My TV has died

I watch very little TV, but do like to have it around for things like olympic games and some series. My 5 year old Phillips LCD TV has died - actually the gizmo that means it can be connected to the satelite reciever has died - which really means the TV has died - I needed the satelite receiver for TV reception even before the age of digital!

Ideas on what people have and what they like or hate about their TVs are most welcome. LCD or plasma? What's the difference? Brands?

I do not have endless funds!!! My local TV fixer / tuner / electronics guy suggested I look on TradeMe.

Best bet is to go to a retailer rather than trade me. I found when looking for a tv that they were dearer on trade me than the shops. We have 2 samsungs and cant fault them. They are only lower end but work for us. The 40" in the lounge I bought from cash converters as a refurbished item 4 years ago and never had a problem. You can pick up a 40" for as low as $500 sometimes. Check out JB hifi if ther is one near you, they have some good deals.

Mine died also and I asked about the new digital with the inbuilt box, whether they would still connect to my sky aerial. They said no, you had to get a new aerial as well.
Can you just buy a new receiver instead of a tv?
I do have a spare tv if anyone wants, no remote etc
I am sure some good techinical advice will come along soon

Our freeview box died as well recently - and like you have a 5+ year old Philips TV which is working perfectly.

So we bought a new decoder on TradeMe - got a great deal;

www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=493727926

As you can see - inc shipping paid only $33.50. But it was a bit of luck that no one else was bidding at the time. As you can see, that same seller runs lots of $1 reserve auctions - so you could be lucky too!

www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=2749631

It was a whole lot cheaper than replacing a perfectly good TV!

Aria;432115 wrote: Our freeview box died as well recently - and like you have a 5+ year old Philips TV which is working perfectly.

So we bought a new decoder on TradeMe - got a great deal;

www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=493727926

As you can see - inc shipping paid only $33.50. But it was a bit of luck that no one else was bidding at the time. As you can see, that same seller runs lots of $1 reserve auctions - so you could be lucky too!

www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=2749631

It was a whole lot cheaper than replacing a perfectly good TV!

Thanks for those links - but it it the TV that has died rather than the receiver. I will keep an eye on that trader.

When I bought the TV 5 years ago it was top of the range and cost me $1680. They've come down in price so much.

Anne;432103 wrote: I watch very little TV, but do like to have it around for things like olympic games and some series. ... Ideas on what people have and what they like or hate about their TVs are most welcome. LCD or plasma? What's the difference? Brands?

Check out the link to Consumer for an explanation of the different technologies.
www.consumer.org.nz/reports/televisions/plasma-lcd-or-led

If you are not a major sport or movie buff then LCD/LED is probably the way to go. LED are the newer technology and are more expensive, however they use far less power than LCD or Plasma. If power usage is not a major point for you (ie through infrequent use?), then go for LCD.

Samsung seems to come to the top of the list in consumer tests so that would be the standard brand to go to.

I have to say that I tend to go for a new item for electronics as you are then covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act, and have a reasonably new product (considering they are out of date as soon as you leave the shop).

Anne;432103 wrote: I watch very little TV, but do like to have it around for things like olympic games and some series. My 5 year old Phillips LCD TV has died - actually the gizmo that means it can be connected to the satelite reciever has died - which really means the TV has died - I needed the satelite receiver for TV reception even before the age of digital!

Something isn't quite right here from a technical perspective:

- The "gizmo that means it can be connected to the satellite receiver" would be the AV inputs because no TV in NZ has a built-in Satellite Tuner, only Terrestrial (UHF).

- All TVs have more than one set of AV inputs, so if one set have died, you just switch to another, even if it means using the connectors on the front panel instead of around the back.

Has your TV been looked at by a qualified technician?
Be very sure it is actually the TV which is at fault before you toss it out.

If it's only your satellite receiver which has died, then that is very cheaply fixed.

Anne;432103 wrote: Ideas on what people have and what they like or hate about their TVs are most welcome. LCD or plasma? What's the difference? Brands?

I do not have endless funds!!! My local TV fixer / tuner / electronics guy suggested I look on TradeMe.

I wouldn't touch TradeMe either. Buy new from a retailer and get the benefit of at least a 2-year warranty (it should be more for the big-name brands).

If money was no object, I would say buy a Panasonic or Sony. But I've seen some excellent specifications and pictures from LG and Samsung in recent years, and not heard anything bad about them.

LCD is generally the way to go these days for best picture quality. LED just means LCD with LEDs for backlighting, and gives more vivid colours with a practically unlimited backlight life. The older CFL tubes used with earlier LCD screens burn out eventually, although my 4-year old LG is still working extremely well, and it's had an awful lot of use, given that it doubles as my computer monitor and TV.

The other thing to watch out for is what they call the "HD Ready" TVs. These are not full HD, and so you don't get the full benefit of the HD channels which are available now. Don't settle for less than "Full HD" as they are very little dearer these days.

I've been watching the Olympic coverage on Prime HD @ 1080 lines vs. the 576 lines on SD channels. The clarity of the pictures from London is absolutely stunning, but when I compared it to what most people are seeing on Prime's ordinary channel, it about made me puke. Prime on Freeview is a blurry, shuddery, grainy mess compared to Prime HD. My $46 Sky subscription represents excellent value for money this month, but I'm not so sure about the rest of the year. If they keep broadcasting Prime in HD after the Olympics are over, I might reconsider. The picture quality is by far the best of any channel except the HD Sky Sports channels and the HD Movie channels, which we don't bother paying for. There's only so much TV you can really watch, and outside of the Olympics, we watch very little sport.

We've just bought a Samsung LED 40" and very happy with it - picture quality is stunning.

Grant - bit confused with part of your thread. I have a Panasonic HD ready TV that I bought at least 5 years ago and watching the Olympics on Prime through Freeview is a brilliant picture. Obviously I wouldn't buy "ready" now but that was all that was on offer at the time. My Auntie has a 52'' Samsung that is brilliant but I prefer what I see as the softer tones of Panasonic. Each to their own I guess.

DiDi;432190 wrote: Grant - bit confused with part of your thread. I have a Panasonic HD ready TV that I bought at least 5 years ago and watching the Olympics on Prime through Freeview is a brilliant picture. Obviously I wouldn't buy "ready" now but that was all that was on offer at the time.

"HD Ready" usually means 766 lines vs. 1080 with Full HD. Some overseas channels (like SBS HD) use 720p which 766 line LCD panels are designed for, but here in NZ we use 1080i for HD channels. Hence you are not getting the full benefit of NZ's HD channels when using a 766 line TV.

Regarding your statement about "watching the Olympics on Prime through Freeview is a brilliant picture", you obviously haven't seen Prime HD

Certainly, the Freeview pictures are better than Analog, but the pictures on Prime HD are in another league altogether. The amount of detail is incredible, and seems even better than last year's RWC pictures, even though they are coming all the way from London.

Difference between LCD and plasma is quite noticeable. LCD, there is a fractional delay in movement, so that fast action stuff can look like a modern version of old hand cranked movies. It takes a bit of getting used to as you expect the movement to be continuous. Samsung have good quality pictures, but are too well represented in the fix-it stakes for my liking. LCDs are also prone to burning out tiny pixels, so that you get little black patches on the screen. Plasmas in that sense are better. No delay in the movement and so look more natural. I think Panasonic are hard to beat here. Colours are more natural and you don't get the over brightness in reds.
I know little about LEDs however.

Stikkibeek;432264 wrote: Difference between LCD and plasma is quite noticeable. LCD, there is a fractional delay in movement, so that fast action stuff can look like a modern version of old hand cranked movies. It takes a bit of getting used to as you expect the movement to be continuous.

What you are saying is a bit out of date:

Plasma pundits will also tell you that some LCD screens have a tendency to blur images, particularly during fast-moving scenes in movies or in sport. While that was true for older generation LCD screens, newer models have improved significantly — so much so that the differences in performance between LCDs and plasmas in this regard is almost negligible.

Taken from this page:

www.cnet.com.au/plasma-vs-lcd-which-is-r...or-you-240036500.htm

which gives an excellent rundown on the pros and cons of Plasma vs. LCD. Their conclusion was:

At the smaller end of things (17- to 42-inch TVs), LCD is the only way to go if you want something slim and tasteful. And the best thing is that LCDs are getting cheaper all the time.

Given the limited budget Anne mentioned at the top of this thread, it seems to me that she would be looking for something in this price/size range, rather than a humungous Plasma of 50 inches or more.

Not that out of date Grant. We were only looking at these kinds of TVs 6 months ago and that is what we observed then.

I agree
Was in Harvey Norman on Thursday looking at TVs and the motion blur was really noticeable on a number of the screens. The difference between HD ready and Full HD was also very noticable.
The LEDs were vastly better than the LCDs.
My old CRT is on the way out so I was doing research on how much I will have to save. As a movie buff (love action, animation and scifi) I am seriously considering a plasma.

Having said that, if you aren't really into movies or sport an LCD/LED will do the trick. LEDs that I looked at were better than the LCDs, LED is also the industry standard now.

Well, I haven't even begun to research this any further!!! I'm really not missing the TV and the effort of replacing when I use it as seldom as I do has so far been too great!! I'll get there in the end. I guess.