Out With the old, in with the new. TV and surround help required.

[Mojo-Filter]

Hiya folks,
Bit of a new guy here, although I have been reading/lurking for a good few weeks now, which only seems to have confused me further about what kit to go for. Anyhoo, I was intending originally to only replace the our TV, which is well on its way to binsville, washed out colour, generally fuzzy all over and the most horrendous picture you ever did see (best wedding present ever), but now I am sorely tempted (cash & wife willing) to chuck the lot and start again. So I would love a bit of advice.
TV spec wise I was looking for 100Hz, Progressive Scan, couple of RGB scarts, quantity not too important as I don't have that much to plug into it, big as possible, wide & flat screen and possibly freeview (need convincing on that point) for about £700. I was looking at the PANASONIC TX32DTX40. This is not set in stone, suggestions/recommendations welcomed and needed.
Surround wise I was looking at an All-In-One solution and from what I have heard the Denon DHT500 SD is looking good and the price is right too. I reckon about £400 would be plenty in the budget department.
Question is, Should I do away with the cable TV (I don't watch it that much) and get a TV with freeview or keep it and get TV without? Do I get the All-In-one surround solution (we constantly watch DVD's) or use the surround budget on a TV with good surround cabilities?
I am also looking for advice on cabling, but if I tackle the main kit first I can deal with that later. If you are still with me, thanks for ploughing through my appalling sentence structure and grammar.

Thanks in advance

Kenny

[red16v]

Hi, As regular readers know I thoroughly recommend the Toshiba 32ZP48. It has built in surround sound decoding (and comes compelte with 4 external speakers as supplied) You would have to buy a seperate Freeview receiver and make sure you buy the speaker stands if you need them. It MAY be a little above your budget - I haven't checked prices recently - but I believe it would be worth squeezing your budget a bit for. Regards, yt.

[Mojo-Filter]

Thanks for the TV advice, much appreciated. Funnily enough I was actually looking at that Toshiba last night, the only thing that put me off was the weight. I dont know if my stand would take it. I shall check that out to be sure though as by all accounts its a great set. I have seen the 32 for about £700 and the 36 for around £850. Would it be worth stretching for the 36 or would that be overkill?

[red16v]

Hi, it comes complete with it's own stand. 32" or 36" ? - depends on your viewing distance. In my opinion many people buy too large a screen for their viewing distance - sit right in front of it - and then complain about picture defects. We do not watch much telly, but we sit about 12 ft away from our 32" telly and we are very very pleased with the quality of the picture. No CRT telly is perfect, in fact no telly of any technology is perfect, the closer you sit to the picture the more likely you are to see 'niggles', for example our telly has some minor convergence 'issues' on the rhs of the picture but we sit far enough away from it that it is not an issue. You cannot spend £7/8/900 on a telly and expect it to have the same performance of a professional monitor that costs £2/3000. The 32ZP48 is, in my humble opinion, the best domestic telly I've seen, but I know others will quite rightly recommend other makes/models as being equally as good. Regards, yt.

[Mojo-Filter]

Thanks again for the info red, much appreciated. It's looking like the 32'' to be honest, the 36 is more than likely too big for my viewing distance (10.5ft-ish) as well as too heavy for my Atacama AV rack. So 32'' is more than plenty I reckon. Is there an alternative to this set, same spec minus the surround speakers and built-in sub? As I would love to add Denons home cinema in a box system to my set up and I would have a hard time convincing the missus if the tosh has it built in if you know what I mean.

[TV Headache]

I would definitely recommend NOT spending your surround budget on the on the TV. If you want GOOD surround and you've got the space, go for seperate DVD (with digital audio output) and a decent receiver. If you haven't got the space, go for an all-in-one but try and get decent bookshelf speakers at the front instead of those tiny, tinny 'satellite' efforts.

TV-wise I'd recommend Sony's KD-32DX200 on account of it having very nice picture quality and built-in Freeview reception. Plus it's also a bit of a looker, in my humble opinion!

[Mojo-Filter]

Many thanks to all who chipped in with their advice, much appreciated. I have taken the plunge and ordered a Toshiba 32ZP48 yesterday for £634.79 (good price?). I have also decided (or at least the wife has ) to knock the surround on the head for the time being, til the cash flow is a bit better. So I'll have to make do with the sets surround for now. Thanks again to all, the TV can't come fast enough. Woo hoo!!!