28" widescreen, ~?400 budget, any suggestions?

[NeilMcRae]

With every TV there is a sacrafice to make. So check out what ever you buy in full to make sure you are happy with the sacrafice. Note with the last Gen of Sony TV's they have been prone to buzzing.

Neil.

[Dazzla]

There's a massive thread over at www.avforums.com on the CRT section about pixel plus and after reading the whole thing i wouldn't touch a Philips TV with a barge pole.

Check it out

EDIT if your thinking of buying that Philips TV i would strongly advise you to check out the avforums thread or you could end up makeing a big mistake

I just won a 36 inch Philips screen with Pixel plus - 36PW9308. I thought it looked absolutely excellent and I had a Sony with DRC right next to it.

Anyhow if you actually look on the AV forums and search for just about any TV you will see numerous posts complaining about the processing on it.

You really need to just go and see the TVs in action yourself and make of them what you will. Pick the one you like best.

Yeah, I did notice that a bit but I didn't see as many complaints as there were for Pixel Plus. The Philips sets looked good in Currys, but the one which had Pixel Plus turned on look really bad. I was hoping they'd set it up badly, but it was artifacting galore, I don't know if that was a result of Pixel Plus or not. But the Philips without Pixel Plus looked really, really nice. Pixel plus is optional as well right? I mean you can turn it off? This Philips is real nice. I do like this one, I'm gonna have to go into Currys again today with some model numbers and have a proper look.

With every TV there is a sacrafice to make. So check out what ever you buy in full to make sure you are happy with the sacrafice. Note with the last Gen of Sony TV's they have been prone to buzzing.

Neil.

Yeah, I read the sticky about that as well It seems to be a damn common problem with the most recent generation of Sony TV's.

The thing is, Currys have TV's in rows of three with the top row being over head height, the Philips and Sony being on the top row. They just play a promotional film with mini clips and the stupid Currys logo, they wouldn't be able to hook up a DVD player to play a DVD to those TV's would they? Even if they did at the end of it I'd be saying "Oh cheers, it looked good. I'll go and buy if for ?150 cheaper on the Internet now "

[Shin Gouki]

Aren't the odds of getting a good pixel plus TV about the same as winning the Lotto

Even if you go to the shop and check one out they may have a set that is actually free of faults set up so you can't be sure that your set will be just as good.

I think the black and white bar issue really pissed people off but what did it the most is the fact that Pixel Plus was a total waste of time and money

To the guy who won the Philips tv,well,you must be the luckiest man alive to actually win a philips TV that is of good quality

[Dazzla]

Ok, I've just been to Currys, I took the names of the 2 I wanted to look at:

Philips 28PW9308 - ?600 online, ?800 Currys
Sony KV28FQ70 - ?584 online, ?950 Currys(!!!!!)

I grabbed the remotes and had a play, even when I turned Pixel Plus off I couldn't get it to match the quality of the Sony set which was parked right next to it. I played around for over half an hour with the Philips and no matter what I done it always looked, I dunno, overprocessed maybe? There looked to be a lot of MPEG artifacting, and when Pixel Plus was turned on, there's a disinctive white halo around dark objects.

The Sony was pretty damn good, there wasn't any of the buzzing mentioned over at AV Forums, and the picture was pretty amazing. It was only after having a play I realised that all the TV's are tuned to channel 7, not RGB scart.

Amazingly, they got a guy to hook up a DVD player and they played The Two Towers, the Sony shone the most, it was so nice and clear, no smudging or smearing, no artifacting at all. One of the best pictures I've seen to be honest. The Philips looked much better then when on Channel 7 but it still didn't look as good as the Sony.

After it all the attempted sale came at which point I pulled out a piece of paper with various models and their online prices. He couldn't believe the Sony KV28FQ70 was only ?584 online when they charge ?950, they wouldn't price match that low either so tough luck to Currys.

So now I'm 99% sure that the Sony KV28FQ70 is the one I want, now I've gotta decide where to buy it

[Shin Gouki]

Ok, I've just been to Currys, I took the names of the 2 I wanted to look at:

Philips 28PW9308 - ?600 online, ?800 Currys
Sony KV28FQ70 - ?584 online, ?950 Currys(!!!!!)

I grabbed the remotes and had a play, even when I turned Pixel Plus off I couldn't get it to match the quality of the Sony set which was parked right next to it. I played around for over half an hour with the Philips and no matter what I done it always looked, I dunno, overprocessed maybe? There looked to be a lot of MPEG artifacting, and when Pixel Plus was turned on, there's a disinctive white halo around dark objects.

The Sony was pretty damn good, there wasn't any of the buzzing mentioned over at AV Forums, and the picture was pretty amazing. It was only after having a play I realised that all the TV's are tuned to channel 7, not RGB scart.

Amazingly, they got a guy to hook up a DVD player and they played The Two Towers, the Sony shone the most, it was so nice and clear, no smudging or smearing, no artifacting at all. One of the best pictures I've seen to be honest. The Philips looked much better then when on Channel 7 but it still didn't look as good as the Sony.

After it all the attempted sale came at which point I pulled out a piece of paper with various models and their online prices. He couldn't believe the Sony KV28FQ70 was only ?584 online when they charge ?950, they wouldn't price match that low either so tough luck to Currys.

So now I'm 99% sure that the Sony KV28FQ70 is the one I want, now I've gotta decide where to buy it

Mate your worse than a woman shopping for a pair of shoes

Just bloody hurry up and buy one

[Dazzla]

Just bloody hurry up and buy one

I've ordered the Sony KV28FQ70 from Empire Direct, should be here Tuesday

Thanks everyone for all your help

[Shin Gouki]

Just bloody hurry up and buy one

I've ordered the Sony KV28FQ70 from Empire Direct, should be here Tuesday

Thanks everyone for all your help

Keep us updated on how you get on

[choddo]

Just bloody hurry up and buy one

I've ordered the Sony KV28FQ70 from Empire Direct, should be here Tuesday

Thanks everyone for all your help

Nice one mate. (and sorry for topping this again but...) Has that got DRC? I was just playing with mine (FQ75) again, and realised what people were complaining about with 100Hz modes. It only affects rapidly scrolling credits as far as I can tell, but on DRC50 mode they're smooth, on DRC100 they're jerky as hell. Plus, DRC50 comes with the added advantage of twice as many horizontal lines. I think I might stick on this mode. Let me know if you get the same on yours tomorrow. Are you excited?

[Dazzla]

The TV came first thing yesterday morning, damn impressive on Empire Direct's behalf, telehone order on Sunday afternoon, TV on my doorstep Tuesday morning.

It's everything I expected, I love it I've watched quite a few DVDs on it, Matrix Reloaded, Finding Nemo, Equilibrium and I'm watching Star Trek Nemesis now.

It's a shame NTL digital don't have more content broadcast in widescreen. Sky news is 100% 4:3 which sucks, thank god for BBC, nearly everything they do is widescreen, watching the Mercury music awards on BBC3 in widescreen was pretty cool.

Gotta go borrow a console or two now to have a play with that aspect.

I didn't use the stand, it's so damn low. THe TV had to be above bed height, my room is tiny enough as it is with a double bed crammed in, the TV had to reach above the bed.

Cheers for all the help everybody

[Shin Gouki]