Can anybody answer some Qs on LCDs?

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afcmatt

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Right, im going to buy my first LCD TV soon but i need a few questions answering first if possible before i blow my hard earned money on a duff one :) Im not a complete dunce when it comes to technology but im sure many people on here will know much more than me!!

Its just gonna be used for my home cinema kit, PS2 and general DVD watching so obviously i want a widescreen. I dont want to spend anything over £550 if possible. Right here goes:

1) Does the manufactuer matter too much? Obviously makes like Thomson, Goodmans etc are cheaper than, say, Sony, Philips, Panasonic etc... but are they actually that much worse/less reliable?

2) What specifications are most important when taking into consideration things such as picture quality?

3) Are these "extra" guarantee/warranty things worth getting?

4) Are LCDs as reliable and long lasting as regular TVs? Ive had countless TVs before and had no trouble with them.

5) Lastly, if anyone knows any really cheap websites or stores that i could have a browse at or any recommendations for TVs then i'd be more than grateful!

Thanks in advance!
 
Unfortunately I know very little about LCDs, but you can find some good prices at richersounds.co.uk. :)
 
afcmatt said:
1) Does the manufactuer matter too much? Obviously makes like Thomson, Goodmans etc are cheaper than, say, Sony, Philips, Panasonic etc... but are they actually that much worse/less reliable?
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You will find that only a few companies manufacture large LCD screens - most are re-badged for other companies. The best advice would be forget the name and check out the quality of the picture.

2) What specifications are most important when taking into consideration things such as picture quality?
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LCD use different technology from say Plasma - they use back illumination and Liquid Crystals (LC) to display the picture. The refresh rate can be important as fast movement i.e. footballers can cause blurring or artefacts round each moving player which can be annoying. The larger the screen to more apparent this will be.

3) Are these "extra" guarantee/warranty things worth getting?
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Wouldn't touch those they tend to have small print that excludes the main problems. If you buy from the likes of John Lewis you can get a longer guarantee for no extra cost. LCD and Plasma screen tend to only have a year>

4) Are LCDs as reliable and long lasting as regular TVs? Ive had countless TVs before and had no trouble with them.
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They should be but the technology is so new you will read differing reports. All i know is they have been in Airport for years and I haven't seen any problems.

5) Lastly, if anyone knows any really cheap websites or stores that i could have a browse at or any recommendations for TVs then i'd be more than grateful!
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Visit a few large department stores or retailers and check out the picture then draw up a short list and check the prices on the price comparison web sites. I've had a 42" Philips Plasma for over a year now and I am very pleased with it.
 
you aint gonna get anything BIG for £550 (32in max) and then on offer from the likes of ARGOST (as my nipper calls it) big W, and ALDI,

You get what you pay here in this Market (unless your STUNG)
I`m looking at a 42in Sony LCD rear projection "was £999 but gone back up to
£1099" at the mo (its the DOGS GONADS) with glass stand (only 300 ml deep)
not plasma thin but 300ml less than my TOSH i have now, HD ready and 3 scarts (the amount of scarts is important to me) So when its back at £999 and 10% discount (off a staff member) £900.
 
I have been to many outlets to see and feel it. After spending 2 weeks reserch, I bought Panasonic 32LXD52 from John Lewis. I have connected it with my Samsung A300W digital receiver with a video component cable and I could not believe my eyes. I have never seen such sharp and detailed images before. What I suggest if you are spending huge amount on lcd screen, it is important to see it has component video connection and also HDMI for the near future. The JVC component cables costed just under £10 from Dixons. That is the cheapest; you can find the cables upto £100 such as Monster Cable, etc.

I have seen contras in other LCDs ranging from 400:1 to 2000:1 Panasonic has only 800:1. I am sure this has better quality picutre than the 2000:1.

I am very pleased with my purchase and got 5 year warranty that gives peace of mind.
 
This Video component cable, is this the one with 3 separate round plugsd on each end (one video and two audio?)
 
They are 3 phono cables colour coded called RGB that is Red Green Blue. It is clearly marked Component Video Lead. Yes they are RCA round plugs both ends. Component Video Cable separates colour into its primary components (red, green and blue), using three cables to transmit three distinct signals. This provides brighter, more accurate colours and sharper images, exceeding the performance of Composite and S-Video. The 100-percent aluminium foil/braid shielding delivers excellent noise isolation.

Audio is seperate, that is the double cable colour coded with Red and white.
 
I believe that Component is similar to but not the same as RGB. IIRC the three connectors are Y, Pb & Pr which, if you think about it, suggest that they are based on the subtractive colour sustem.

Why this should be better (even just a little bit) than RGB I don't know.
 
A little tricky this one, maybe someone who has compared the different sources can give an objective evaluation. I'm about to obtain a Pb Pr output from my Triple Dragon to feed my LCD TV, so I shall then be in a position to do a comparison.

Remember a component source provides a clean Y signal to give a full horizontal resolution to your display, whereas the luminance component has to be extracted from the RGB source. Also, the green signal takes up a considerable amount of the total RGB bandwidth (about two thirds), whereas green can be extracted from the Y and colour difference signals in the TV. So I suppose it boils down to the quality of the cables used going to your TV when using RGB. Anyway, it all ends up as RGB feeding your display (CRT or LCD/Plasma!)

Llew
 
R,G,B are the 3 full bandwidth colour pictures, Y,Cr,Cb are the unmatrixed band limited version obtained directly from decoded video Y,U,V. There should be no visible difference, whichever you use. Also, I think one might be gamma corrected, the other not, can't remember without looking it up..
 
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