Seeing as I trust Mactalk for most technology advice and it is usually reasonably good, I thought I might ask for recommendations for a new flat panel tv.
I want something around 42 to 50 inch with a built in HD tuner. I really dont care if its lcd or plasma. Just want a great picture.
Dont you hate talking to salesmen in placed like Harvey Norman - they make my skin crawl.

So if anyone has seen something good or even better has bought something good in the last 12 months then let me know your thoughts.

Sony Bravia - nothing else comes close, true HD, built in tuner, very very nice TVs

I'm also in the market for a flat panel TV at the moment, and am swaying towards a recent release 32" Samsung HD LCD. If anyone has links to any decent review websites for all brands I'd love to know what's out there - all of the stuff that Google digs up seems to be either company sponsored or embedded in AV discussion forums which I cannot be arsed joining.

cnet.com normally has pretty good reviews as well as short video's showing you features of the product.

William

I wouldnt buy Sony if it were the best tv in the world period.

I have taught English to Sony engineers and they confess they build in redundancy... ie the products is designed to fail. (which I guess other manufacturers are also guilty off including apple however I like apple products generally and I despise Sony it is a corporate image problem they have).

anyway I am a fan of the Sharp Aquos range...

granted my TV is only 20" but the HD pic quality is beautiful...

Rubbish, they have backlighting problems.

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=e...G=Search&meta=

I say this over and over: Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever buy Sony.

I have the Current model Samsung 26" (LA26R71BDX) (but in iMac white) with the built in HD tuner, given the lack of actual programs in full 1080HD, I can't say the 1366 * 768 res is a noticable deficiency.

Great picture, solid features. My only gripe is that if I use the TV's volume and take the sound through my stereo at the same time there is a spot of latency - a'la echo, as I don't have a 5.1 receiver this is a non problem.

Samsung seem to have a good reputation for their LCD panels. I recommend you try to look at as many as you can in actual homes before you buy.

My Brother-in-law picked up a Schaub Lorenz 38" LCD for 1700 last week. Looks very nice to me...
Built in HD tuner, simlpe black case....

i believe it's the same panel as samsung, but different (?better) innards...

I'm looking at the Samsung M8 40" at the moment. I saw one on display and to me it was the best LCD I have ever seen. Clear, no shuddering, great colours. I still have a CRT because I found the picture warmer and easier on the eye, but I think I will finally succumb to the M8. It's true HD as well.

http://www.samsung.com/au/products/t.../la40m81bd.asp

Apparently there is a software problem with the HD tuner at the moment, but that should be fixed shortly. This means stores have stock, but may not be on display.

Actually, MANY other things come close and most are better. A high quality plasma will ALWAYS have a better overall image. Fujitsu and the Pioneer Pro series ( not the sam pioneer you buy from JB/Harvey) are very good panels indeed! Infact, i will bet anyone $100 to find a better picture than the Pioneer PDP-5000ex 1080p Plasma. Anyone that has seen this plasma will know what i'm on about. Don't talk to me about Life span & burn in issues either. Do some research and you will find these are old issues and do not effect high quality plasmas.

Don't listen to all the bulk store LCD hype. The chain stores all push LCD because there is alot more $$$ to be made on LCD over plasma. LCD suffer from poor viewing angles, very poor contrast, Fast movement issues & are terrible with analog, FTA & foxtel viewing. The only thing i find to look very good on LCDs is HD-DVD/Blu-Ray and game consoles. Most people / families arn't too fussed about new technologies yet.

I'm glad people are happy with their new LCD TVs but we all have to justify the $$$ we sink into new tech, don't we. Unfortunately most people out there don't check out the specialist stores our there that carry a different range of gear. Forget about 1080p with a 46" LCD unless you are sitting at about 2 meters. Any further back and you lose almost all of the extra detail gained by 1080 line of resolution.

We bought a 40" Samsung LCD about 5 months ago and I can say that it is fantastic. After looking at about 100 different TVs over a period of 2 months, the Samsung panels are the best in any room that has even a little natural light coming in. The inbuilt tuner is fairly decent, but we found that if you don't use decent cabling to the socket it can take some time to initialise.

You can still pick up LA40R71BDX (1366x768, 1 HDMI, 8ms, 5000:1) for under $2600 which is a great deal.

Other than my advice above, all I can suggest is for you to take your time and look at as many screens as possible. Everyone has different tastes when it comes to screens so take along one of your favourite dvds and watch any screens you like with a similar set of programs that you watch. ie. if you watch sport, get them to put on some sport, if you watch downloaded tv eps, take along a dvd with one on there etc.

Cheers
elSpike out.

I have to admit the Samsung M8 40" has caught my eye as well. I might go out and check it out in the flesh. Just need to find somewhere in Hobart that has it in stock.

i recently bought a 32" panasonic viera LCD after a lot of research.. at this size this model suited me and the panel used is apparently japanese made alpha-IPS [check each model as some of them don't use this panel], and certainly i have no backlight or viewing angle issues, it's looks the same from even acute angles..

it's 720p, but again, at this size it makes little difference.. no clouding, a bit of pixellation if i get up close on normal free to air broadcast, but the HD channels look stunning, and DVD through composite is great..

great panel, great image, blacks are not as dark as i might like, but i knew this would be the case with any LCD... lots of inputs, dual HDMI, DVI etc, my powerbook looks great through it!

any larger and i would probably go Plasma, especially if you watch a lot of movies, and the room its in isn't too bright..

Panasonic seems to be doing a lot of things right [if you look at the reviews and the forums] although i have heard that after sales support in australia leaves a bit to be desired.

recommended from me..

I would agree with Kuma. I have the Sharp 32" and it is great!

I, too, recently bought a Panasonic 32" LCD Viera. And I've been very impressed by it, especially with regard to viewing angle. Basically there's nowhere in my lounge that I can't see the image clearly (unless I climb around the back of the TV unit ).

My only gripe is with some fast moving FTA SD signals - mainly Ch7's footy coverage. Then you get some futzing where the action is. This is something I noticed on just about every LCD I looked at. But the Viera's MPEG smoothing generally makes most things watchable. iTunes movies and channel BT downloads play very nicely from my MB straight into the TV.

I'll still probably get a bigger plasma when I can afford it and when the home theatre is a reality.

Good luck.