£400 budget first time HD/LCD what to get?

[apneajoe]

Hi all I found this forum after looking for reviews on a couple of TV's we were considering and thought It'd be wise to ask some advise so here goes..
Our old faithful Sony Triniton crt is about to go bang and we want to upgrade, but we only have about £400 tops to spend (wedding this year too ) Anyway we have and use regularly a PS3, wii and watch a lot of films (through the ps3 since the dvd player died), we dont do sky nor are we likely too but do get and use a good freeview signal and were considering getting the freeviewHD+ when it comes out this year (assuming we get a new telly first!)
Anyway we want a 32-37" screen any bigger will be overkill and too much ££

So far we had looked at the:
Sony Bravia S series 32S5500 £379 on play.com
Samsung LE32B530P 32" £369 at dixons
and the
Samsung Series 4 450 32" LE32B450 £339 at play.com

Any thoughts on the above, pros and cons for what we will use it for etc. Or any other suggestions within our price range. obviously we know we wont get a top of the range one with our budget but want to get the best we can for the money. We are both new to the whole HD/LCD/Plasma thing so all advise appreciated..
Hopefully be ordering something later today!

Thanks Joe and Lucy, Dorset.

 

[joeprosho]

hi there, ive been in a similar predicament for absolutely ages now £400 and almost entirely for ps3 use, i initially set out with samsung in mind but have been pointed away due to gaming lag that is associated with the screens,

LG have been highly reccomended to me on this forum and in store for my purposes, i am currently toying between paying an extra 30 quid to get the 37" LH3000 for 1080p as my other current option is the 42" LH2000 which is only 720p £400 though... but i think the resolution will matter cause ill be sat quite close,

sound on samsung is notoriously poor, and there is meant to be lag with gaming and that model has a slightly slower screen response 8ms, i have been in my local richer sounds and if you want a 32" they highly reccomended the LH4020 it did have a nice picture when i saw it,

 

[apneajoe]

Cheers for the response, the 32" LG LH3000 appears to be in our budget so is added to the possibles list. Does anyone have any other thoughts on, this one, the originals or any other options..
The other LG's mentioned also look good but I didbn't manage to find any in my budget.. if anyone else can do let me know!
Joe

 

[joeprosho]

you can get the 32LH4020 in store at richer sounds for 399 i believe

dont know much about the sonys as ive become heavilly focused on LG since initially setting out with samsung in mind, the s5500 gets a distinctly average review from WHICH it all reads quite dissapointing in colours, image quality and sound but you can read a lot of user comments on it here

Sony Bravia KDL-32S5500 Reviews and Best Price Guarantee: 32" Screen LCD TV

and that makes it all sound pretty decent! hope it helps, i leave you to hopefully get a few responses from people on this who own one!

 

[MnT]

I have found the AVforums trememdously helpful over the past few months, so here goes my experience.
Wanted a good performance in Freeview SD and had settled on 32". Plasma sounded good, but only started at 37" - too big for us. Flirted with a Samsung 550 and an LG 4000 - and fancied a Panasonic X15 (too pricey I felt).
Had read fantastic reviews for Panasonic TX-32LZD85 (1080P & 100hz), but rare as hen's teeth and £550+ if you could find one.
Then stumbled on Hyperfi's ebay shop with some Irish models (digital tuners don't work with UK Freeview) but since we always watch through our Humax, didn't condsider this a disadvantage. Bought one at £400 - no hassle delivery, new TV with all packaging etc .
Result? After three weeks viewing - fabulous panel, awesome picture, good sound (obviously not as good as old Sony CRT box...)
Lesson? Panel quality is everything! How this TV manages to get HD like pictures from Freeview SD through SCART is beyond me! Have several times caught myself asking 'How much better is HD than this?!' Perfect colour repro (ECO, Normal colour balance, no sharpening & other settings around the mid point). Cannot rave enough about this panel!
Happy hunting!

 

[apneajoe]

Cool thanks another one to consider.. if i could find it!
Suppose I should add the amount of each sort of viewing we do.. I'd guess almost 60/40 for SD freeview (till we get HD freeview+) and the PS3 with a movie or two a week thrown in. If that makes any difference please let me know! Neither of us are big sports fans but do like action films and fast paced games. Plasma is floating in my head at the moment as well but guesing ££ and size will count it out.

 

[MnT]

Found the Trusted Reviews site quite reliable. Seem quite unbiased. Signed into the Which? £1 offer and they do quite detailed analysis of each tv.
Can be quite a stressful experience! All the best.