40-42 inch TV enquiry

FrankGrimes

Hi,

I'd like to get a quote for your best price for the TV model that best meets my needs.

The TV will be connected to a Windows Media Center PC as the sole connection all the time so I don't care about what tuner the TV does or does not have.

As I often listen to music via Media Center, it means the same page can be on the screen for a while (not excessively long), so would I be right in thinking then that a plasma would not be the right fit due to possible burning of the image onto the screen?

The TV will be used to watch live TV (via freeview and saorview tuner cards in the Media Center PC which is connected to satellite and digital terrestial antenna), BluRay rips, browsing the web/YouTube etc. but no games. From the display sets I've seen in stores, 100Hz seems a decent improvement over 50Hz, but is it needed in my scenario (e.g. does it make a difference to movies)?

I know LED is not really a different technology to LCD, more an incremental improvement, but from what I've seen in display sets, I do like the vibrant colours it gives (even if critics say it may dilute realism), so if it's an LCD set, I'd want LED.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've no interest in 3D at the moment particulalry as I have a feeling (which might be wrong), that the quality of normal non-3D display on a 3D screen won't be as good as a normal set, and it'd only be the odd thing I'd watch on 3D. If that's wrong, and I was to find an option that future-proofs while having a great 2D display, I'd be interested in having a look.

From my looking around, it seems the 40inch 5605 or 7605 models might be a good fit but I'd appreciate your advice and also to hear of any 42" models that might be an option. From searching the web it seems there may be cheaper places online outside Ireland to source these sets, but if your price is in the right ballpark, I'd prefer to give the money to a retailer in Ireland (e.g. Phillips Shop - I'm in Dublin 12).

Thanks.

FrankGrimes

I've been doing a bit of searching around and reckon the LG 42LE5900 might be a good fit: http://www.richersounds.com/product/led-tv/lg/42le5900/lg-42le5900

Is there a boards.ie discount available for this one?

Is it possible to arrange delivery at a certain time or to get a phone call a bit ahead of the delivery? That would allow me to make sure someone's at home to collect while I'm at work (not allowed receive deliveries at work but could leave work to meet courier also).

Richersounds.ie: Ashley

Nicola on behalf of Ash:

Hey FrankGrimes,

Thanks a mil for your post. Thought I'd pop in our 2 cents worth from the Philips Shop.

The models you expressed interest in:

The 40PFL5604H - This is a backlit LED LCD with a contrast ratio of 500,000:1. I completely agree with you about the colours on the LED's. We had the 42" 5000 series non LED up beside this on the wall and the picture difference was pretty vast in my opinion. The LED looked brilliant with brightness and pure vibrancy of colours. This is also a 100Hz TV and although they say it’s mostly for sports and the likes I think any fast moving scene in a movie will benefit from this. The opening scene from Quantum of Solace is a great scene to see what the 100Hz can do. This is a piano black gloss frame with the same colour table top stand. And as sound goes it’s pretty decent with 20W (plus another 20W virtual sound) of speakers. Of course its Full HD 1080p and has connections galore with scart, hdmi, usb, VGA (plus pc audio in) and YPbPr. It’s a pretty great all rounder and retails for €699.99 instore at the moment. I'll PM you more price information.

The 40PFL7605H - This is an edge lit LED LCD. First off this has lower power consumption and is one of the thinner LED screens. The 7000 series also comes with ambilight....for those of you who are wondering "What is ambilight?"

Ambilight is literally ambient lighting projected from the rear of Philips Ambilight TV's. There are different versions of Ambilight available on different versions of the Philips TV range.

The benefits of Ambilight have been proven by independent academic research. In 2005, The Lighting Research Centre of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York confirmed Ambilight reduced eyestrain/fatigue and increased visual comfort, compared to normal TV. While in 2007, the Ludwig- Maximilians-University, Munich, found Ambilight to be less taxing on the brain; increasing relaxation and enabling more emotional involvement.

The sound output on this is 20W (RMS) and the contrast is 500,000:1. It sounds similar to the 5000 series but it has a few hidden cards that give it quite an edge. This TV has the Pixel Precise HD engine which boosts the colour spectrum up to 4 trillion colours! This gives the contrast between different shades (eg: 2 reds) a clear cut difference and brings out even more detail in each and every image on the screen. It enhances the picture quality from SD and HD sources to give you the best possible picture. There's also NetTV on this set. This may not apply to you so much since your running through a hub but if you ever wanted to browse the internet on your TV you can. There’s also a cool little feature called Scenea on the NetTV which gives you different static screens to show like a painting, or a landscape in brilliant quality to turn your TV into a work of art. The frame on this is kind of a dull silver or pewter finish with a black glass table top stand. It has scart, hdmi, usb, VGA (plus pc audio in) and YPbPr. There's an additional little accessory called the PTA01 that you can get for €49.99 to turn this into a Wi-Fi TV and it comes with a decent little software add on called media connect which lets you stream straight from the hard drive of your PC. This is retailing instore at €899.99. I'll PM you more price details.

If you wanna check these out in more detail go to www.philipsshop.ie.

We deliver in Dublin for €25.00 and nationwide from €29.99. You can send me your details on sales@philipsshop.ie or give me a buzz instore on (01) 4740788 and we can arrange a date and time to suit you.

Any more queries please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks again, Nicola.

Tea 1000

<Snip>

Apologies, didn't think it was in breach. Withdrawn.

Richersounds.ie: John

FrankGrimes wrote: »

I've been doing a bit of searching around and reckon the LG 42LE5900 might be a good fit: http://www.richersounds.com/product/led-tv/lg/42le5900/lg-42le5900

Is there a boards.ie discount available for this one?

Is it possible to arrange delivery at a certain time or to get a phone call a bit ahead of the delivery? That would allow me to make sure someone's at home to collect while I'm at work (not allowed receive deliveries at work but could leave work to meet courier also).

Frank,

yep that 42LE5900 is a really nice TV and we have it available for delivery from our Belfast store - I see that Pixmania.ie are doing it at €1010 so our price of €764.99 is great - good spotting! http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/r/42le5900

See full specs: http://www.lg.com/uk/tv-audio-video/televisions/LG-led-tv-42LE5900.jsp

I can do it at £629.95 / €749.99 for you as a Boardie special.

Keep me posted if you are interested and I'll pop one into reserved for you- on the delivery issue - where are you based? If you can come back to me on this I'll see what we can do re a delivery slot & price.

Thanks as ever,

John Mc & Crew