Viewing SD through an HD TV

[Heathwood]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a new TV within the next couple of months (probably 42", still considering other factors). At the moment I have no HD equipment whatsoever so will be watching Sky through SD feed and DVD.

I'm worried about buying a TV that looks amazing running on full HD in the shop, only to look crap when I set it up at home. Is there anything I need to consider here? Are some manufacturers preferable at producing reasonable SD pictures? I will eventually upgrade to HD Sky / Bluray, so want a 'futureproof' TV.

Thanks for any advice

[tank slapper]

My mum recently got a new TV, and the quality of image on SD was one of the major considerations as most of her viewing will be of SD broadcasts. Initially she got a Toshiba 37", which developed a fault and was replaced with an LG 37", both of which have very good SD image quality. It does depend on the source material though - some channels broadcast with low bit rate look a bit ropey, but the major ones all look fine. "Blood and Oil" on BBC2 the other day compared very well with the BBCHD broadcast.

They are both miles better than my brother's 42" Sony which cost quite a bit more (much to his annoyance).

[PJ S]

Panasonic Plasma would be the default choice - plasma by and large, looks more natural than LCD with SD material, and all the better when, as pointed out above, you're getting a good signal/transmission rate.
To that end, look at the new X20 series, if you're not likely to be sitting close enough to benefit from the 1080p (Full HD) G20's, but don't discount them altogether, as they've more than one string to their bow.

[RizzoTheRat]

Size and viewing range will come in to it a bit. My 37" Samsung shows a few dodgy looking digitisation artefacts if I get within about 7' of the screen, but outside that it looks fine. This is on an HDMI signal from a V+box which might make some difference.