Hi,
looking for a 28" WS set at the moment, but I need a little bit of guidance.
Firstly, the TV will be plugged into my Hi-Fi for sound so I am not particularly concerned with the quality of the onborad speakers.
At the moment my Hi-Fi is a seperates system but I will upgrade the Marantz amp to an AV amp in the next 18 months I imagine. Presumably I need to look at a TV then with 5/6 RCA outs? My DVD player has digital out so I will plug that straight into the AV amp when the time comes. So, do I need a TV with all the seperate outputs or can I get a set with stereo outs and at a later date invest in a seperate box (if there is such thing) that can decode and then offer seperate outs to feed an AV amp? BTW, I also don't need the cabinet.
At the moment the TVs I have been deliberating over have been:

Panasonic TX-28PL1 - nice flatscreen but only 2 outs
Philips 28PW6515 - as above
Philips 28PW6006 - nice and cheap, but no flatscreen or outs
Panasonic TX28DK2 - lots of outs but no flat screen and pesky stand with incorporated speakers as well as 2 surround speakers will all be superflous to my needs and will end up in a cupboard

If I dont need the seperate outs I can look at a flatscreen, but it would appear that if the outs are required then I will have to go for a standard tube. As you can see my budget is upto about £500 (I know some of the above models have higher RRPs but they are obviously available on the net for cheaper)

So, can anyone give me a helping hand?
Many Thanks,
ben m

[Dubbing Mixer]

I'd go for the flat screen which pleases you most with Nicam and stereo RCA outs. Any half decent AV amp will take care of Dolby Prologic (II if you're lucky) from domestic terrestrial broadcasts. Dolby Digital and DTS from DVD and eventually from sattellite/terrestrial digital set-top boxes (In my dreams) will also be taken care of by the AV amp assuming it has sufficient digital inputs. For ease of control you may decide you need a remote which can deal with the telly, DVD etc. and the amp. There are many about at hugely varying prices. Again, some AV amps come with remotes which either have codes for various manufacturers TVs etc or can 'learn' the codes.

Hope I've understood your question correctly!

Hi Dm,
thanks for your reply.
So I presume then that any AV amp with inbuilt prologic decoding can just be fed the stereo signal from the TV RCA outs and it will automatically decode it! Woo-Hoo!
So, I think I will go ahead and buy one of the nice flatscreens then.
Thanks again,
ben m

[Dubbing Mixer]

Correct! You will probably have to select it on the amp, but otherwise that's exactly how I listen to Dolby surround. The same applies to VHS cassettes (assuming you have a Nicam VHS)

It's always worth trying the decoder on big BBC broadcasts, (drama etc.) because the BBC use it sometimes but don't advertise the fact.

The only annoyance is on feature films which have been 'modified' locally for language. These quite often get transmitted either with no Dolby Surround or the encoding drops out where the changes have been made.

Rob