# has anyone come across a flat tv with a good picture (for 'normal' TV)



## sfag (15 Dec 2007)

Have looked at them in the shops and when they show ordinary TV the picture quality is awful. Has anybody come across one that shows ordinary tv with a  good picture.


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## CCOVICH (15 Dec 2007)

*Re: has anyone come across a flat tv with a good picture*

The displays are not a great indicator and the source/feed may not be great.  Rubbish in = rubbish out.  The quality of your reception and/or TV package is very important also, e.g. Sky is superior to UPC cable (on my Samsung anyway).


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## Uachtarain (15 Dec 2007)

*Re: has anyone come across a flat tv with a good picture*

Plasma or LCD? Also try pluging it into a PC with a min. of 256mb graphics card and 2gig memory what it is designed for. Viewing old analog TV across a digital platform is never going to be remotely near the spec. that these screens can handle. If the signal/equipment is not 200% this technology will magnify all it's weakness. Think of it like a very fine 5000 piece jigsaw but with every 4th piece missing You can still see a good picture....BUT !! Also Panasonic or JVC are very hard to beat on price and build quality if you plan to keep it for more than a couple of years.


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## sfag (16 Dec 2007)

*Re: has anyone come across a flat tv with a good picture*

My picture quality at home is 100%. The images are crystal clear and bright on my 12 years old 28 inch grundig. . I have two 26 inch lcd tv's already and the picture quality from the same source is no where as good. 

As we're are a long way off HD TV in this country for some timne to come normal picture quality optimized for 28 inch TV's becomes the only one considering. But there's me cant get a deceant picture from a 28 inch lcd. 
If I go into a tv shop they play HD signals from sky, HD dvd's and cartoons which hide all colour blemishes. Lets face it - how many of us watch HD pictures. 99.9% of the time I watch normal terrestrial TV. 

My 28 inch grundig has finally packed up and I'm very fussy about picture quality - hence my request to see if someone has personal experience of watching a good quality "normal" tv picture on a flat telly.


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## Squonk (16 Dec 2007)

*Re: has anyone come across a flat tv with a good picture*



sfag said:


> Have looked at them in the shops and when they show ordinary TV the picture quality is awful. Has anybody come across one that shows ordinary tv with a  good picture.


 Thanks for starting this trail...I've looked at flat screen LCD/Plasma TVs in shops, pubs etc and always thought the quality was crap, especially close-up. I'm sticking to my 32" Philips CRT.


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## chum (16 Dec 2007)

panasonic make a ed plasma tv up to 42 inch, its native resolution is lower than hd tvs and therefore shall give you a better picture with standard sky feeds,talk to panasonic see if they can order you one, ed stands for enhanced definition.


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## KBR (17 Dec 2007)

Try a philips pfp5332/10 - they were in tesco for €999 & when they have a 30% voucher back deal this can net it down to €700 for a 42" plasma.
I have no HD input - just Irish/British channels from an aerial on the roof, and I'm able to pick up freeview also from this aerial as I live near the east coast.  Picture is good - but I see degradation when close to the TV - I normally sit about 12ft from tv & picture is great from this distance


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## ClubMan (17 Dec 2007)

KBR said:


> just Irish/British channels from an aerial on the roof


From what transmitter(s)?


> and I'm able to pick up freeview also from this aerial as I live near the east coast.


You must be very near the sea and high up or something?!


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## sfag (17 Dec 2007)

yes - where are you that you can get freeview ?


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## RMCF (17 Dec 2007)

SFAG

You can still pick up some old CRTs out there if you search around.

Plus you can get them for a really good price. Or even 2nd hand there should be plenty of top quality ones available since everyone is dying to upgrade.

I'm like you. Although I like the asthetics of the flat panels, 99% of my viewing would be SD so I'm sticking with my 36" CRT until the amount/price of HD improves.


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## aircobra19 (18 Dec 2007)

*Re: has anyone come across a flat tv with a good picture*

The reason IMO is that normal TV is a much lower res than the Flat screens. So there needs to be some clever electronics to upscale the normal TV signal to the resolution on the flatscreen. Not all flatscreens do this well. Also Flatscreens come in different resolutions. The old CRTs are the same resolution (ignoring that the technology is different) as normal TV, so thats why normal TV looks best on a CRT. I don't see the point in buying a huge flatscreen TV then spending 80% or more of your time looking at normal TV all pixelated and smeared. It looks woeful.


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## Jethro (18 Dec 2007)

I stuck with my Sony 32" CRT for years on the basis that I watch SD only and flat screen pictures weren't up to it.

Then I took the plunge and bought two Panasonic flat screens a couple of months ago and my only regret is not doing it earlier as the SD picture (both analogue and digital) is far better than on the Sony. And I had been happy with the Sony as well...  

One of the sets is a 37" plasma and what I think makes the picture better is the fact that it has 100hz scanning, so even my analogue signal gives a better picture now.

The other set is a 26" lcd for the bedroom. Picture is not at the same level as the plasma but it is fine on analogue and very good with a digital signal.

So I believe you can get a good flatscreen picture with SD. You just need to pick the right set and make sure you adjust the picture settings to get the best out of it. 

And, after a lifetime devotion to Sony, I've now switched to Panasonic and am very happy with it.


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## sfag (18 Dec 2007)

thanks for the replies. I've read the amazon reviews of the best sonys and when it comes to normal tv they still dont make the grade. 
Interesting what you say about the panasonic Jethro. What models have you got. I want to connect a pc (do all my tv recording thru a pc) and will need a vga connection. I believe the plasma doesent come with a pc connection - or am I wrong.

Incredible to think that for the prices of these tv's that most people will end up with a worse picture quality than they had before.


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## gebbel (18 Dec 2007)

Toshiba 32C3030. Reviews give great credit to it's SD images. I can second that as I own one myself. SD source is from SKY. I also optimise picture quality by using superior quality cables that reduce RF interference. Kicks the old CRT into touch.


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## Jethro (18 Dec 2007)

sfag said:


> Interesting what you say about the panasonic Jethro. What models have you got. I want to connect a pc (do all my tv recording thru a pc) and will need a vga connection. I believe the plasma doesent come with a pc connection - or am I wrong.
> 
> Incredible to think that for the prices of these tv's that most people will end up with a worse picture quality than they had before.


 
Plasma is TH-37PV70EY and LCD is TX-26LX70L.

Both have PC connections for VGA/SVGA/XGA/SXGA. I haven't used them though.

Plasma is (in my opinion) better for SD and also much better for sports as there is no motion blur on this set at all. I went in to the shop determined to buy Sony LCD and am so glad I got advice to get plasma for my main room (from Alliance). And the tv cost about 30% less than I paid for my smaller Sony CRT years ago! So I'm happy .

PS - also got five year guarantee on both sets.


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## KBR (22 Dec 2007)

sfag said:


> yes - where are you that you can get freeview ?


 
I'm up on a hill in wexford - picking up signal from a transmitter called 'wenvoe' which must be in wales.  I took a chance on a cheap box in Asda last time I was in UK & it worked perfectly - box was GBP£40.  Hopefully the Irish digital transmission will use the same technology as UK as the boxes are so cheap now

But back to the original poster's question, this plasma TV is great for 'normal' tv in my opinion.  It has 'Pixel PLus' which is supposed to do something to improve the picture.  Vary happy with it for the money I paid.


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## Technologist (22 Dec 2007)

KBR said:


> Hopefully the Irish digital transmission will use the same technology as UK as the boxes are so cheap now


It won't.

While the current Irish DVB-T tests can be picked up with cheap UK DVB-T MPEG2 receivers, the intention is for the new Irish service to be based on MPEG4.


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## Fatphrog (23 Dec 2007)

Bad pictures on new flatscreens is often down to people using inappropriate screen ratios. Some shows are made for the 'old' 4:3 ratio and to watch these on a widescreen, which most if not all the new TVs are, leads to a stretched picture which looks awful. Changing to a 4:3 setting means having black bars at the side of the picture but at least you have a good picture of the show in the middle of the screen. Old 4:3 tvs often have the same problem in reverse with a proper view of 4:3 shows and widescreen picture with the sides chopped off.


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## podgerodge (24 Dec 2007)

I'm not normally convinced by "features" but recently bought a 32" Philips Pixel Plus 2 lcd - and the SD pictures on it are far superior to those normally seen in the shops.  Very happy with it.  I'm assuming that the Pixel Plus 2 is the reason but dunno.


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## RMCF (24 Dec 2007)

Although I am a defender of good quality CRTs, my brother recently bought a 42" Panasonic Viera plasma and the picture quality on it from SkySD and standard DVD is top notch.

I would say it would be great with HD.


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