Just want to ask some questiouns before buying an LCD

[tony kop77]

I am looking to buy an LCd near the end of November and just wanted to ask some questiouns because I dont know much about LCD or TV sets.

Does it Damage the screen if you play PC games or console games on an LCD? I have heard in the past they can burn images in the screen.

I am a football fan and heard a few people on here have had problems watching football games on an LCD some have even has some of the image burnt into the screen and some parts of the screen had changed to permant green.

I have a shortlist of panasonic TX-32LXD500, loewe concept L32, Hitachi 7200 and the Samsung LE32R41BD. I think I want the Hitachi because it has HDMI and DVI so I can connect the new Sky HD box when released and 360 without having to keep taking connections out. I know you can damage the scart pins if you keep taking it out and changing them not sure if it is the same with the digital connecetions and it seems other sets only have either HDMI or DVI not both.

My mind was made up to go with the Hitachi but I have heard it has a loud noise the and screen is not quite as good as the Panasonic or the Loewe set although the Hitachi motorised swivel stand sounds like a nice feature but would I really use it other than to show off .

I might use the LCD set and play my PC and console games and obviously I want to watch football games and dvd films. Digital Tuner is not important to me as I have Sky+ and I dont want a set bigger than 32". Can anyone answer my questiouns or give me advice on to which set I should go for please.

I am really excited in getting maybe the final piece to complete my home cinema kit (I dont know if my other stuff is still good though you can see what else I have from my signature) and I really can't wait to play the 360 on a HD-TV. I dont know what to expect really other than it should be better than my current 28 inch Samsung widescreen set espeically as it is not even flat sreen lol.

 

[richard plumb]

one thing to bear in mind is that Xbox 360 does not use DVI, just component (comes with the full pack), or VGA (you buy the cable separately)

so you may not need two digital connections (although they are always handy to have, and might be useful if you fancy the PS3 or a Hidef movie player in the future)

 

[knobbs]

hi, footy a 32 inch lcd, which is hi def proof, aint going to look to good, ive had a few, and il think you will be disapointed. these sets will come into there own once hi defs here.
apparently the sharp pe50, which was made for pal broadcasts, is very good footy wise, it will accept hi def pics, but downscaled, but still a great pic.
ive got a panny plasma, footys ok on that, not perfect, but the best ive seen.

 

[tony kop77]

Well sky are bringing out a HD box in Febuary so as long as watching football on the LCD does not damage the screen I can live with poor quality football picture untill Febuary.
I might play on my 360 more than watch football as watching Liverpool is not very exciting at the moment

 

[tony kop77]

I will get the PS3 when it is released and will upgrade my dvd player but dont want to upgrade that just yet because I want to see what format is the most popular before buying a next generation dvd player.
Can it damage the screen playing PC games like Half Life on an LCD? If I can play games on my LCD I might just take the monitor and computer desk out of my room and just place the hard drive under the tv and buy a wireless keybopard and mouse.

 

[petre]

Well sky are bringing out a HD box in Febuary so as long as watching football on the LCD does not damage the screen I can live with poor quality football picture untill Febuary.
I might play on my 360 more than watch football as watching Liverpool is not very exciting at the moment

chin up fella! i reckon we're looking good for number 6 over in paris next may

 

[tjradiohead]

I have seen a high def football demo, and even that looked poor

 

[vx220]

as u can see im new to the forum and this is my first post but in the last week i have tried out a few lcd courtesy of a friend in the retail business... i was impressed with the hitatch 7200 but the screen failed on me after 3 hours use... really annoyed me to be honest but i opted to not get another as i ended up with a philips 32fp9956 which im over the moon about, has the ambilight feature, pixel plus high def, media card reader etc etc and over all is an amazing allrounder.... not to mention it was for sale at his store for 1299.99 and i got it cost ... (945.00) inc glass stand and wall mounting bracket! my advice is go into a store look at a few within ur budget and try out a dvd to see what suits u best.... good luck with your decision!

 

[tony kop77]

Thanks for the replies guys. I dont really have a store near that sells the LCD sets that I want. I just wanted other people's views and help because I dont want to spend around £1700 on an LCD and find out it is no good or for around that price I could have got something much better.
Do you guys use your LCD sets to play your PC games and surf the net? I have a Radeon 9500 pro card bit old now but would like to play games on an LCD though I will prob use it most with the 360 and watching films.

I am also a bit worried because I read after so many hours the colours fade or something and the lifetime is around 10 years. I am worried I mught overuse it spending too much tim playing games etc and not get that many years out of it.

 

[richard plumb]

no burn in - so no damage

Don't worry about fading. With normal use it'll last as long as you want - they should be as durable as a CRT. Get one from a shop doing a 5 year warranty if you're concerned.

 

[tony kop77]

I was thinking of buying is from sevenoakes, I bought my Kef 2005 from them. I am also thinking about getting them to install it for me and setting everything up for me as I am sure they could set it up better than what I can.
Least I know I can play PC games and other games without and damage and same goes for watching the football even though the quality wont be that good for football.
I just dont know which of the sets on my shortlist to buy, least I know whichever I buy out of them four it will be a good set.

 

[J.Glen]

I've had the Hitachi for 4 days and i am completely satisfied with it.I've already watched a football game and had no problems whatsoever,in fact it looked gorgeous.

Reading this forum had scared me about how normal channels would look on an LCD tv in general and i was pleasently surprised with the results that i got using a regural RF.Of course i am not from the U.K and i don't know what things like skybox are.

Oh and it is great for gaming and the motorised stand can help if you have your tv in a ,somewhat,small room.

I would go for the panasonic or the hitachi if i was you they are top of the line,the samsung is popular mainly for its price and i really don't trust LG products.

 

[chriszzzzzz]

I have seen a high def football demo, and even that looked poor

Thats coz you are watching Derby county...

 

[tjradiohead]

Thats coz you are watching Derby county...

It was the albion actually, so no surprise it was poor!

 

[tony kop77]

Thanks for your help Glen. I think I will go for the Hitachi unless there is another great LCD set released between now and November.
The Hitachi has all the connections I want. 2 RGB one for gamecube another for Playstation 2, component for dvd player and one HD for 360 and the other for the new sky box.
The loewe concept L32 does look nice and got great reviews so still not 100% sure if I should go for the Hitachi 7200. I wont be getting a new set for at least 7 years so I want to make the correct choice.

I have a sony NS900V, Denon 2803, Kef eggs 2005 and looking through the new hone cinema magazines my kit looks a bit out of date now . Hopefully the new LCD Panasonic, Hitachi or Loewe wil be ok with the set up.

 

[tony kop77]

I thought the 7200 was HD ready but according to Comet it's not http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/html/cache/455_260908.html

 

[J.Glen]

It's definately HDready.I am using its HDMI connection with a samsung 850HD and it gives an 720p resolution(the resolution that sky will be broadcasting in the U.K from what i've understood from this forum) image through it.

The conectivity on this TV is excellent but if you want to know more why not check the magazine reviews that are on the first page of this board???They have all the answers.

 

[tony kop77]

Sorry to bump this up again but I might order an LCd this week and just wanted advice before finally deciding which one to go for.
I have a shortlist of Hitachi 7200, Loewe Concept L32 and the Panasonic TX-32LXD500.

All them sets are HD readyresoulution of 13366x768. The only difference is the Loewe has slighlty better picture over the panasonic though the Hitachi still has superb picture.
The Hitachi however has 2 RGB scart socekts compared to Panasonic's and Loewe's one and the Hitachi has HDMI and DVI while the Panasonic and Loewe only has one digital connection.

Give it about a year and I will have the playstation 3, the new sky box with HD, 360 and mayber a dvd player with HD. Should I go for the tvt with the best picture or the Hitachi because it has 2 RGB sockets and 2 digital outputs?

 

[Prof]

I would not buy any LCD TV at the moment. All the new HD stuff (XBOX 360, Sky etc) is not available yet. Now is the worst time to invest in this technology. The only thing that you will use an LCD TV for at the moment is normal TV via SKY or Freeview (which most agree, looks rubbish on an LCD), DVD playback (which, again, doesn`t look too good) and console games (again, wait for HD). I`ve done a lot of research, I`ve seen a lot of LCD TVs in my work (I fit TV aerials and setup TVs). I was going to buy an LCD TV, now I`m not, NO WAY. Wait until HD is launched, better still, wait until HD becomes established. Prices will fall, technology will improve. Anyone buying an LCD now is being taken in by style and marketing, not by any gain in picture quality. Just hang on !

 

[Freelancer]

Sorry to bump this up again but I might order an LCd this week and just wanted advice before finally deciding which one to go for.
I have a shortlist of Hitachi 7200, Loewe Concept L32 and the Panasonic TX-32LXD500.

All them sets are HD readyresoulution of 13366x768. The only difference is the Loewe has slighlty better picture over the panasonic though the Hitachi still has superb picture.
The Hitachi however has 2 RGB scart socekts compared to Panasonic's and Loewe's one and the Hitachi has HDMI and DVI while the Panasonic and Loewe only has one digital connection.

Give it about a year and I will have the playstation 3, the new sky box with HD, 360 and mayber a dvd player with HD. Should I go for the tvt with the best picture or the Hitachi because it has 2 RGB sockets and 2 digital outputs?

Crazzy, i'm in the same predicament as you. I'm looking to do a lot of gaming on the LCD i buy, and therefore i want as many connections as possible. For this reason, for a few months now i've had my eye on the Hitachi 32LD7200 (HMDI + DVI), but recently have been swayed from it (due mostly to the buzzing reports). However, i do like the menu usage and i think the Hitachi does look like a great TV.

I too have read "What Hi Fi's Sound And Vision" LCD test and the mag does imply that picture quality wise the Loewe is the best, with the Panasonic slightly behind, but both are outstanding. I believe there's a misprint though, as the Panasonic LXD500 has 2 RGB scarts, not one, as the magazine is claiming. It has 1 HMDI and 1 componant, 3 scarts (2 RGB), 1 VGA. I'm trying to decide whether that will be enough. I would have liked another high quality digital connection though..

A point of note however is that there's a new Toshiba 32WL58 out now, cheaper than the Panny set, comes with it's own stand, looks better than the older Tosh model but has 2 HMDI slots, 1 componant, 1 VGA, 3 Scarts (2 RGBs). That looks like a decent connection set-up, but it's probably got the same screen as the earlier 32WL56 model which is praised in the same issue of What Hi Fi for it's performance for it's cheaper price, but is no Panny beater. If it's the same screen in the 58 as in the 56, there could be picture noise in the HDMI feed, as reported for the WL56 from the magazine test. However, in "What Plasma & LCD" magazine, the Toshiba WL56 was rated the BEST gaming screen, and that bodes well for the WL58.

So, if we're really going to be doing lots of gaming, and want loads of connections, perhaps the best choice here is the Toshiba 32WL58...?

But i am torn, because for the extra cost i'm wondering whether actual picture quality should take priority and i should go for the Panny LXD500. I've seen this LCD around in stores and i reckon it does stand out from the crowd, both in looks of the panel, and the picture quality when compared to other LCD sets, so i can see why it's getting so much praise in the mag reviews. Maybe i can live with one less high def connection point, especially if the picture quality is ahead of the Tosh. But without a review yet of the WL58, there's just no way of knowing.

Considering i need a new TV as the tube has gone on my current 4:3 CRT, i'm looking to purchase now and it makes the deciision making process agonising.

Perhaps Panny will release the update to the LXD500 and it'll feature 2 HDMI connections? Or one HMDI, and one DVI?

 

[tony kop77]

Xbox 360 is out November and used HD so I want it for that. I was going to wait untill November but I keep reading there is a shortage of the sets on my shortlist so dont know if I should buy now to make sure I have an LCD set for November.
What Home Cinema and Home Cinema magazine have the Hitachi as the best LCD in their list of LCD's that have been reviewd.