42" TV advice

[Hedge]

You could have my old 42" Plasma that sits in my spare room. Bring a friend if you want to move it. 

[rich83]

You could have my old 42" Plasma that sits in my spare room. Bring a friend if you want to move it. 

How many tons does it weigh? 

[rich83]

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/VIERA+Flat+Screen+TV/2012+Smart+VIERA+LED+TV/TX-L42DT50B/Overview/9036211/index.html

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/VIERA+Flat+Screen+TV/2012+Smart+VIERA+Plasma+TV/TX-P42ST50B/Overview/9034706/index.html

?

[Squeeguk]

Another vote for the Samsung LED. The picture on my 55" 7 series is great. On top of that, it's also a really good looking TV. The latest ones even have hand gesture remote control. How cool is that??

[Poppa Dom]

Another vote for the Samsung LED. The picture on my 55" 7 series is great. On top of that, it's also a really good looking TV. The latest ones even have hand gesture remote control. How cool is that??

Just be careful when watching porn - may change channel when viewing 

[Squeeguk]

Wahahahahahahahaha. Excellent.

[rich83]

No fussed about things like that... im sure it wont work 100% reliably!

[PDT]

Depends on budget, but plasma gives much deeper blacks. LED looks better under shop lighting as it looks brighter and sharper, but watch a bluray at home and the blacks look grey and you lose definition between dark objects, often referred to as 'blocking'

Blocking is due to the quality of the signal into the screen not the actual screen.  

I have 2 virgin HD boxes at home, same signal quality and cables to both. One is linked to a 55" Panasonic Viera plasma, no blocking or greyscale issues. The other linked to a Toshiba LED and it suffers from blocking quite badly and can't control accurate greyscale reproduction so that any dark objects i.e a man in a black suit standing in front of a black car looks like the suit and the dark background is one large black patch.

I have also come across the term blocking used for signal issues when the screen goes 'blocky' like large pixels.

I was invited into richer sounds recently to view their flagship offerings of LED screens, although a massive amount better than the earlier LED offering from Samsung and LG that suffered from screen clouding, it still wasn't as pleasurable to watch as a top spec plasma.

[Hedge]

You could have my old 42" Plasma that sits in my spare room. Bring a friend if you want to move it. 

How many tons does it weigh? 

Panasonic TH42PW6BX look it up Rich rare as hens teeth so it must be old good. 

[rich83]

Judging by the look of the remote.. that was purchased sometime about about my birth!



 

[galaxie500]

I'm going through the same TV buying quandary at the moment too Rich.  Ironically, working in the TV & Film business I still have my old steam driven CRT Panasonic which has stood the test of time these past 12 years and doesn't appear to be failing in any way! HD Smart Tv's are fast becoming the must have TV's of today and I feel I'm missing something when I actually sit down to watch the dross that I've probably worked on. 
Technically, the proper back lit LED screen's are the cutting edge right now although I've seen some newer Plasma's that are much richer and more film-like than the LCD/LED sets but very soon the OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screens will be within reach, probably first from Samsung, Sony and LG followed by Panasonic et al.  We use an Sony OLED as a monitor and I'm very impressed with it at 7 inches but will reserve judgement until we see the larger sizes. If I'm being totally honest, most of my movie watching is at the cinema and my small living room won't allow a big set. A friend has a good JVC projector set up and providing its dark, a beer in hand, his projector driven home cinema is the finest I've seen outside Leicester Square! Not everyone has the space for such a piece of kit so my advice is similar to PDT''s; definitely demo some equipment at a Richer Sounds or Graham's HiFi and remember the PC World/ Curry's outlets staff generally have absolutely no clue about anything, nor is the layout of the TV's in long rows going to help you pick a good 'un. You needs to be at least 2m from a 40 inch set;more for a 50 incher.  I'll wager you'll not find anywhere with that optimum distance. 


Let me know how you get on
PR

[rich83]

Thanks Paul, i will let you know

[Hedge]

Judging by the look of the remote.. that was purchased sometime about about my birth!



 

Current TV is a Panasonic TX46G15B though Rich.  

[rich83]

 

I think 42" is the biggest that will go in my gap.... 

[Jussa]

I wouldn't touch anything other than a plasma for my main viewing pleasures.
To be honest I have a Pioneer plasma which is untouchable in terms of quality and picture, ask any tv expert worth their salt!!
Unfortunately Pioneer stopped making plasma's due to pricing (they couldn't be competitive) with the likes of $hitty LG and Samsung - not enough enthusiasts with enough money for their brand.
The Pioneer Kuro is by far the best tv ever made................end of!!

Going forward I will just have to bite the bullet and go the next best thing - Panasonic!!