Thomson 27LB125B5 vs Samsung LE26R41BD vs Philips 26PF4310/11

[JDAdams]

Hi all,

Just registered here as I'm looking into buying an LCD TV, and I have an unusual restriction that it has to come from Argos - I have around £400 of Argos vouchers I'm not using for anything much so I'm not about to waste hard cash somewhere else.

Sorry, this post gets a little long, but I've tried to keep information grouped together for ease of reading.

Requirements are:

- Sold at Argos
- Price <£800
- HD-ready
- 1 (or more) HDMI/DVI input
- 2 (or more) VGA/progressive component inputs
- All sound can be sent to a separate speaker system

Will be used for:

- Interlaced games (NES>Gamecube) through RGB (in some cases component / s-video / composite) upscanned to VGA (X-RGB2+ / Sweetspot) or DVI (Sweetspot capture card)
- Progressive games through component or converted to VGA (VDigi VD-Z3)
- HD Sky when it launches
- Freeview / Cable / Sky SD through RGB upscanned to VGA (X-RGB2+) if through an external box
- DVDs via VGA / DVI (Radeon 9800 PC) or RGB upscanned to VGA (X-RGB2+)
- PC games and general usage via VGA / DVI (Radeon 9800)

So with this in mind I'm looking at:

Philips 26PF4310/11 - £699.99
Samsung LE26R41BD - £799.99
Thomson 27LB125B5 - £799.99

All have plusses and minuses:

Philips:
+ 1280 x 768 (close to 720p native res but will also allow 1024 x 768)
+ Cheap
+ 3:2 / 2:2 pulldown
+ DVI port for easy PC use
+ Looks nice
- No VGA / component
- No HDMI port - will need an adaptor for Sky HD
- 16ms response time
- 26in screen
- No Freeview tuner
- 15:9 aspect

Samsung:
+ 1366 x 768 (highest res and will also allow 1024 x 768)
+ 16:9 aspect
+ 12ms response time
+ Highly praised on here
+ DVI + VGA + progressive component
+ Built in Freeview
+ HDMI port for Sky HD
- 1366 x 768 not native res for anything so all sources will be scaled
- Doesn't look as good as the others
- Apparently won't take full 1366 x 768 OR even 1024 x 768 via DVI from a PC?
- No DVI port - will need an adaptor for PC use
- More expensive
- No pulldown
- 26in screen

Thomson:
+ 1280 x 720 (720p native res - no scaling)
+ 16:9 aspect
+ 27in screen
+ Looks nice
+ Will take full 1280 x 720 via DVI from a PC (as that's standard 720p it should)?
- Lowest res of the 3
- Not many opinions available online
- 16ms response time
- No HDMI port - will need an adaptor for Sky HD
- More expensive
- No pulldown

Any opinions? I'm leaning towards the Thomson due to the correct aspect ratio and 720p native res, but the Samsung seems to come highly regarded - not sure if that's just becuase it's easier to get hold of and therefore more popular? Isn't it an issue that it's got a weird res where nothing will be 1:1 mapped? And does anyone know whether any/all of these screens will actually take their full res via DVI?

Thanks in advance

 

[Shook]

You're obviously into gaming and the Samsung is the set that Microsoft are using to display their 360 demo's on.

That's what swayed it for me.

I can't imagine you regretting buying any of the sets, to be honest.

 

[jtorry]

Stay clear of the Thomson. I managed to get it from Argos for £599 about a month ago before they upped the price. I was initially very pleased and it looks really nice. I then discovered that it suffers from awful image smearing and ghosting. A shame as this was an otherwise great set. It is being collected on Wednesday, as luckily I noticed the website lists an HDMI connector which it does not have, meaning I was allowed to send it back.

 

[tjradiohead]

Be careful when people talk about using that samsung for the 360 pods... It is one of the few panels that will tear at 720p out of the box, there is however a fix.

 

[Moogle]

Whether it requires a fix for tearing or not the Samsung is still the best model at that price point.

 

[loz]

To be clear, the Philips 4310 does support VGA and Component, it just doesn't have separate dedicated sockets.
Everything goes through the DVI port.
Also, the DVI port is HDCP enabled so will work with Sky HD.

But if you want to simultaneously connect lots of devices, like DVD/Component, Sky/HDMI, PC/DVI, then this set isnt going to work without investing in an external switch box of some sort.

However, I dont need that, and I am happy with mine so far, PQ wise.