New TV..........

[malcolm]

We've got options on our eBay Sony telly. It's wide screen and you can set the screen options to various aspect ratios or to "smart". On Smart it fills the screen, sometimes making popular actresses look surprisingly wide. Though on fixed ratio it chops the scoreboard off the snooker.

It's surprising we haven't hit upon a standard for telly yet.

 

[Richiew]

I wonder if prices may increase shortly? The GB pound has dropped so much against other currencies that I expect our importers will be paying more now than 6 months ago for similar stock. Retailers can only discount so much.

Might be worth getting in quick if you want a big telly. Let's be honest we don't make them in this country and few other countries want our money anymore if you look at exchange rates.

 

[hareng]

Noticed exactly the same thing on dads very recent Sony, it crops top and bottom of screen. Suspect what its doing is effectively zooming in to fill sides of widescreen with 4:3 rather than leave it as it was recorded.

Had a digital Phillips 4:3 100hz in 1994 made everything wider on widescreen setting, but things have improved in 14+ years. Same with old JVC disgusting sound.

Just had a look this Sammy LE40 widescreen, its on Auto and dont matter whether the conventional pal 4:3 or 16:9 widescreen is selected in menu. When you see adverts and change of progs you see the screen auto change.
The only 4:3 with black sides is old recordings like Whos line is it, The Saint and The Professionals from same channel.

 

[Rusty]

My Daughter and son-in-law have just bought a new TV after weeks of research and reviews ( I'm sure you all know what I'm on about ) also I have a mate at work who has spent most of his working life ' perfecting ' his TV and HI FI system even spending thousands on sound proofing his room after complaints of noise from the neighbors ! At HI FI shows he amazes the sellers with his knowledge ! I bought a Samsung 32" LCD just over 2 years ago and have been very pleased with it , the mate from work came around and grabbed the remote and made some adjustments to the picture and made it look even better , ' what leads you usin ' he said , scarts etc etc, it turns out he paid more for his leads that I did for my TV ! We have never watched anything in HD on it and Hi Def is where these TV's show there worth. His advice at the time was LCD up to 32" Plasma anything over .
Best make,Pioneer then Panasonic then all the rest, my Daughter decided on a Samsung 50" Hz 1080i for £679 with three years warranty from Argos. What a beauty ! Not the latest spec but a lot of telly for the money.

 

[Baz-Cem]

I've got a Panasonic plasma and the pic is better than my mates new Sony 32" LCD.

My 42" plasma use's alot electric than though, about 300 watts more per hour. Really adds up over time.

 

[hareng]

Horses for courses i also spent many weeks researching and having a butchers at everything up to my price point. Then set about limiting them down and having as many side by side. Panasonic 100hz lcd have had it on the 37". As said before two choices Panny TH42 plasma or Sammy LE40 100hz similar price and actually viewed side by side, no compare you will never know what you are missing if you cant already see it!

I know about serious hifi not the ****** audio units and spent a lot of time messing around with cables, outside earths, separate spurs, silver 6n purity cable from spur etc. toget better soundstage. Dont have to spend a fortune Belkin mic cable at £1/ft for interconnects is ok If bought they would charge £100, beg steeal or borrow cable and try it out. Solid core mains has a drone to it but offer great stereo separation.
Probably went a stage further ripping apart a British amp and substituting caps and Vishay/Holco resistors for better plus replacing with Schotky diodes on regulator alone £64 parts. So £600 amp at time compared to £2200 amp etc. Mrs bust me £900 cartridge.
Wont mention the other stuff it would make you cringe. Thats it from me make your own unbiased choice.