HDTV advice

[kempez]

Hey lads and lasses

My old folks are looking for a new flatscreen HDTV and I think that LCD is the way to go

A Few questions:

IS LCD the way to go?

What res do I have to look for to get the most out of future hardware. I know its 1080i/p but what res IS that? Should the TV be 1920 x 1200 like my Dell 2405FPW or are LCD TV's different?

What brands are decent? I've always liked the CRT displays of Panasonics, but are they decent LCD TV's??

Is a component input enough with a couple of scart cables or do TV's have better inputs on them?

soz for all the questions but I have no idea about TV's

The budget for all this goodness is around £1200-1500, maybe a bit more if I can talk them into but but deffo below £2000.

Inpuits: Sky (probs new Sky+ or Sky HD when its out). DVD recorder and a VCR (i know i know - but they still like to watch embarrassing kids movies of me and my brother )

Thanks in advance

[Tobeman]

People rant on about how CRT is still the way to go for picture quality, and if you've got the room for it, I totally agree. The Sony 34" Widescreen HDTV KD-34XBR960N appears to be the only (though I haven't looked very hard, and am a bit of a self-confessed Sony fanboy) 1080i compatible display at what I call a.. living room sized display. Thats probably the biggest display I'd want in my sized living room anyway, otherwise it'd be a bit overpowering on the rest of the room.

1080 = 1920x1080
720 = 1280x720

I've always had good experiences with Panasonics, but the fact I have a local Sony dealer on my high street (a very small one, at that) means I can haggle. Still usually more expensive, but you get the peace of mind being a long term customer, any problems are easily rectified. I've seen some purdy Pioneers too. I've only had experience of mainstream manufacturers anyway, except for the odd Loewe TV I oggle at in a electrical store in the capital city of Menorca whenever I get the chance to visit

Do I need HDTV? - read about the Sony/Sky deal Famished mentioned there, seems quite nice, I'd probably hold out for that and possibly grab a bit of a bargain. (little more info in his(?) site in his sig)

What size screen are you looking to get?

[kempez]

Hi Mate thanks for the advice

The parents are going out (with me) and getting the TV - well today actually (wednesday)

They have a 32" CRT (panasonic) at the moment but Dad really wants a flatscreen and their lounge is absolutely huge so a bigger display isn't going to croud it out very much at all.

Dad wants a 42" screen but he won't pick one up for that price range. Basically as near to that I can get in the price-range would be good.

I'll make sure its 1920 x 1080 tho - HD at that res is sweet

[Tobeman]

What did they get?

[kempez]

Hi Mate

They got a Sony 40" LCD KDL-S40A12U

http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProdu...ory=TVP+LCD+TV

Didn't know it had a freeview thing integrated tho - they don't need it but thats pretty sweet if it does

Got it for £1619 - Debenhams were offering it at £1800 andf they bought it there, but then we went to buy a stand at John Lewis and they had it for £1619 so I rang Debenhams and got them to price match it

Tech specs:

http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProdu...ory=TVP+LCD+TV

Display Resolution (Pixels)


1366 x 768

Screen Aspect Ratio


16:9

Screen Saver


YES

Screen Size (cm)


101.6

Screen Size (inch)

40.00

Saw a couple of hd demo's too - /me wants

[5lab]

you'd be very hard pushed to get a 1080 screen in this country at the mo- still 720 is plenty for most situations

[kempez]

Yeah me Dell TFT has 1080 but all the ones I looked at didn't have 1080

Still - 1366 x 768 is plenty for Mum and Dad - especially once Sky HD + Blue-Ray/DVD-HD comes out. Saw a lush HD demo off of an imported HD HDD - It looked simply amazing - stunning

[Tobeman]

Bah, and there I was hunting high and low for some 1080i/ps available in the UK