VTR1000.ORG

Since I have been needing a new TV for a while now, I thought I would spend £500 out of the bike fund and buy one.

Went to buy one I saw online - a Samsung HD (though only 720 and not full 1080 HD) plasma - NON 3D. £479 and looked like a good deal since the next models up, either 1080 full HD or with 3D were all £700+. Look out for when a TV is advertised, if it says "HD ready", it means only 720 lines on the TV, wheras a full 1080 lines one will say "Full HD" or just HD.

Well they fcuked me around in the shop and at the last minute said they didnt have one available in stock, all were in the warehouse but sold to customers.

So I went home and tried to find another one and found this from a shop in Sheffield:
http://www.cramptonandmoore.co.uk/55lw5 ... 20192.html

Believe it or not, you cant get (as far as I can see) this TV anywhere, even online cheaper than this. You cant even get close with another full 1080 plasma with 3D and HD freeview built in. At the place I went to first, this one is £749. Next best is Amazon at £590 I think. You cant even get the model down with only 720 resolution cheaper in 99% of places.

Anyway - its really good, anyone thinking about upgrading should get one. The picture is really good, especially on BBC/ITV and C4 HD channels. The 3D on it is mint too.

You can plug in a laptop or desktop PC (or even PS3) and play a 3D film from that and it will detect the video and put it into 3D. You can even watch 3D youtube on it. 3D films are available on torrent web sites now so you can download them for free, or you can plug in a 3D Bluray player too, so plenty of content out there.

Only downside is that you only get 1 pair of glasses with it. They arent like the ones you get in the cinema, these have a very small battery in which you have to recharge approx every 10 hrs use. They do come with a USB cable to connect to TV to recharge though. Extra glasses are about £70-80 if you buy in the shop, but if you look around, you can get them for £40 from e-bay.

I can recommend LG - though mine is titchier. I did find the flat panel's sound was awful so I added a LG 5.1 surround speaker system to go with it.

No good me having a 3D tele I'm blind in one eye so makes no difference to me but still have to wear the glasses.

geoff996 wrote:No good me having a 3D tele I'm blind in one eye so makes no difference to me but still have to wear the glasses.

Oh dear sorry to hear that matey.

Life in 2D then. You ride a bike ok?

I've a friend who sees only with one eye due to his squint not getting corrected as a kid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyopia - He didn't hang about when he rode bikes but often fouled the cue ball with the tip of his cue when playing pool! Still a handy cricketer with his only weakness when batting is balls bowled into his blindside.

An excellent book "Mind's Eye' by Oliver Sacks (Awakenings) explores the world of 2D and 3D visual perception.

http://www.oliversacks.com/books/the-minds-eye/



Oliver Sacks

Hi Miztaziggy Not a problem been riding 33yrs

Its odd but although I can see perfectly well out of both eyes, with glasses, I cant see the difference on 3D TV. I was in a shop with one set up with the glasses on a pole in front of it. Looked through them and damn all difference to the 2D one next to it. What am I doing/missing?

Only reason it wouldn't work would be either if it was polarised glasses and your prescription glasses were polarised too for some reason maybe? Or if the glasses themselves weren't working? Or if you turn your head to the side they don't work?

If I were to buy a tv, it would be an LED one. I watch some rugby on a samsung 42" and it was very good

I like panasonic as a brand but that samsung made me change my mind.

It all about the quality of the source. Feed it well and you shall reap the rewards.

Miztaziggy wrote:Only reason it wouldn't work would be either if it was polarised glasses and your prescription glasses were polarised too for some reason maybe? Or if the glasses themselves weren't working? Or if you turn your head to the side they don't work?

It seems after a little googling to affect 7-10% of the population. As you say though I dont know if the glasses were working, Do they flicker if you look at them from a distance and at an angle? I do know my glasses are not polarized and I was looking straight at the screen.........

Still look on the bright side, one less thing to spend money on!!

Miztaziggy wrote: I thought I would spend £500 out of the bike fund and buy one.

you can get them for £40 from e-bay.

Precisely.
And leave enough money in the bike fund for more bikes.

After all, do you want to be riding bikes or watching programs about riding bikes?

Or you can be the man who put the "rich" in Richer Sounds......

gilson wrote:If I were to buy a tv, it would be an LED one. I watch some rugby on a samsung 42" and it was very good

I like panasonic as a brand but that samsung made me change my mind.

It all about the quality of the source. Feed it well and you shall reap the rewards.

I thought the same until I saw a comparison between LED and plasma in the shop. Plasma in general is the same or even better picture quality. The way they produce the picture is very similar, the main difference being the way they are both back lit. The LED screens are lit with a load of LEDs whereas the plasma screens light up each cell with glowing gas. The LEDs main benefit is it uses less power.

As for quality of the source, the HD TV channels are really good, the picture is so much better. Other than that, I plug in my computer via HDMI cable and get full 1080 films downloaded it looks mint.

Furrybiker wrote: As you say though I dont know if the glasses were working, Do they flicker if you look at them from a distance and at an angle?

No not really, they are flickering that fast you cant tell at all. You can tell when they switch on as everything goes from being light to being slightly darker. Certainly no worse than through the glasses you get in the cinema though.

tony.mon wrote: And leave enough money in the bike fund for more bikes.

After all, do you want to be riding bikes or watching programs about riding bikes?

Or you can be the man who put the "rich" in Richer Sounds......

Well, the TV was more for her than for me. Personally I use my PC but dont watch TV, other than the odd film I download. She wanted a big TV and my thinking was that if I spent a bit more on the TV now, I wouldnt feel as guilty when I got my bonus and spent 7k on a bike

Furrybiker wrote: As you say though I dont know if the glasses were working, Do they flicker if you look at them from a distance and at an angle?



No not really, they are flickering that fast you cant tell at all. You can tell when they switch on as everything goes from being light to being slightly darker. Certainly no worse than through the glasses you get in the cinema though.

The reason I asked was that the ones in the shop flickered as you looked at them from an angle from a distance, but as you said it was not noticeable when looking through them.

Will have to try again, although I cant remember the last time i watched TV