NEED HELP in making a LCD TV buying decision!

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parasharenator

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Iam planning to buy a new 32" LCD TV(dunno much about Plasmas n there relative advantages&disadvantages)
now there's a LG exchange offer going on:
1.Get a LG 32LH20 at 33K or LG 3280UR(JAZZ) at 36K +dvd player,6months DTH and 50dvds free(offer available on select HD ready models)
now,
though the volume(sound) of LH20 IS less,,,but JAZZ(80UR) being 500W PMPO has bigger speakers,,but I found them to be creaky(more treble),,and the audio clarity felt bad thereby.

And I can get a FULL HD LG3280FR,again the JAZZ series at 44K+TATA sKy set top box worth 1.5k free,albeit without the above offer!!!

The big question is:
IS FULL HD really worth the hype...
coz,I'll be watching mostly SD content+at times HD movies,,and wont game at all,,,
So,since SD being prime focus I know Sony Bravia Engine 3 models are a better preference,just that they will be about 10k higher for the HD ready and the full HD models...

Now,typically I would have bought a Panasonic LX80/LE8 considering that they are VFM .if only,they would be readily available here,,,I will have to specifically order them.

So,
I would prefer LG 32LH20 considering the price (33K),getting to shelf my old CTV+6months DTH subscription(now this bit is unlcear in the ADvertisement,as it says you get to chose from 3 DTH subscribers,but those options are not mentioned and on top of that the 6months subscription may be just FREE-To-AIR channels{Though am not sure,but see this as a gimmick} )
and spend 11k or so more and buy a Home Theatre,

Rather,
than spending 44K on FuLL HD LG3280FR,just bcoz it's FULL HD,,and I came to know(and have seen that in my neighbour's Samsung 32" FULL HD) that SD becomes crappier than in HD Ready mdels,,as the SD content seemed to lack texture,fineness on the FULL HD LCD (the faces of characters on TV were like lacking texture and were like painted faces)
and yes,it's JAZZ series,,so I hate it's Treble sounding audio quality....
SO,,,GUYS please give your comments and advises on the same,,,and share your buying experiences!!!
 
parasharenator said:
Iam planning to buy a new 32" LCD TV(dunno much about Plasmas n there relative advantages&disadvantages)

now there's a LG exchange offer going on:

1.Get a LG 32LH20 at 33K or LG 3280UR(JAZZ) at 36K +dvd player,6months DTH and 50dvds free(offer available on select HD ready models)

now,

though the volume(sound) of LH20 IS less,,,but JAZZ(80UR) being 500W PMPO has bigger speakers,,but I found them to be creaky(more treble),,and the audio clarity felt bad thereby.

And I can get a FULL HD LG3280FR,again the JAZZ series at 44K+TATA sKy set top box worth 1.5k free,albeit without the above offer!!!

The big question is:

IS FULL HD really worth the hype...

coz,I'll be watching mostly SD content+at times HD movies,,and wont game at all,,,

So,since SD being prime focus I know Sony Bravia Engine 3 models are a better preference,just that they will be about 10k higher for the HD ready and the full HD models...

Now,typically I would have bought a Panasonic LX80/LE8 considering that they are VFM .if only,they would be readily available here,,,I will have to specifically order them.

So,

I would prefer LG 32LH20 considering the price (33K),getting to shelf my old CTV+6months DTH subscription(now this bit is unlcear in the ADvertisement,as it says you get to chose from 3 DTH subscribers,but those options are not mentioned and on top of that the 6months subscription may be just FREE-To-AIR channels{Though am not sure,but see this as a gimmick} )

and spend 11k or so more and buy a Home Theatre,

Rather,

than spending 44K on FuLL HD LG3280FR,just bcoz it's FULL HD,,and I came to know(and have seen that in my neighbour's Samsung 32" FULL HD) that SD becomes crappier than in HD Ready mdels,,as the SD content seemed to lack texture,fineness on the FULL HD LCD (the faces of characters on TV were like lacking texture and were like painted faces)

and yes,it's JAZZ series,,so I hate it's Treble sounding audio quality....

SO,,,GUYS please give your comments and advises on the same,,,and share your buying experiences!!!
Click to expand...

I was looking around for opinions on this recently and the consensus seems to be that for 42inch and lower, 1080p to 720p difference is not very noticeable. I recently got a 42inch 720p television, and don't regret the decision.

And for SD content, a full HD resolution may actually be a negative.

Edit: Read this thread. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=768167
 
Got a panny LX80 for 29k and dont regret the decision. Its total VFM and the SD PQ is just amazing. Blows the Sony 32S550 when it comes to sharpness in SD content. Mind you, I am using regular cable and I'm satsfied with PQ.
 
What type of panel are you looking for? This is what you should decide first. S-IPS panels developed jointly by LG and PHILIPS are considered to be technically superior than the panels used by Samsung and others. The downside is that the response time is little high (about few ms).

I have bought one from LG which IMHO gives best price-quality-feature ratio and I am really satisfied.

Though the best judge is your own eyes, start shop hopping, look in the pictures of all the brands and then compare the technical specification of your initially chose models to make the final purchase decision.
 
src2206 said:
What type of panel are you looking for? This is what you should decide first. S-IPS panels developed jointly by LG and PHILIPS are considered to be technically superior than the panels used by Samsung and others. The downside is that the response time is little high (about few ms).
I have bought one from LG which IMHO gives best price-quality-feature ratio and I am really satisfied.
Though the best judge is your own eyes, start shop hopping, look in the pictures of all the brands and then compare the technical specification of your initially chose models to make the final purchase decision.
Click to expand...

I guess even the Panasonic and Sony use IPS technology,or for that matter all of the prevalent brands in the market.
Response time is not a matter of concern for me,as I have quit gaming.
and
regarding "let the eyes be the judge"
The shops here have only LG and Sony up for display,so I guess that restricts my decision to LG,I found it better and cheaper.
 
well sony don't uses IPS panels ,they are however in talks with LG ,so we may see LG panels in sony from next year,but according to LG ceo ,they would give panels that are currently not offered by sony like 42inch,47inch,since sony currently offers 40inch and 46inch sizes.
sony will also use sharp panels from next year,along with the current suppliers which is AU optronics (AMVA) and samsung (SPVA).

btw sony 32inch models like S and V series use AMVA panel,which have high ANSI contrast just like the SPVA panels,but has signifanctly lesser input lag compared to SPVA.

if u want a tv based on IPS go for philips(S-ips) or panasonic (IPS pro),philips as a better image processing then the ones found in LG and even have better build quality.the main advantage the IPS based tvs have are the viewing angle ,they have about 15 to 20 degrees more viewing angle compared to AMVA and SPVA.as far as the colors they are subjective.
 
that was a very definitive reply,,,adder!
but know my options have even more diversifed...lg,panasonic or philips
but,I want to go for IPS only!
but which among the three brand/specific tv models are better,,and falling in the budget,,,
how do they fare against each other :lg,,panny,philips???
and which philips model were u speaking off?? please let me know the price too!
 
parasharenator said:
that was a very definitive reply,,,adder!
but know my options have even more diversifed...lg,panasonic or philips
but,I want to go for IPS only!
but which among the three brand/specific tv models are better,,and falling in the budget,,,
how do they fare against each other :lg,,panny,philips???
and which philips model were u speaking off?? please let me know the price too!
Click to expand...

any particular reason why u want IPS only.well i am not sure about the prices.
newer models from phlips and panasonic are yet to hit the streets they have better image processing tech,the current philips models are a bit agressive or over processed image.u must note that all the IPS based tvs except(some with local dimming LED)have quite low contrast compared to plasma and lcds from sony and samsung.
if u primarly watch SD content u can go for a plasma.since in 32inch FHD won't make sense unless u use it as a monitor or sit at a very close distance,but SD content will be better in lcds or plasma that are HD ready.
 
mainly the viewing angle...that's why IPS///
and contrast ratio ye sab factors jyada matter nahi karte,,mainly for family purpose!
though i will definitely look out one which offers best bang for the buck!
but I disliked the "painted" like texture of samsung series 5 lcds...after first viewing,,but contrast dimming n brightness dimming did help a bit...but then the picture was looking dull!
the LG IPSs were ok for me...mostly bcoz the tv shop owner showed me HD content on it!

n plasmas :i heard there longevity is less,,both from the forums and the dealer!
 
parasharenator said:
mainly the viewing angle...that's why IPS///
and contrast ratio ye sab factors jyada matter nahi karte,,mainly for family purpose!
though i will definitely look out one which offers best bang for the buck!
but I disliked the "painted" like texture of samsung series 5 lcds...after first viewing,,but contrast dimming n brightness dimming did help a bit...but then the picture was looking dull!
the LG IPSs were ok for me...mostly bcoz the tv shop owner showed me HD content on it!

n plasmas :i heard there longevity is less,,both from the forums and the dealer!
Click to expand...

well if u wan't viewing angle then plasma have the edge,plasmas last as long as lcds.
the thing is unlike viewing angle advantage where people who are sitting at realy extreme ends will benefit,the advantage of the contrast can be seen by everyone.not to mention the greater detail in shadow regions.about dimming all lcds tvs have that ,the ones with IPS panels are more aggressive to get the higher dynaminc contrast,despite which cannot match the true ANSI contrast of sony and samsung models without dimming.
well the native contrast of the LG top of the line products are around 1000:1 or less the samsung B530/B550 or sony S550A,V550A have a contrast of more then ANSI 1500:1 to 2000:1.
 
i got your point buddy!
And i realised that viewing angle is not that much of a concern for me,,,as it's more like a dining table viewing thing,,,so extreme angles won't be encountered.
But on further thought,I dont want a tv which has very high input lag,,,so that ghosting occurs,,,though am not very rigid about this criterion,as I have quit gaming....

Also i have a specific query: do HD ready models support 1080p input..and do the necessary downscaling...if that's the case then I would prefer a better HD ready model than a full HD one,,,
and for me options available are less,,more so I can't actually SEE models on a side-by-side basis?
REGARDING PLASMAs:
which is good hd plasma in that budget,,
I found that plasmas available in the range were 42" there were no 32" plasmas..also i found that on 42" plasmas the resolution was 1024x768....now,since I want to keep my tv for 10+years,Is it viable option to keep a TV that has lesser resolution than 720p...leave apart 1080p..esp. for a 42" tv..and further I suppose viewing distance is going to be of order of 5-6 feets for me!
Also I came to know something called burn-in in case of plasmas(am not very sure0 and so the picture quality depreciates with time,,as it's a half-life thing for plasmas!!!
at the end of the day,what would u suggest plasma or lcd,,

the options I can opt for are basically samsung,Lg,Sony(higher price,so would like to avoid)..Panny and philips I would have to order specially,,so I think I would lose the cost benefit in that case,,,bcoz the rates are quite high here even for prevalent models,,,,
OR Rather
, suppose I go for a Panny,Philips or Samsung(please suggest the model too)
by ordering it online---and suppose it ships from mumbai...then how will be aftersale service,,both in case of warranty and after warranty
 
well i can't say which is better since its very subjective,i can only point out the advantages and disadvantages its upto u to decide which u can live with and without.
the advantage plasma has is that it is cheaper so u get a bigger size screen,has decent contrast although the HD ready plasma models which are btw budget models still won't match the contrast of sony and samsung lcds or FHD plasmas from panasonic.
SD content is better in HD ready plasma and lcd,although some FHD lcds and plasma may have good SD performance as well by the complex image processing tech.
yes todays HD ready lcd/plasmas can accept 1080p and downscale them.
in plasmas u can check out the panasonic PV8 or lg pq30 all are pretty much the same in terms of performance their colors do vary so preference is subjective i prefer the colors of the panasonic.the pansonic models are brighter so may be good for a bright room.panasonic however consumes more power,the newer X10 series does consume lesser power but it is about 55k to 60k.
in lcds i suggest the sony S550A it is however a 32inch,but it is HD ready and has a good image processer i.e BE3 engine.another model to consider is the panasonic LX800 with 100hz offers higher motion resolution compared to the sony S550A.all this assuming ur budget is around 45k.

response to edited post
well since u have now told me the viewing distance best to stick with a 32inch lcd,u are sitting pretty close to just about see the benefits of FHD so considering u are going to keep the tv for 10years u may go a FHD models,like samsung B530 or if u can afford the sony V550A,sony is also offering the older W400A series at a discount.
 
u can still go with a HD ready LCD.
Since u will be using it for 10 + yrs....All i can hope is we get HD Ready tv signal by then in India. ( been optimistic).
 
Tron05 said:
u can still go with a HD ready LCD.
Since u will be using it for 10 + yrs....All i can hope is we get HD Ready tv signal by then in India. ( been optimistic).
Click to expand...

well we already have or about to have a HD dth provider like sun HD,there are also may channels available that are HD but is yet to get government permission for downstream.also DD state owned televesion has said it will transmit common wealth games 2010 in HD.
finally there is always blu ray medium and downloadable content.
 
parasharenator said:
I guess even the Panasonic and Sony use IPS technology,or for that matter all of the prevalent brands in the market.

Response time is not a matter of concern for me,as I have quit gaming.

and

regarding "let the eyes be the judge"

The shops here have only LG and Sony up for display,so I guess that restricts my decision to LG,I found it better and cheaper.
Click to expand...

All the company's do not use S-IPS or IPS panels as you might have found already.

As i said I have chosen LG after visiting at least 10 very big Electronics showrooms and looking at all the brands available at Kolkata, including moserbear, but I also found LG technically, featurewise and pricewise much superior than others, and as I said I was sure to pick up an S-IPS panel :)

One more thing which might help you as it did for me:

I compared all the shortlisted brands in the in.com site's market segment. This site really offers a great comparison capability. At first I started with Sony, LG, Philips and Samsung, then after first comparision, left out Samsung and compared the other three, at last I zeroed down to LG comparing it with Philips.

Try this, it should really help you to make a proper buying decision.
 
First of all I want to clarify something...
VIEWING DISTANCE:10 feet,not 5 feet as I had stated earlier,,

Ok,so now am zeroing in!
But adder and src2206 are going on kinda different bandwagons,,,
adder promoting the PVA Lcds,i.e Samsung and src2206 shouting that s-IPS is the best out of the lot,i.e. thumping about LG...
BTW...src2206 which LG 32" did u buy???
And adder:what do u mean by local dimming Leds while referring to s-IPS Lcds??
and could u guys confirm,whether LG32LH70 wiz. Scarlet 2.0 has this local dimming???

and I would go for either Samsung or LG bcoz,,
.>would have preferred PAnny,,but no after sales,,means it's a NO-NO)
.> i wouldn't pay higher price just for a Sony,,,
.>Philips...I dunno much...if only U guys could tell more,,,and the newer series 7 which adder was talking about..is too costly for me...or was it something else that you were pointing to..??

and Since,I can't make a visual comparison based decision,,,bcoz of my place...
So,I will go for the one which is cheaper/better after sales...among sammy and LG.

But then,,,
Which models.???
firstly...
I HATE GLOSSY DISPLAYS,,,and it will be a well lit room,,,with tube lighting safely above the Tv,,,day-light wouldn't just creep in.would be more of an ambience,than a light itself...
Iam bit split on {less than HD} Plasma 42" or Full HD LCD 32":::

my take on 1024x768 plasma:
samsung PS42B430P2 or LG 42PQ30
similar specs-Lg has 16 bit color reproduction,sammy has 18 bit...
but actual experience is what i call for here..
I would prefer finer,better texture and warmer picture quality of plasma over the "pixel war" anyday.
But,Plasmas are not prevalent here...so Bragging advantage!
COST FACTOR due to inavailability is a nay say...coz I will get the LCDs at bit 1-2k bargain of website prices,,while plasma at that of website price
(website:the respective company URL)
but,,
Downside;adder said newer plasmas don't have burn-in,,life,,quality depreciating with time(lesser half-life)
but what if these models are actually old manufactured ones,,and just newly rebadged series name,,,please confirm on this...
bcoz,my dealer was provoking against plasma,,bcoz of lesser shelf life...But,I highly doubt his little knowledge,,and business instinct on selling what he has!!!

my take on 1920x1080 LCD;
1.Samsung B530 or LG scarlet 2.0
or
2.Samsung p550 or LG JAZZ
The Leaning factor:
considering that my last CTV survived for like 19 years,,and I hope the newer one would go for 10-15 years,,,
THE 1080P content about which adder was saying,,about to come soon...
{but wasnt 3G also supposed to come long back.I agree in this case scenario is different,,and span of period is also quite long..)
But don't US channels display only 720p content as of now,,atleast that's what i get to download as of now!
and lastly,,Peace of mind,,considering the longevity factor,,,and future-resolution blitzkrieg;)
 
Well I would not suggest Plasma. This technology seems to be on the road to oblivion with the advent of LED technology, so stick with LCD.

My room is rather small, so I did not go for a 32", but a modest 26", but as I said, I am greatly satisfied. :)

ALL LCD panels employ back light method to illuminate, so does not matter how costly the TV is the Black will never be perfectly black be whatever technology it is using. The difference during actuals viewing will be so minimal you won't even notice. Keep in mind that there will always be something on the TV which is going to captivate your attention- so just don't pay any premium for any technology that the brand is harping.

Now for PHILIPS, while comparing I found that the features of PHILIPS are not only is little outdated but also less in number.

So I would again suggest that you do an actual comparison at this site before you decide.
 
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