Buying a television - Idiots guidance required please.

[just john]

Minor point perhaps, my local TV guy said if I ever wanted to upgrade he would buy a Sony off me, as he couldn't get enough 'previously loved' Sony TV's, he wouldn't deal in any other used make; (I bought the Sony-CX52/32 on his recommendation)

[Quillan]

[quote user="just john "]

Minor point perhaps, my local TV guy said if I ever wanted to upgrade he would buy a Sony off me, as he couldn't get enough 'previously loved' Sony TV's, he wouldn't deal in any other used make; (I bought the Sony-CX52/32 on his recommendation)

[/quote]

The implication is that they last a long time. My current 38" Philips is now something like 15 years plus old and still going strong and I had a Sony before that which my daughter has and it must be 20 years old now and still going. My parents had both Philips and Sony TV's and they lasted for years till they died (my parents that is). I never really thought of their resale value more their reliability. The only negative side is I wish my Philips would go bang so I can justify (mainly to Mrs 'Q') buying a new flat screen TV. I have no idea if these makes are equally reliable as flat screen (LCD, Plasma etc) but I can't imagine why they shouldn't be.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="Quillan"]I hope LG recognise your loyalty ppp coz it seems if it aint LG then it ain't no good. [;-)][/quote]

Pure commercial coincidence. The LG products seem to be less highly regarded in france than the UK so are more keenly priced.

But relative pricing between technically similar products can be influenced by sales-staff commisissions with the punter being steered towards the product with the best commission.

Sony tubes are very durable and were shipped to africa for resale in the native townships, try hitting it with a lump hammer.

[Alan Zoff]

In the UK, we have both an old 37" Philips CRT (top of range when new) and a 42" Panasonic full HD plasma.

The Panasonic is great for HD broadcasts. However, the majority of stuff is SD and a lot of it not very good quality SD. The Philips handles this much better than the plasma TV so we end up watching the old Philips more than the new Panasonic. I gather this is down to the fact that there isn't enough detail in the SD signal to fill all those pixels in a full HD large panel screen so you get stretched patches which look blurred and out of focus and can be a strain on the eyes to watch and give faces a pasty look. I am told that the effect can be less noticeable on some LCDs than on plasmas; and that some people's eyes are more tolerant and hardly notice it at all. I have tried running an Icecypt HD box with the Panasonic but this gives almost identical results to the Panny's own tuner. (Both tuners indicate good signal strength and quality.)

The Philips was worth keeping for its fantastic sound system but, after 6 months with the Panasonic, I was surprised to discover that I prefer the Philips picture (on SD broadcasts) than on a modern, high spec plasma TV. Admittedly, HD pictures on the new telly are brilliant - just wish that we could make better use of the set's capabilities on all broadcasts.

I have not yet tried a flat panel in France so don't know if the plasma TV would perform better/more consistently in the French house.

[Chancer]

I posted elsewhere on this forum I think that I recently dug out my old CRT television as I had finally realised that my newer LCD flat screen one had become unviewable.

For a long time I could not make out night time scenes, needed to get up to read the programme résumé (glasses didnt help) and that the vertical viewing angle had become such that the screen was clearer if I stood up despite the screen being normal to a sitting line of vision.

One week has now passed and I still cannot believe the difference, the screen size is the same but it is now so clear even from a long way away, plus to view it from here in the kitchen I no longer need to swing it round, all the small text on the résumés is now clear as are the night-time scenes, the great thing is that I no longer get tired eyes and can read in bed without glasses which I havnt been able to do for a few years now.

I am sure things have improved since I bought my admittedly cheap LCD TV (an Acer), it was probably €200 around 4 or 5 years ago, however the one that I am so pleased to have brought back into service a non name brand (Hypson) from one of the grand surfaces only cost €89.

For myself  I am going to stick with the big old fashioned one, I have even been looking enviously at the ones dumped at the dechetterie after christmas, however I will need to buy at least 6 small LCD TV's for the apartments, can anyone recommend a cheap small LCD TV with a good picture that will stay so?

[Quillan]

You could always put some bricks under the legs of the sofa. [;-)]

About three months ago I went out and looked at 3D TV's. There were about five working in Darty all different makes and prices. They all suffered with very small viewing angles horizontally. My old (stone age) Philips has a very good viewing angle, basically one step forward from the 90 deg and you can see all the picture. One good test for brightness is to take a DVD or Blue ray disk of the film The 300 with you. It's a very dark film and on some TV's you can't see hardly anything, particularly noticeable on LCD TV's.

I can't help you with small TV's but they have a few in LeClerc as do many of the big supermarkets, which you can see working. Don't know if they still do but Barclay card offered a three years warranty on anything you bought using their card. It's the main reason I still have mine but I have not used it for a while.

You may find the inverter has gone on your LCD TV. The screens have a typical lifespan of 10 years if used 24/7, it's the other components that give problems and the inverters seem to be the worse for failing. There is a post on the AVforum about this. I also noticed that quite a few people have complained about inverter failures with LCD TV's on Amazon reviews. Apparently those that know pick TV's with separate inverters to keep repair costs down in the event of failure. If it's on the mother board then you have to bin the TV because repair costs are just not worth it. How you, or they, know which TV has what I don't know.

PS. I just checked with Barclaycard. The three year warranty extension on domestic goods is no longer automatic. To activate it (per item) you need to call 0845 300 3466 within 90 days of purchase (you will need your transaction number and seller details) and it still covers world wide purchases. If you have one then not a bad idea if your buying 6 TV's.

 

[Chancer]

I did initially prop the TV up on a book to improve things but it was unstable enough on its small base beforehand, after it was on the point of falling on the floor.

Funnily enough I do now have a barclaycard as they took over the Egg credit cards, not that I ever used the Egg card, worth bearing in mind for future purchases but I wonder if they have new (worse) terms for new cardholders like Nationwide did.

[pachapapa]

Half a dozen cheap TVs.

Hyper U now sell Changhong TVs, new in france but the biggest in China.

The 19" LCD model looks suitable, very keenly priced at € 179.

HDMI, PC input, USB port, HD MPEG 4, two year guarantee.

http://www.lesnumeriques.com/ifa-2011-changhong-debarque-tv-est-geant-chinois-n20932.html

http://www.lefigaro.fr/societes/2011/08/05/04015-20110805ARTFIG00502-television-changhong-veut-bousculer-le-marche-francais.php

http://changhong.com.au/

[pachapapa]

Redcoon in Luxembourg seem to have the biggest selection from € 165.

http://www.redcoon.fr/search/?searchVar=Changhong

[dave21478]

Hi.

Just to update, I finally bought a telly a few week ago.

I was going round and round in circles reading allsorts online, wandering to buy in UK of France etc etc, when the sale magazines came in the post one morning. "BUT" listed a few in their sale, and one stood out, being much cheaper than pretty much anything else of the same size. I strolled down to have a look.

Its the AYA A42BC4201.

AYA is But's own brand - the sales chap hinted that the tellys were made by a large, known manufacturer and re-branded for But, although he never said which one. I decided that for all the telly I will watch., there was no point breaking the bank on something too fancy.

Anyway, in store, it looked pretty mediocre but they all were showing a poor picture. The chap admitted that its due to the normal TV signal they receive being split so many times through so many adaptors. He pluggd in a blueray player to show it off and let me fiddle with the colours etc.

42", 1080p, TNT HD, USB and VGA inputs, 2 scarts,  HDMIs and the usual selection of other aux inputs.

It was only €299, which was at least  €100 cheaper than anything of similar spec, and they had it in stock there and then so I bought it.

At home, I am happy with it. The house had no aerial etc, so I have been faffing with ladders, an aerial and a sat dish the last few evenings when I have had a free hour or so.With a standard aerial from bricodept, I receive all the normal TNT channels including the HD ones and the picture is perfect. (well, as perfect as my knackered eyes can detect). Its viewing angle is huge as I can see no real change in picture even standing almost beside it.

On the down-side, the remote feels like its made out of Lego and the buttons sometimes take a second press to work, but that's all I see wrong for now.

I have scavenged an old but working Panasonic satellite receiver which a friend used to watch UK tv before he moved away. I have the standard bricodepot 80cm dish, which I need to set up. I have run the cable though when I did the normal aerial, which was a nightmare crawling about in the roofspace, so its all ready.

I have a couple of questions though.... I assume I need to point it to Astra at 28.2E? People talk about "LNB skew". According to a satfinder website I looked at, its -16 degrees, but is this clockwise or anticlockwise if I were standing behind the dish looking towards the satellite? Anything else I need to know?

[Danny]

[quote user="dave21478"]

I have a couple of questions though.... I

assume I need to point it to Astra at 28.2E? People talk about "LNB

skew". According to a satfinder website I looked at, its -16 degrees,

but is this clockwise or anticlockwise if I were standing behind the

dish looking towards the satellite? Anything else I need to know?

[/quote]

standing behind the dish it is anti-clockwise. At about 5 o'clock.

There are three parameters to adjust - dish orientation, vertical and horizontal, and LNB skew.

Using the the signal quality guide on the decoder menu, move the dish very slightly to get the highest reading for horizontal and then the vertical dish position. Lock the bolts/nuts to fix that position.

Once the H and V are fixed for best quality, turn the LNB in its holder either way to improve further the signal quality. Then you are done!

Remember that the reception varies between frequencies and this is more marked outside of the UK. The signal on 28.2/28.5 degrees comes from 5 (I think) different sats so you need to balance the reception between certain frequencies. So if you set it up for best quality on the Ch4 frequency group -10714H - you may get a less robust signal on another frequency group like the (mostly) music channels on 11307V.

All channel info is available here, grouped by frequency.

http://en.kingofsat.net/freqs.php?&pos=28.2E&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=Clear

Remember that you will only get the HD channels if your decoder and TV are HD capable and connected by HDMI cable.

Danny

[pachapapa]

From behind anti-clockwise.

Due south 0°, east minus, west plus.

 

[pachapapa]

Although the TV has an onboard TNT HD Tuner the screen resolution is  Résolution: 1366 x 768. So the picture will be about half the definition of an HD 1080p TV.

But more important is the future reception of TNT TV; after the allocation of the final 6 available DVB-T channels expected in march 2012; there will be a progressive change of all french TNT channels from MPEG2 to MPEG4. Your AYA will continue to receive all the TNT channels up to the introduction of  DVB-T2 sometime between 2015-2012.

TV sets with only a MPEG2 standard tuner will receive nothing after around 2015; hence the large numbers of cheap small LCD TVs sold in the sales this winter at around € 48.

[Quillan]

Yes but you can still get a set top box when this happens. It's no as if you have to throw the TV away. The initial cost of the TV which you are currently enjoying added to a box later on still makes it a very good buy. No good having super dooper hi def TV if your eyes are that of a 70 year old, you won't get the full benefit. Of course younger people have the same problem which is probably why I hardly notice a difference. Actually by Samsung S2 phone seems to give excellent picture quality compared to some of the same brand big TV's in stores but I expect that's down to overzealous shop assistants playing with the settings.

[Salty Sam]

When we were looking for a cheap TV for mother-in-law, settled for a Tesco own make and much to my surprise discovered many of the components were manufactured by Samsung, including the screen!

So impressed, bought one for France and another for spare room.

[pachapapa]

No good having super dooper hi def TV if your eyes are that of a 70 year old[:D]

Any way the OP will not have a problem with an HD tuner on board.

But on saturday I did a weekly shop in preparation for the snow on sunday and the continuation of the inclement weather ALL next week, noticed that the TV section in edouard leclerc had a "bac" full of electronic bits at -75% so took a look. The whole lot were TNT HD tuners, mostly Philips and Sagem, at minus 75% they were all around € 25-35 even with double HD tuners and onboard hard disk. I fancy when you need your set top box they are unlikely to be available.

All together now....SHAME![:P]

 

[pachapapa]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

When we were looking for a cheap TV for mother-in-law, settled for a Tesco own make and much to my surprise discovered many of the components were manufactured by Samsung, including the screen!

So impressed, bought one for France and another for spare room.

[/quote]

I had heard that Pnilips & Thomson had pulled the plug but I hadn't realised that Tesco had also stopped manufacturing them.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

Although the TV has an onboard TNT HD Tuner the screen resolution is  Résolution: 1366 x 768. So the picture will be about half the definition of an HD 1080p TV.

But more important is the future reception of TNT TV; after the allocation of the final 6 available DVB-T channels expected in march 2012; there will be a progressive change of all french TNT channels from MPEG2 to MPEG4. Your AYA will continue to receive all the TNT channels up to the introduction of  DVB-T2 sometime between 2015-2012.

TV sets with only a MPEG2 standard tuner will receive nothing after around 2015; hence the large numbers of cheap small LCD TVs sold in the sales this winter at around € 48.

[/quote]

Although the link provided by the OP for the AYA TV quotes a resolution of 1366 X 768; other more reliable sources indicate that the resolution is in fact 1920 X 1080p. Your manual should have the correct information on the page with the "fiche technique".

My apologies.

[Théière]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

When we were looking for a cheap TV for mother-in-law, settled for a Tesco own make and much to my surprise discovered many of the components were manufactured by Samsung, including the screen!

So impressed, bought one for France and another for spare room.

[/quote] Bet you would have been disappointed if you had bought a Sony and found the same thing

[Salty Sam]

[quote user="Théière"]Bet you would have been disappointed if you had bought a Sony and found the same thing[/quote]

Samsung and Sony set up a joint venture in early 2000 producing TV screens, and not only to supply their own assembly lines! [:)]

[pachapapa]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

[quote user="Théière"]Bet you would have been disappointed if you had bought a Sony and found the same thing[/quote]

Samsung and Sony set up a joint venture in early 2000 producing TV screens, and not only to supply their own assembly lines! [:)]

[/quote]

True but now Sony have accumulated such massive trading losses that Sony have been obliged to sell their interest in the venture at a knock down price. But I presume Samsung or even LG will sell Sony screens for their TVs.

But talking of 3D; I reather like the new active 3D Sony PC, smart machine.

Sony VAIO VPC L22Z1E

http://www.fnac.com/Sony-Vaio-VPC-L22Z1E-B-24-TFT-Tactile-3D-Blu-Ray/a3765421/w-4

Back to Samsung, they have created a joint venture with Corning to produce OLED displays in south korea.

Tablets is the future.

 

[Quillan]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

When we were looking for a cheap TV for mother-in-law, settled for a Tesco own make and much to my surprise discovered many of the components were manufactured by Samsung, including the screen!

So impressed, bought one for France and another for spare room.

[/quote]

I doubt very much that Tesco's actually make a TV. I rather suspect it a re-badged make of some sort. Who knows it may even be a Samsung in disguise. Most of these companies don't really care what name is on the front as long as they shift them out the door. Sometimes they have massive stocks of an older model which they are happy to sell and be re-badged. Certainly Toshiba does this but often there is a confidentiality agreement so the purchasing company cannot say in public who made the TV's. It's a great way to get a TV that you possibly would not have bought because of the price last year but can afford now. I expect you will get many years of excellent use out of them.

[Salty Sam]

The TV's in question are marketed as 'Technika', which is Tesco's brand name for their own range of electronic goods.

There's no doubt that some of the TV's are 're-badged' models.

Here we are Q, the very thing to impress and entertain your guests with plenty of specs for everyone thrown in:

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.901-9277.aspx

[:)]

[pachapapa]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

The TV's in question are marketed as 'Technika', which is Tesco's brand name for their own range of electronic goods.

There's no doubt that some of the TV's are 're-badged' models.

Here we are Q, the very thing to impress and entertain your guests with plenty of specs for everyone thrown in:

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.901-9277.aspx

[:)]

[/quote]

Good choice for UK tourists the glasses are simple polarising lenses for a passive screen 3D TV. Cost of replacement probably less than €2. So charging guests say € 20 inclusive of ordering, insurance, delivery, etc could be a nice little cash generator and no need to declare it on the tax return for the "fisc".

[Quillan]

The Slovakian company called UMC make TV's for several companies under different names, Technika is the badge they put on for Tesco's.

As for buying a 3D TV for my guests there seems little point because I have a media server and they can watch any of nearly 700 films that are stored on it via their IPad, tablet PC, laptop or mobile phone either in the bedroom or in the garden and its free. Lets face it there is not exactly a huge amount of TV programs in 3D either so a bit of a waste of time and money really.