oh POO. my tv is broken. and it's all fancy modern screens now... LCD? HD? PLASMA? can you tell i don't really know my ar** from my elbow here?

[AitchTwoOh]

zoinks. just had a squint on tesco direct and there don't seem to be Normal Tellies for sale.

y'know, i wonder if we could just get this one fixed? do tv repair men exist any more?

Yes, prob just needs a new valve.

it's the speaker that's bust, though...

They measure them diagonally, but if your old TV was the standard square-ish kind then you will need a slightly bigger one.

Cut a strip of paper the height of your old screen and hold it up to the one you're about to buy. You want the new widescreen one to be just as high even though that will mean it's quite a bit wider.

Sometimes you will be watching old square shows and on a widescreen you get black bars either side. If your new screen isn't so high as the old one then the actual picture will be smaller than you are used to.

I went through this recently and got an LCD one (basically the cheapest model I could find). If you stand near it the picture looks awful so bear that in mind in the shop. When I sit across the room the picture looks fantastic. I hadn't realised how crap my old TV was.

telly >£300

if you're in Glasgow, or near theres a comet scratch and dent just off of balmore road. got my 32" telly there.

are you in glasgow, persy? i did not know that. balmore road it is, i think. if i can't find a repair man... [mingy]

sadly yes, although trying to escape! do you know where it is? if you're coming in from town, go past the LIDL on Balmore road and take a right at the next traffic lights, then sharp left just before the petrol station, go to the end of that road and bear right - it's at the end of the car park.

happy hunting!

i'd be coming up qu mgt dr, i ALWAYS get lost in that bit. in fact, rarely manage to find the lidl. i think my bro is good at all that bashed and dented stuff, i might ask him to help.

Our brand new one arrives on Friday. Dh has done all the research..he tells me it is vital with these big screens to have a refresh rate of 1000 somethings rather than the lower rate. If you don't, then the picture will blur if it's something moving fast. Basicaly the little pixel things are so big on a big flat screen you notice if they aren't refreshed quick. He's gone for a Panasonic one and says it is the dog's b*. ( He's currently redicorating the lounge to accomodate said monstrosity)
I can offer you a lovely 24" jobbie 1 year old from TEscos cost £60 and has a razor sharp picture!

lol at room redecoration. have you people not heard of the credit crunch? the panasonic does seem to be the bollocks of the dog, i note from my half-hearted internet reserach.

redecoration is a once a decade affair... someone's got to keep things going haven't they? Besides a new carpet and a couple of tins of paint isn't overkill is it?

Aitch - if you're not too bothered about hi-tech stuff, have you considered looking on gumtree for a non-plasma big chunky one? We go a (v decent) telly for free on there, and I saw loads of super looking ones which were v cheap. People are getting rid of their big tellies for a pittance.

v good point, sobranie. btw, i used to buy sobranies for balls etc. what a nob i was... i loved them. lol.

and robin, i think you're both keeping britain goiing there, and i thank you for it.

q m dr - straight over at top (x with mhill road stay in right hand lane)onto bilsland. keep going until balmore road, straight over, hard left just before garage then as before.

it's like an alladdins cave of white goods. try not to buy a huge double fronted fridge.

No, freeview isn't HD, you have to subscribe to a specific HD package at the mo, not sure if that will change in the future tho. If you do go for a new one, the gadget show did a thing on plasmas and lcds, one is best below a certain size and the other is best above it, but I can't remember which is which! Beware of anyone showing you "shrek" on the tv, its the easiest thing for a tv picture to put out, make them change channels and look at the blacks.

As for fixing your old one, there aren't many tv repairers left, so you'd be lucky to find one, but you might find someone who can fix speakers.

SUCCESS! at least i think so. apparently my brother has some money burning a hole in his pocket and is off today to buy a fancy-shmanzy screen. (i have just left a warning message re shrek and the blacks on his mobile).

so i reckon i can get his old crt which is a bit swingier than my old one anyway. huzzah.

Result!

Ok just in case your plan falls through.....

if you get a large screen get an LCD its a better picture, get the 100 hz rather than the 50 hz ones because you really can tell the difference and as big a contrast ratio as you can - obviously you may have to shop around to get all these within your budget!!

We got a 42 tv with all the things I have just said not to do and it was awful. The picture quality was not as good as the old one we replaced and I wanted to cry. Fortunately DH managed to swap it (clever man) and the new one is fabby!
HTH

cheers. i'm not gettig my brother's as it is HUGE and attached to a stand (and i have an old cabinet i like our telly on). my mother is getting my brother's and i'm getting hers.

it's telly ring-a-roses round our way...

btw, wee bro got his screen from John Lewis, panasonice veira 37 inch for £745. he got a return out of the back shop because someone had taken it out, realised it was too big for their room and swapped it for the 32.

the woman told him this happens a lot, so if any of you are in the market for a flatscreen, ask if there are any returns. it cost the original folk 900 and they had it in their house for precisely 4 days.

Lots of old fashioned tellys on Freecycle round here.