Entry level 42" plasma - any advice or suggestions?

[a11y]

Hi folks, first post

We're considering buying a new TV to replace our current 8-yr old JVC 28" CRT. We've got a bit of catching up to do, can't believe the amount of variety and a lot of it just goes waaaay over my head...

Our budget is £400-500. We've don't want to spend more as we don't watch that much TV or DVDs. I think I've limited it down to plasma based on our intended uses but please correct me if I'm wrong:
- freeview SD (we don't have a freeview HD box, possibly something for future)
- mainly sport we watch on TV plus occasional programmes
- DVDs mainly
- no gaming, doesn't interest us
- use in our main room, lighting usually dim so plasma seems well suited
- no need for good sound as it'll be connected to our external audio set up (Denon/JM Labs)

I'm considering something along the lines of an LG 42PQ2000 @ £350 but have slight reservations about it not being 1080p.

Am I right to be worried?
Would I notice the difference between this and a budget 42" 1080p TV?

The reason I'm worried (again I could be wrong in my thinking) is that we'll probably end up buying more titles on blu-ray as my wife's laptop has a built-in blu-ray drive. My mate reckons we'd notice the difference between HD-ready and 1080p on a 42" screen, correct?

There's a bit of price jump up to a 1080p 42" plasma and TBH it's beyond what we want to spend, but if it was going to make a massive difference to picture quality then we're probably hang on and not buy now...

Sorry for all the Q's! Happy to listen to any advice about the suitability of the above TV, or any other suggestions. But please, if you make suggestions please remember our tight budget and also please clarify why you'd suggest something else over that LG model above. Not asking much, am I

Many thanks
Ally

 

[bigtanker198]

if you are goin to be watching blu rays id wait and get the 1080p tv i have a 32" hd ready lcd and a full hd 50" plasma and the pic on the plasma is way better than the 1080i lcd. but im no expert on them i just watch them.

 

[a11y]

Thanks.

TBH I'm not sure if we are going to be watching any blu-rays on whatever TV we get, but it's one of those "just in case" scenarios where the capacity to get the most from them might be worth having. Certainly at the moment we don't watch anything on blu-ray...

Argh, really undecided. 720p is going to be enough for most of our purposes, it's just the blu-ray aspect which isn't a huge one IMO. But then I've not seen teh difference between a regular disc and blu-ray so wouldn't know what I'm missing!

For the money, I'm swinging towards getting one of these LGs at £350 and just living with the fact that it's not the ultimate for blu-ray, but that I've saved a good bit of £££ in the process...

Any further advice very much appreciated

 

[Vhero]

Buy PANASONIC TX-P42U20B | 42" plasma tv - Television | Comet
Just ordered this myself maybe a little out of your budget but has all the features of some of the bigger models and would look amazing with your blu-rays.

LCD Version £50 cheaper though a bit lighter on specs
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-T...2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1277282258&sr=8-2

Honestly getting a 1080p 42" Plasma for less than £500 new is difficult to find.

 

[dkindnes]

@Vhero
I was looking at this same model.
But there isnt much about it on here.

What do you think of it?