Hi Everyone,
Firstly, many apologies for what must be a very old subject. Despite being what I consider to be still young, I haven't yet dragged myself into the modern era of flat-panel TVs ... until now.
I have - up until recently - been happily watching my Sony Trinitron CRT TV (about 32" - can't tell you exactly the model number). Sadly, it went the way of a lot of these old CRTs recently, so I am looking for a replacement.
There are a few important things to note, and criteria :
1) We hope to move in a year or so. At that point I was either going to get a lovely big Plasma (depending on room size) or a small (32" or therebaouts) for general TV and a Projector for Films, etc. The demise of the current TV has brought this decision forward. Sadly, as we don't know the size or shape of the rooms in any future house, this is leading me away from the large Plasma route at the moment. We are very fortunate at the moment in that we are in a flat, but with a HUGE lounge. Very likely that a new house will have more (but smaller) rooms.
2) I'm a fussy *******. I'm an Engineer in the Broadcast Industry, so when I see MPEG artefacts or general cr*ppy pictures it really annoys me (and detracts from what I'm trying to watch).
3) Currently, we don't get Freeview HD, and can't put a Freesat dish on the flat. Therefore, 100% of my viewing is from SD sources (though I will admit that I would probably get a BluRay player with a new HD TV).
4) I was extremely happy with my CRT, and have yet to see anything that even comes close to the quality when displaying SD images. Sure, they look great with HD, but varying from utter s**t to almost acceptable with SD pictures.
5) Any TV must be capable of displaying my DVD collection, existing SD transmissions (Freeview), as well as my "Museum of Sh*te" as the missus calls it (BetaMax, LaserDisc, CED VideoDisc, etc ...). The last few are a concern as for the most part they are only available as Composite PAL feeds ... which I believe are about as bad as it gets with new flat panel TVs.
Due to not knowing exactly what my future requirements will be, I don't want to spend a fortune. However, I don't want to be always wishing I'd spent a bit more. So far I've looked at some LGs and some Samsungs, some Sonys and some Panasonics. Nothing has made me say "wow" yet, closest (rating "just about acceptable" with SD) was the Panasonic (the TX-L32D25B - LED TV). But it is expensive. We're entering 42" inch Plasma territory, financially.
It is quite possible that a lot of the picture problems I'm seeing are down to the way they are set up in the shops. However, none so far have agreed to demo a 32" TV. One told me that they don't waste their time demo-ing anything less than a 42" as no-one would see a difference. A similar example of rubbish came from another retailer (no names, but they offer a very good 5 year warranty ...), who stated whilst discussing the merits of Freeview HD vs Freesat HD, that no-one (not even SKY) transmits anything in 1080i - it is all 720p. I'd be glad to be proved wrong, but I think that's b*ll*cks.
So, I'm at a loss. So far, I've seen nothing to make me want to part with my hard-earned cash - certainly in the 32" range. Should I be considering going up to 42" to get a Plasma ? Is that going to solve some of the issues (Black detail, motion) but then highlight the SD upscaling artefacts more than a 32" TV would ?
Apologies for the jumbled mess. Pretty-much sums up my mind on this subject at the moment. Any thoughts, comments, or recommendations gratefully received (other than "go on ebay and get a replaceemnt CRT" - which I have thought seriously about but doesn't really meet the "wife-acceptance-factor").
Thanks,
Jon
Firstly, many apologies for what must be a very old subject. Despite being what I consider to be still young, I haven't yet dragged myself into the modern era of flat-panel TVs ... until now.
I have - up until recently - been happily watching my Sony Trinitron CRT TV (about 32" - can't tell you exactly the model number). Sadly, it went the way of a lot of these old CRTs recently, so I am looking for a replacement.
There are a few important things to note, and criteria :
1) We hope to move in a year or so. At that point I was either going to get a lovely big Plasma (depending on room size) or a small (32" or therebaouts) for general TV and a Projector for Films, etc. The demise of the current TV has brought this decision forward. Sadly, as we don't know the size or shape of the rooms in any future house, this is leading me away from the large Plasma route at the moment. We are very fortunate at the moment in that we are in a flat, but with a HUGE lounge. Very likely that a new house will have more (but smaller) rooms.
2) I'm a fussy *******. I'm an Engineer in the Broadcast Industry, so when I see MPEG artefacts or general cr*ppy pictures it really annoys me (and detracts from what I'm trying to watch).
3) Currently, we don't get Freeview HD, and can't put a Freesat dish on the flat. Therefore, 100% of my viewing is from SD sources (though I will admit that I would probably get a BluRay player with a new HD TV).
4) I was extremely happy with my CRT, and have yet to see anything that even comes close to the quality when displaying SD images. Sure, they look great with HD, but varying from utter s**t to almost acceptable with SD pictures.
5) Any TV must be capable of displaying my DVD collection, existing SD transmissions (Freeview), as well as my "Museum of Sh*te" as the missus calls it (BetaMax, LaserDisc, CED VideoDisc, etc ...). The last few are a concern as for the most part they are only available as Composite PAL feeds ... which I believe are about as bad as it gets with new flat panel TVs.
Due to not knowing exactly what my future requirements will be, I don't want to spend a fortune. However, I don't want to be always wishing I'd spent a bit more. So far I've looked at some LGs and some Samsungs, some Sonys and some Panasonics. Nothing has made me say "wow" yet, closest (rating "just about acceptable" with SD) was the Panasonic (the TX-L32D25B - LED TV). But it is expensive. We're entering 42" inch Plasma territory, financially.
It is quite possible that a lot of the picture problems I'm seeing are down to the way they are set up in the shops. However, none so far have agreed to demo a 32" TV. One told me that they don't waste their time demo-ing anything less than a 42" as no-one would see a difference. A similar example of rubbish came from another retailer (no names, but they offer a very good 5 year warranty ...), who stated whilst discussing the merits of Freeview HD vs Freesat HD, that no-one (not even SKY) transmits anything in 1080i - it is all 720p. I'd be glad to be proved wrong, but I think that's b*ll*cks.
So, I'm at a loss. So far, I've seen nothing to make me want to part with my hard-earned cash - certainly in the 32" range. Should I be considering going up to 42" to get a Plasma ? Is that going to solve some of the issues (Black detail, motion) but then highlight the SD upscaling artefacts more than a 32" TV would ?
Apologies for the jumbled mess. Pretty-much sums up my mind on this subject at the moment. Any thoughts, comments, or recommendations gratefully received (other than "go on ebay and get a replaceemnt CRT" - which I have thought seriously about but doesn't really meet the "wife-acceptance-factor").
Thanks,
Jon