Toys R Us busts £600 barrier for 32in HD LCD TV

[Bob Crabtree]

Kids' superstore Toys R Us is set to introduce what looks to be far and away the cheapest 32in LCD HDTV set sold in the UK to date. The Medion-branded MD 20099 - due at the end of the month in all 65 of the company's UK stores and via its netshop - will be pitched at just £599 yet is HD ready and promises to include a number of key future-proofing features.

Most notable are two relating to digital-rights management that aren't necessarily found even on far more expensive sets. These are HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) and a single HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) socket.

Significantly, this shouldn't be a here-today-gone-tomorrow deal like many of those that have frustrated would-be buyers of Medion PCs in supermarkets. Medion's UK product manager Rick Munday told me this morning that there is plenty of stock for Toys R Us to call upon after the first round and that the MD 20099 will also be appearing in other outlets soon.

Find out full details in this HEXUS.headline and let us know your thoughts on Toys R US, Medion and the falling prices of HDTV.

Bob

[TheAnimus]

absolutely loverly price tag.

Its just such a shame after the news that sky will be doing 1080i for all their channels, that the highest this box goes is 720p.

(if only it was 1080p!)

[TheBuZZard]

I just bought a Hyundai 32" LCD HDTV from ebuyer for same price.

[shiato storm]

what's 720p? rather, whats a "p"?

[kempez]

Progressive Scan it stands for doesn't it? (not sure tho)

Nice screen nice price. My wallet is quaking

[Bob Crabtree]

absolutely loverly price tag.

Its just such a shame after the news that sky will be doing 1080i for all their channels, that the highest this box goes is 720p.

(if only it was 1080p!)

Get real - you're not likely to find 1080 on many 32in sets in the near future.

As for one that's £599, well, really!

Clearly, it's going to be necessary to have a look at the product to see how well it performs, so let's hope Toys R Us has the wit to do sensible dems - shouldn't be hard if it only has one HD set on show per store (but might also mean it won't bother).

But on paper, this does look a seriously-interesting proposition for anyone wanting a smaller HD ready set.

Don't know what experiences people here have had with Medion kit - PCs or anything else - but over on DVdoctor, the general consensus was been pretty positive with prices being considerably lower than the spec would have suggested.

Bob

[Bob Crabtree]

what's 720p? rather, whats a "p"?

It stands for Progressive and means that unlike, say, your normal TV set (or HD sets that are 1080i - where "i" stands for interlaced), the picture is put up on screen in descrete frames (think of a series of frames of movie film), rather than only half the screen lines being refreshed each cycle.

In theory, progressive gives a sharper more distinct image than interlaced, However, 1080i has better resolution than 720p, so the ideal would be 1080p - and that's probably what we'll all be using five or 10 years down the line.

Bob

[Bob Crabtree]

I just bought a Hyundai 32" LCD HDTV from ebuyer for same price.

Sorry - had to edit this cos, stupidly, I'd seen ebuyer and but had registered it as ebay!

D'oh!

I presume that this is the direct link on ebuyer?

Looks pretty interesting!

Has it turned up yet? If so, what are your impressions and what HD source(s) are you using it with?

Bob

[shiato storm]

all very interesting...think a nice tv would be a good step up over the 15" box we have at the mo'...the TV's smaller than my PC's screen!!! (its all about priorities!)

[Bob Crabtree]

all very interesting...think a nice tv would be a good step up over the 15" box we have at the mo'...the TV's smaller than my PC's screen!!! (its all about priorities!)

Yeah - and I guess you're thinking that 600 squids would be a decent deposit on some nice fast lens to go with your nice fast digital SLR!



Bob

[explicitlyrics]

Im not saying this with any form of proof, but in my opinion the gain from 720p to 1080p would be minimal unless you have a large screen. I have a projector and you can tell the difference between almost all sources (after youve had it a while), but on a regular size hidef TV I dont think it would have such an effect. Unless of course you had truly amazing/perfect vision....

[TheAnimus]

Im not saying this with any form of proof, but in my opinion the gain from 720p to 1080p would be minimal unless you have a large screen. I have a projector and you can tell the difference between almost all sources (after youve had it a while), but on a regular size hidef TV I dont think it would have such an effect. Unless of course you had truly amazing/perfect vision....

reason i mentioned it, is because Sky are using 1080i, so it would be nice to have it native.

I know its asking a hell of a lot from £600.

but if you don't ask, you'll never get

[Bob Crabtree]

I know its asking a hell of a lot from £600.

but if you don't ask, you'll never get

And, often, when you do ask you never get!

[Nick F]

Its a good screen although I would rather pay an extra £200 quid for the better support.

[Whiternoise]

The ebuyer one looks to me to be the more reliable - purely from Hyundai's street-cred, not bad at all for an HD. Can you link a pc up to it?

[DeludedGuy]

Yup, that eBuyer one seems too good a deal. Some guy reviewed it on AV Forums, said it was one of the best he had seen.

I think I will have to "splash" out on it.