[richard plumb]

Reading all these scare stories about TVs with terrible problems has me wondering how bad it really is.

I have a 6 year old Sony 32WF1, and its still going strong, with good picture (to my eyes)

Are the new TVs really that bad, or is it just that people tend not to post positive news?
Would I notice an improvement in picture quality if I changed TV? Most of the time I pop into the high street they are set up craply with VH1 via RF distribution so you can't actually see the picture quality anyway.

I know what you mean mate. reading all the horror stories on this forum can put you off almost every set you set you mind on. you decide on one thing and then two days later you see a post saying its rubbish!

[fatbob]

Many TVs are capable of terrific performance, especially the higher end models from the likes of Sony and Toshiba.....BUT......(and it's a big "but") many of these otherwise excellent sets are marred by nagging problems which prevent many owners from getting full enjoyment from their sets.

So you could well get a tv with the best picture you have ever seen, but you start to become aware of problems over time that aren't obvious when you initially watch the set.

A good example would be the Toshiba PF1, a set that many of it's users found to have a great picture, but during darker scenes in films, the sides of the picture were clearly a lighter shade than the centre of the screen. A problem such as this soon becomes very annoying, and for many people it outweighed the sets numerous strengths.

Some recent Sony's, which also produce fantastic pictures, have been marred by scrolling bars. Again, another fault which isn't immediately obvious, but very distracting once you notice it.

Modern TVs tend to have their problems hidden in areas of their performance that aren't clearly noticeable. For instance, you won't see many expensive sets these days with grainy pictures, or lacklustre colours and contrast, but you will find numerous sets that on close examination have poor geometry, faint scrolling bars, colour impurities and "dirty screen" effects.

Whether you get a set with problems or not is a bit of a lottery, as you could test five indentical TVs, and the quality of each set could vary from excellent to horrendous, so there's quite a bit of luck involved.

The only way to be sure if a new TV would offer an improvement over your current set would be to find a helpful dealer who would let you demo some sets with films you're familiar with, and would also let you set the equipment up properly. I'm in a similar situation, as I have a five year old Sony which has a great picture, but I feel the need to update to something bigger. I'm confident I could find a TV with a picture I would be happy with, but I'm worried about finding a set with a picture I really love, only to have to ditch it because of some nagging little fault.

Cheers.

Bob.