Spec me a HD tv Bitches

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » December 21st, 2007, 23:12

I know absolutely farck all about HD tv other than the higher the number the prettier the picture, so if any of you guys could tell me of a cheep one I could get to replace my aging CRT wide screen tv I would be most happy.
Happier if its cheap as chips.

Lateralus · Post by **Lateralus** » December 21st, 2007, 23:40

I'm assuming that it will depend heavily on your budget, but there was a lot of discussion about this in dog pants' thread recently. His budget was £550-600, but your budget will largely define what is best.

Post by **HereComesPete** » December 21st, 2007, 23:43

That. Give us a price and we'll see what happens. (twss)

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » December 22nd, 2007, 0:40

What kind of price do they start at? a few hundred squid 300 mebbe, not wanting to spend too much.

Post by **FatherJack** » December 22nd, 2007, 2:46

MIkkyo wrote:What kind of price do they start at? a few hundred squid 300 mebbe, not wanting to spend too much.

For that price you probably get a named 26" 720p, or possibly a no-name 32" from Tesco or Asda.

Add £100 incrementally for named 32", 1080, named 1080 and 1080p.

Mr. Johnson · Post by **Mr. Johnson** » December 22nd, 2007, 10:49

i have a vestel 26", it's not full HD but it does the job. the cost was approximetely £362. all the other ones in the store for the same price where alot smaller, so it was a good deal really.

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » December 22nd, 2007, 13:09

whats the difference between 1080i and 1080p?

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » December 22nd, 2007, 13:31

MIkkyo wrote:whats the difference between 1080i and 1080p?

1080i is a cheaper way of getting 1080 resolution and it probably wont look as good as 1080p, depending on what you're looking at.

There's plenty to read about it if you do a search.

Killavodka · Post by **Killavodka** » December 22nd, 2007, 15:23

spoodie wrote:There's plenty to read about it if you do a search want your eyes to bleed.

fix'd. Best bet would be to go into a nice big Dixons or Currys, find the size you want at about the right price, then go home and buy it online for cheaper.

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » December 22nd, 2007, 17:33

Killavodka wrote:
fix'd. Best bet would be to go into a nice big Dixons or Currys, find the size you want at about the right price, then go home and buy it online for cheaper.

Pffft

Post by **HereComesPete** » December 23rd, 2007, 0:13

Killavodka wrote:
fix'd. Best bet would be to go into a nice big Dixons or Currys, find the size you want at about the right price, then go home and buy it online for cheaper.

Yes, go into a dixons store, except they don't exist any more*, that'll help.

But he is right about the go and look at them, see one that fits price and sexyness, and then buy it from play/ebuyer/overclockers/sundry other places that are cheaper. You may not get it by xmas however, in which case, a few days after I type this, everyone and their e-retailing dog will drops a fuckload of money off pretty much every tv they possess, so you might want to wait now.

*Ok, technically they do, but as duty free camera shops in airports.

Post by **FatherJack** » January 7th, 2008, 13:57

I have just gotten around to changing my address on my Tesco clubcard, 10 years after moving, and they said they would backdate my points. I don't know quite how many points they would be willing to backdate me, since I've probably spent 55k in there, perhaps I could get this: http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.202-5644.aspx

One of the supermarket-own types, but at least it's convenient to return and get replaced easily if it does crap up.

Post by **HereComesPete** » January 7th, 2008, 14:26

The screen quality will be good, even the cheap bush/technika/swisstech things have a good picture (if set up correctly), just that all the stuff behind the screen that makes it work is a bit shit. If you get enough clubcard points for a named one then it's simple, but if you only get enough for this one, I'd buy it. narf you may get the points, and then decide to add a little bit of real money to it to get a better name on the bezel.

My old man has just bought himself a 40" toshiba, the picture is amazing, the screen frame is about 1.5cm wide which makes it look a lot better (I hate a screen surrounded by inches of speaker/shiny plastic) and I'd never even considered them until I saw his.

Also, remember to tell us how many points you get considering it's meant to be a point per pound. You may end up going on holiday to Barbados on your own jet or similar if you get 55k of points!

Killavodka · Post by **Killavodka** » January 7th, 2008, 15:10

i have a high opinion of Toshiba, they have always come out trumps in my experience. My laptop is a year old and still going strong, and my 10 year old TV is still in working order if a little worn around the edges.

Post by **HereComesPete** » January 7th, 2008, 16:07

I like tosh lappies, hence buying one for the missus, but I'd not seen a tosh tv in action for a good few years. I've added them to my list of tv's to look out for in deals, but now I've bought a new pc

I'll have to wait a bit for a tv

Post by **FatherJack** » January 7th, 2008, 16:14

HereComesPete wrote:Also, remember to tell us how many points you get considering it's meant to be a point per pound. You may end up going on holiday to Barbados on your own jet or similar if you get 55k of points!

You get 1 point per pound spent, they're redeemable for 1p each, so 55k points -> £550

If you got a pound back for every pound you spent, that would be a good offer, indeed. In truth, I'm anticipating a good chunk of real money will be required in any case, and I'll need some to buy HD DVRs and other shit to bring the whole setup up to date.

Post by **HereComesPete** » January 7th, 2008, 16:23

Ah, didn't see that particular bit of info advertised on their site, thought it was a bit too good to be true. Even up-scaling dvd playah's do a good job of creating hd from sd, (f you get the right one) and it means you don't have to bin the collection just yet.

An offer of trading in sd films for the hd version plus some moar monies would be rather win, but I doubt anyone would have the cohones to do that.

Post by **FatherJack** » January 7th, 2008, 16:51

Saw this http://www.asda-electricals.co.uk/shop/ ... r17dt.html? for DVD upscaling, as well as being able to record independently with its own digital tuner. It must be a year since I got rid of Sky, and I haven't really missed it at all. Got a freeview w. 160G hard disk in that I use for general stuffs.

Since I plan to get fast internets probably through Virgin, but with my existing supplier as backup, I might look at the V+ box, since that does HD - but that would mean I'm already out of HDMI sockets before I've started.

Post by **FatherJack** » January 9th, 2008, 22:40

Questions.

1. "HD ready"=720p/1080i, "HD"=1080p ?
Just with the terms they seem to have all over tellies these days, you have to look quite closely to see how many pixels there really are.

Also, I have a pre-elite 360 with no HDMI output, potential telly will have both VGA and Component (YPbPr - I think) input:

2. Do I use the existing component cable, or buy a VGA cable for it?
3. Am I limited to 720p either way? (The XB arcade for £150 with HDMI and Falcon almost looks tempting)
4. How do I actually tell how many pixels my image is? Is there some test card I can get to display on the 360, or do I just trust what the TV's menus are telling me?

5. Component/HDMI input-switching boxes - do they exist/are worth it?
My existing setup is a maze of 6-9 composite things connected to three composite inputs on the TV, not counting the RF chain.

As per the previous message, I'll find proper 1080p stuff to go into it once I have it, just wanting to get the best out of what I actually have ATM.

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » January 10th, 2008, 10:46

that tesco's tv is a decent find jack, I'm saving up for my birthday for my new tv now. (march)