Good 32" HD Tellies?

[egparadigm]

Hi guys,

My girlfriend wants a new TV for her sitting room. Sounds like it's principally going to be TV, HD stuff via Virgin cable. Maybe BluRay at some point in the future.

We're making a bit of a guestimate at 32" for the space. Currently has a 24" 4:3 CRT and there's more room spare.

What TVs are good at this size and for TV purposes? I forgot to ask her price, but I'm assuming she's at the lower end. Maybe ?300? I read recently one thing people forget is useability with TVs – which is a good point!

Hope this is enough info. Let me know if there's anything else I should ask.

Many thanks in advance.

[koopatroopa90]

Full HD or HD Ready, and does she want a freeview tuner or a freeview hd tuner built in? If she just wants a HD ready TV with standard freeview then your choice for ?300 should be pretty big.

[egparadigm]

I thought all tellies were 1080p these days! (I assume that HD Ready is 720p and Full HD is 1080p?)

[ETC]

If your near one of these cant do much better for ?300 (well ?289.99 after redemption)

http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/sony/bravia-kdl32cx523/sony-kdl32cx523

[ETC]

Or if you want even bigger this 40" comes in at ?299.99

http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/toshiba/40bv701/tosh-40bv701

[Fader209]

Is Toshiba that good a make now? I have always steered around them for the more safer options of Sony etc. Saying that I was never a fan of LG but they don't seem to have that low respect as they once did.

Had a quick look on HotUKDeals and there was a post up for a Panasonic 32" LCD Full HD Freeview for just shy of ?300 (delivered) at Currys/Dixons/PC World. The link to Dixons didn't work but Currys has it in stock. Only issue I see is that the frame rate is only 50hz, depends on whether that is a bad thing for you.

[EvilBoris]

We got a Sony 32cx523 for my Girlfriends parents, pretty much perfect for what they wanted.
Good solid Sony build quality , YouTube and iplayer built in. Picture quality for SD seemed fine to me too.

Has the Sony XMB interface for all the menus so it's quite straightforward to use too.

[koopatroopa90]

Toshiba is the make of my one that had that blue line Fader mate although to be fair it actually fixed itself! And that aside I love it

[egparadigm]

Thanks for the suggestions. She looked appalled when I said ?300: "I was thinking ?300 maximum". Luckily there's a Richer Sounds near where she lives, so we can take a closer look.

Any more thoughts welcome.

[Oldgamingfart]

I find the Panasonic's are good all-rounders in terms of picture and sound quality. They might lack a few bells and whistles (in terms of online content and networking etc), but overall they're pretty consistent.

[ETC]

be sure to check the clearance section too on their site (Richer Sounds) there are some crazy bargains on it

I thought this one is particularly good (only problem is you need to live near the store doing the bargain)

http://www.richersounds.com/showclearanceproduct/SAMS-LE32C530/Samsung+Le32c530.html

[Fader209]

^That's a damn good find! Can't go wrong with Samsung in my opinion, had my 40" LCD for 2 years now with no problems.

@Koops - I had forgotten about that conversation lol. Well at least the Toshiba became self aware enough to fix its problem

Pat - I think your best bet is to keep checking the sales for any updates on cheap TVs if ?300 is too much. Might be worth checking John Lewis to see if they price match something you are interested in as they have a tasty 5 year guarantee on things like this.

[egparadigm]

John Lewis guarantee is a good shout. I don't think ?300 is too much – I'll see what she makes of the thing in the flesh.

[egparadigm]

What's the best approach on prices: buy before Christmas, or wait for the sales?

[Fader209]

Hmm not sure really as I'm in the same boat regarding a new PC and a camera for the missus. Technically the sales are on already but I assume there will be more drops after Xmas day.
Have a check on HotUKDeals every day and see what pops up, the guys on there are damn quick at posting up the latest deals.