Geezer

OK, I'm thinking of getting a HD TV, and I basically want to know the benefits of getting a full 1080p (I know the actual benefits, I would like to know the difference in experience I am likely to get) and is it worth spending the extra wonga?

I also wanted a plasma, but the only 1080p models I can see at present are LCD.

Yours hopefully

Geezer

GazTheHat

AVForums is your best bet. But general consensus is it's not worth the extra just yet.

BigGT3Fan

Depends on what your HD sources are, if any.

HD TV from either cable or sky, (or BBC HD trial if you are really lucky and live in the right area) are all in 720p. No plans for UK HD TV in 1080 ever, as far as I am aware.

Therefore only reasons to get 1080 is if you want to play Blu-Ray or HD DVDs that are 1080 rather than 720 (not all are) or if you have an XBox360 or PS3 and want to use the full res for that, or want to connect up a PC/Media Center and use that in full 1080p res.

I don't pay for HD TV as I don't think there's enough content yet, but I have a PS3 and PC. Both the PS3 games I have so far (Resistance Fall Of Man & Motorstorm) are only 720p anyway, but Gran Turismo 5 and some of the other upcoming ones are going to be 1080p. The demos for GT5 and RR7 are both 1080p and are awesome in full res. The 720p games upscale well to 1080p.

I also have some Blu-Ray discs that are 1080p and have used a PC in that resolution, also awesome.

My TV is the Sony KDL40W2000 which is a fantastic 1080p TV, got it from John Lewis with a price match for 1275 including 5 year guarantee, so seemed daft not to get the full 1080p and future proof myself. Was comparing it to the Samsung and some other non 1080p TVs that were all around £999.

Just seemed daft to me for the sake of £276 not to get the full mustard but YMMV.

HTH

Alex

Petem95

IMO it depends on the size of the screen. 40" or bigger and I would not get anything other than a 1080p one.

Most Sony centres seem to have at least one 1080p on demo and you'll be staggered at the improvement in quality.

Deep Singh

Maybe I've misunderstood but I'm awaiting delivery of my 50" Panasonic plasma and that has 1080p.Or is that not full 1080p?


Panasonic UK - TH-50PX70PED Plasma

Btw, for the month of May only it comes with a 5 year Panasonic warranty free. Very good price, £1150 (screen only)

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Deep - checkout EmpireDirect.co.uk - great prices on the Panasonic model you're after from what I can remember.

Me and my dad went thru the exact same scenario last week and ended up with a nice Samsung 46" LCD for £800 from our local Comet Clearance Centre as it was the last one they had and no box bargain !!

Hope it helps,

Jai

Deep Singh

Jai,

Already ordered mine from askdirect. Should be here in a weeks time

TopBanana

No that's a 720p screen. The marketing is a bit of a con actually, it's just saying that it can process 1080p inputs. You're always going to be limited by that 720p screen.

Might be worth paying a couple of hundred more for the Z700 model which is true HD? Contrary to scoobynet received wisdom, I think it definitely is worth it.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Standing in Comet on Monday watching the same source feed 1080p and 720p screens the 1080 was far superior. The definition was sharper, more 3d, better contrast, more solid.

Easy to pick with an HD source. I was not able to compare on an SD source.

Norman D. Landing

Woah ! 3d Telly? **** me that sounds good, where do I sign up?

56blacksti

I have 1080 panasonic plasma 42'' spot on best tv I've ever had and I've had a few

ioa1980

If you're buying a bigger screen than 42inch, then get HD. If not, the HD benefits wil not be felt.

Also, don't get LCD on anything bigger than 42inch, the technology is catching up fast, but there's a hell of a lot of LCD crystals to start playing up on any screen bigger than 42 inches!

I've got a 50inch screen and the difference between nornal broadcasts and HD are bigger than the difference between Betamax and DVD. It's truly awesome. You wont notice until you get it.

I was sceptical at first and I'm completely satisfied.

Just been watching Chelsea vs Man Utd. I started watching the first 10mins on SKY SPORTS 1 and then turned over to Sky Sports HD...I giggled like a schoolgirl at the difference in quality!

Also got an xbox360 with Gears of War and its an amazing experience on HD.

My 2p.

Chris.

Geezer

So if the Panasonic is not truly 1080p, how do you tell which plasma ones are 1080p? The LCD ones seem fairly clear. And are the plasma 1080p ones more expensive then the LCD or the other way round?

I don't really want LCD, but looking at the Sony and Samsung ones in Currys both playing Bluray discs, I was knocked out at the quality (never really been that impressed with HD before that)

Geezer

BigGT3Fan

do lots of reading on avforums and check the specs. AV Forums Home is your friend if you are buying any of this sort of kit...

Frosty The Snowman

You usually find the number of lines detailed in the description somewhere, something like 1024 x (768 or 720), this will be a 720p HD screen or something like 1920 x 1080 which will be full 1080p HD.

My view is if you like LCDs then you may aswell go for a full 1080 screen cos they are fairly cheap.

If you want to hook up a PC - LCD for 1 to 1 pixel mapping
Bright room such as a conservatory - LCD
XBox or PS3 - LCD
SD picture quality - Plasma
'Truer' colours - Plasma

I'm going for an LCD, probably a Samsung, but that's only because I'm hooking it up to a Home Theatre PC otherwise the Panasonic plasma would have been my first choice.

BigGT3Fan

What Frosty says is the generally accepted best advice for Plasma Vs LCD. However, the newer LCDs are challenging this. The Sony KDL40W2000 I bought was hailed by What Home Cinema and the Gadget Show, amongst others, as the first LCD that makes no compromises over Plasma. The Bravia Engine in it gives the same colours and picture quality that you get with the plasmas. The other oft published criticism of LCDs is that they don't 'do blacks'. i.e. they look grey where as Plasmas look black, the newer ones like the Sony sort this, and are black as soot.

Also you used to get blurring and even trails in fast motion on LCD (e.g. football etc) but this is also a thing of the past with the best LCDs. Again, the Sony has sub 8ms response times.

For all these reasons, I went for the Sony as there were no downsides IMHO to getting the LCD.

BigGT3Fan

And I would still also stand buy my previous statement of "it is only worth getting 1080p if you have either a) a 1080p PC, b) an XBox360 c) a PS3 d) HD DVD e) Blu-Ray".

Otherwise if you just have HD TV (Sky, BBC or Cable) then 720p is adequate as you are just upscaling from 720p to 1080p, which some TVs do really well, others do _really_ badly, with artifacts and blocking and everything.

TopBanana

Within a few years, nearly everyone will have HD DVD or BluRay. Bit upsetting if your nearly new screen was already out of date.

BigGT3Fan

agreed, but YMMV. A lot of people are buying a circa £600 TV now with 720p only, with a short term view.

You can do that, and re-buy a 1080p, probably for the same price by then when HDDVD / Blu-Ray is more prevalent, or you get 1080p now and future proof.

Horses 4 Courses, me thinks. I went one way, others go the other.

Skoobie Dhu

iTrader: (3)

I spent ages looking into my new big screen TV, read all the reviews, trawled the websites, listened to all the advice.
Decided on the Sony 1080 40" LCD, went into John Lewis to order it and after a look at the picture quality on the display TV's ended up with the new Panasonic 42" plasma instead....

Any yes, all the feeds in JL were HD - I couldn't see any big difference between the two but the plasma colours looked more genuine than the Sony LCD.

The JL price match was ace as well - TV and stand price was £1,198, I paid £879 with the full 5 yr guarantee

Deep Singh

What Hi Fi is well known to be biased towards Sony due to advertising revenue. It often hails Sony products the best when they are not. I'm sure the KDL is a fantastic piece of kit but take WHiFi with a pinch of salt.

I don't want a LCD because I want a 50"". At present as said there is no 1080p plasma. The Z700 that TopB mentions I think will be more than a few hundred quid more expensive than the px70

logiclee

If you dont want to wall mount and have the room check out Sony's 1080p SXRD sets.
I had a demo the other week and they are outstanding for the money.

Available in 55" and 70" versions and will sit on the same stand as an equivalent sized Plasma.



Cheers
Lee