Good value 32"-37", preferably with USB PVR, Freeview HD & YouTube/iPlayer etc?

blizeH

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Hi,

My girlfriends parents have just given her a very nice car, and won't accept any money for it, so we thought it'd be a nice gesture to get them a new TV for Christmas.

Her dad wanted a TV that will let him plug his laptop into it (so, any TV with a HDMI input I guess) so he could view YouTube and iPlayer on the TV, but I figured it'd be a lot nicer to have that built into the TV if possible. They're cancelling their Virgin subscription soon so a built in PVR would be fantastic, also Freeview HD can look stunning so that'd be a nice bonus too!

Any suggestions would be very welcome, thanks guys
 
Don't think TVs come with PVR yet, some allow record to USB drive.
Once large capacity flash memory becomes cheaper, it will likely be included.

SMART TVs (Samsung being the market leader, in my opinion) have Freeview HD and connect to your router wired/wireless and play iplayer/youtube from internet, and files on PC over network.
 
Many thanks both, the Samsung SMART TVs look great, but seem to start at £400 and don't have... to be honest they're using a very old TV right now, so even one a fair bit cheaper (I've found some with built in PRV over USB for just over £200) might be okay for them. I'm guessing to save £200 or so, he could just plugin his laptop to watch YouTube, iPlayer etc, although that'd be a shame as he'd miss out on Freeview HD too, hmm.
 
I'd defintely go for the Samsung from those
 
Many thanks, any reason in particular? I'd get it in an instant if it supported recording :(
 
Toshiba don't have the best rep, pretty average among the brands, seem to suffer sound issues. They do produce the odd gem tho so look for reviews

F&H, no name rebranded Chinese/Easten Europe/Turkish stuff and usually no pro reviews or places to demo

Entry level LGs, suffer weak blacks, poor motion handling, banding and IMO the build quality always looks poor from LG

Do any of those support recording, it's a higher end feature. Do the Panasonics have it?

Did I misunderstand that you said the budget is £200 but you linked to £400 TVs?

I watch iplayer through my 2010 Samsung, just attached to my wireless hub by ethernet, works very well. YouTube is on there too, I don't personally get the point of YT myself so rarely look at it!!
 
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Thanks, no the budget isn't £200, but when it's for a gift for someone who probably won't notice the difference between black levels, motion handling or banding I figured it could be worth going for the cheaper model, especially since it reviewed very well and does actually have the 'higher end feature' of USB PVR, although I do take your points on board that it'll still no doubt by far eclipsed by the Samsung, which does have Freeview HD and the 'Smart' features.

Lots to think about, but for me it's between those two, personally I'm leaning towards the Samsung for the reasons you mentioned, but the price, reviews and PVR capabilities of the F&H making it an appealing alternative.

Thanks again
 
Spend some time demo'ing over the weekend at RS or similar :)
 
Okay, I've spoke with my girlfriend, and she's said if possible she wants something with USB PVR (so that's the Samsung out) and also Freeview HD (that's the F&H one out too)

Is there anything which will have both PVR and Freeview HD for under £400? If not, no problems, and we'll probably go with the Samsung, maybe just the LE32C580 like we have in the bedroom to save splashing out extra on a wifi adapter too.

Thanks again
 
Okay, final question (sorry all!) since I've narrowed it down to two TVs

Sony KDL32CX523BU - £350 (plus cashback on top) with USB recording, Freeview HD and internet functions
Samsung UE32D5520 - £409 with Freeview HD and internet functions

The Samsung looks a lot nicer, but is the actual TV worth all of that extra cost, and sacrificing USB record for too?
 
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