£550 to spend on a TV. But what TV?

[Busby]

I have £550 to spend on a new TV. I currently have a 32" Toshiba CRT TV so I'm looking to finally get a Plasma/LCD TV. Having only just started looking at this sort of thing I@m completely bewildered by the choice so have no idea what to go for.

I was hoping for a TV which could do 1080p so it's more future proof but maybe my budget is a bit too small for this?

It will be for my living room and I plan to buy a "Popcorn hour" box to go with the TV. I will be sat around 8-10 feet away from the TV. Can anyone recommend what TV they would buy if they were me?

Thanks :)

[Monkey_Boy]

Costco have the Samsung Series 5 550 40" LE40B550 / HD 1080p / Freeview / LCD TV (Black) at £574 with 5year warranty.

[einstein]

Had one of these for a while. Panasonic Plasma (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=57&url=http://www.johnlewis.com/230599700/Product.aspx)

Best TV I have ever had. Just all round awesome.

Available in your price range if you shop around.

EDIT: It doesn't "do" 1080p (it will accept the signal though) but its SD performance is great. Let the debate commence!

[jroadley]

Toshiba 37" 1080p - one in bedroom - lovely bit of kit.

[sideshowbob]

Costco have the Samsung Series 5 550 40" LE40B550 / HD 1080p / Freeview / LCD TV (Black) at £574 with 5year warranty.

I've just picked one of these up ... not from costco mind you. Should get it Weds.

[Gizmo]

Not got a John Lewis near you to have a shifty?

If you are streaming a variety of stuff to your media box, you might find a plasma a tad more sympathetic to any variable quality feeds.

[essydyk]

Take a look at the LG 42PQ6000 Plasma for just over £500 - again not Full HD but for the money I don't think you will find a better performer. Picture quality is superb as are the features/audio and One Sheet Glass Design.

Or look at saving on your Popcorn Hour and spending a bit more on one of the LG 50" Plasmas that can play divx, avi and mkv from the built in USB port. I think some of the LG LCD's can do that too if you go into the menu.;)

[sideshowbob]

I think some of the LG LCD's can do that too if you go into the menu.;)

You mean ... samsung ... ;)

[Busby]

Take a look at the LG 42PQ6000 Plasma for just over £500 - again not Full HD but for the money I don't think you will find a better performer. Picture quality is superb as are the features/audio and One Sheet Glass Design.

Or look at saving on your Popcorn Hour and spending a bit more on one of the LG 50" Plasmas that can play divx, avi and mkv from the built in USB port. I think some of the LG LCD's can do that too if you go into the menu.;)

That's the TV I eventually went for :)

Cheers for the advice all. I ended up looking at as much as possible on the AVForums and for my money the LG 42PQ6000 seemed the best choice. Got it all setup with my Popcorn hour and the picture is FANTASTIC and such a nice looking TV as well.

Thanks again :)

[essydyk]

You mean ... samsung ... ;)

No I mean LG!!;)

The LH series of LCD's will play either divx or high definition divx or mkv from the usb port, but you will need to enter the service menu to activate it.

The 2009 Plasma range can also do the same thing (depending on the model) by doing the same trick.

[sideshowbob]

Costco have the Samsung Series 5 550 40" LE40B550 / HD 1080p / Freeview / LCD TV (Black) at £574 with 5year warranty.

I've just picked one of these up ... not from costco mind you. Should get it Weds.

Received my Samsung LE40B550 today. Very happy with it. Delighted in fact.

A few things to note ...

Firstly, it's well worth getting a set with 4 HDMI. I plugged in my MC PC, DVD, Camcorder and 360 and that was it. Connectivity on this set is excellent compared to many of the sets I looked at in this price bracket.

Pictures from the internal freeview tuner are very good - much better than the pic from my SCART connected PVR. Dvd is also good - if I calibrate it - I think it will be excellent. DVI PC throughput is excellent - I set up my MC pc to run at 720p, to reduce stress on the GPU and it looks great - Iplayer looks great full screen, which surprised me (I look forward to catching up with Torchwood).

The firmware update on the samsung site was quick and easy to undertake. It needed a retune after though.

I played crackdown on the 360 at 720p and it's an incredibly crisp and vibrant picture. I didn't notice any lag either, which is encouraging.

The only niggle I have is it has a start up / shut down sound. I can't see a way to disable it either. It's not a major annoyance, but an unnecessary feature in my view.


All in all, I'm very pleased with it.