n00b to LCD TV's, 26" wanted, what do I need to know?!?!

Stokie Dave

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Basically, my old mother dearest was going to have a 28" widescreen from Asda, as we rent our current one and paying 65 quid a year for a 24" thing doesn't seem good value to me. She didn't wanna go the 2nd hand route so I found an ONN one in Asda for 125... all good, till I took her see it and she saw an LCD lol :)

So now decided to double her budget to around 260 for a 26" LCD screen.

I presume that the screen size is easily equivalent to a 28" CRT?

She only watches terrestrial telly, bit of freeview, videos (old skoool!) and the occasional DVD so I aint convinced she needs top end stuff but still.

Do I need worry about resolutions as such (i.e. is there a native res I need to look for, for a 26" LCD?)

Response rates?

Anything at all I need to know? lol :)

Thanks guys, quick replies much appreciated as we need one within a few days :)
 
just briefly talking to a mate on MSN... he says to look for 1080i/p aswell.. or 720 i/p should be fine on a budget, not quite sure what he's on about?
 
samsung make good tellys, they spent loads of wedge on lcd technology for their d..... range of phones and theyve applied it to their screens.

i cant really speak for other brands, but samsung 1080p capable screens are 37" or bigger. anything under, and it will (only) do 720i.

you dont really need it (1080p) to be fair, unless youre doing hi-def gaming or watching blu-ray discs, and the price is a lot nicer without it! :thumbsup:

oh- samsung screens are genuinely what they say they are btw...
 
Cheers for the reply :) Been looking @ big brand screens and I think they'll be well over budget... but spotted this one (as been looking in asda and argos @ cheap brands like ONN and Acoustic Solutions) for 270 delivered. I don't think she needs to spend more, providing the specs sound adequate (looks better than the AS one anyway)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134821

Freeview... is she ok using her old box, or is the freeview in newer tellies any different at all? And worth the extra 40ish premium?

Cheers :D
 
Been reading and slightly put off by Visitron now after hearing about a lot of faulty units.

Therefore the old dear would like to buy locally... so looking @ big name stores I guess, and supermarkets, and of course Argos :)

Any recommendations?
 
just briefly talking to a mate on MSN... he says to look for 1080i/p aswell.. or 720 i/p should be fine on a budget, not quite sure what he's on about?
HD tv = 1080 HD ready is normally 720P, at 26" the screen will be 720P but most will accept a 1080i/P signal and down scale to 720P

Cheers for the reply :) Been looking @ big brand screens and I think they'll be well over budget... but spotted this one (as been looking in asda and argos @ cheap brands like ONN and Acoustic Solutions) for 270 delivered. I don't think she needs to spend more, providing the specs sound adequate (looks better than the AS one anyway)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134821

Freeview... is she ok using her old box, or is the freeview in newer tellies any different at all? And worth the extra 40ish premium?

Cheers :D
Have a look in the Acouustic solutions thread, plenty of info in there, I would personally use integrated freeview, saves having another box plugged in...save the planet and all that, but if you have to use an external box it should be ok.

Curly
 
Cheers for the reply :)

Would like to buy locally but trying to make sure my mum understands about viewing angles if she goes this route as she sits off at about 30 degrees to the screen from where her chair is about 3 metres away.

Lot of money to her... Are Acoustic Solutions a good bet? Seem to get generally good write ups on here for budget kit I guess from what I can tell so far :)
 
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produ...evisions>C$cip=1500011494.26+inch+LCD+TVs.htm

Brought the acoustic solutions LCD26805HD in the end... not too bad, not brill with typical aerial input, not too bad on freeview, yet to try dvd's etc as not been at home much...

Nice enough looking, not as fancy as the more expensive counterparts but you get what you pay for.

Remote control volume buttons dont work, but foned them up and they're sending me a new remote so thats quite good service, see if it solves it... if not it can go back...

Aint got no HDMI devices but.. may look into that in the future.

Still odd going from CRT pic to this, colours are a tad washed out and people look a bit... fake? plasticy? lol... but change is always weird I guess.

Don't think anything else "local" would be any better :)
 
We've decided to return this TV for a refund.

For 270... the colours are pretty terrible. Very washed out... one min they can look ok, scene changes and its dark and dull... no amount of messing with settings can get something which makes you say wow.

We had an issue where the volume buttons dont work on the remote, so they sent us a new one... I tried it this morning, and it still doesn't work, so thats another reason to return.

I think for "regular TV" - CRT wins... we don't really use any high quality input sources and only wanted a new TV as our rental contract was up, however the rental company called us back when we cancelled and offered to sell us the TV we rent, so we brought it for £20 :)

The colours are better by far... however it does look small (24" CRT so 22ish viewable?) but when 26" LCD's are around the £200 mark, we may look into it again with more depth or spend more on a better brand :)
 

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