Which TV to buy?

[TheRiddler]

OK, Mrs Riddler has acquiesced and allowed us (me) to buy a new flat screen TV ready for the new season. Foxtel IQ2 upgrade booked in and HD package signed up. The only problem remaining - which TV to buy?

I am thinking the new LED TVs from Samsung and LG look the business. Very thin, great picture quality and the LED design gives them greater contrast than standard LCD screens. The series 8 from Samsung has a network connection allowing direct playback of multimedia from the home network but is a few hundred $$ more exy than the series 6 - a lot of extra cash for a bit of extra functionality. The LG screens have their 'frameless' technology which doesnt actually mean you get a picture right to the edge of the screen, just that it has a single piece of glass covering the entire front of the screen.

Do any GAGRs have any experience in this area? Any recommendations? Would I just be better purchasing a plasma and saving myself a few hundred dollars?

 

[Pfitzy]

LG are shit.

The Samsung LEDs look like fucking magic. I saw one in JB HiFi last week while I was wandering around. They reckon that Plasma has smooth picture quality, and during live action you might not even notice the difference.

But the credits of some show were rolling on an LED versus a plasma on the shelf below and one to the left of similar size. The LED left them both for dead for smoothness, with the plasmas having a little jerky motion as the words moved up the screen - I reckon that's a fair indicator.

The LED was utterly amazing when Madagascar 2 came on as well - I kid you not it looked like characters in the foreground were leaping out at you! Kind of a 3D effect.

They're thinner, lighter, and also cheaper to run and less hot than plasma. LED is definitely my next TV (I still have CRT ).

Spend the money. Whether you get the 8 with network connection or the 6 without is up to you. Personally would go with the network connection as I could then rip all the kids DVDs to file and forget about the DVD player.

 

[Moses]

I haven't done extensive research, however I reckon Plasma's do a great job of fast motion, eg sport. Panning shots of crowds seem to put the most load on the TV, if they're not up to it then they can look pretty jerky.

As for a network interface on the TV, I'd be plugging a media center PC into the back regardless. The problem with embedded media playback is there are so many video and audio codecs out there that it's quite likely the TV wont play half the stuff you download. With a PC you can just upgrade the player.

 

[James Buchanan]

I pretty much agree with NTA.

LG have one of the worst reps in the business for falling apart.

I've been very happy with my Samsung LCD screen. When I got it, they were the best picture quality you could get for the money. I had a brief look at the LED stuff and they sound pretty amazing.

For me, the question you have to ask yourself is how long are you intending to keep the TV? If its going to be around for a fair few years and you have the money, spring for the LED. Otherwise, save some cash.

 

[mark_s]

I have a samsung 40 inch LCD that is 3 and a bit years old. IT was top of the line when I bought it, had literally only just arrived in shops.

First problem was at xmas 2006. The TV just died and so I missed tghe boxing day test. IT was under warranty, in fact the repairmen knew what trhe problem was before they arrived. Only problem was I had to wait for them to reopen after xmas before I could get served, this was mid Jan 07.

Fast forward to now, and same TV has another fault (takes 5 mins or so to work properly after being turned on) and I fully expect it to die during the week just after the repair places close for the xmas break again. I will probably just buy a new one.

Anyway, mine might be an isolated experience.

 

[waratahjesus]

with a television degree just finished, i would say pick up a cheap plasma, there being fazed out, a cheapy from jbhifi will get you threw the next 3-4 years and by that time the LED will be cheaper larger and have a longer life. Problem with most of the tv's at present is the screen has a maximum of 10 years life, plasma average about 5-7 if in constant use.

LED only averages about 5, but they say there working on it and reckon they will have a 15 year model in the next couple of years.

in the next five years, hopefully oled will be ready which is an organic led that self lights, there just trying to make it last longer now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HbXzSdResM

but in reality, dont spend over 1500 on a current tv cos they will all be outdated in the next 3 years.

 

[cyclopath]

I've had an HD LCD Philips with the Ambilight wankery for 18 months - no worries. 100 Hz so fast motion OK, but not quite up there with plasma, but room it usually lives in is too bright for plasma. The newer ones are 200 Hz so supposed to be even better.
No real experience with LEDs but heard they are good. Like any new tech, better to not buy at the pointy end of the wave.
Nick, I still have an old Loewe 81 cm widescreen CRT from 5 yrs ago - pretty bloody good really.

 

[Pfitzy]

I have two Sony CRTs at the moment: an 80cm Trinitron in the lounge room and a 68cm Trinitron in the toy room (which I end up watching cricket and late night rugby on because its also the computer room and my yelling and abuse can be shut in). They are both reasonably awesome TVs, though I must say the 68 was refurbished with a new tube about 3 years ago and still outshines the 80 - might be the set top box (which is a cheapy $60 Tandy unit versus the $600 Topfield HDD I have on the 80).

Nothing wrong with CRT at all

 

[TheRiddler]

Thanks all, plenty of food for thought. Being a marketing wanker myself, I'm a sucker for new and shiny things so will probably give the Samsung series 6 46" LED TV a go. Will tee it up with my WD-TV box that has built in networking to provide access to the media library and to my Nintendo Wii to give me the general internet access.

dont spend over 1500 on a current tv cos they will all be outdated in the next 3 years.

And what you buy in 3 years time will itself become dated in a further 3 years time and so it goes on. You've got to get on the bus at some stage

 

[Pfitzy]

Exactly. And if you keep buying crap TVs you're bound to mediocrity.

 

[waratahjesus]

Thanks all, plenty of food for thought. Being a marketing wanker myself, I'm a sucker for new and shiny things so will probably give the Samsung series 6 46" LED TV a go. Will tee it up with my WD-TV box that has built in networking to provide access to the media library and to my Nintendo Wii to give me the general internet access.

dont spend over 1500 on a current tv cos they will all be outdated in the next 3 years.

And what you buy in 3 years time will itself become dated in a further 3 years time and so it goes on. You've got to get on the bus at some stage

yeah, but as i said the current bus doesnt actually have tested technology, in three years you will be able to get an organic led which is wide renowned as the best and a technology that is going to be around for a couple of decades at least. plasma is on its way out but a cheap one is going to give you 3-5 years of love and allow this tech to be refined and the size to be maximised, having a tv 1.5mm thinck that you can roll up and take with you on vacation is better than having a current 3 grand led that is going to burn out in the next 6 years.

 

[Pfitzy]

I stand by what I saw in JB - that Samsung LED was up against some top-end Plasmas and it kicked the shit out of all of them.

 

[TheRiddler]

a cheap one is going to give you 3-5 years of love and allow this tech to be refined and the size to be maximised, having a tv 1.5mm thinck that you can roll up and take with you on vacation is better than having a current 3 grand led that is going to burn out in the next 6 years.

And three years after that you wont even need a screen because it will all be virtual projection - and three years after that we"ll just need to imagine it - and three years after that our imagination will be so good that the Tahs will be playing entertaining rugby and winning the Super 36 competition.

 

[cyclopath]

a cheap one is going to give you 3-5 years of love and allow this tech to be refined and the size to be maximised, having a tv 1.5mm thinck that you can roll up and take with you on vacation is better than having a current 3 grand led that is going to burn out in the next 6 years.

And three years after that you wont even need a screen because it will all be virtual projection - and three years after that we"ll just need to imagine it - and three years after that our imagination will be so good that the Tahs will be playing entertaining rugby and winning the Super 36 competition.

Shows how far WJ is ahead of the field - he already imagines the Tahs are entertaining...and likely to win. I wish I had his optimism.

 

[waratahjesus]

the tahs have always been entertaining!
glad others speak for me now, my work is done!
oled is a long term future, current LED technology doesnt sustain over a long period as mentioned, ssamsung in particular are already saying they rushed it onto the market the birghtness which is the major factor in it being better than plain lcd or plasma burns out quite quickly, an organic led and normal led for that matter will be much much better in 3-4 years, i maintain paying 1500 more for a similar size screen at the moment is ridiculus.

 

[Pfitzy]

Paying an extra 1500 for superior picture quality is not, depending on what you're going to use it for.

 

[Scarfman]

I don't have a TV.

So I have to go out all the time to watch rugby.

Are you following my thinking ...

























Yes, that's it! It works something like this ... :thumb :yay O0 :tuqiri: :bootyshake :tard uke: :nono olice: :kurtley: :banghead

 

[TheRiddler]

I don't have a TV.

So I have to go out all the time to watch rugby.

Are you following my thinking ...

Foxtel IQ my dear Scarfman - means you can record even more rugby when you're asleep or out watching other rugby and watch it later. i think in the old days it was called a video recorder - or maybe something like Betamax....

 

[Moses]

Fox IQ is brilliant I have to say, even when watching live rugby it's nice to be able to rewind after an incident and see what actually happened.

Fox IQ tip: When watching a non-live feed, hold down the play button for a few seconds to see slow mo.

 

[Scarfman]

I was kind of hoping someone would comment on my emoticon narrative.