Help with buying the right plasma TV HD ready or Full HD abit confused?

[liamjamesroe]

Hi guy's i'm looking to buy a tv i currently own a Toshiba 40TL868B which i bought last week but it's faulty so i'm getting a refund. The main issue is i'm on a budget of a maximum of £400 i don't have more to spend on a tv tht is my limit, 'm not bothered about 3D or using the internet or anything like that. I just want a good tv for no more than £400 with good picture quality.

I have seen PC World have the PANASONIC Viera TX-P42X50B HD Ready 42" Plasma TV for £369.00 down from £399.00 it looks nice but it's only HD ready, i will only be using the TV for watching telly and for playing the XBOX on preferably it will have freeview HD built in.

Can anyone explain to me why it is only HD ready and not full HD i have looked on John Lewis website and Richer Sounds and this TV is the best value one i could find but i haven't been able to find any plasma TV's that are full HD they all seem to be HD ready will this effect the picture quality when watching freeview HD and playing XBOX as apposed to my Toshiba currently that is full 1080p HD.

I could really do with some helpful and usefull information as i want to go sort this new TV this week if anyone else know's of any TV's within the £400 limit i would be grateful for the help thank you.

 

[scottthehat]

hd ready means it can take upto a 1920x1080i picture which is the highest tv picture broadcast.
full hd mans it can outptut a 1920x1080p picture from a bluray player or games console,
p is the best that can be had, so if its a 50hz signal it will flash 50 times per second,
i will flash in t halfs at 25times each.
progressive is better for fast moving stuff.

 

[Scooby2000]

It's not all about res, how much 1080p are you going to watch? Basically you're talking bluray an the odd game(very few decent 1080p games). As for TV like sky etc I find 720p best but a HD ready set will do both. bare in mind if a set is 768 it'll be scaling everything, but then it'll likely have a good scaler.

 

[liamjamesroe]

Ok thank's so would you recommend the Panasonic above? It sound's like a good plasma has freeview HD built in but do you no anything about it the picture quality build quality etc because it's the only plasma i can find for £400 or under that has freeview HD built in but every single plasma i have found is only HD ready there's no full HD one's yet every LED backlit or LCD TV i see for that price range all have full 1080P HD why is this?

 

[scottthehat]

It's not all about res, how much 1080p are you going to watch? Basically you're talking bluray an the odd game(very few decent 1080p games). As for TV like sky etc I find 720p best but a HD ready set will do both. bare in mind if a set is 768 it'll be scaling everything, but then it'll likely have a good scaler.

scooby, sky onlytransmit 1080i so if you set your box to do 720p it downscales the 1080i picture and gives you 960x540p so less then 1280x720,its best to stick with 1080i as thats all sky transmit.

 

[martinthorn1]

42" Plasma TV for £369.00 down from £399.00 it looks nice but it's only HD ready,

HD ready means the screen can accept all HD signals but you don't get the full HD resolution due to a lack of pixels (compared to a full HD tv). In practise it might not make any difference to you at all if you sit more than say 7ft away from the screen.. plus I think it's often stated in reviews that these HD ready plasma tvs, at these prices, are better than the full HD LCDs that are available at the same price despite the LCDs having more pixels.

 

[liamjamesroe]

I've just found at Richer Sounds a SAMSUNG PS43E490 for £399.95 which looks really good then there's the PANASONIC Viera TX-P42X50B for £369.00 these are the only 2 i can find within my £400 price range that both have freeview HD inbuilt the Samsung has 3D which isn't really something i'm going to use but if it's there as an extra i will take it.

But can anyone who has experience of both these TV'S give me any info on them both the picture quality colour and black levels i'm not massively up on all the Plasma spec's and what to look for but so i don;t really wanna go buying one then be dissapointed with the picture quality, i just want a good quality screen that look's as good as it can for freeview and the HD channel's and for when playing my XBOX so if there's any information anyone could give me on both these product's i'd be very grateful.

 

[Scooby2000]

scooby, sky onlytransmit 1080i so if you set your box to do 720p it downscales the 1080i picture and gives you 960x540p so less then 1280x720,its best to stick with 1080i as thats all sky transmit.

Oh thanks was thinking about my virgin, ether way a HD ready set should be fine.

OP Panasonic have quite robust build quality, QC isn't the best but for the money it's what I'd go for. It may not be 1080p but has other qualities I'd have over a cheap LCD. Best thing to do is go demo if you can.

Panasonic are the top plasma dog this year, in most areas it should beat the Samsung, you need to demo ideally as it's your eyes going to watch it.

 

[liamjamesroe]

Thank's for your feedback guy's i like the look of the Samsung but with the sounds of it the Panasonic would be the better choice quality wise The Toshiba 40TL868B i currently have has a great quality screen i really like it but it's faulty so i'm being drawn towards a plasma.

My only main worry is what the screen quality on the Panasonic would be like. compared to the Toshiba. The Toshiba screen is really good it's LED and looks great on freeview HD and XBOX i'm just worried that with the Panasonic only being Plasma HD ready it won't look as good as the LED 1080P Toshiba. The whole HD ready thing is what's confusing me as i don't want to loose picture quality when watching freeview HD and playing XBOX.

 

[logiciel]

preferably it will have freeview HD built in

The TV has a FV HD tuner if that's what you mean.