new telly

[PeteSmith]

i'm after a new TV, LCD, 32" or maybe 37", preferably full HD 1080p (although i hear on this size TV it makes little difference). I have my eye on the SONY KDL32W5500.

I'm not really up to date with HDTV's so my question is which model should i go for, do any currently stand out above the rest? Is the above model a good choice?

I will be hooking it up via HDMI to a Popcorn hour c-200 (when released), my PC via DVI, and possibly a PS3 if i don't sell it.

Budget is ~£500

Cheers

[MSIC]

There was a great answer to this over at Dan's data (that man is a god), although 5 mins of searching and i cant find a direct link.

I have however found an equally good chart showing why, in the vast majority of cases, 1080p is a big fat waste of time:
Ideal Viewing Distance chart.
Basically, for a 37" TV, assuming that you have 20/20 vision, you need to be around 7 ft or less from the TV to get some benefit.
For a 32" TV, it's about 5 ft.

I'd argue that if a 720p and a 1080p, are identical in price and features, then sure, go for 1080p. But dont pay extra for it.
What i would advocate strongly for (with my own experience / bias) is a set with strong colours, deep blacks and good contrast. Like my 37" Panasonic, £550 from Richer Sounds last year, now is £500 .

3 HDMI sockets is a fair minimum too, for your needs. You'll use 2 straight away.

PS Richer Sounds, as per your link, are awesome, and i'd wholeheartedly recommend them. Be aware however that when viewing TVs in a shop that a) most TVs are set to 'shop mode', which you then change at home to 'home mode' which reduces brightness (ie what you see in the shop isnt representative) and b) you are seeing from about 1 or 2 ft distance, so of course you'll see the benefit of higher resolution. But you wouldn't watch at home from 1 or 2 ft distance.

Hope this helps

[PeteSmith]

Thanks MSIC, that chart you linked is helpful, i will be about 11ft away with my current layout. Which if i'm reading it correctly would mean i would need a screen size of 90" before i notice the benefit of full 1080p HD. So really i could save a few £ and buy a HD ready set, and not notice any difference.

The problem i have is my folks have a similar model Sony LCD HD ready TV, 32" and i think the picture quality is terrible. Both with digital TV and DVD (not seen Blu-Ray with it). Although this could be down to the connection, they are still using composite and not HDMI.

I am also tak8ing into account the picture resolution and contrast ratio, the KDL32W5500 seems to beat the HD ready models on these grounds also.

I'm pushed for actual space atm also, so the TV can't be too big, although i am planning on moving to a bigger place in the not to distant future so maybe i should wait.

I will no doubt take a trip to RS tomorrow and seek some advice, i have had a number of recommendations for them.

[TheAnimus]

Originally Posted by MSIC

I'd argue that if a 720p and a 1080p, are identical in price and features, then sure, go for 1080p. But dont pay extra for it.
What i would advocate strongly for (with my own experience / bias) is a set with strong colours, deep blacks and good contrast. Like my 37" Panasonic, £550 from Richer Sounds last year, now is £500 .

I would really disagree with that chart.

In the front room, if your on the corner sofa seat your about 5 feet away from the tv (52") now that is too close for me.

If your about 15 feet away, you can still, very easily, tell the difference between 1080p and 720p content, even when i'm not wearing my glasses. This is also not a "compression" issue.