Best 3D TV on a budget

oggmyster

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Hi all,
Been looking into 3D tv's and now understand how hard it is to choose...
I will be mainly gaming (2D and 3D) and also 3D blu rays (has to be a nice 2D experience as well).
I am looking for a 40"-50" so anything like that.
I have been looking at the Panasonic Panasonic TX-P46ST30B (42"/46") and some of the samsungs...Samsung UE40D6510...Samsung UE40D6100.
So around £500-£700 ish...
So some replays from people who maybe own or have seen these in action would be awesome. Would love some comparisons between some of them as well.
Cheers
 
Also the LG 42LW650T... Think maybe the active shutter is the way to go though.
 
I've just gone for the Toshiba 40TL868B 40" LED 3D for £478 delivered. There is also a 46" version available. Not many reviews around as it's a brand new range so I've taken a bit of a punt.

The best bit is, either of these sets comes with a free Toshiba 3D Blu-Ray player and 12 month Lovefilm subscription as part of a promotion that certain retailers are taking part in. You can also get a free 5 year Tosh warranty :clap:

It has a thin bezel and comes in at a similar width as the Samsung 40UD6530 at 92.3cm. One of the better looking Toshiba sets.

Toshiba 40TL868B - Toshiba Free Bluray Offer - Electrical Experience
 
I've just gone for the Toshiba 40TL868B 40" LED 3D for £478 delivered. There is also a 46" version available. Not many reviews around as it's a brand new range so I've taken a bit of a punt.

The best bit is, either of these sets comes with a free Toshiba 3D Blu-Ray player and 12 month Lovefilm subscription as part of a promotion that certain retailers are taking part in. You can also get a free 5 year Tosh warranty :clap:

It has a thin bezel and comes in at a similar width as the Samsung 40UD6530 at 92.3cm. One of the better looking Toshiba sets.

Toshiba 40TL868B - Toshiba Free Bluray Offer - Electrical Experience
If you are interested in this set these are somethings to consider.
It is active 3D and does not come with any glasses!
Almost all other active 3D TVs give 2, 3, or even 4 pairs of glassess.
Each one will cost you at least £60.
Like some other Toshiba sets, it also has Freesat HD.
 
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Id stick with the Panasonic ST30. A fantastic TV and can be bought as a package with glasses and (on some sizes) a blu-ray player from places like Richer Sounds, John Lewis, or for the "best" deal on a 42" look in Comet (although some people may prefer a 5 yr warranty from JL instead of 2 free glasses. Also note Comet sell it as the ST31)

Or if you can stretch your budget, the GT30 is the model up and is a truely cracking set. But will cost more money. Again, JL and RS have good deals on the GT30.

Edit:
My reason for picking this is because it has arguably the best 2D pic you can get, and also voted here as the best 3D this year (athough some will prefer passive)
Also, in my book, plasmas will alwayd beat LCD/LED. They just have a better image, darker blacks and are better for gaming thanks to lower lag (the ST30 is 16ms!)
 
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Also the LG 42LW650T... Think maybe the active shutter is the way to go though.
This will be your choice for the best 3D (and 3D gaming) but obviously cost is an issue (but well worth it in my view)

Not sure how it scores on gaming lag though.
 
Thanks a lot guys.
The Samsung PS51D550 is a very tempting idea. I did see when playing 3D in a PC world and it was nothing on the Panasonic vt30 (I know it's the top range model in Panasonic but the guy in the shop said that the 3D experience would be similar but the contrast and colour wouldn't be as good ).
The LG I have experience. Few times but I can definitely see a lot of ghosting.
I am not sure on the Toshiba sets...never seem to be as good as Panasonic.
I would LOVE to get the Gt30 but I can't justify getting one at the price they are now as I am only 16 and don't have unlimited spending amounts....do you reckon ye Gt30 will be cheap enough just after Christmas (January) as I don't min waiting too much :/
Cheers
 
The LG I have experience. Few times but I can definitely see a lot of ghosting.
I am not sure on the Toshiba sets.
You'll never see any cross-talk on a LG unless it's one of the old active sets. Sounds like you didn't view it properly (which is really the stores fault for mounting it wrong :rolleyes:). I'd view it again (making sure you don't look down or up at the set) since very low x-talk (ghosting) is the main reason passives are popular.

Toshiba passive sets get great reviews (especially if you're a gamer) but I'd be very wary of their cheaper active offerings (yet to see a review)
 
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The LG I looked at really stood out ( very 3 dimensional ) but I could still see double lines on some scenes (may have been standing up....
The only other thing that scares me about passive is the lack of resolution especially with High Def games....
 
The LG I looked at really stood out ( very 3 dimensional ) but I could still see double lines on some scenes (may have been standing up....
The only other thing that scares me about passive is the lack of resolution especially with High Def games....
I'm pretty sure all LG passives are Full HD 3D so no difference in resolution

I'm not a gamer myself but from what I've read on here you're definitely want to avoid active if you're heavily into gaming due to the greater x-talk they produce. Toshiba passive would be your best choice though due to better gaming support and lower lag.
 
Active shutter glasses keep 1080p resolution and usually have less ghosting but the passive glasses half the resolution.... And from what I have seen have a lot of ghosting ?
 
Jason Shouler said:
I'm pretty sure all LG passives are Full HD 3D so no difference in resolution

I'm not a gamer myself but from what I've read on here you're definitely want to avoid active if you're heavily into gaming due to the greater x-talk they produce. Toshiba passive would be your best choice though due to better gaming support and lower lag.

LG passive systems are definitely not Full HD when in 3D mode. They only have 540 lines per eye leaving you with 3D that has excessive jaggies and the Tosh uses LG's panel from last year, so will be worse.

You're best bet is active 3D on a plasma panel like the Pana VT30 or the Sammy D8000. This is because plasma has a quicker response rate, even in 3D mode than LCD based equivalents, although the Sammy D8000 LED is getting close.
 
Active shutter glasses keep 1080p resolution and usually have less ghosting but the passive glasses half the resolution.... And from what I have seen have a lot of ghosting ?
How do you work one that one out :confused:

Passive will walk over any active set when it comes to lack of cross-talk - it's basically no contest.

...unless of course, as already said, you decide to view it from the wrong angle!

Don't believe me - then try asking gamers who made the mistake of moving from passive to active :eek:
 
LG passive systems are definitely not Full HD when in 3D mode. They only have 540 lines per eye leaving you with 3D that has excessive jaggies and the Tosh uses LG's panel from last year, so will be worse.
They display 1080 lines which is very easily verified with a 3D test card!

3D doesn't work with one eye - try using both for the test.
 
Jason Shouler said:
They display 1080 lines which is very easily verified with a 3D test card!

3D doesn't work with one eye - try using both for the test.

Any fool can see that the resolution on a passive is much lower than an active all u need to do is look at slightly angled lines and they break up on passive. Have a look at the tank guns in the war scene in the film Monsters vs Aliens and you will clearly see the lines looking broken on a passive TV, rather than smooth lines on an active TV as you would expect from a Full HD film.
 
Any fool can see that the resolution on a passive is much lower than an active all u need to do is look at slightly angled lines and they break up on passive.
You obviosly understand very litle about how passive tech works.

Go and read up on it, pay particular attention to how the polariser works, and then come back and explain why it's a really bad idea to look at the polariser very close (the explanation is quite interesting).

The reason you shouldn't look at the polariser off vertical centre I'd have thought was a little more obvious.

EDIT: You'll find the answers in many of the active vs passive threads where this has been covered exhaustively - and is probably the best place to reply if you want to discuses it further. :)
 
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Active shutter displays 1080 and passive is half that... Pretty sure I will go for active especially for thing like battlefield 3.
 
Active shutter displays 1080 and passive is half that... Pretty sure I will go for active especially for thing like battlefield 3.

I think you dont have a full understanding of how passive 3D tech works, I can assure you passive 3D is not half res.. well.. unless you only have one eye. ;)
 
They display 1080 lines which is very easily verified with a 3D test card!

Active shutter displays 1080 and passive is half that... Pretty sure I will go for active especially for thing like battlefield 3.
Do you have a problem reading posts :boring:

You can buy any set you like and it wont effect me but I'm a little surprised you chose to start a thread only to ignore comments left for your potential benefit.
 
I have read many many reviews saying exactly what I said do I was just trying to understand if passive was intact half res... Have talked to a lot of people in shops like PC world and have said the same thing. If i am wrong that would be good because then I would probably go for the passive.

Check this out and it will show you that maybe your theory is incorrect?

Active Shutter vs Passive 3D TV: which is best? | 3D Radar - 3D news and reviews

The quote:
The catch with Passive 3D is that the system reduces the resolution of the 3D image. A Full HD 3D 1920 x 1080 Blu-ray is presented at 1920 x 540 pixels; Sky 3D, which transmits in a 1920 x 540 resolution side-by-side format, is delivered at 960 x 540.
 
I have read many many reviews saying exactly what I said do I was just trying to understand if passive was intact half res... Have talked to a lot of people in shops like PC world and have said the same thing. If i am wrong that would be good because then I would probably go for the passive.

Check this out and it will show you that maybe your theory is incorrect?

Active Shutter vs Passive 3D TV: which is best? | 3D Radar - 3D news and reviews

The quote:
The catch with Passive 3D is that the system reduces the resolution of the 3D image. A Full HD 3D 1920 x 1080 Blu-ray is presented at 1920 x 540 pixels; Sky 3D, which transmits in a 1920 x 540 resolution side-by-side format, is delivered at 960 x 540.
This is pretty much pure dross from people with an obviously weak scientific background (or possibly just plain deliberate bias).

Google will returns results based on popularity of a site but unfortunately does not rate the accuracy of the information offered :( Many such sites hold more useful information within the comments submitted rather than the so called review :rolleyes:

Obviously there are good sites too but it can be tricky picking the wheat from the scarf.

You'd do far better to read the discussions within Forums like this, and similar, which are largely based on peoples direct hands-on experience :smashin:
 
Quote from AVForums review of the LG LW550, this might I add was the latest review in LED/LCD tv section.

The big stumbling block for passive 3D is the perceived loss of resolution that results from the use of two interlaced images. With 3D Blu-rays you are essentially losing half the horizontal resolution and with Sky which is delivered as a side-by-side format you are losing both horizontal and vertical resolution. However when actually watching 3D content you are never really aware of a loss in resolution. There are a number of reasons for this but by far the most important is that the brain places more importance on depth that it does on resolution. This means that although the resolution is lower the additional depth cues result in an image that appears just as detailed. We actually had an active shutter display in for review at the same time as the 47LW550 and by sending a simultaneous 3D image to both we were able to do direct comparisons. At any sensible viewing distances the differences in resolution just weren't noticeable unless you actually looked for them. Overall we always found the passive 3D image to be preferable due to the increased brightness, the lack of crosstalk and flicker, the wider viewing angles and the lighter more comfortable glasses.
Whilst active shutter remains our preferred method for use with projectors due to the higher resolution we do feel that passive offers a far better experience on TVs. There is no question that passive technology offers the best hope for 3D to reach mass market acceptance because it makes the format both simple and accessible to the whole family - especially for communal experiences such as sporting events and concerts which will require lots of glasses. Whilst the actual resolution might be less than active shutter this is far less important than factors such as brightness, lack of flicker and crosstalk, ease of use and especially cost.

So while there is a drop in res unless your looking for it the brain pays more attention on the depth of the image thus making it look just as detailed...unless you really look for the res drop.

The part Ive bolded makes me wonder what the plasma market can do to compete with passive tech pros.:confused:
 
Thanks for that, I really am considering passive now. I just feel a bit weird watching something that could be in higher res...
The main thing that I am considering is the fact that 90 % of the time I will be on my own playing games... So price of glasses aren't an issue and surely I might as weep go for the better res... But also the passive give a nicer gaming experience (from above).
I will just need to keep trailing them as much as possible.
 
After reading Insanity202's quote from the LW550 review I am now left unsure whether my own understanding is accurate :confused: :laugh:

Although technically the resolution would be halved if you pressed the pause button, you have to take into account the fact that a 960 x 540 interleaved image is presented to one eye and the other half of the full 1080 image is presented to the other eye.. many, many times a second. The brain fuses the image from both eyes to produce a full 1080 picture.

Is this correct ? I now suspect its not as simple as that..
 
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