Best place to buy a Hi-Def TV?

[Hoon]

The best bang for buck LCD TVs are the Sony Bravia 4500 series (V or W)which just came out and the Samsung 6 series. Should be able to get a 40" for under the $2.5K mark if you shop around - add a few hundred more for 46". The Sony Bravias also have the $99 PS3 deal too if thats your thing (I'll pay $200 for a copy of anyones receipt if they don't want this!!!)

Wait for the discount promos (i.e. 10% off) that the HN/NL/B&B/Dick Smith stores have occasionally.

You get what you pay for. I'd rather a 32" Bravia than a 42" no name brand that looks like crap....size isn't everything.

But beware, once you taste HD goodness you may never go back. I bought a Sony W4000 40" before the Olympics (no ps3 deal then grrr) and since then have upgraded to myskyHD, retired the tivo/xbox1 xbmc for a 1080p Media PC and going to upgrade my hometheatre receiver to support HDMI and 7.1 (needed for blue-ray HD sound formats). The PS3 is the last component needed in my quest for complete FullHD exploitation.

A decent picture and decent sound makes anything you are watching twice as cool!

[captain_andrey]

For the love of god, dont get an LCD for home viewing. Plasma is a way better technology for movies in home environment. Dont get suckered in by the retailers showing off oversaturated images on their display stands and tell you how bright the picture is.
You need to test the screen in similar lighting conditions as your house. So you need to dim the lights down and get a real HD source like a BlueRay player. Put in a movie with combination of dark and bright scenes.
Plasmas are way better at showing the darker scenes and with the LCD everything will look grey.
Panasonic make the best plasmas these days, closely followed by Samsung.
50" seems to be the sweet spot for price/value

[Winston001]

I'm completely confused about the specifications for TVs. The only decision I've made is Plasma, not LCD.

So what does HD ready mean compared to Full HD? For the average person not intending to buy the best, say up to $2000, what should we look for?

Been thinking about getting a 42 inch plasma and maybe now is the time to act. Powerstore in Invercargill recently had a 42 Panasonic for $1300 but I think they sold out.

However always been wary of buying the cheapest in the range - better to go up a model.

The $NZ has fallen a long way so new imports of electronics are going to jump in price. That will be partly offset by manufacturers wanting to keep selling in a recession, and NZ shops offering deals to get a sale, any sale. Still, might be a good time to get this sort of stuff.

[Reckless]

Panasonic make the best plasmas these days, closely followed by Samsung.
50" seems to be the sweet spot for price/value

I've heard Toshiba are good as well??

My mates got a 50" LCD and the picture always seems stretched. Its actually to big to watch for his lounge size and as a general TV. So watch out going for bigger is better its bloody hard to watch the news on his TV.

There is a formula I think? So many inches back your seating is equals how many inches wide the TV should be!

[NinjaNanna]

I picked up a 1080p 42" for $1400 from Dick Smiths.

Awesome TV.

JB Hi-Fi has some pretty good deals on too.

+1 for JB Hifi

[Winston001]

There is a formula I think? So many inches back your seating is equals how many inches wide the TV should be!

From Consumer:

"Optimal viewing distance

As a general rule, the ideal viewing distance from a normal standard definition TV is around 5 times the diagonal screen size. So for a 68cmv (29 inch) set that's around 3.5 metres. For a widescreen TV it's about 3.5 times the diagonal size.

For high definition TVs the closest you should sit is 1.5 times the diagonal screen size for a 1080i screen, and 2.5 times for a 720p screen. So for a 106cmv (42 inch) screen with 1080i resolution you can sit as close as 1.5 metres without seeing pixels. For the same sized screen in 720p resolution you need to be 2.5 to 3 metres away.

Conduct your own test in the store with rough measurements of where you'll sit and where the TV is likely to be positioned. Move closer and further away from the TV to see if and where the picture loses quality"

[captain_andrey]

From Consumer:

"Optimal viewing distance

As a general rule, the ideal viewing distance from a normal standard definition TV is around 5 times the diagonal screen size. So for a 68cmv (29 inch) set that's around 3.5 metres. For a widescreen TV it's about 3.5 times the diagonal size.

For high definition TVs the closest you should sit is 1.5 times the diagonal screen size for a 1080i screen, and 2.5 times for a 720p screen. So for a 106cmv (42 inch) screen with 1080i resolution you can sit as close as 1.5 metres without seeing pixels. For the same sized screen in 720p resolution you need to be 2.5 to 3 metres away.

Conduct your own test in the store with rough measurements of where you'll sit and where the TV is likely to be positioned. Move closer and further away from the TV to see if and where the picture loses quality"

Sounds about right, but there is no such thing as a 1080i resolution or screen.... I hate when people confuse the terms. 1080i is the signal specification.

I suggest a 50" with 1366x768 screen as best bang for your buck right now. NZ wont have a proper 1080p source any time soon unless you plan to buy a blueray player and start a movie collection or download all your content and end up with $300+/month internet bills like me.

[Hoon]

TV3 Freeview is 1080i. I never watched so much TV3 in my life than the first week I got my LCD being the only FullHD source I had. So yet another thing to look for when buying (if it appeals to you) as a lot of the new TVs have built-in digital freeview tuners now.

Also a bigger TV doesn't make the picture any better, only larger. If you have a crap source (like coax TV or the typical red/white/yellow composite cables) it will also enlarge the imperfections. On a normal TV you don't notice but when the picture takes up half the wall it is glaringly obvious and this is what drives some into the pursuit of the highest quality sources available. That is Blueray, Freeview, mySkyHD and downloading HD movies/shows off the internet.

[Usarka]

I watched a blu-ray movie a while ago and was surprised at the visibility of the actors skin imperfections (pimples, ingrown hairs, rashes etc).

Not looking forward to HD porn. Arsebiscuits....

[Tank]

Thanks for all the info so far.

Next part of the question:

Freeview TV3 is in hi-def. Is it shown in HI-Def via my-sky as well? (I thought there was an issue with this)

[Hoon]

I think it's only 720 via mySkyHD and it's compressed as well.

[Fatjim]

For the love of god, dont get an LCD for home viewing. Plasma is a way better technology for movies in home environment. Dont get suckered in by the retailers showing off oversaturated images on their display stands and tell you how bright the picture is.
You need to test the screen in similar lighting conditions as your house. So you need to dim the lights down and get a real HD source like a BlueRay player. Put in a movie with combination of dark and bright scenes.
Plasmas are way better at showing the darker scenes and with the LCD everything will look grey.
Panasonic make the best plasmas these days, closely followed by Samsung.
50" seems to be the sweet spot for price/value

Many reviewers are now saying that the latest samsung 6 series is as good as if not better than the plasmas in most criteria. I thought about a plasma, but the problem is Samaungs plasma's are 1 gen behind the LCD's in terms of logic.


Yes, plasma have better colour and response, yes LCD's are brighter and the 42" are true HD, not the 1024x768 shite you get on a 42" plasma (my laptop shits all over that), but I think the screens themselves are close enough nowadays that it comes down to the best logic. I'd watch a smooth lcd over a jittery plasma anyday, and vice versa.

Simple test is to watch the credits at the end of a movie. if the retailer can't get it scrolling smoothly then don't even bother looking any closer.

[captain_andrey]

Sky's HD is 1080i. The HDi box can passthrough ie 576i for SD and 1080i for HD or scale to either 720p or 1080i. It is an HDi setup option.

Panasonic are known to make good scalers so if you get their plasma, you want to pass through and let the tv scale the signal. For everything else, its usually better to let the HDi box do the scaling to your TV's natural resolution.

[vifferman]

Panasonic are known to make good scalers

Yes.
Our 37" plasma supposedly doesn't do 1080p or whatever, but the scaling engine (or whatever it's called) does an excellent job of upscaling it to look acceptable.

[captain_andrey]

Many reviewers are now saying that the latest samsung 6 series is as good as if not better than the plasmas in most criteria. I thought about a plasma, but the problem is Samaungs plasma's are 1 gen behind the LCD's in terms of logic.


Yes, plasma have better colour and response, yes LCD's are brighter and the 42" are true HD, not the 1024x768 shite you get on a 42" plasma (my laptop shits all over that), but I think the screens themselves are close enough nowadays that it comes down to the best logic. I'd watch a smooth lcd over a jittery plasma anyday, and vice versa.

Simple test is to watch the credits at the end of a movie. if the retailer can't get it scrolling smoothly then don't even bother looking any closer.

You can get 42" plasmas with 1080 res native now, if you want to spend the cash.
The problem with LCDs in not the color or the response (used to be but much better now), its the color gradient. Basically, because the LCD technology is using a backlight, you will never get a pure black. So your almost black greys will look same as your black blacks. Load a movie with a dark scene (some horror movie) and you will see a huge difference between a plasma and an LCD.