My old Loewe CRT Xelos 32" died - I have entered the UHD arena

[Zak33]

LOOOONG ago I bought a Loewe Xelos 32" CRT. I haven't upgraded it because default resolution TV looked better on it than on any LCD or LED for a looooong time.

(We also have an HD projetor is a cinema room.... so the TV is for TV. Not films really.)

The Loewe breathed it's last, middle of last week and as a family we managed admirably for ...oh... nearly 4 days, without TV

We determined to NOT spend £700 or £800 on a tv (my Loewe, long ago was just over £1k)... and after looking I decided less than £400 would likely do a great job on a 1080P Freeview telly. Easy peasy.
It was easy,. though the choices were vast... but after wandering the interweb, and then wandering Curries largest store near us... I realised that it's possible that, if I get lucky and the new purchase makes it into 5+ years of life, then I'd be possibly better off getting a 4k screen, and simply using it on default TV and HD TV.

We're a basic family for TV use. A Humax set top box, (up until now on a SCART lead but also HDMI ), a PS2 through SCART for DVD's and junior gaming and a Wii
for gaming also on Scart.

Most TV's have a SCART and a component input too, but I was saddened that many sub £300 TV's had so few HDMI ports, some with only 1.

Everyone spots Panasonic and Samsung and LG and the odd Toshiba.. and Sony obviously.

So I bought a Hitachi from Argos , cos I'm odd...and at £299 with a £10 gift card back, it was the right value.
It's 43" and has 4 HDMI inputs, little chrome feet, a half sensible remote that took an hour to get used too.. a menu that DOES make sense AFTER you practice and experiment....

and a very lovely screen.

I've played good quality DVD's through it (Monsters Inc THX set up options helped with contrast and sharpness etc) and it looks nice.
I've played HD TV through it and it was crystal.
I've used the YouTube app built into it and it's VERY sharp.

And it's got what I consider a sensible set of options for the brightness of the back panel and the ability to remember the settings between varying inputs.

I tend to lower sharpness from default a little on my TV's to keep from pixelating, but this one is clean at default.

OK... so.... I didnt spend months reading reviews.
I didn't try 4 or 5 for hours in the shop.
And I didn't ask for help (I decided to live by the sword and die by the sword... err... screen.)

But what I did buy is something that's made me very pleased. Bearing in mind I have NO 4k source material, and only 1/4 of the stuff I watch will be HD as the PS2 and Wii are NOT even 720 HD..... it's very good.

But with a good HD source plugged in (PS3 from the cinema room) I KNOW it's good!

In short £300 gets a LOT of telly from Argos, and once the Favourites menu's made sense to me and once I'd sussed the input dongles fro SCART and component ..

sorted.

[Zak33]

nearly two weeks in and I am a happy bunny

I can see it from any angle and now I've got the menus sussed it's easy to whip between settings for diff material.

HD Youtube is the best really. It's a revelation that HD can look so good on an UHD tv even when sat quite close

On the Wii playing Lord of the Rings via a simple component input, it looks quite acceptable

[chuckskull]

Screen's have gotten amazingly cheap of late. If you haven't tried any proper 4k stuff on it, give it a go there's loads on youtube including some 4k demo channels run by manufacturers, it really is impressive. You end up spending a couple of hours gawping at mountains etc.

[g8ina]

Glad you chose well, my Hisense is till makeing me go wow, even now. UHD Youtube is amazing, esp the Dubai base jumping

[jimborae]

It would also appear that Argos have put the price up if it's this one?

http://www.argos.co.uk/beta/static/P...er/4550374.htm

[Smudger]

I think they're so cheap because HDR is coming, which is another level of wow, and it's what UHD Blu-Ray will have. You'll still be able to play them on non-HDR TVs, but for the full effect, you need HDR.

[Zak33]

It would also appear that Argos have put the price up if it's this one?

http://www.argos.co.uk/beta/static/P...er/4550374.htm

yes .. I think I had a momentary moment of luck

[Zak33]

right.....I'll find some UHD Youtube then

[Zak33]

you were right.. there are some AWESOME UHD demos on Youtube!!!

[chuckskull]

Yeah I've spent hours drooling. When it stops being so god awful expensive definitely try some games too. Had a go on the new Assassins creed on a 4k projector; it was prettier than the real London Just a shame it costs about 2 grand for a tower that will do it properly. Not worth it yet, maybe the next gen of GPU's will make it more palatable.