Help Needed

[tatom]

I want to buy a new television. I see now, most are the flat screen type. I have a true satalite dish and just want to watch normal tv programs.

My problem is, I dont know anything about these things. Do I want LED, LCD, or Plasma? Price isnt a big deal, but I dont want to pay for features I wont use.

Could someone please advise me.

Thanks, Tom

[beano2274]

Try using google, it will explain it to you.

For information I bought a Samsung 43inch 3D Plasma TV cost 18000baht, but my wife liked it. It does feel hot on the screen, I found the LED to be cooler, and the colours brighter.

[ExpatOilWorker]

For your usage get a Samsung LED, 43" or bigger with the highest resolution possible. You can get some great 43" models for around 17,000 baht. look through a Samsung catalog and decide how much you want to spend. In my view, stay away from the 3D models, the technology is not mature enough yet.

Check out the models at POWER BUY or HomePro, but find a local dealer and get the same model ~1,000 baht cheaper.

Make sure you connect the TV to the S-video port on your UBC box. You get better picture that way. Get a real S-video cable of course.

Edited November 15, 2011 by ExpatOilWorker

[beano2274]

also when buying think about how far you sit away from the TV Screen, this might help you buy the best sized screen for your usage.

[ETatBKK]

get a LED TV these days, they don't cost too much from a LCD screen. in fact, LED is referred to the light source and it is brighter and has a better contrast than most LCD TV. in layman term, the LED TV is more comfortable and better for your eyes.

Samsung has a wide range of selection, check the product with functions and features you need.

oh . . . don't forget the VGA, or the DVI connection if you consider a full HD. you may able to plug your computer to the TV. fancy, but very helpful if you want to do a slide show in the party :-)

[astral]

Have a look in the AV Forum there are several discussions

of this subject there.

[BB1950]

For sure... LED is better.

[impulse]

Just bought a 32" Samsung LCD. I'm not recommending the size for a home TV, but it has inputs for a USB chip, a USB hard drive (mine is packed with 1,000+ movies and documentaries) and a VGA input so I can use it as a computer monitor. And of course it has inputs for cable, a few HDMI's and component video.

Some of the lower priced units I looked at had very limited inputs, ie, no USB and some even had no VGA. In fact, the 40" equivalent Samsung version was missing some of the inputs.

Even if you don't know you'd miss them now, I'd suggest making sure you compare inputs because once I started using the USB inputs for DivX, I would really miss them if I didn't have them. And if you're going to use yours as a monitor, get the "Full HD" (1920 x 1080) and not the "HD Ready" (1366 x 768).

[OccamsRazor]

For sure... LED is better.

For sure... Plasma is better

[astral]

Plasma is power hungry and often not Full HD

unless you go for the 50" models.

[MrSnrang]

I have a 51" Samsung plasma. It doesn't get too hot, and it can open pretty much any video file type from a 1TB external HDD. The 3D isn't great, and the internet features are clunky. 3D glasses came separately and had to be ordered, they require a button battery but the LG system is more streamlined and doesn't require a power source. The TV came bundled with a nice blu-ray player.

Picture quality with truevisions is lackluster, but much better than the previously-used 50" Sony rear-projection TV. Cartoons look amazing on this set. One thing to be aware of is that this Samsung unit has only one RCA video input; I've added a VGA-to-component/composite adapter to the VGA input port but have yet to test it.

[gkinbkk]

I have an LED that looks amazing viewing the Avatar Blu Ray

Unfortunately your friends at True have never seen full HD and using their set top box will result in ugly colouring and unacceptable pixelation. Some people may have a stronger stomach for it but I cannot watch True on LED

My old plasma upstairs handles an SD signal much more efficiently.

Moral of the story: Go for a cheap Plasma and switch to LED in 5 years when True have worked out what HD is (their current 'HD' offering is down around the entry point to being able to call it HD but it is not full HD)

[stgrhe]

To OP: Read other threads on this forum that describes the pros and cons between LCD (with LED back-lights) and Plasma TVs. To say that one type is better than the other is wrong - both have their advantages and disadvantages and only your preferences will determine which of the two suits you needs best.

The old LCD types (without LCD back-lights) cannot compete on performance with the two above-mentioned types but serves in today's market as budget options for those who has a slimmer budget.

[tatom]

Im the OP and Id like to report back about my experience.

I knew nothing about flat screens a week ago. My old tube set was fine except the picture was small. It was a 21 inch model and the actual picture was only 11 by 16 inches!

I got alot of info here on TV and google. At first I was more confused the more I learned.

Anyway, I bought a 40 inch, samsung LCD for 15,000 B.

I hooked it up to my True sat dish and I couldnt be happier. The picture is crystal clear on all channels.

Thank you all for your help.

Tom S. Khon Kaen

[sotsira]

I have an LED that looks amazing viewing the Avatar Blu Ray

Unfortunately your friends at True have never seen full HD and using their set top box will result in ugly colouring and unacceptable pixelation. Some people may have a stronger stomach for it but I cannot watch True on LED

My old plasma upstairs handles an SD signal much more efficiently.

Moral of the story: Go for a cheap Plasma and switch to LED in 5 years when True have worked out what HD is (their current 'HD' offering is down around the entry point to being able to call it HD but it is not full HD)

Although the OP has already bought his TV.

I just want to say that "gkinbkk" is right about what he says when viewing

UBC Truevisions,as they don't broadcast in HD (apart from 3 channels that you have to pay a premium)

Therefore only plasmas can support the Truevisions signal for the best possible picture not LED's or LCD's

Plasma TV's are also cheaper, so until Truevisions broadcast in HD

you'll be wasting your money on the more expensive alternatives and get a worse picture as they don't support that type of signal

the way plasma's do.

.

In the last few years LG Plasmas are made with an energy saving feature that means they don't consume that much more power than LCD's

LG42' LCD = 180w

Plasma=210w

They also don't differ too much with heat radiation as older models used to.

I've recently been and checked all the above info with my own eyes at numerous TV outlets and spoken to many sales reps about the exact

predicament of what is the best type of TV to watch UBC Truevisions.

[Darrel]

I much prefer the SD picture on plasma screens and always had one back in Europe. However, LEDs have improved and here I was concerned about the heat problem; I cant see the point of having a plasma that puts out a lot of heat and then running the aircon to cool it down again.

So I bought a 55in Samsung LED for 63,000B (10,000B off list price). It came with freebies: 6 pairs of glasses, a fancy keyboard remote for internet use (the internet part of the TV works surprisingly well) and a Samsung digital camera which is also very good. It doesnt even get warm in use; the plasmas I looked at in the shops were putting out a lot of heat which I could feel on my face several yards away. If I had bought plasma I probably would have saved around 25K on the list price for similar picture quality and size (but without the fancy online functionality and freebies).

The SD picture from Sophon cable is pretty poor, but of course most of that is down to the transmission. All my real viewing is done via HDMI from my PC and that looks great.

[sotsira]

If I had bought plasma I probably would have saved around 25K on the list price for similar picture quality and size (but without the fancy online functionality and freebies).

If you had bought a Samsung plasma 51 inch it would have cost you 18990bt and saved yourself 44000bt with the same picture quality in (HDMI) and better with Sophon Cable.

[Darrel]

As I said, similar quality and size would have saved me about 25K. A smaller screen of lesser quality would have saved me more as you mention (and if I wanted to save money there were much cheaper 55in LEDs also) but even so I would have had to put up with the plasma heat which was very noticeable.