Who makes a non-rubbish budget TV?

[FunkyNige]

Hi guys,

I'm after a bit of advice as I'm getting a TV for my new house soon but don't really watch enough TV/films to justify spending top dollar on a really nice tele.

So generally, what makes should I be looking out for? Any features that I should look out for/avoid?

It's going to be:

• 32" screen (viewing distance is about 8', but I don't want a bigger screen as I don't want it to dominate the room)
• budget is about £400
• tuner doesn't have to be great as I'll be putting a Humax Freesat recorder box thingy into it (there's no aerial in the house and I like to record things)
• sound quality doesn't have to be great as I'll be putting the sound through my hi-fi (when I get around to buying that)
• the only things I think I'll connect to it are the recorder box (HDMI), DVD player (SCART), PC sometimes (PC monitor cable thingy) and I think that's it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don't want to end up with a complete dog if I could have got something much more suited for my needs for not much more money.

Nige.

[PJ S]

How about a 37" X10 Panasonic Plasma?
Won't dominate the room, looks good on SD material from your 8' viewing distance, and not a whole lot more than you're looking to spend, from our very own telly seller member.......Derestricter

[headcase]

Samsung are the king of budget TV's, they are only rubbish in comparison to the higher end stuff in the same way a Mondeo is rubbish compared to an Aston Martin

[gbbird]

I can highly recommend LG. They make very good kit indeed, and are consistently cheaper than their bigger brand rivals eg Panasonic, Sony; without cutting on quality.

This little beauty would more than meet your viewing requirements

http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/lg/32lf...

g

[wy906]

I bought this from Amazon 10 days ago, only £349.99

Toshiba Regza 32RV635DB

It's very good, it's also got 5G rating from the Gadgets Show. (Still on Five's website as best buy)

They have put the price back up to £388, so I got lucky.

My viewing distance is also about 8-10 feet, but I mainly use mine for Xbox360 and Sky+ (non-HD) viewing.

I also considered LG 32LH3000, it's got 41 reviews from Amazon and they're all 5-star! (£379.99)

I chose the Toshiba cos my brother got the 37-inch Toshiba and he's very happy with it, also it was £30 cheaper.

[wy906]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

That's not a bad deal at all, even better price than amazon I think. The main difference is mine (32RV635DB) is Full HD and the AV model isn't.

BTW to the OP, mine's got 2 SCARTs, 4 HDMI (3 at the back, one side), and PC in so it pretty much fits your bill.

[bakerjuk]

headcase said:

Samsung are the king of budget TV's, they are only rubbish in comparison to the higher end stuff in the same way a Mondeo is rubbish compared to an Aston Martin

Actually, I thought samsung manufactor the LCD panels themselves and most others such as LG and others use Samsung panels. I think its only Panasonic and Samsung that make them. but I might be TOTALLY wrong there.

I was of the impression that you pay for the panel as a base price and the "packaging" ie speakers, stand etc.. on top, which is why my LG was more, but is technially better.

Its best to just keep looking, find a cheap tele, do some research and read LOTS of reviews. Most cheaper teles will do the job fine unless you have special requirements on input lag response, 24p, rear connections etc..

[snotrag]

How do you find that model on SD telly? (freeview?)

Also - have you tried it with a PC input?


I'm torn between that Toshiba abnd the LG 32lh300 for use in my room for games/pc/freeview.

[wy906]

snotrag said:

How do you find that model on SD telly? (freeview?)

Also - have you tried it with a PC input?

I'm torn between that Toshiba abnd the LG 32lh300 for use in my room for games/pc/freeview.

Sky+: Very good, no complain there. Connected to SCART

Freeview: Nothing wrong with the Toshiba built-in receiver, but I only got a tiny indoor antenna so the signal isn’t the best. For some reason I can’t get BBC1 and BBC2, but do get BBC3 and 4, but this probably all depends on where you live. If you’ve got an outdoor antenna for your freeview then I’m sure the signal will be fine. Anyway I get all the channels from Sky so it doesn’t really bother me.

Xbox 360: Brilliant 1080p graphic. Connected with HDMI. I was playing Forza3 with my old 20-inch CRT, and was wondering why the game was so hard with MS wheel. Now playing the game with HD TV, it's just brilliant.

PC: Ordered cables from Amazon (15-pin), just arrived today. Will try to hook up my laptop tonight. Mind you my laptop is a slow 10 years old Dell (15-inch 1600 x 1200 res.) so I don’t expect anything special.

The TV set-up is super easy, even a fool like me can do it very quickly. Remote control is small and easy to use.

To fit the TV stand, Toshiba supplied an allen key; I fitted it in less than 10 mins.

As mentioned, I considered the LG 32LH3000 as well but Toshiba Regza 32RV635DB was rated highly by Gadget Show and cnet.co.uk (or was it cnet.com), plus my brother got a 37-inch Tosh (bought 6-month ago). At the end the extra £30 saving was the extra deciding factor. (Yes I’m a tight git!)

Even though I haven’t seen the LG in action, TBH I don’t think you can go wrong with either.

I was gonna jump on the Samsung bandwagon, but for budget Full HD 32-inch, the reviews for Toshiba and LG seem to be better.

[FunkyNige]

Thanks for the replies everyone, in the end I went for the Toshiba Regza one, really happy with it!

[FunkyNige]

Thanks for the replies everyone, in the end I went for the Toshiba Regza one, really happy with it!