>>>| HDTV Buyers Guide |<<<

[Nielo TM]

First of all, let me thank you for taking you time to read my guide.





The guide it open to all and it's currently hosted by Windows Live SkyDrive.

Click Here to Download the Guide (PDF Warning)





Updated on the 21st of July, 2009

The guide has been updated to version 3.0


Please report all errors (including spelling and grammar) to me via PM.

This thread is closed as requested by the original author.
Please use the link below to access the new thread.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-t...ers-guide.html

[Randell]

lots of effort put in there. Keeping the price/models up to date will be quite an effort, plus of course there are models you haven't listed like the JVC TV's.

[nudge]

i dont like to be piccy but that is hardly an unbiased guide then is it !
to leave the jvc out cos you dont like the picture then post a link to a review where it came above the sony makes great sense. i know you will never please everyone and yes i am a jvc owner. i spent 5 months looking at reviews and going to shops as far afield as cardiff, swindon, bristol and plymouth to see sets from all the manufacturers before i bought mine. based on that and seeing the sets with sd and hd and dvd feeds i chose the set i did because in my opinion the picture was way better that the others i looked at - especially sony's

However i willl say your guides technical details and explanation of standards etc was very good

[Randell]

You're linking to DS6 model tv's in one post there and we are talking about DX7 models. Most reviews I've seen find the DX7 better than the new Panny 60 series and it has better connectivity than the Bravia's. Find a TV without any any niggles or issues! Honestly I've never noticed the red shift issue in that review and I've looked for it before - it's 'hardly noise in sd sources' is it?

[Randell]

Well as a DX7 owner I can catergorically state the picture is better than those images you've just linked to. I don't get that motion blur either, qhat LCD is that from? If its from a PC based TV Tuner, I'm not surprised. SD images are (like all images, but SD obviously highlights them) very subject to the quality of the source. Some channels on Sky can be very good via RGB SCART as well as component or hdmi on my TV. Some channels programmes can look poor. But will be the same on all TV's as it will be down to the broadcast quality.

[Flappo]

apart from sky hd and box 360 what else is there to make you want to buy an hd tv ?

[Flappo]

overall i found this fairly pointless as the general public won't be using anything approaching high definition for a few years yet , certainly not until the govt. wakes it's ass up

[Randell]

Originally Posted by Flappo

apart from sky hd and box 360 what else is there to make you want to buy an hd tv ?

there's a lot of people on these forums with one if not both of those. + Telewest HD, European HD broadscasts, HD via Media centre PC's. HD-VHS. Then there's all the early HD-DVD owners and soon there will be PS3 and Blu-ray.

Then there's not wasting money by buying a TV that will be out of date in its own lifetime.

[Randell]

Originally Posted by Flappo

overall i found this fairly pointless as the general public won't be using anything approaching high definition for a few years yet , certainly not until the govt. wakes it's ass up

The OP's guide isn't for the general public, it's for this (and other forums I guess). If you can't be constructive don't post.

[BFassassin]

what tvs would you recommend in the 26-27" range for use with an xbox360.
i dont have time to read the full report unfortunately

[BFassassin]

thanks for that it does look good.
is the picture quality goo for SDTV as well or is it just really for HD content.
sorry for all the little q's but you are helping alot.
what would be you next favourite

[BFassassin]

thanks for that i now have to see if there is a dixons near me or if they will deliver to ireland

[Energizer Bunny]

Well a great big thank you from all in the community that will use this (me included). Very useful, especially for us noobs out here that dont understand all the techno-babble.



This guide is spot on, and you are getting a christmas card off me

[glesgaguyav]

Thanks for the guide, however with regards to the JVC debate earlier in the thread, I too believe it's a bit harsh with regards to some of the reviews, I have just purchased the 40DS7 after much research on these forums and my final decision was made when I compared it to a Sony S2010, the only difference was the brightness of picture (which I believe is cranked up for the showrooms) The Sony is cheaper, but the JVC can be had for nearly £500 less than this ticket price on the Web All screens have faults, if you look for them, even Sony !
Picture

[glesgaguyav]

I am awaiting delivery

The picture was taken today, I can only go up to 40" screen so I didn't have too many options, so it was down to the Sony and JVC, ok, so the Sony has the name, but the JVC offered the extra connections, I always try and go for as many inputs/outputs as I can get on AV equipment, and as I say the PQ on both sets looked the same, both sets were being feed RF signal

I am sure that I will have fun adjusting the settings to my own preference

[hamster]

You need to be careful also to mention some other things - colour gamut of LCD is very poor, especially compared to CRT and Plasma - and new LCD / Laser lit projection.

Secondly you should research more into motion - judder reduction and motion adaptive / motion compensated deinterlacing. Most of the patents on this are held by Philips, who already incorporate it into some of their products. Micronas have done a nice publicity job with tru-d, but their VCT-P solution is not the greatest performer.

[glesgaguyav]

Originally Posted by Nielo TM

lol, there are some pics in my guide that you may find useful. Also, make sure the whites aren’t overblown lol

Yes I notice you had provided these pictures , however I am unsure how I should use them.

I have a PVR with a mem card slot, can I transfer them onto this and calibrate the screen via the componet outputs ?

[Yannis]

Originally Posted by hamster

You need to be careful also to mention some other things - colour gamut of LCD is very poor, especially compared to CRT and Plasma - and new LCD / Laser lit projection.

Not anymore.

LCDs with wide color gamut have exceeded CRTs and even plasmas.

http://av.samsung.de/images/features/o2_img.jpg

Sony , Samsung and Sharp among others use wide color gamut (WCG-CCFL) backlight.

[Yannis]

Originally Posted by Nielo TM

Forget WCG-CCFL, I want LED/OLED backlighting lol

Then this is the right TV for you:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/07/s...via-kd-70xbr3/

Available soon for "only" $33,000.

[andyr300]

did you get any webspace with your ISP?

[andyr300]

if you want reliable space i think you really are going to have to pay for it...or contact your ISP and get a reset on that account

[Jezzar]

Originally Posted by andyr300

if you want reliable space i think you really are going to have to pay for it...or contact your ISP and get a reset on that account

As a complete novice to all this, which make and model of Blue Ray DVD Player (for a budget of between £200-300 maximum in the UK) do you think will go best with my brand new Sony KDL-40W2000?

[Squizzle]

Originally Posted by Jezzar

As a complete novice to all this, which make and model of Blue Ray DVD Player (for a budget of between £200-300 maximum in the UK) do you think will go best with my brand new Sony KDL-40W2000?

a ps3 - you get a brillant if not the best blu-ray player , dvd upscale player and a games machine in one

[Razenko]

Hey,

In your guide you don't really rate the S-IPS panels very highly ,
I have a Toshiba 32c3500 TV, which has an LG.Philips IPS panel, I purchased it mostly based on the rave reviews it was getting online, since it was not really possible to actually really audition a lot of TV's for me in person.
Back then I read somewhere that the S-IPS panels where some of the best panels out there .
The thing is, I'm kind of dissapointed with the Toshiba's black level performance, I knew that LCD's were not capable of producing perfect blacks, but the Toshiba seems to have worse blacks than my 17" Medion TFT monitor with a TN panel.
Have I bought myself a crappy screen? , and are those S-PVA panels really that much better?

[Nielo TM]

S-IPS panels used in TVs are average to poor! They usually suffer from backlight bleeding, narrower viewing angle and poor black level performance. But they are no way in comparison to the ones used in PC monitors.

The ideal large-panels for viewing videos are PVA, MVA and ASV (Sharp). They offer the deepest blacks, wider viewing angle with minimal color shifts, higher contrast ratio, excellent color performance as well as excellent motion performance (provided they are fitted with accurate and stable overdrive mechanism). However, the same cannot be said for the PC versions, as the viewing angles and color performance are no match for the S-IPS, although most do have good motion detail and black level.

For some reason, (maybe due to the pixel architecture), S-IPS performs well as long as the pixels are smaller as where VA performs well when pixels are larger.

I can’t prove or disprove and it’s only a theory, but it seems to support what I’ve witnessed over the past few years.

PS: Have to tried lowering the backlight, contrast or brightness to reduce the overall illuminance?

[Razenko]

I guess my suspicions were correct, What shocks me is that people give these TV's (IPS based TV) pretty high ratings, saying black is truly black etc.
On the Dutch user review site www.kieskeurig.nl the top five most popular lcd's (with high ratings) are all IPS based TV's (Philips & Panasonic).
It's just a shame to find out afterwards that this TV isn't as good as people say it is, and that even some review sites rate this TV pretty highly.

[Nielo TM]

IPS Alpha is very good (especially for gaming), but it’s let-down by the black level.

PS: Panasonic and Hitachi should’ve known better to include a dedicated backlight control on their high-ends with IPS-Alpha panel. So we that can tweak and improve black level considerably.

PPS: You should take every review with a pinch of salt. Not every reviewer know how to fully test the products or some knowledge regarding the technology behind it. That’s why we are here lol.

[Razenko]

What about the Philips TV's?
Do they use IPS Alpha panels as well, or do they use something else?
I would expect they would use their own LG.Philips panels, but you never know

[Nielo TM]

Philips uses all kinds of panel these days. I saw one at Comet which had the new S-PVA, (you can tell by the greenish tint when viewing in an odd angle).

PS: IPS Alpha is very expensive to produce and only used by Panasonic and Hitachi on their High-End LCD TVs.

PPS: Tosibe is now joined with Sharp. So they'll be using ASV panels, not S-IPS or MVA.

[MumboJumbo]

S-IPS is the most used panel. TN is for PC monitors mainly and is not that fantastic for TV veiwing.

SPVA is the way forward for LCD black levels currently and they are making better and better responsive panels. They are slightly slower than S-IPS panels. I think S-IPS is 6ms-8ms and SPVA is something like 10ms-12ms.... Thus a lot of SPVA smear / tear on some fast games. But with LED backlighting and better technology drivers then S-IPS is far from being supaceded. The Tosh Black levels are good within films but as for a Pure black panel when there is just a black screen with no signal or a split second before a signal is received leaves a lot to be desired. This is more than likely down to their backlighting. Trying to make the Dynamic contrast brighter than its rivals has affected performance. I have the Z series 37" and have had 2 replacements and this latest batch (JAN 08 onwards) seems to be a much better black background. But Blacks on all Toshiba's are far from being the worst. Try Calibrating your set a little...

Roll on OLED and FLCD.. Even Plasma is gaining ground Set out by LCD and with better Blacks could indeed overtake LCD for the Sales. What with Full HD now on the affordable market by Panasonic.