Need help buying LCD TV

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Squareleg

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I am new to the world of Plasma and LCD TVs and so need some advice from you experts out there. Have finally decided it is time to upgrade from my old CRT TV to a flat panel and after much sweat have been convinced that LCD is the way to go......but this where the crunch comes - which one to buy? Mecer have a special offer at the moment, a 37" LCD TV for R7999, Hi-fi Corp are advertising a 37" Sansui for R8999 and I can get a 37" Teac for about R10500. Then of course there are the more expensive Sonys, LGs, Samsungs, Panasonics etc. So my question is how good are these lower priced units compared to the more expensive makes? Is it wortrhwhile paying the extra say R5000 - R7000 for the more expensive units or will the others do the job just as well. Can you guys please advise me in this regard, I am going crazy trying to make up my mind!
 
i wouldn't buy the Sony's and Samsungs atm. They might be better (though comparisons at Hi-Fi corp says pic quality is prob negligible) but definitely not worth the price u pay for it. I bought a Sansui a month back and I must say it's pretty awesome. Pic quality is good and has most inputs including HDMI.

Either get one of the cheaper brands or wait until the 1080p get cheaper and get those and settle for Sony, Samsung etc.
 
Thanks, thats what I thought but need someone to confirm. I was quite impressed with the Sansui at Hi-Fi Corp but are these grey imports or supported locally? Have you by any chance have any feedback from anyone on the Mecer or Teac units?
 
I meant to add that the Teac has a better Contrast Ratio 1200:1 as compared to the other two which both have 800:1. Is this something I should consider when buying?
 
just how much do u trust Hi-Fi Corp products??

Make sure u know what policy they have on dead pixels. Cause some computer shops swop out or replace on 3 dead pixels, others only at 5. So if yours has 2 nasty flickering pixels.... They won't swop it.. even if u did handstands..
 
The Mecer and Sansui are both supposed to be very good
 
not so sure abt the contrast ratio thing. One thing u need to considedr is that is R1.5k more for the teac worth it?

I have heard that the Mecer LCDs were pretty good as well. A vendor of mine told me that two companies in the world manufacture LCD panels (something which I havent confirmed). So most of the brands source it from either one and add some software to it and make it look better and that's the only difference.

Sansui has its own distribution in SA and that's why I bought from them. They seem like a decent company and offer a good warranty as well. I'm happy with mine thought at the time I bought it for R9999 and two days later they dropped it to R8999 :( either way I don't think u'll ever look back and regret the purchase of ur LCD.

Analog channels look crap on LCD panes esp SABC.
 
Yea, I have noticed that the current TV channels are ****ty but I also understand that these will be upgraded to HD sometime in the future. I assume the picture will improve when this happens?
 
A friend of the family works with the distributors of amongst others, Sansui.

I can assure you that they are NOT Grey imports.

From this thread it seems that they are quite popular.

We just got a 37".

Granted, the clarity is not brilliant at present, but when HDTV arrives, we'll have the upper hand. :)

We're happy with ours. :)

Cheers.
 
Squareleg said:
Yea, I have noticed that the current TV channels are ****ty but I also understand that these will be upgraded to HD sometime in the future. I assume the picture will improve when this happens?
Click to expand...
The ****ty signals are actually due to the high compression applied by DSTV to save on bandwidth. Unfortunately when DSTV switches to an HD, it will probably only be on selected channels, and not all of them. (I would be very surprised if the do offer HD on all channels, but I seriously doubt this).
 
People have been raving about the Mecer 37" so it seems like a good buy. The 2 panel manufacturers of LCD panels are Chimei and Samsung (I think) so ya its the panel that determines the quality. Ive heard of the Sony Bravia range having bad clouding issues and from pics it does seem pretty bad. Newly manufactured units might not have the problem. So basically Id say go have a look at the Mecer first and if you like the IQ grab it, its very cheap.
 
Squareleg said:
Yea, I have noticed that the current TV channels are ****ty but I also understand that these will be upgraded to HD sometime in the future. I assume the picture will improve when this happens?
Click to expand...

yeah it depends...I've noticed digital signals are much better than analogue. I have a free digital tv service and can receive a European version of National Geographic and the pic quality is good. Then u see other channels and the pic quality is utter crap but SABC is very poor. ETV a bit better though. I dont have DSTV but I would assume it's not as bad as DSTV. I dont think SABC will even make HDTV by 2010 even though the rest of the world will have it. Sigh...

Also HD broadcasts won't happen in SA anytime soon so don't count on it. I would say prob 1.5 yrs time. DSTV say they will be broadcasting in HD but no timeframe is given and u need new decoders for it. So unless u r using blu-ray or HD-DVD, buy the LCD u are most comfortable with.
 
i've also been shopping around for LCD's been to alotta different places
and got alotta different prices and specs

I am very much intrested in the samsung lcd u sould be able to get it for about 9k and then there is the lg one which is about 8k if u tune the oke discount(these are both 32") but im leaning more towards samsung so far from what i can gather its the only screen that actually says it supports dynamic contrast 3000 i think and none of the others do

as for the sansui ones had a look at them the price is good can get a 37" for the same price as a 32" samsung but dang i dont know if i trust those screens so very much i always see alotta peeps hanging out at customer services with those

SO ya im still shopping but i think im gonna go for samsung the only prob there is no one has got stock game is full out found out from like 10 different branches and sum of the other shops charge 15k

But that one that u suggested orangeman looks much better maybe i wait for that one 2
 
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Squareleg said:
Have finally decided it is time to upgrade from my old CRT TV to a flat panel and after much sweat have been convinced that LCD is the way to go......
Click to expand...

Hi Squareleg.

What convinced you that LCD is the way to go?
Quoted from http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com when comparing Plasma VS LCD:

CONTRAST / BLACK LEVELS: ADVANTAGE: Closer than a year ago, but still Plasma.
COLOR ACCURACY: ADVANTAGE: Preference to plasma but depends upon room light, manufacturer and model.
VIEWING ANGLES: ADVANTAGE: Plasma
COMPUTER USE: ADVANTAGE: LCD
FAST-MOVING VIDEO PLAYBACK: ADVANTAGE: Plasma
HIGH ALTITUDE: ADVANTAGE: LCD, at 6,500 feet and higher.
LONGEVITY: ADVANTAGE: Even, depending upon manufacturer quality.
SCREEN BURN IN: ADVANTAGE: LCD, though not as much a concern as it was a year ago.
PRODUCTION SIZE AND COST: ADVANTAGE: Plasma, though the playing field is leveling. Even though production costs and retail prices have come down for both technologies, plasma still has the edge as far as production cost and capacity go.
POWER CONSUMPTION: ADVANTAGE: LCD
PRICE AND RESOLUTION: ADVANTAGE: It's currently a toss-up.

So unless you are worried about very high altitude, power consumption and screen burn-in Plasma TV is still superior to LCD TV.
 
Mecer 37" is actually R6790.
Mecer 42" 852X480 is R8150
 
incapable said:
I am very much intrested in the samsung lcd
Click to expand...
Do the Samsung panels suffer from the same problems as the Sonys?

incapable said:
from what i can gather its the only screen that actually says it supports dynamic contrast 3000 i think and none of the others do
Click to expand...
Ist dynamic contrast a usefull specification?

Nebula said:
SCREEN BURN IN: ADVANTAGE: LCD, though not as much a concern as it was a year ago.
Click to expand...
That was something that concerned me. A lot of what will get watched is going to be 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 so there is going to be an area of the screen that gets used much less. Watching ordinary TV will leave the side areas unused. Will this leave a plasma screen with uneven brightness?

Squareleg said:
I meant to add that the Teac has a better Contrast Ratio 1200:1 as compared to the other two which both have 800:1. Is this something I should consider when buying?
Click to expand...
I don't think there is any standard for measuring contrast ratio so the figures provided may not be comparable.
 
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