Big Screen Plasma/LCD advice

Basically, does anybody have any?

This is the current favourite :
http://www.comet.co.uk/cometbrowse/product.do?sku=383740

I'd prefer getting it from a shop (not mail order) so that if it goes wrong I can take it back myself and argue in person - that way they *have to* listen :)

As for specs, I'd like :
- Around £1000
- 50 inch screen (or above)
- I know I'm not going to get 1080p in this price range, so I'll live without it
- Onboard sound is unimportant as I use a separate system
- Picture quality IS important, and the way the TV looks when its turned off ISN'T ;)

I wont bother ranting about the ludicrous prices of, well, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING here in the UK because its all been said.

Get a projector. It won't break when you through your Wii controller at it in a fit of rage.

Personally I'd go for something like
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SONY-32-Inch-Television-PIP-Flat-Screen-Model-32FQ75U_W0QQitemZ250139538231QQihZ015QQcategoryZ3320QQcmdZViewItem

Then wait until next year and HD LCD teles will cost about £4.99

Brilliant! It will also make those easy games a little harder since you won't be able to see the game whilst running around in front of the projector ;)

I have a 42" plasma. Had one for years, bought a new one with better technology recently.

For me a projector was a nono cos I like to stand up and play games, and also no good in the day.

CRT = best picture but WAY too big and chunky.

LCD not as good picture as plasma.

so Plasma it is. Love the big screen, great for games movies etc.

Got my latest from Dabs.com. Got my last from Richer Sounds.

Gee, if you can get 50inch for 1000 pound (approx $2500AU), can you send one over to Australia! We pay $4000AU+ over here for that size!

I've been looking myself and you need to be careful of the resolution generally. The more reasonably well-priced Plasmas tend to have odd resolutions that resemble 4:3 when you really want proper 16:9 for movie playback.

The LCDs appear to have resolutions that better cater all-round for 16:9, unless you go for the more expensive plasmas which appear to use similar resolutions. Be wary of HD-Ready (which my current rear-projection has) as it converts the image to interlace and it not truly hi-hef.

Also you would want to get as many different video connectors as possible for future proofing.

And get an extended warranty! For the price you pay you may only get a one year warranty on the TV and they will charge a fortune to fix. My current rear-pro (56inch) has a large yellow blob covering the majority of the screen. Apparently it's costing something in the order of $3000AU to fix - thankfully I got the extended warranty for 5 years coverage for just $200AU.

Hope it helps!

So mount it in the ceiling...

...and a decent bulb.

I recently bought a Sony 40" LCD for £799 from Comet... I was working on a £1000 budget & Comet sell an LG 50" plasma for £999... but I wanted it to be wall mounted & the generic (not the original Sony) wall mounting brackets are £200 themselves.

So I went for the smaller screen and (argueably) better make, so that I could get the wall brackets too within my budget... but now I got it up & running I think the 50" would have been WAY too big anyways (if thats possible? lol).

I also read somewhere that plasma sets are far heavier than LCD's & I didn't want it to bring my livingroom wall down lol (the bricks on my house are really brittle)... plus the salesman told me that after about 3-4 years of use they often require the plasma gas replacing?... but I dunno how true that is?

If you do find a 50" for £1000 it's likely to have crappy electronics in it and a bad picture quality. Go look at some big screens next to each other, you'll notice that while sony bravia are expensive the image quality is usually far superior to those around it, you get what you pay for.

I was just in Sam's Club last night(a warehouse store in the US) and they had a Vizio 47" 1080P LCD for $1581. The picture looked quite good. Vizio seems to be garnering a pretty good rep for quality/price.

Just stay *far* away from EBay and the likes, given how HD-TV's are supposedly the #1 fraud department these days. (e.g. plenty of people advertising cheap sets, accepting your money, and run. good feedback doesn't really matter either, since this is exactly what all those stolen ebay accounts are put to use for)

I've heard people say that all the time also, but I've also read all these tech articles that state otherwise, especially for the newer plasmas. Granted if you're running your TV 24/7 you may end up having to do that but I think plasmas will last a lot longer than 3-4 years with regular uses. I don't have a plasma but the folks I know who do, havent had any issues with theirs yet and they seems to have the TV on all the freakin time.

My last one lasted ages and no gas needed replacing. Got a bit of screen-burn banding on the edge from overuse of 4:3.

Yeah!... I should have added that basically my TV goes on when I drag my ass outta bed... and then goes off when I'm too drunk to watch it any longer lol... so it's on from about 10am till 1am... slightly longer than average use I guess! lol... I mentioned that to the bloke in Comet & that was the life expectancy he came up with... he reconned an LCD should last 5-6 with the same usage?

I have heard that LG use Toshiba (I think) screen for their Plasmas... and generally they have a fairly good reputation for their reliability... so it's `horses for courses` I guess... but I love my Sony Bravia now & only time will tell how well it copes with my abuse of it ;) lol

You can get a Sharp Aquos full HD for around £1000.

www.unbeatable.co.uk

I have a 62" DLP. Those are my personal favorites. Drop a new lamp in it every 2-3 years and it's brand new again.

Is there a good review/comparison site for TVs? I've googled, but any I've found oddly don't seem to have very many reviews :/
Something like Toms hardware or Steves Digicams - but for TVs?

Well, I have two 32" LCDs throughout the pad. One is a JVC LT-32X667 in the bedroom, and a Westinghouse LTV-32w1 in the living room. Both appear to be great for what I'm doing. Whether it be for developing a widescreen game in Blitz, playing the X360, or Wii, watching local HDTV reception, watching widescreen DVDs, etc...

I have a 56" JVC Projection TV I bought about 5 years ago. It is still going strong, like brand new. It does 720p and 1080i, no 1080p.

I also moved recently (November) and built a Theater in my new house. It is a 10' x 24' room with a 12' high ceiling and no windows. I mounted the projector to the ceiling and you can be within about 5 feet of the 8' wide screen before the shadow of your head cuts into the picture. But there is 12' between the screen and the front row seats, so lots of room to jump around playing my Wii.