Tellies

[Penguin45]

Anyone know much about tellies? Ours has expired and SWMBO wants one of these flat ones. What I want to know is how long are these supposed to last? Because we can get a no-HD one quite reasonably, or pay a lot for one with the HD technology, but it’s not enabled yet. So if they expire after a few years, it’s not worth it, if they last a long time, should I shell out?

Thanks in the bliss of ignorance,
Chris.

[gegsy]

Re: Tellies

In my day to day visitations of certain visual retailers, I have been told that the Panasonic plasma units have the best reliability and picture. Have had the pleasure of seeing the panasonic plasma HD in action with a HD player and its the dogs… Its like a moving photo taken with a decent camera, unbelievable.

Greg

SWMBO??

Strife Who Must Be Obeyed ?? 😆

PS – Engineer said steer clear of LCD; problems a foot 😯

[whitegoodsman]

Re: Tellies

yes panasonic or pioneer high diff will be here this year from sky and telewest and new dvd players on the way

[Martin]

Re: Tellies

gegsy wrote:PS – Engineer said steer clear of LCD; problems a foot 😯

Not sure that’s true, I think it’s the other way round?

http://www.somucheasier.co.uk/ed-plasma-lcd-tv-difference.html

[dpm]

I’d concur with martin. If an LCD is good (wrt dead pixels) when purchased it’ll likely stay that way. Only other issue is the backlight and it’s inverter; although the CCL tubes are getting better and better, and are damn-near user-replaceable anyway…

Plasma OTOH is very hot running, plus the screen suffers from the same burn problems as a CRT.

IMHO, this is a bad time to spend money on a swanky TV. Too many changes are under way at the moment to justify shelling out large amounts of dough. If SWMBO *must* have a flatscreen, just buy a supermarket special as long as the picture is acceptable to you…

[kwatt]

Re: Tellies

It comes down to the use of it for me.

If you are using it as a goggle-box and it’s on for the kids all day, especially if it runs the same channel with a logo, then LCD is probably the better bet.

If you want better quality, particularly with component or digital (HDMI/DVi) then IMO plasma is better but only when fed a really good clean signal.

That’s not to say that LCD is bad at all, there’s just more compromises. The one that stands out is the viewing axis where, if you sit off-axis looking at the screen, it can have a “washed out” look to it, plasma does suffer from this but to nowhere near the same extent as LCD.

With a little care plasma is fine and I have a plasma set and an LCD as well as having looked at more than a few in my time as it’s a part of my HA/HT hobby.

Greg is correct though, HiDef images on a decent set look absolutely stunning. Funnily enough I was watching an MS HiDef trailer thing on Saturday and it’s just a bit nice. 😉

Whilst HiDef programming is not yet here in the UK, though it was correctly stated that Sky starts this year on certain channels and it may also cost more, you can get a LOT of HiDef stuff from the US off the net. If you don’t know how I’m not telling you as you really shouldn’t know if you don’t already and it can be a dangerous thing to be doing for those that aren’t aware of the risks. But to do this you’ll need either a capable DVD player that can play files off your LAN or an HTPC/MCE machine to get that and all the codecs for playback.

Then you need the panel resolution, you have to run the PC at the panel’s native resolution which could involve the use of Powerstrip and, if you bork that up you may well bork the PC or monitor.

See what I mean about knowing what you’re about?

But in short, HD is coming… sooner rather than later in one format or another and I would advise buying a panel that’s capable so you don’t have to replace it in a couple of years just to playback some media.

There are massive differences in the picture quality of panels and the only way to be really happy is to go see them but remember when in store, they absolutely need the best possible signal to see them at their best, old CRT sets are far more forgiving in that area.

K.

[gegsy]

Re: Tellies

Martin wrote:

gegsy wrote:
PS – Engineer said steer clear of LCD; problems a foot 😯

Not sure that’s true, I think it’s the other way round?

http://www.somucheasier.co.uk/ed-plasma-lcd-tv-difference.html

I will tell the TV engineer as he is adamant that there is a prob with the displays on LCD nothin major a few teething probs.

Greg

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