Cheapest 42" Branded 1080p LCD TV?

flemmo2

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Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had seen any good deals that might fit the bill?
Requirements are:

- A known name but not the budget brands like Bush, Goodmans, Acoustic Solutions etc
- 1080p
- LCD
- 42"

It doesn't matter about any of the technical specs such as contrast ratio, refresh rate etc. I've found a couple at the £480 mark but wondered if this can be beaten?

Thanks for your help ;)
 
Sharp LC42DH77E at £650

1080p, 24p true cinema, 100hz, 4ms, 3 HDMI, USB...

Have a look...
 
Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had seen any good deals that might fit the bill?
Requirements are:

- A known name but not the budget brands like Bush, Goodmans, Acoustic Solutions etc
- 1080p
- LCD
- 42"

It doesn't matter about any of the technical specs such as contrast ratio, refresh rate etc. I've found a couple at the £480 mark but wondered if this can be beaten?

Thanks for your help ;)

Not for a proper brand, LG tends to be the most price competitive brand that is decent (Hitachi get bad press for example). Will need ~£600 however for their entry level 1080p set from latest generation http://www.rgbdirect.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?SKUNumber=108181&Model=LG-42LH3000
 
Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had seen any good deals that might fit the bill?
Requirements are:

- A known name but not the budget brands like Bush, Goodmans, Acoustic Solutions etc
- 1080p
- LCD
- 42"

It doesn't matter about any of the technical specs such as contrast ratio, refresh rate etc. I've found a couple at the £480 mark but wondered if this can be beaten?

Thanks for your help ;)

Howcome things like contrast refresh response rate and viewing angles don't matter? Unless this television is going to be turned against a wall and never watched for *anything* they matter quite alot, moreso than 1080p.....
 
Howcome things like contrast refresh response rate and viewing angles don't matter? Unless this television is going to be turned against a wall and never watched for *anything* they matter quite alot, moreso than 1080p.....

That for the replies everyone.
The TV isn't for me, its for my mum. Where specs matter to me (I'm saving for a Samsung 8000 LED TV) they don't to her. As long as the TV has a decent picture quality and is cheap, the specs dont matter too much.
I am of course assuming that the branded TV's at the cheaper end, such as LG and Toshiba produce a reasonable enough picture. I find it hard to believe that they would release a TV that BluRay looked poor on?

I've found the LG 42LF66 for £499 from Electrical Deals, though the snag its its graded.
LG 42LF66 42'' Full HD Widescreen LCD With Freeview 42LF66 by LG - Electrical-deals secure online shop

Strange, a few weeks ago and I could find a few models for between £450 and £500, but now prices seem to have gone up a bit.
 
That for the replies everyone.
The TV isn't for me, its for my mum. Where specs matter to me (I'm saving for a Samsung 8000 LED TV) they don't to her. As long as the TV has a decent picture quality and is cheap, the specs dont matter too much.
I am of course assuming that the branded TV's at the cheaper end, such as LG and Toshiba produce a reasonable enough picture. I find it hard to believe that they would release a TV that BluRay looked poor on?

I've found the LG 42LF66 for £499 from Electrical Deals, though the snag its its graded.
LG 42LF66 42'' Full HD Widescreen LCD With Freeview 42LF66 by LG - Electrical-deals secure online shop

Strange, a few weeks ago and I could find a few models for between £450 and £500, but now prices seem to have gone up a bit.


thn forget 1080p as she won't need it - no tv signals are in 1080p and probably won't be for a long long time. Also, @ 42", a good HD ready TV is better than a cheaper full HD tv. If you forgo 1080, you open yourself up to a lot of the top makes for that price.
 
Hi,
(Hitachi get bad press for example).

How so? I have read quite a few Hitachi magazine reviews via Techradar and they are quite good, in fact they probably get fewer mediocre reviews than LG and Sharp have recently. One older set I looked at a while ago, the LD9700 got some of the best reviews out. The 8700, 8600 and the newer X and UTMH/MX series have been well reviewed too. If their IPS tech is that bad then LG and Panasonic would be getting bad marks too I think. I know they don't cost between 1 and 2 grand and haven't exactly advertised much but that doesn't matter in the long run really does it?

Plus the Sharp DH77 mentioned above got some pretty good comments in the latest What Video mag, it is only available in John Lewis though and through some online. Has had some mixed reviews on its colour accuracy and some contrast issues but that is debatable. Sharp D65 is an option as well and I think it is the only current Sharp model that the High Street chains are selling (including our infamous 'no worries' fellas.)
 
thn forget 1080p as she won't need it - no tv signals are in 1080p and probably won't be for a long long time. Also, @ 42", a good HD ready TV is better than a cheaper full HD tv. If you forgo 1080, you open yourself up to a lot of the top makes for that price.

But she will be watching blu-ray so needs 1080p for that.
 
But she will be watching blu-ray so needs 1080p for that.


There is a difference but very little. Go to a shop and try out blu-ray on 1080 and 720. If you get a cheap TV, you'll get a crappy SD picture with 1080. 720 is much better for SD TV. Also, the blu-ray will look terrible with a bad contrast ratio, even in Full-HD as it's that which gives the picture that depth and 3D type image. If I were you I'd change my priorities but hell, each to their own.
 
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Look at plasma for excellent SD and blu-ray playback :)
 
Sharp LC42DH77E at £650

1080p, 24p true cinema, 100hz, 4ms, 3 HDMI, USB...

Have a look...

4ms!!!! So its gonna leave a nice trail behind every moving part of the picture then!

Plasma technology needs only one impulse per pixel to produce an image. Its response time is only 0.001 msec. which is a thousand times faster compared to other LCD screens making Plasma TVs perfect for gaming.

Also you dont need 1080p especially not at 42" as you will never see it unless you sit less than 3 foot from the screen...

MORE PIXELS DOES NOT MEAN BETTER PICTURE!
 
Hi,
1) 4ms!!!! So its gonna leave a nice trail behind every moving part of the picture then!

2) Plasma technology needs only one impulse per pixel to produce an image. Its response time is only 0.001 msec. which is a thousand times faster compared to other LCD screens making Plasma TVs perfect for gaming.

I Just wanted to debate two points -

1) I can hardly see what you refer to as a 'trail' on the LCDs I have seen, the lower response times are useful to us as a reference since I have no idea how exact the measurement is. Some LGs have got this down to 3ms and I noticed that the picture is smoother, but not much else. Yes Plasma doesn't have any kind of meaningful response time since it doesn't have to polarise/switch light but I don't think anybody disagrees with that here. The main problem I have seen is what TV people refer to as 'judder' which is more commonly dealt with by 100hz technology.

2) I don't know whether this is relevant since the OP never mentioned gaming. He has mentioned Blu Ray hence 1080p is probably a useful feature to have. IMO I would rather have 100hz and 24p but that is down to personal preference.
 
Why do you need 1080p for blu-ray? - you dont!!!!!
 
Some interesting thoughts. Thanks everyone.
I totally agree with the "spend a bit more" view - I'm an AV enthusiast, currently looking at Samsung 8000, or even 9000 if I can wait that long...

... However, this TV isn't for me. I guess my mother is after something that doesn't exist - great picture, bargain price. So I'm trying to find something that's a balance of the 2.

I don't know much about plasma so I maybe crossed that option off a bit too soon. She does a lot of watching Sky+ HD and has been very underwhelmed by it, but on a 5 year old 32" 720p TV it was never going to look great.

If plasma gives great SD quality, 1080p and smooth motion then perhaps thats the option I should recommend to her. But I'm curious why everyone isn't buying plasma and crossing LCD off completely? Like I say, I'm not clued up on plasma, but I do remember reading lots about screen burn (she plays lots of games where static images are on screen for long periods of time) and the brightness dropping off over time, but I guess the technology has moved on since?
 
Hi all, I have a 720P projector and for Blu-ray the picture is stunning and that's on a 120" screen, so i have not seen a like for like comparison, but as on a budget the difference would not be that noticeable IMHO!

Also I have had a 32" Hyundai TV for the last 3 years - been excellent, i was a bit weary of the name, but it's been faultless!
 
First, as I have been saying all along, go for a 720, you don't need any more. 1080 on a cheap set is a no no for SD TV. Remember that SD TV has about half the information as Full HD which means that half the pixels have to 'guess' the rest. Even upscalers on expensive TVs are bad at guessing so a cheap TV will not handle it at all well.

Secondly, even at 8ms response, it is not noticeable to the human eye so there will be no little tail and at 4ms you won't see anything. Most LCD TVs are 5 or 6 ms and coming down (except for sony, stuck on 8ms - but you can't tell). Most PC monitors are also around that mark.

Finally
 
In reply to the above post I was led to believe from Blu Ray product specs that it has a native 1080/24p resolution, meaning there is no 'scaling' involved to fit the screen. The other uses for 1080p are supposed to be broadcast TV but these will be some way off. TBH I don't know if it is wholly necessary myself but if there is a limit to what is possible with high definition then maybe we should be better informed about it.

You pay a bit more for 1080p on Plasma than LCDs though, probably due to manufacturing costs but this gap might well come down in the near future. I say this because the Panasonic plasmas are probably considerably cheaper than their LCDs by screen size, if that is a fair comparison. You can get a 50 inch 1080p Plasma for about £900 from LG, for example whereas any LCDs that size will be dearer. The lowest price on a Sharp 52 inch 1080p LCD is still over a grand, and that is a model lacking 100hz/24p support.

Edit: Another thing is screen size. If 720p is OK on a 32 inch, for example then what happens when you double the screen area? Double the area on a 16:9 ratio would be more like 42 inches, so would 1080p (which is x2 720p) at this size be any different in resolution than 720p at 32 inch size? I know you say you don't see the difference on 1080p vs 720p but if 720p is x3 480p (progressive) there must be some improvement, even though the pixels will be roughly the same. Well, they will be maybe 15% smaller but at 46 inch nearly 5% larger, it is still marginal though.
 
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Pana TX-P42X10B is a good plasma for SD viewing and i've seen it for around £650:smashin::thumbsup:
LG PQ series is good and cheap too:cool:
Samsung B651 plasma

I would personally go for the Pana though, as i have one and it is really easy to use and good freeview and SD quality:)
You don't really need 1080p that much either, because the TV will downscale it and it will still look good, 10X better than SD of course.
 

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