Plasma or LCD? Page 2

Here is my experience:
My friend downstairs from me bought a Plasma 42 inch TV a month before I bought my 42 inch LCD TV.
His TV is constantly speckling! It's terrible! White dots all over the place it looks like he's watching TV with Rabbit ears or something. He also has a ghosting of a video game score in the top left hand corner of his screen and the picture is downright dark. He's going to buy a new TV after this Christmas. That means it lasted just over 1 year.
My Sharp Aquos is still gorgeous. As for the blur, the Sharp Aquos is a 'sports' TV meaning it doesn't have any blur. I paid extra for it though but man what a great picture.

Surely anybody who has a 42 inch telly must live in a castle.

That's literally too big for me.

I have a decently sized apartment...which I rent.

To me, that would probably be a castle.

I'm so old fashioned.

We ordered a 50" Plasma but the silly bastard delivery man smashed it!! So we ended up with a 42" because the wait for a new 50" was ridiculous.

I never thought I would say this, but I even think 42" may be too big. I now can't see myself shelling out an extra £100+ for a bigger version when you can get, say a decent 32" or a bit bigger

My 28" LCD television stopped working recently. Only had it for two years. It cost me £400. Warranty has obviously expired and nowhere will fix it because the brand is not a major one and they can't get the parts! £400 down the toilet. So word of advice to anyone buying a TV - Get a well known brand.

Now I just watch TV on my iMac. It's 24 inches and more than enough.

If it's decent warranty you want, then try Richer Sounds. I think you can get 5 years warranty for just 10% of the product's cost.

Quote: Leevil @ December 9 2008, 3:05 PM GMT

I never thought I would say this, but I even think 42" may be too big. I now can't see myself shelling out an extra £100+ for a bigger version when you can get, say a decent 32" or a bit bigger

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It depends on the size of your room really. They say you should be sat at least 3 times away the size of the TV screen. If that makes sense.

After much research I splashed out for a Samsung 52 inch LCD earlier this year. It's been great, and I have no regrets. Be careful how big a TV you buy.. as Ben said, there's a general formula - take a look at Curry's basic guide http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/editorial/Televisions_Buyers_Guide

Unfortunately as a general rule with T.Vs, you do get what you pay for. Go with the 1080p resolution, and the 100Hz refresh if you can - the increased refresh will help smooth the picture if you watch a lot of fast action stuff. There's no substitute for going to the store and comparing pictures - be sure to look at how black backgrounds are rendered - you don't want to see that crappy lighter fuzziness which you get with lower quality models.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Quote: Ben @ December 9 2008, 6:36 PM GMT

They say you should be sat at least 3 times away the size of the TV screen.

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It's actually less than that: about 1.5-1.8 times the diagonal measurement if you want to be able to see the full benefit of 1080P.

http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html

And at the very least, you need to have a DVD player that can upscale through HDMI.

I've just took the plunge and bought a 42 inch Samsung plasma 100 hz from Comet. It was on special offer at £549 but I got the manager to knock it down to £460 if I took the insurance. I pick it up tomorrow morning!

Huzzah!

Sweet! Our 42" Plasma cost £1019, I think? An then they reduced it the week after, the bastards and then they brought out the Freesat models, double bastards.

Mmmm ... want.

I'm hoping there'll be some even further reductions after Christmas.

Quote: Leevil @ December 11 2008, 7:13 PM GMT

Sweet! Our 42" Plasma cost £1019, I think? An then they reduced it the week after, the bastards and then they brought out the Freesat models, double bastards.

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Ah this doesn't have Freesat, just Freeview. No matter, I'm just waiting for my 360 to come back from repairs and then...let the games commence!

Quote: Lee Henman @ December 11 2008, 7:15 PM GMT

Ah this doesn't have Freesat, just Freeview.

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Probably best to wait to see if Freesat lasts, probably will but they don't have the strongest appeal, except for free HD.