Ok, so this will be the first time in nearly 10 years I've bought a 'main' Tv, (ie. not a little portable jobbie), as I am currently using a 28" CRT, so I just wanted to check if i had everything right.
In my basic understanding;
- Plasma good in darker rooms, gives best picture under these conditions, but can be prone to screen burn if used for gaming or images with 'common features' such as logos or black bars.
- LCD are better for brighter rooms, blacks can be a bit grey depending on model, but getting better. Lower power than plasma, no screen burn, but may give juddering on fast moving sports etc.
- LCD with LED backlight, improves the contrast and vibrant-ness of LCDs.
Based on the above I have pretty much decided on an LCD of one form or another.
Although the plasma sounds good for evening film watching, the kids will have it on through the day so the running costs have to be considered for me, and also we will likely play game systems and kids 'plugin' game systems on it.
I am looking in the size range of around 40" to 46".
Sound performance is not overly important, but an optical output would be good so that I can connect it to my Panasonic surround system. (If the TV can take in 5.1 over HDMI and pass that out to the surround system over the optical that is bonus points too!).
I / We are not a 'sports watching' family, the football is never on, the tennis is unlikely to be on, and the F1 is on ocasionally!
Main uses will be SD Virgin, for kids stuff during the day, and then films and other SD tv in the evenings. I have an upscaling DVD player though, and will likely get some form of bluray player in the future.
Is 100Hz going to be an important feature for me? It seems the feature does drive the price up, quite a bit on some models, but I'm not sure if it is going to be used without the sports watching? It seems that on most TV's the 'gaming' modes and movie modes, switch off the 100hz anyway.... or have I got the wrong end of the stick here?
I had been considering the 600 series Sharp LED backlit LCD's but they are 'only' 50hz, and despite online availability I have yet to see one in the flesh in store. Is 50hz still an issue with LED backlight?
So, any recommendations, and also do I need the 100hz? Thanks all
In my basic understanding;
- Plasma good in darker rooms, gives best picture under these conditions, but can be prone to screen burn if used for gaming or images with 'common features' such as logos or black bars.
- LCD are better for brighter rooms, blacks can be a bit grey depending on model, but getting better. Lower power than plasma, no screen burn, but may give juddering on fast moving sports etc.
- LCD with LED backlight, improves the contrast and vibrant-ness of LCDs.
Based on the above I have pretty much decided on an LCD of one form or another.
Although the plasma sounds good for evening film watching, the kids will have it on through the day so the running costs have to be considered for me, and also we will likely play game systems and kids 'plugin' game systems on it.
I am looking in the size range of around 40" to 46".
Sound performance is not overly important, but an optical output would be good so that I can connect it to my Panasonic surround system. (If the TV can take in 5.1 over HDMI and pass that out to the surround system over the optical that is bonus points too!).
I / We are not a 'sports watching' family, the football is never on, the tennis is unlikely to be on, and the F1 is on ocasionally!
Main uses will be SD Virgin, for kids stuff during the day, and then films and other SD tv in the evenings. I have an upscaling DVD player though, and will likely get some form of bluray player in the future.
Is 100Hz going to be an important feature for me? It seems the feature does drive the price up, quite a bit on some models, but I'm not sure if it is going to be used without the sports watching? It seems that on most TV's the 'gaming' modes and movie modes, switch off the 100hz anyway.... or have I got the wrong end of the stick here?
I had been considering the 600 series Sharp LED backlit LCD's but they are 'only' 50hz, and despite online availability I have yet to see one in the flesh in store. Is 50hz still an issue with LED backlight?
So, any recommendations, and also do I need the 100hz? Thanks all
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