Pages

Thursday, 3 March 2011

SONY, PANASONIC, SAMSUNG, LG, TOSHIBA the list is endless but which is best???

when buying a TV there is a minefield of choice.  one of the first big decisions for any buyer is which brand to go for?

so which is best?  what are the pros and cons of each competitor? and probably most importantly which is best value for money?

PANASONIC

You could read every review under the sun and there is one brand that will top pretty much every poll, Panasonic.  everyone loves Panasonic in the TV world and so they should they are brilliant. as long as you're talking about plasma's and by plasma's I mean the high end ones.  for me if you want the best and money is no object then a good Panasonic plasma is the way to go.  but there are plenty of the Panasonic range that get a good run for their money, and i don't feel that in the case of good quality LED's and with the internet features of a lot of TV's now Panasonic have some work to do in the next range and looking at things thats exactly what they are doing.

SONY

Sony are another brilliant brand that has a massive following and again you pay a premium for this brand in general, however unlike Panasonic they have an ace up there sleeve in their most recent range of TV's.  Sony Bravia internet video an awesome feature that has the same menu as the PS3 dashboard, allowing access to BBC i player, you tube, Facebook and love film. however as described in the 3D TV blog there are reasons to avoid the higher end Sony TV's.

SAMSUNG


Samsung are the design leaders in the TV market, and without doubt their range is consistently the best looking, always sleek, clean, crisp in design.  if you want a lovely piece of furniture not just a high quality TV then there will surely be a Samsung that takes your fancy.  With a massive range of LCD, LED and plasma's from entry level models to the outstanding Samsung c9000, there is definitely something for everyone.  I don't speak to many people that aren't impressed with the colours, and vividness of Samsung TV's and why wouldn't they be, not the most reliable brand in the world, but value for money I definitely think they're up there with the best of them! there are definitely a few Samsung TV's that I would choose over some of its main rivals.  always marked down for sounds quality, which is fair as Samsung even admit they don't focus on their speaker quality as a key selling point, but they have a pretty solid argument, in that why focus on the speaker quality in the TV when you can always add surround sound, and external speakers to give you that better quality.  But your TV is all about the picture quality, and design.  and thats what you get with a Samsung, great picture quality and brilliant design.

LG


Another brand that gets very good reviews right across the board,  however there are definite downsides to LG, although they continually tick boxes and like Panasonic LG does have its fans as far as clear cut quality goes I think they're lacking something. now don't get me wrong value for money is fantastic with LG you certainly do get a lot for your money, I should know I've got one, and all in all its good it could be better but for what I paid for it and for what I expected its not bad.  but that for me seems to be the problem with LG they don't push my buttons.  they're picture quality doesn't strike me like that of a Samsung, they're plasma's aren't a patch on Panasonic, the features don't jump out and wow you like Sony and i just don't think they have anything other than price to determine why they are better than they're rivals.  Again don't get me wrong why not buy a TV that is much cheaper than another brand when on paper they're the same thing? all in all they're definitely a strong runner up in the market but for me they're always going to be a runner up to the bigger brands.

Toshiba, Sharp, Sanyo, and retailers own brands.


Toshiba are a really good TV brand, that like LG continually get good reviews but don't and never will have the brand dominance of Samsung, Sony or Panasonic.  The same with Sharp, the quattron range is brilliant, it really is, but are they the best TV's on the market? no definitely not.  I personally think with sharps quattron range they've fixed something that wasn't broke.  there are plenty of people that have bought into it and I can see why but for me there are without doubt better TV's on the market.   retailers own brand's well where to start for the money you pay and the quality you get, there is definitely somewhere that you could get a branded, much higher quality product for just a few extra quid, and you wouldn't regret spending it!


Bar the odd really good offer, you get what you pay for, but do your homework make sure get all the features you're looking for!

Wednesday, 2 March 2011

jargon busting TV's

looking at buying a new TV?

Don't really get all the jargon and specification of the TV's you're looking at?  lets see what we can do.

where to start.... this is just a basic guide to help you tell the difference between TV's, what drives the price up, why one might be better than the other etc.


whats LED, LCD, and plasma mean???


this is the easy bit,  LCD and LED TV's only vary in one way! the lighting used behind the screen.

in fact an LED TV is actually an LCD TV with LED backlighting. Light emitting diodes (LED's) run either throughout the back of the panel, or round the edges of the screen to focus light through pixels to give an extremely bright and vivid image on the screen.

LCD TV's have a liquid crystal display screen and cold cathode florescent lamps or CCFL tubes running behind the screen, from left to right, giving an even burst of light throughout the screen.
(for information on which is best read our should I buy this TV blog)

Plasma TV's often found at sizes 42" and above as they are much easier and cheaper to produce than its competitors at large sizes.  essentially a Plasma TV is two layers of glass separated by thousands of pixels, each filled with gas.

for more technical info on LCD, LED or plasma TV's check out the Should I buy this TV? blog.

720p, 1080i, 1080p which is best???

so all new TV's now are HD READY, this means that if it is HD READY that it has a screen resolution of 720p.  Don't worry though 720p is still high definition, it just means there is 720 horizontal lines going across the screen! 1080i is also a type of high definition, this is what sky HD is broadcast in,  a TV with 1080i means that the TV has 1080 lines going across the screen however with each frame it can only use half of those lines for example in one frame the image will be shown on lines 1,3,5,7 etc.  then on the next frame the image will be shown on lines 2,4,6,8 etc.  dead easy!  so, 1080p, this is the one everyone wants, if your TV is 1080p congratulations your TV is full HD.  this means that it can use all of its 1080 lines at once giving you the best possible picture.  Blu ray, and the PS3 ( which is also blu ray) both give a 1080p picture.

50 hz, 100hz, 200hz, 400hz, 600hz???

whats hz? hz or hertz is the rate at which the screen flicks between images.  all formats onto a TV are inputted at 50hz. meaning no matter how advanced your input device your TV will display it, winner!

this is the confusing part, stay focused!

if its inputted at 50hz why do I need it to be higher?

great question, 100hz on a TV essentially is attempting to eradicate any motion blur, what is happening is that each image shown on the screen is set to be followed by the next image, a 100hz TV however is inputting a generated frame into the sequence. so it should go original image-generated image-original image.

200hz is slightly different from 100hz, ( this is where it gets complicated) the sequence would look like this.

original image, blank screen, generated image, blank screen, original image.

the blank screens vary between manufacturers some use a blank white screen some use black.  Again this feature allows the pixels in the screen time to react to the next image making things seem smoother.

TV's with a higher refresh rate are generally better for sports and movies, or anything that has a lot of movement, you can often tell the difference between a 50hz TV and one with a higher refresh rate when there is rolling text along the screen. for example the news, or the end credits of a film or program.

TV's that are 600hz can only be plasma TV's the reason the refresh rate on a plasma is so high is that unlike an LCD or LED back light TV, the plasma screen is not having to rely on the reaction time between the back lighting and the display pixel.  each pixel in a plasma acts rather than reacts, meaning the response time is much faster and therefore the refresh rate can be higher.

(see should I buy this TV blog for info on LCD, LED and plasma.)


other features such as DLNA, internet TV,  the speakers used, the engines used etc will all have their own dedicated blogs.

in a nutshell the higher the numbers on the spec sheet of a TV the better!  but beware some brands and models are much better than others.

NEW 3D TV - what you need to know!

3D TV's are all the rage and the newest technology on the market.  but how do they work? how much do they cost? which one is best? and most importantly which one is right for me? all these questions and more can be answered.

First things first, any 3D TV that you may buy, is not 3D all the time, it is more like 3D ready or 3D capable, certain settings in the TV can be altered so that you can watch transmissions in 3D.

loads of people ask me "can't you just use the glasses that you pick up in the cinema for free, or in the pubs now?"  the simple answer is no, you can't, unless you went for a passive 3D TV like the LG  LD950. (I will explain what passive is later on)

Most (almost all) 3D TV's use active shutter technology, where the glasses essentially cover your left eye completely then switch to the right eye and repeat this in rapid succession.  this allows one eye to view the left image on the screen and the other eye to view the right image on the screen giving you a 3D effect.
(the only brand that don't follow this completely is Sony, but we will come to that bit later)

In the cinemas and with passive technology the glasses are much less advanced and simply have horizontal lines covering one eye and vertical lines covering the other.

Yeah ok sounds good, But what does all this mean?????

next time you're in the cinema watching a 3D film tilt your head and watch the film go out of focus, this happens because the lines on the glasses are now the wrong way around and the 3D effect is lost.  with active shutter glasses this doesn't happen,  you can also sit at a much wider angle with the active shutter glasses, meaning it is much better designed for your home, so you can lie down on the floor, with a beer, at a ridiculous angle to your telly and still watch avatar in 3D, thinking its awesome!

Right so active shutter sounds good, whats are the downsides???

If you go out looking for a new 3D TV, I can't stress enough how much you should give it a test drive!!
look out for cross talk, and flickering with the glasses. (whats cross talk?) cross talk is when the 3D glasses and the screen of the TV are still out of focus meaning you don't get the full 3D effect, this can be very noticeable on some 3D TV's, some LG TV's in my experience suffer from cross talk quite badly.

If you want the best quality 3D on your TV and lets be honest why wouldn't you, stay away from TV's that are only 100hz or 50hz and only HD ready 720p.(for jargon busting look out for our jargon busting blog)  although you might be fine with these TV's  on normal 2D TV and in HD, 3D will really bring out these weaknesses, and although some of these TV's might seem "a bargain" if it looks to good to be true it probably is and the 3D TV next to it that is double the price, is so for a reason.

so what did you say about Sony being different??

well yeah this is the confusing bit, Sony have adopted a slightly different approach to their 3D transmission, a lot of their TV's come with external sensors, rather than have it built into the set itself, this is their argument for 3D ready.  however this is just the start of it.  remember passive and active shutter 3D well Sony use active shutter and passive technology all at once.  their glasses flick between horizontal and vertical rather than on and off.  this give you all the positives and negatives of passive 3D and all the positives and negative of active shutter 3D.  does it still go out of focus if you tilt your head? YES does it mean the 3D runs smoother and you get less cross talk? YES ( on the 200hz models anyway) can you use the glasses in from the cinema or normal passive glasses? erm NO.  so not quite all the positives...

right I've babbled on long enough about this now.  hopefully you will have some more grasp over what you need to look out for, what the pros and cons are and which one you think is best.

In a nutshell, go for something 200hz or above, PLASMA is definitely best for 3D.  make sure your new TV is 1080p.  without a doubt i would recommend the active shutter glasses over passive.  and personally, and even though i love Sony TV's if 3D was what I was after I wouldn't even think about it, unless i had a cinema room (but i don't).

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

How to narrow down my choices of TV!

Selecting the TV that we choose is no simple task. We walk into the shop to see what looks like hundreds of TV's. We walk around looking, reading, but still have no idea what we are looking out for. Well this is where we can help. These first 5 questions will narrow down the hundred TV's to just a handful.

Question 1 - What size is it that I am looking for?

Is it for the bedroom or the living room? How far am I going to sit away from the TV? Am I looking for a bigger TV than the last TV? People ask if I sit a certain distance away from the TV is my choice made up? Yes and no, you wouldn't want to be sitting 6 feet away from a 60 inch TV, nor 20 feet away from a 20 inch TV, but with the massive increase in visual technology over the last few years, it is possible to be closer to the TV without lose of quality through poor pixilation. The key is high definition. The better the quality on the screen the closer you can sit. This is something that will be discussed more in the future. Once you can get an idea of what size the TV is this will narrow our choice down to the double digit range.

Question 2 - LED, LCD Plasma?

Dependent on your size that you aiming to buy this decision may already be made you for you. Plasma are normal for the larger range, 50" but there are 42 inch TV's available too. LCD's and LED's are available all sizes with the LED's usually a better quality than it's LCD counterpart, but are more expensive. The pro's and con's to each type are available below, and more information in depth will be available in the future.

Plasma -
Pro's - Great at motion, so ideal for sports movies and gaming. Can be a cheap option for a large size TV. Usually a warmer more natural colour choice, but again this is a personal opinion.

Con's - Dependent on what price you are looking at can be duller than LCD/LED TV's.  Can have retention or plasma burn problems. Difficult to transport, because of the glass inside TV's need to be transported upright. Can have trouble in brighter rooms.

LCD -
Pro's - Brighter than plasma, Use less power than plasma. Available in all sizes. No rentention or burn issues. Good in bright rooms. Affordable

Con's - Cheaper models can suffer from motion blur (If you go for a LCD, 100 htz is advised)

LED -
Pro's - Very thin, Very bright picture quality. Use's the least power out of all the TV's types. Good viewing angle.

Con's - Again can suffer from motion blur. The thinness of the TV can mean the TV is very delicate. Be careful with them. More expensive than LCD.

If you can narrow this selection down with size then we should be looking now at no more than 20 different TV's available.

Question 3 - What am I going to watch?
Do I plan to watch standard TV or look to watch high definition? DVD or bluray? Is it for gaming?
Your TV is only as good as what your gong to be watching on it. Buy a £4000/$6000 TV to just watch standard digital or analogue TV is pretty much pointless, the same goes for watching Blurays on a large, 50 htz LCD. One bit of advise I give people on a daily basis. Your viewing experience is only as good as your weakest link, that be the source (Sky, DVD, Blu Ray etc), the TV, or the connection between the two (Hdmi, Scart etc)

Simply put if you enjoy your TV and want the most out of it, your going to be paying more for the TV than someone who isnt.

Question 4 - 3D or not 3D!

This is at the moment one of the most important pieces of information that I can give. If you want a 3D TV then great you have again narrowed your TV to a select few. However if you are not looking at going for 3D or even hate 3D, don't discard a TV because it can do 3D! Alot of TV's available now and in the next few months will be 3D capable or 3D ready. Just because it can do this doesn't mean thats all these TV's do. 3D TV's for how they work are technically better than the most of non 3D TV's. Better panels (better colours), better htz and therefore a smoother image, as well as the fact they are packed full of features like internet TV, DLNA and other unique qualities. (to be discussed in future posts). So before you discard all 3D TV's first have a look at what it comes with.

An example of this is the Samsung C750 range. currently priced for the 40" at £699/$999 it is a far better TV than it's sister the C652. The £50/$100 difference will increase the htz from 100 htz to 200htz as well as increasing the picture quality through a better panel. The small dfference in prce makes for a massive differences in quality. Too many people though rule this TV out for the 3D label. My advise, don't!

Question 5 - Who!

Sony, Panasonic, LG, Samsung, Toshiba, Sharp...... the list goes on and thats not includng the different makes that different retailers have. This is personal preference. If you have enjoyed a make of TV or other electrical devices why change. I know alot of people that will simply only buy from the same company. Thats fine. But if there is a company type of TV you want then this last question will help you to narrow the TV for you to hopefully less than 5. If your not sure or don't mind which TV make you go for then thats still not a problem, I personally have electrical products from all the companys as first stated.

Hopefully these 5 questions have helped in choosing the right TV for you, or at least narrowed your choice down. But if your still unsure message me with a comment to this post with the answer to these 5 questions and I can try to help narrow down your choice further. Again any questions you have feel free to ask and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.