Re: LCD tvs, flat screens, plasma, so confusing

Thank you John Smith

Is there a "best brand" LED ? Also for LCD / Plasma?

The best is a personal choice, what looks good to your eyes and what you can afford. I like the Bravia range, but they are pricey.

See:

The Wii is not HD, but the Xbox 360 is. You can use the Wii and Xbox 360 on your old CRT TV using composite or S-Video input. A new HD TV will essentially give you little improvement in quality with the Wii, but will make a big difference with the Xbox 360. You do not need a built-in tuner to use the video game consoles.

Any TV you buy these days will be at least "HD capable" (720 lines) and will have a HD tuner built in. A "True HD" TV (1080 lines) will typically be a bit more expensive. Both are much more superior to your old CRT TV.

They almost certainly won't take a trade-in's, have not seen that offered for years. Your CRT TV's are worthless in monetary terms.

Dave.

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I think the LED and LCD are the way to go. As for Best brand, that is a bit of a can of worms these days.

You could go for "longest warranty" too, but remember in the current scary world economic climate, there is NO guarantee and a serious risk that the manufacturer and/or warranty company (that offer extended warranties) may not still be in business (bankrupt) before the end of the warranty to be able to honour it.

The only thing I can say on this subject based on personal experience that at our work, we have had about 20 Samsung LCD computer monitors

19", (940N) since about 2005, used every workday for long hours and had no failures or problems with them.

I would therefore consider Samsung to have reliable LCD technology - based on this alone, and would feel comfortable about buying a Samsung LCD television, If I was in the market for a new LCD TV

For all I know other brands/models might be just as good ?

I dislike Sony as a company, yet we bought a Bravia because it really is the best picture. That magic signal processing comes at a price though; they take more than a second to change channels, while the chip does its magic (the tuner has a frame within a tenth or two, but the chipset doesn't display it for more than a second). It's annoying.

Clifford Heath.

The first consideration is probably resolution. Check the label to make sure it's 1920 x 1080. Anything less, as John Smith says, is not true high-def. A lot of shops deliberately fudge this, hoping to get rid of their lower-def models at a supposed 'bargain' price.

The next consideration is size. A typical lounge room is too small for anything bigger than 40"/105 cm. Start by looking at the 32"/80cm models, and see whether the size would be right for your rooms. This will annoy the sales creatures, who want you to buy bigger, and some shops won't actually have many models in that size to choose from. In that case, keep moving.

If you're convinced that 32" isn't quite big enough, have a look at

37"/90cm. Roughly speaking, you want the edges of the screen to be just out of eye-line when you're looking at the centre.

Next trick: have a look at the back of the unit, and see what kinds of connectors are back there. Modern homes will often have multiple VCRs, DVD players, DVR and even computers. It makes sense to ensure there are enough of the right kind of plugs on the unit. The 'king pin' connector these days is HDMI, but it can be really handy to have RCA sockets as well.

Most high-end units now operate at around 100Hz, which is supposed to prevent motion blur. If you want to watch a lot of sport, you might think about a 200Hz model.

As to brands, I've always liked Sony, but they cost more. 32" Panasonics are around $1200 in the Good Guys, whereas a 32" Sony Bravia is more like $1600-1700. The Sonys seem to have a lot more rear connectors than the others. The Bravia I looked at had 3 HDMIs and nine RCAs, which thought was reasonably adequate.

Hope thats useful.

PS: No one wants old analogue televisions, or film cameras.

Atom Egoyan Melbourne

Actually there definition of TVs has been recently fudged by Samsung who are advertising "LED TVs", which are not in fact TVs using LEDs as active pixel emitting devices, but are smply LCD TVs with a backlight based on LEDx rather than flouro lamps.

A despicable and totally unhelpful disservice to the consumer world IMO.

geoff

The guy at the local JB Hi-Fi was pushing this one. What other brands are proper LED, do you know? Thanks.

None - it's still experimental.

Or did I read somebody produced some prototype 17" screens recently.

geoff

I heard the picture quality is really good on the LED backlit TVs

Herc ps I'd go plasma 60 inch

The proper ones are actually OLED, and AFAIK, the only one on the market is a Sony 13" model which is hugely expensive. The pictures is beautiful though. They may be practical in a few years time but not at present.

I stick with my LCD until LED TVs come out in a few years ( and I win Lotto).

geoff

NO NO NO NO NO, saying when you win lotto/etc is just like invoking the nazi in a moral argument, you loose/lose/whatever.

Sides, i'm gumma winit. {:-).

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No, it isn't LED TV. It is LED-backlit LCD. Currently subject of false-advertising actions.

Model-for-model, spec-for-spec, Samsung do better sometimes.

dunno

geoff

Yes, but OLED TV's *are* available if you don't mind the small size and high price at the moment.

Or more importantly, Dollar for dollar.

Or Panasonic or Pioneer.

MrT.

My issue is that Samsung a deliberately fudging the distinction between LCD and LED TVs.

OLED or whatever other variety of LED is eventually produced is irrelevant (OLED is the current SOTA) - the main thing is that the LED is the active emitting device. Or should be.

geoff

My LCD TV has a LED in it too. That does not make it an LED TV. An LED TV is a TV where the active emitting devices are LEDs. They are hoping that people won't read deeper, and think they are buying the latest generation of TV technology, rather than a variation of the LCD type.

geoff

CD

t

I saw a couple of these "LED TV's" at harvey norman yesterday, they had a sticker on the set saying "LED TV" or "LED screen" etc and then in small letters underneath something like " *led backlit screen" / " *led backlighting" etc , so read the fine print carefully.