Recommend a new TV please?

[mayotom]

I got a 40inch plasma in Lidl about a year and a half ago. for €1500. excelent TV, would highly recomend it. the brand's they use are very popular on the continent. I know they sell them every few months, not sure when they are due on sale again. Also I presume the price has dropped since I bought mine, most TV's have

 

[MonsieurBond]

I got a Samsung 32 inch conventional CRT. I got it because it is quite stylish with a very good reception and only cost 599 euro.

I did consider a plasma and LCD but picture quality is not great on either. Remember LCD's are designed for PC's so if you're watching something that is fast moving the picture is generally really bad (e.g. watch a football match and the ball with be blurry).

A lot of people buy LCD's and Plasma's because they want something that looks good and think they'll get a better picture quality. That's not the case.

The only reason I would buy an LCD (wouldn't buy a Plasma either way) is if I want to hang my tv up on the wall. Otherwise I wouldn't waste your money on something you will be replacing in a couple of years (picture quality will get much better and also HD will be brought in).

While CRTs can look better than LCD or Plasma, it is by no means sure that they all do - it depends very much on the make of the TV and the technology used.

HD-Ready CRTs with HDMI inputs don't seem to exist in Ireland / UK as far as I can see. Probably because the larger players like Sony no longer make CRT TVs.

So, while I agree with you that if you want the best picture quality for the money, CRT is (currently) the way to go, this is not the whole story. If you want future proofing, you won't go too far wrong with a modern LCD or Plasma, particularly an up-to-date LCD with fast refresh.

The only thing coming down the line is the so-called Super High-Def TVs i.e. 1080p or 1080 progressive scan lines. However, this is only relevant on 40 inch or bigger displays and some people say on 50 inch displays, so I wouldn't expect a current LCD or Plasma to become outdated for a couple of years (5+) at least.