flat screen TV - what to look out for...

[goo_mason]

I'd agree with Mr Jamie on the sound too - I couldn't believe how awful, think and tinny the sound was on the new Sony Smart TV I got just before Christmas. I initially went out and bought a soundbar, which was better - but then went for a Yamaha AV Receiver and 5.1 Surround system which is utterly superb.

 

[Tanis8472]

Regarding screen size, distance plays a huge difference, especially if using HD.
Too far away with small screen = fuzzy and no detail.
Too close with large screen = individual pixels become visible.
Both not good.

Check this out
http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Article/How-Far-Should-I-Sit.php

 

[MrJamie]

Where've you been Jamie.

Decent full HD 32" can be had for £200 or less. And they don't look a monstrosity in small households.
It's slightly perplexing that people do not realise that the beheld size is relative to distance watched.

I feel like I've missed something and im not sure what you're picking me up on either, so forgive me if my reply is confused. I don't get why you think he has a 27" CRT, unless hes posted more info elsewhere and i've missed part of the story? I was just generalising, because there seemed a lot of different advice that would all be great for different circumstances, but as far as I can tell we have no idea if he was happy with a potentially small CRT and would be equally happy with a small flatscreen or if he was trying to make a replacement tv-for-life flagship purchase I get that Full HD isnt much more expensive anymore, but since he asked about the difference I thought it only fair to mention in the light of people saying he must have it, that depending on what he did with his TV he might not even need HD Ready.

You also reminded me of this and yes I agree


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh5kZ4uIUC0

 

[albion]

I was generalising too.
CRTs higher than 32" were extremely rare.

However, massive flat screen TV's over occupying living rooms are reasonably common.

 

[marinyork]

[QUOTE 2397079, member: 259"] CRTs use a huge amount of space compared with flat screens. A 32" is enormous.[/quote]

Yup. Seen quite a few pride and joys that used upto 1000 Watts, costs about £1500-2000 in today's money.

 

[jonny jeez]

I'm sat in front of a flashy widewcreen samsung monitor...not TV.

Its good looking and clear, but in the 4 years I've owned it I've had to twice open it up and strip out/replace the capacitors as the screen has just suddenly died.

It seems Samsung, in their cheapness install low threshold capacitors, which have a tendency to blow over a period of a year or so. To be clear, if I hadn't had the nerve to follow a you tube video on replacing these, the monitor would have cost me a couple of hundred quid to replace.

As far as Tellys are concerned, I have a flat screen HD jobby that my brother in-law sourced from 'tinternet. its exactly the same as a Panasonic, apparently made in the same factory and stuff, but de-badged and half the price.

been running fine.

Lacks a headphone socket, so wiring into my surround sound had to be done via the optical as the HDMI wouldn't help. otherwise, its fab.

If I could just find a link I'd post it for you...I'll keep searching

 

[jonny jeez]

One thing I'd keep in mind is the sound (speakers) on LCDs tends to be less impressive than the old CRTs, perhaps because of space, but also they seem to have decided if you want good really sound you buy a home cinema kit. It's more than adequate for just watching TV, but if you follow any suggestions for getting the highest resolution, fast refresh rate, big screen, presumably to watch HD movies/sports then you probably want to at least consider the sound

.

100% agree.

New slim tellys just don't seem to have the acoustic properties of the huge boxy CRT's, so they are all a bit flat sounding.

Plus I suspect Jamie's is right, I feel for the home cinema thing myself, although I've always wanted it as most new productions are filmed in surround sound which means that all the dialogue is really hard to hear...so you turn it up...and then the dialogue stops and the explosions, bangs, or just normal noise starts and you are diving for the volume control again,

Surround sound cures that to a degree.

Oh and PS. Perhaps we should all wait for 50' O-LED's to become common place. We could all be folding our tellys up each night and putting them in a drawer soon

 

[Kookas]

I'm sat in front of a flashy widewcreen samsung monitor...not TV.

Its good looking and clear, but in the 4 years I've owned it I've had to twice open it up and strip out/replace the capacitors as the screen has just suddenly died.

It seems Samsung, in their cheapness install low threshold capacitors, which have a tendency to blow over a period of a year or so. To be clear, if I hadn't had the nerve to follow a you tube video on replacing these, the monitor would have cost me a couple of hundred quid to replace.

As far as Tellys are concerned, I have a flat screen HD jobby that my brother in-law sourced from 'tinternet. its exactly the same as a Panasonic, apparently made in the same factory and stuff, but de-badged and half the price.

been running fine.

Lacks a headphone socket, so wiring into my surround sound had to be done via the optical as the HDMI wouldn't help. otherwise, its fab.

If I could just find a link I'd post it for you...I'll keep searching

That may be so for your particular model, but my sister has had a Sammy TV for a good half a decade or so and it's still doing fine. I find it hard to believe that Samsung screens all have a tendency to fail after a year - if that was the case, Samsung would have far fewer sales and a lot more complaints. IME people expect TVs and monitors to last at least a decade, since they probably won't otherwise upgrade in that time.

On that note, my family still has a decade or so old projector TV (the image quality is terrible though - low contrast and incredibly dim especially compared to an LCD).

 

[jonny jeez]

I find it hard to believe that Samsung screens all have a tendency to fail after a year - if that was the case, Samsung would have far fewer sales and a lot more complaints.

I found it hard to believe too.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_...nt-warrants-older-tvs-with-faulty-capacitors/

this class action was for a model that was not the same as mine. Unfortunately if you have a quick google of "samsung capacitor problems" you'll see its an issue across the model range.

 

[Kestevan]

I found it hard to believe too.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_...nt-warrants-older-tvs-with-faulty-capacitors/

this class action was for a model that was not the same as mine. Unfortunately if you have a quick google of "samsung capacitor problems" you'll see its an issue across the model range.

Our Samsung LCD developed similar problems after about 3yrs. I contacted the Samsung service centre and an engineer was duly sent round to replace the capacitors free of charge, despite the TV being out-of warranty.

Our next TV will be a Samsung......

 

[ColinJ]

A company that I worked for had a similar capacitor problem and implemented a rolling replacement programme. They shipped exchange circuit boards to customers who then posted the originals back. We replaced the capacitors on those boards and the repaired boards were then put back into the system. I can't remember if the capacitor manufacturers had to pay compensation, but they certainly should have done.

 

[Nearly there]

If your watching a lot of fast moving action like sports action films etc Plasma is your best bet,but in all fairness its a can of worms

 

[albion]

I quite imagine the capacitors came from the worlds biggest suppliers.
So very strange how only Samsung was ever meant to have the problem.


Surely every single TV in existence can be traced back. Talking of problems, how come those ancient things called incandescent light bulbs got stuck at only a 1000 hour lifespan?
As if by magic they now both use less electricity and last longer.

 

[Plax]

As others have said, it depends what you want to use the TV for.

One thing I will say though is that if you had a 32" CRT TV, then a 32" LCD TV will just look ridiculously small where the CRT TV was. That's what I found anyway. So when I got the urge to upgrade my TV again I got a 42" Plasma Panasonic instead.

I went Panasonic as it had the best reviews for gaming (I am a PS3/Xbox gal), something to do higher Hertz rating for plasmas and less input lag) and also had a Cinema mode (I stream / watch a lot of films). Alas it didn't have a PC connection to hook up my media PC but that was solved with a HDMI - DVI lead anyway. It was full HD 1080p and had built in HD freeview, not that I actually watch normal telly.

So bascically make a list of what features you want and search from there. What makes one person foam at the mouth may not be what will make you foam at the mouth.

 

[Bigbud]

The capacitors they were using were not man enough on the power boards, my TV was affected but was well out off warranty. I bought new capacitors and replaced the bad one's. Not something I'd recommend if your not savvy as there are some killer voltages in some of the capacitors. Cost less than £3 in parts. But yes it was Samsungs fault.