So I want a smart TV - but am I too fussy ?

[dUnKle]

My current TV is a 50" Panasonic G10
I purchased it after doing numerous research and reading numerous reviews. It was said to be one of the best sets around at the time

And yes it is good, but I have never been blown away by it
Having owned numerous TVs and Projectors over my 20 year HC love fest the G10 just never seemed to live up to my expectations and the reviews

My biggest gripe with it is solarisation (I think thats what its called) where by on scenes with white in them (clouds etc) the clouds never seem to blend in smoothly and this does also show itself on faces etc

Also the noise (dots) that is common to Plasmas does sometimes tend to be a little too obvious (very rare though this)

Its fully calibrated and can be a gorgeous picture, but I just feel that its not the best there is

So what do I replace it with ?

I need the TV to be 50" (due to space I can not have a TV that is any bigger than my current set, although I guess if I could get one without a "frame" then I may be able to do 52")

Im not bothered about sound as have a separate sound system
Not concerned about its digital tuner as have SkyHD
Do want a "smart" set with as many features as possible
In now way bothered about 3D which I see as the spawn of the

So can anyone help
Im happy to pay what is needed for a quality set

 

[next010]

Smart TV's are still in the early evolution, having just passed the primordial soup stage.

Most of the TV's sold aren't supported for more than a year or two and each vendor has their own walled garden. What little apps are created may only work on a certain generation TV. The only platform approaching anything like a standard is GoogleTV but that still needs a lot of spit & polish, LG will be the first only ones selling GoogleTV enabled sets in the UK I think.

Aside from GoogleTV, Samsung probably the best of a lacklustre bunch, Panasonic are not that great, they have some of the popular services as long as you buy the very latest model but the smart tv features don't always work out so well like their Viera remote for phones/tablets, same goes for LG/Samsung & features like voice control having lack of polish so they don't live up to the marketing hype.

Is there a specific service your after that you want built into the TV that might narrow it down, but most feature rich in the feature long term would be GoogleTV, the others sets will all be abandoned well provided Google doesn't pull the plug on it's project.

Edit: If you want to hold onto the existing TV the Sony GoogleTV box has a HDMI pass-through so will give you all the same functionality without having to change inputs. The UI will overlay your existing set top box.

 

[dUnKle]

Cheers next

Very interesting and helpful - what if I forgo the smart function and just get a new TV
What should I be going for ?

I just like the idea of Iplayer etc being there (not fussed really about net browser, facebook etc)

 

[next010]

iPlayer is on most of them so yeah that's no problem, Pansonic are fine if you want to go with them again. The T50B is their top of the line series in LCD or Plasma. Panny are still considered tops for Plasma.

Samsung E series are the newest from them, I have Samsung C7000 plasma and came from VT10 Panny plasma, black levels arent as good but it doesnt have phosphor trails and is a great TV. The E series are supposed to improve on that closing the gap a bit more.

 

[dUnKle]

Cheers
Still none the wiser
Guess i just want the best possible set for skyhd, gaming and movies.

 

[niall campbell]

Get a THX screen then. My Panny G 20 & 30 are cracking and with DLNA will play any film stored on my NAS hard drive or laptop.

 

[dUnKle]

Tempted but i just feel as if my g10 is lavking what i deem to be perfection and just worry why

 

[niall campbell]

I wouldnt worry about it

have you stuck in a Star Wars DVD and used the THX set up ?

its a good starting point. THX on normal viewing on tv may be a bit darker though , I keep mine on THX settings all the time ..................... but its not for everyone

Are you disappointed with the Freeview picture ? What about feeding a 1080 p signal if it can handle that