share identical components (EG. Philips parts are also used by Goodmans), though as I say, design and build quality is also important.

One other thing to note about HD, there are two grades of HD; standard HD and true HD. Standard offers a screen resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (standard TV is 768 x 576), true HD offers 1920 x 1080, around double the detail of standard HD and 4 times that of normal television. It is also the widespread standard adopted by Sky and the film studios/games software companies for the new Blu Ray and HD-DVD discs. The bigger the screen, the noticeable the difference are.

Hope that helps.

[Dr LuKas]

Thanks very much have an exalt for that.

' Standard offers a screen resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (standard TV is 768 x 576), true HD offers 1920 x 1080' Most of the one's I've been looking at are between 1280 x 720 and 1920 x 1080.

I really want a good quality TV for when I get an XBox 360 I am able to appreciate the picture quality, as I know you can get an LCD HD ready tv for less than £200, but I also want one of reasonable size (26" up) and of reasonable quality (is Bush a decent make).

It's difficult to decide what to get but thank you Trav you have helped me there, do you or does anyone else know anything about getting the best quality image from your Xbox 360 to your TV? (guess I need GB he works for Sony ;D )

[Travis]

lucasledge said:

Thanks very much have an exalt for that.

' Standard offers a screen resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (standard TV is 768 x 576), true HD offers 1920 x 1080' Most of the one's I've been looking at are between 1280 x 720 and 1920 x 1080.

I really want a good quality TV for when I get an XBox 360 I am able to appreciate the picture quality, as I know you can get an LCD HD ready tv for less than £200, but I also want one of reasonable size (26" up) and of reasonable quality (is Bush a decent make).

It's difficult to decide what to get but thank you Trav you have helped me there, do you or does anyone else know anything about getting the best quality image from your Xbox 360 to your TV? (guess I need GB he works for Sony ;D )

Cheers funskter.

I would suggest that for a screen up to 32", that standard HD would more than suffice, in fact I'm not even sure that there are that many (if any) TV's of that size that do offer 'true HD', as differences in terms of picture clarity would appear so neglible.

I think you have to look at 37" or bigger before you really consider true HD. The X Box, I believe plays the HD-DVD's and as such is capable of true HD but it is still fully compatible with the standard HD sets.

For 26" sets I'm sure that true HD is not even an option. I have a 40" set, and once you get to that size, that's when the differences really start to show, and then you have to think about upgrading cables too etc.....

Never really bought anything by Bush, though I'd recommend having a look about and getting a demo of how the budget sets handle HD; being HD compatible and being wholly capable of maximising what HD can offer are often two different things.

If you do find something, I'd recommend ordering online though, as you'll save a packet. Sound And Vision is the best place, although Empire Direct are also excellent, although not always as cheap.

[Dr LuKas]

You say about this true HD, just as long as I'm getting as good quality picture as is possible for the price I don't mind too much.

I've read good reviews about 26" HD ready LCD Samsung for people who also intend to use it for Xbox 360 but I'm looking at paying over £400 but I could buy a 32" HD ready LCD Bush for slightly cheaper.

I'd like the 32" size but I haven't read any reviews about it or anything.

I'll have a look at those websites, cheers.

[Dr LuKas]

This any good a TV? www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5362334/Trail/C%24cip%3D49550.Sound%2Band%2Bvision%3EC%24cip%3D49601.Digital%2BTV%2Band%2Bfreeview%3EC%24Brand%3DSamsung.Samsung.htm

[Billy]

remember if you buy a mahoosive TV you have to have an equally mahoosive lounge to watch it in - otherwise you'll damage your eyes

[Dr LuKas]

32" will do the trick, I won't damage my eyes.

Know anything else about TV's Billy?

[Billy]

not really Lucas - I haven't bought a TV for a while