Best 19~20" HD LCD

[Chadruharazzeb]

Yo!

I'm thinking of investing in a little HDTV soon, and due to it having to go in the bedroom it needs to be about 19 inch. I see that Samsung do one for about £300 which is about the price range I'm looking at - but is it the best one?

Cheers folks!

[Praxidike]

I'd recommend this one. The only thing I don't like about it is that it is 16:10 (as that is best suited for a monitor), and that with 16:9 inputs, it zoomed in a little. I'd rather have a letterbox option so you don't lose anything.

But other than that, it's well worth the money. I paid £300, then it got reduced 3 weeks later!

[Chadruharazzeb]

Yeah, that was the one I was looking at

Slightly disconcerting about the aspect ration but I don't suppose it's that much of a drawback. I take it it does 720p and all that?

[Praxidike]

Yeah, it does 720p or 1080i, but not 1080p. Some people have said the picture quality isn't good, but with tweaking of the settings, there's nothing wrong with it at all, I guess the few that have moaned just don't know how to use a TV.

[dan1979]

That Samsung is crap with most SD stuff but lovely with a good signal, there is some noticable backlight bleed on dark images.

Annoying thing for me is you can't assign the audio in phonos to other video inputs (specifically the DVI), my 3.5mm jack input is buggered and I only get 1speaker working from it.

[dodgyd]

Originally Posted by Chadruharazzeb

due to it having to go in the bedroom it needs to be about 19 inch.

/s******

[Chadruharazzeb]

Ahem

[Chadruharazzeb]

The Samsung SM940MW as mentioned seems pretty good, aside from some slight backlight bleeding that I've heard mentioned, but I've spotted the Samsung LE19R71WX and it seems pretty similar but about £30 more to buy.

Any suggestions/ tips gratefully received.

[Praxidike]

The LE19R71WX looks prettier (I think anyway), but doesn't have component input. If you don't need component, I'd go for that one, looks prettier, and I think the contrast ratio is slightly better (800:1, 940MW is 700:1 if I remember rightly).

[Chadruharazzeb]

I'm reading all manner of conflicting info on both tv's, they're HD ready/ they're not, they do 1440x900/ they only do 1024x768, they're good/ crap/ average...

Apparently something isn't HD ready if there's no component input on it? Is that important?

Think I'll take your word for it though, it seems like a decent telly for the price.

[leef1234]

I dont think component inputs come into it when talking about HD Ready.
I think it needs either HDMI or DVI inputs with HDCP and 720 horizontal pixels.

[Praxidike]

Originally Posted by Chadruharazzeb

I'm reading all manner of conflicting info on both tv's, they're HD ready/ they're not, they do 1440x900/ they only do 1024x768, they're good/ crap/ average...

Apparently something isn't HD ready if there's no component input on it? Is that important?

Think I'll take your word for it though, it seems like a decent telly for the price.

The only HD recognised inputs that I know of are HDMI and component. So if it has component, fair enough, it's all ready.... but HDMI can be converted to be accepted by the DVI port, and both monitors are capable of a resolution above 720p, so they're both fine and HD ready, but the 940MW has 2 HD inputs, while the LE19R71WX only has 1, and needs a converter to come from HDMI to DVI (which won't be any use for some things, like an Xbox360, which only uses component at the moment for HD images).

The only technicality stopping them from being advertised as HD ready is the fact that they are 16:10 aspect ratio, instead of 16:9. So some letterboxing or zooming in of the picture has to happen for it to be displayed. But they are HD ready.

I can't speak for the LE19R71WX as I've never used it, but the 940MW definitely handles more than 1024x768, and I'd be astonished if the LE19R71WX doesn't. Wherever you read that from needs their site taking down, it's idiotic!

[dan1979]

1024x768 was the only resolution my 940MW didn't like. I ran it at loads and they were all fine with the native 1440x900 being by far the best.

[Praxidike]

Originally Posted by dan1979

1024x768 was the only resolution my 940MW didn't like. I ran it at loads and they were all fine with the native 1440x900 being by far the best.

I just tried 1024x768, appears to display fine, although obviously not as good as 1440x900, but that'll be the same with any LCD monitor if you don't put it in its native resolution.

Maybe it was just your PC/cable combination at 1024x768 that your monitor didn't like.

[dan1979]

Quite possibly, the image jumped all over the screen which definutely isn't normal behaviour.