LCD TV's ???

[mk1gaz]

We bought a 37 inch Panasonic LCD TV for christmas but the picture is shite . It's all fuzzy/pixely (hope you know what i mean) so WTF is wrong as i thought they were supposed to be great ? It's connected to a Virgin media cable box with normal scart leads and this worked fine with our 6 year old conventional Panasonic TV . Tempted to take the shite thing back and get a plasma instead or maybe a refund . Any TV geeks on here with words of wisdom ?

[ORDAV]

was going to ask the difference between plasma and lcd was looking at them last week plasma would be my choice

think you mean pixalatting (if spelt right) a get that some times wife the snow weve been having

heard also with new tellies you have to transport them straight up not lying down does so thing to them

[Scorted]

Actually cant answer you sorry, but I have the following TV issue going on right now:-

Purchased a plasma 42" Panasonic today and got it home, unpacked it. Set it all up and turned it on. Works lovely, but like a fool I should have got 37" because its just physically too big beside my chimney breast. I know, I know I should have measured it. And now its all unpacked I don't think I can take it back and pay the extra £200 for a smaller screen which would fit perfectly.....What a plonker eh... Or can I take it back its only been on for 1 hour? Anybody know if I can return it, not for refund but exchange for dearer model which would fit better?

Yours is most likely the settings, needs a good playing with. It will be fine.

[Scorted]

Yeah I was told I had to get it home upright it was a brastard getting the ting in the car!

[ORDAV]

if a was closer m8 would have had that of you for a nice discount

[flyingpilot]

Not a TV nerd but I'm also about to buy a new telly and being doing some homework.
First you've got HD ready and full HD, full HD has a higher pixel count, often advertised as 1080p. Which will give you a sharper picture.

LCD's work different to plasma so you need to look at response speed.

The other day I saw a pioneer 42" plasma at comet for £499, pioneer have now pulled out and will stop making plasma's from March next year, so some cheap ones will be about.

Also you could buy a copy of What HI-Fi, sound and vision, where reviews are printed in the back.

[Scorted]

Just copied this from their website:-

Currys Returns and Aftersales Policy
We will exchange or refund your purchase either before or up to 28 days following the day of delivery if you return the item to us as set out below, but it must bereturned unopened and in its original packaging, complete with any free gifts or accessories provided.
This does not affect your consumer rights and if you open the goods to inspect them, you can still cancel your purchase at any time either before or up to 7 working days* following the day the goods are delivered.
You can cancel your purchase by:
- returning the product to one of our stores with your receipt and bringing the card you paid with so we can credit it, or
- emailing us at aftersales@currys.co.uk to request that we collect the product, or
- phoning us on 0844 561 1234 with your order reference number and delivery details to hand

* “working days” means all days other than Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays
In all cases, your product must be complete and in 'as new' condition. If you have opened the box to examine the product you must have done so without damaging or marking the product or packaging. The product must not have been used or installed. It should be returned with the original box and packaging, along with any accessories you received with it. Pre-recorded videotapes, DVDs, CDs, minidiscs, memory cards and software must still be sealed. Any free gifts received with the product must also be returned.
If you follow the above steps, we will issue you with a full refund for the cost of the product and any delivery charge you paid. Refunds take 3-5 working days to be credited to your payment card

So looks promising.

[RS2000CUSTOM]

I have an LCD 40" Sony Bravia KDL-40w4500

It is Full HD and 1080p

50,000 : 1 Contrast

On Virgin Media HD picture is awesome

I run it through a HDMi cable from Virgin Box to TV

On some older "re-run" programmes (of which there are plenty on Cable TV) there is the slightest amount of "edging" but not enough to affect overall picture

[Banishit]

the picture will only be sharper on a 1080 panel if the source is outputting at 1080 Sky HD is output at 720 lines never full HD quality

std def tv is 534 lines a conventional TV will look better than a 42 LCD at this because it is not being stretched as such, to fill a WS format TV twice the size of what the picture was designed for

Also unless you feed the LCD or PLasma with a decnt source eg upscaling DVD player or Blueray / games console the picture is not as good if you sit closer than about 8-10 feet you start to see it blocky/pixally

next make sure the scart connector is a decent quality one as the std ones are ppretty crap to start with with generally bad soldered connectors

[Aled]

Gaz, I got one for my folks and was disappointed after setting it up with the picture. It too was pants. However, I had tuned it to analogue signal instead of digital so after some fettling, now have 195 chanels of cracking quality pic.

Make sure it is set up correctly before taking it back

[Andyc]

Plasma TV
Plasma television technology is based loosely on the fluorescent light bulb. The display itself consists of cells. Within each cell two glass panels are separated by a narrow gap in which neon-xenon gas is injected and sealed in plasma form during the manufacturing process. The gas is electrically charged at specific intervals when the Plasma set is in use. The charged gas then strikes red, green, and blue phosphors, thus creating a television image. Each group of red, green, and blue phosphors is called a pixel.

Although Plasma television technology eliminate the need for the bulky picture tube and electron beam scanning of traditional televisions, because it still employs the burning of phosphors to generate an image, Plasma televisions still suffer from some of the drawbacks of traditional televisions, such as heat generation and screen-burn of static images.

LCD TV
LCD televisions, on the other hand, use a different technology.
Basically, LCD panels are made of two layers of transparent material, which are polarized, and are "glued" together. One of the layers is coated with a special polymer that holds the individual liquid crystals. Current is then passed through individual crystals, which allow the crystals to pass or block light to create images. LCD crystals do not produce their own light, so an external light source, such as florescent bulb is needed for the image created by the LCD to become visible to the viewer.
Unlike standard CRT and Plasma televisions, since there are no phosphors that light up, less power is needed for operation and the light source in an LCD television generates less heat than a Plasma or traditional television. Also, because of the nature of LCD technology, there is no radiation emitted from the screen itself.

Plasma vs LCD
The ADVANTAGES of Plasma over LCD are:
1. Larger screen size availability.
2. Better contrast ratio and ability to render deeper blacks.
3. Better color accuracy and saturation.
4. Better motion tracking.

The DISADVANTAGES of Plasma vs LCD include:
1. Plasma TVs are more susceptible to burn-in of static images.
2. Plasma TVs generate more heat than LCDs, due to the need to light of phosphors to create the images.
3. Does not perform as well at higher altitudes.
4. Potentially shorter display life span - this used to be the case. Early Plasmas had 30,000 hours or 8 hrs of viewing a day for 9 years, which was less than LCD. However, screen life span has now improved and 60,000 hour life span rating are now common, with some sets rated as high as 100,000 hours, due to technology improvements.

LCD television ADVANTAGES over Plasma include:
1. No burn-in of static images.
2. Cooler running temperature.
3. No high altitude use issues.
4. Increased image brightness over Plasma.
5. Lighter weight than Plasma counterparts.
6. Longer display life used to be a factor, but now LCD and Plasma sets both have at least 60,000 hour or higher lifespans.

DISADVANTAGES of LCD vs Plasma televisions include:
1. Lower contrast ratio, not as good rendering deep blacks.
2. Not as good at tracking motion (fast moving objects may exhibit lag artifacts).
3. Not as common in large screen sizes above 42-inches as Plasma.
4. Although LCD televisions do not suffer from burn-in susceptibility, it is possible that individual pixels on an LCD televisions can burn out, causing small, visible, black or white dots to appear on the screen. Individual pixels cannot be repaired, the whole screen would need to be replaced at that point, if the individual pixel burnout becomes annoying to you. 5. LCD televisions are typically more expensive than equivalent-sized Plasma televisions (although this is changing), especially when comparing EDTV Plasmas to HDTV-LCD Televisions.

Hope this helps gents did my back ground work before i spent mega money on tvs

[marky4]

gaz the quality of the cables does make a differance use a HDMi cable might help mate

[graham John]

we still listen to the Wireless here in Wales..............

cheeRS

[Andyc]

we still listen to the Wireless here in Wales..............

cheeRS

thats all youll have if it snows any more

[graham John]

thats all youll have if it snows any more

No snow here (at the moment)..............

cheeRS