Anyone bought a 40 inch tv recently, did lots of research on the subject, and want to share it

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DH is very keen to splash out on new tv. He wants a 40 inch one

Apparently there is too much choice so he would appreciate any advice.

we always but Sony TVs

but = buy

Dh did much research and bought a panasonic.. 42 inches though

good god is he watching it from saturn?

when the people on the telly are bigger than you, it's time to buy a smaller telly

I guess that you don't like going to the cinema then Colditz

My dh is a bit of an anorak on these things.

He says buy panasonic.

Plasma, LCD... I think he thinks Plasma is theoretically better, but more fragile. In particular suffers from screenburn (if, say, you have Cbeebies on for 12 hours a day )

Sony are a poor choice in his opinion - apparently they're rebadged LGs.

Panasonic LCD were recommended by Which? magazine, which is what we have gone for.

i did much research and bought an lg plasma had it since sept 2006

with a sony surround sound system and a sony upscaling dvd player

i hardly watch tv just dvds really

but it is very good and now a l;ot cheaper i think

Actually, good point. But those freaks aren't in my house!

Seriously, big tv people give me the willies, especially on close up shots! you can see every pore...

here

He is very happy that people are recommending 42 inch!

Now he has walked off muttering ummmm Panasonic hadn't thought of looking at those......

Keep the tips coming

tho now they are so much cheaqper u coiuld get a 50 in

we did a lot of research before we bought ours and we ended up with a 42 inch samsung plasma,as it had really good reviews.Although for the firt few weeks it was like a huge monstrosity in the corner of the room, until I got used to it.

after much research by dh, he bought samsung 40 inch lcd. apparently good website is www.beyondtelevision.co.uk even I like the tv, and I am not that easily impressed by technology

bump

one bit of advice given to us was if you want the tv to watch movies buy plasma but if you wnt to hook a games console up to it buy lcd.

OK what if you just want to watch TV?!

we haven't had any problems with burn in

you have a running in period with a plasma of something like a 100 hours i think during which you should be careful tho it's not as oimportant these days and being careful is just not leaving the screen with non dynamic images

or on pause for example

we play games on it...but for limited periods so as not to get eg rev counters burnton but you are talking quite a lot of hours of continuous play after the initial time frame for burn in

and they do have a screen cleaning device you can use

plasma looks a lot nicer to me

but that all said i never watch tv and don't watch it at all myself much will today i think cos i have some college assignments to do and like to do them with a film on

Dh is a techy and did lots of research, and the Pioneer won hands down (think it's 42 inch). Had it 2 years now and still haven't seen a better one. It's reviews were head and shoulders above the others in all the a/v mags.

I presume he has read some a/v mags to see what their current recommendations are?

av forums is a good place to look for opinions

'Its reviews', not 'it's reviews', obv .

Oh no don't suggest he buys magazines!

Now that will set him off - didn't know you could get magazines on buying tellies!

I would be quite happy with a little portable on the side of the room but no....

Make sure it is 1080p

We went for the toshiba 42" 1080p lcd regza, DP doesn't like plasma

We bought one yesterday - dh is picking it up this afternoon

We were going to go for a KDL40V3000, currently priced at £899 in Currys or £999 in Sony Centre BUT if you buy it from Sony, you get a free five year warranty.

Anyway, we went to buy it yesterday (from Sony - they also have an offer on at the moment where you can have a Blu-Ray player or PS3 for £99 with this particular tv). However, although they had one in store and were prepared to take our order, they didn't have any in stock. Now, it was the same story at Currys, so I suspect there could be a shortage/no availability of this tv.

Anyway, we are getting a Sony KDL40V2900. You can only get it direct from Sony Centres. It is the same as the KDL40V3000, except the contrast ratio is 8000:1 instead of 16000:1. This is how they measure the black levels and, although that may sound like an immense difference, I haven't seen another tv on the market with a contrast level higher than 8000:1, so its still a good tv. We are paying £849 with free fiuve year Sony warranty. A bit of research on the internet last night reveals that this tv was intended for the Italian market, but was offered to Sony Centres for retail in UK, which is why you can only get it from them. Apparently, its a KDL40W2000 in disguise, but I'll let you know when we've got it and checked.

Got to go and get lunch now as dh has to go and pick up tv this afternoon

Sorry, should add that the research we did shows that for a set below 42", you don't need a plasma as you won't notice the difference. Having looked at loads, we agree with this.

As already said, try to get 1080p, which is full HD rather that "HD ready". HD ready will convert the 1080 picture to fit your screen, but its not a true 1080 picture.

Make sure you listen to the sound when you go looking at them. A lot have speakers in the back of the set so, if you are planning on hanging on the wall or putting in corner of the room, it will distort the sound. A lot of them sound very tinny too, so make sure you check before you buy.