[EagleAye]

I'm looking for recommendations for a 32" LCD TV that will be mainly used for SD broadcasts on Freeview with occasional use for DVD and maybe Wii.

What are the opinions on sets that offer the best SD picture (or at least equal to the picture I get on my 14 year old 21" Hitachi CRT) £450 would be a maximum budget but looking to spend as little as possible.

Any ideas much appreciated.

[punkymunky]

Sony 32V4000 has a great freeview picture IMO as long as you at are sat at a reasonable distance.

[Monarch]

The best SD picture I've seen on any 32" set (note I haven't seen them all but certainly in your budget) is the LG 32PG6000 plasma, that's around £400 on the net, be wary of image retention if you plan to use it for the wii (I use mine for quite a lot of gaming and it's great). If you want an LCD then the Panasonic 32LXD85 is very good and I think it's around £420 at Tesco (if it still is). The L32X10 might be worth looking at too, but it mitght not be in budget (around £500 maybe)

[EagleAye]

I did think about plasmas but as this TV will probably be on for most of the day was a bit concerned about my electricity bill. Should I worry?

[ziffius]

If you're green it could be an issue. However quite a few aren't happy going from CRT to LCD, and Plasma is normally the favourable choice due to it's characteristics being more CRT like.

Over on HDTVtest, the calibrated power consumption of the new Neo-PDP 42" Panasonic Plasma is 235w. http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/panas...0090415146.htm So much for Neo-PDP.

Before Plasma owners jump on me. HDTVtest are a professional site who gave that TV a Highly recommendation, so I imagine that the've been fair with that and not measured it on full white etc.

The LE40B650 consumes 93watts once calibrated http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Samsung-LE...alibration.htm

It's not for TVs, but there's a quick and easy energy cost calculator here http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u...ical_costs.php Chuck in the power consumption, hours on, unit cost and it will give you a rough idea.

[Monarch]

The power consumption on the LG isn't that high, most people are recording around 125Watts on average viewing, with it going down to under 100Watts in dark scenes. Even if it's on most of the time you're not talking about much. Plasmas work on a 'power by demand' system though which means that it varies on viewing, it's unfortunate that LG aren't releasing another 32" plasma this year as their larger plasmas are more power efficient than their LCDs, for comparison the Panasonic L32X10 ( Panasonic 32" | LCD Televisions TXL32X10B ) I think is around 100-120 Watts or so (?).

I would advise you to read up on image retention on the plasma, it isn't an issue for 90% of viewing but if you watch a lot of the news channels like sky sports with a lot of static images in bold colours on screen for a long time then it may cause concern, here's a link to it - Unexpected error occurred - Tesco.Direct

[ziffius]

Originally Posted by Monarch08

The power consumption on the LG isn't that high, most people are recording around 125Watts on average viewing, with it going down to under 100Watts in dark scenes. Even if it's on most of the time you're not talking about much. Plasmas work on a 'power by demand' system though which means that it varies on viewing, it's unfortunate that LG aren't releasing another 32" plasma this year as their larger plasmas are more power efficient than their LCDs, for comparison the Panasonic L32X10 ( Panasonic 32" | LCD Televisions TXL32X10B ) I think is around 100-120 Watts or so (?).

Even the 1080p TX-L32G10 only uses 78watts once calibrated, and thats without a backlight control and Freesat!

Panasonic TX-L32G10/TX-L32G10B Review: 32" Freesat LCD TV

Calibrated “Cinema” [Viewing Mode] 78 watts

Even my power hungry Samsung only uses 63watts in PC mode and 85watts for Freeview. Also just checked it, and mine doesn't have a dynamic backlight like most. Those a dynamic backlight will use even less.