TV recommendation please

[Re83L]

Hi guys.

What I want:

A TV for my parents' holiday home.

Budget: R5000 max
Size: 32" would be okay, but bigger is better.
Warranty: Since it will only be used max 4 weeks a year, I like Sinotech's 5 year warranty
Use: SD DSTV, some XBOX gaming, may need to double as a PC work screen

Size is here more important than quality, we don't need to have the best when we're there, and the TV room is quite large, most viewers would sit at 3m-4.5m from the TV
We don't require millions of inputs or anything, just that we have an okay quality TV, value for money above all.

The room does not have too much light, but does have windows that reflects from one side.
That's it.

I'm liking Sinotechs purely because of warranty (as the tv will only have worked for about 200 - 300 hours by the time its 5 years old)

 

[Re83L]

Esquire has got the HiSense 40" LCD
60Hz motion-plus engine
lots of inputs
3 year warranty

for R4100 (incl) on Sunday?

This is the TV: http://oneloyalty.co.za/content.asp?ckeyword=products&categoryid=641&productid=1729

Don't know whether it's a good deal?

 

[Necro_guy]

Thats a good deal. But for a couple of hundred bucks more i would suggest you get a Samsung LA 40 D550. Its the 40inch latest 2011 models. It was going for R4699 at game recently, highly recommended on this forum and the panel has great picture quality. I would not recommend brands like Sinotech, Logik, Palsonic, Hisense as these use inferior panels. You can get an extended 3year warranty on these panels for extra cost and to me it is worth it.

An added bonus of the sammy is lots of inputs, great media player built in. Plays mkv's and just about anything you throw at it. Looks good with its slim bezel and piano black finish if thats your style. Features like Hdmi CeC with a compatible devices can switch on/off all devices with one remote. All share (dlna) can be used to network your pc and stream content directly from there.

I just read its for your parents house and they probably wont be using all those features but to me the extra hundred bucks it is worth it.

 

[PostmanPot]

Thats a good deal. But for a couple of hundred bucks more i would suggest you get a Samsung LA 40 D550. Its the 40inch latest 2011 models. It was going for R4699 at game recently, highly recommended on this forum and the panel has great picture quality. I would not recommend brands like Sinotech, Logik, Palsonic, Hisense as these use inferior panels. You can get an extended 3year warranty on these panels for extra cost and to me it is worth it.

An added bonus of the sammy is lots of inputs, great media player built in. Plays mkv's and just about anything you throw at it. Looks good with its slim bezel and piano black finish if thats your style. Features like Hdmi CeC with a compatible devices can switch on/off all devices with one remote. All share (dlna) can be used to network your pc and stream content directly from there.

I just read its for your parents house and they probably wont be using all those features but to me the extra hundred bucks it is worth it.

+1, far better TV than the Hisense and the media palyer is especially useful.

43" plasma would be the ultimate for a combination of SD/gaming/HD, however since you might require the screen to be able to do PC work on, it might not be suitable (possibility of static image burn in after long hours of work in Windows/OS with static bars, tabs etc.). Also its HD Ready resolution may not be conducive to PC work. So your decision lies in how much you require the TV to double as a PC monitor (are we talking a few hours of work in Windows/OS spread out, or are we talking 8 hours a day every day for a few weeks? Plasma will handle the former), as the PS43D450 plasma will outperform the LA40D550 at SD, and from your viewing distance of 3 - 4m, at picture quality in virtually anything. LA40D550 would have the edge when sitting close and watching FHD content. Benefit of FHD gets less and less the further back you sit. HD Ready is perfect for 3 - 4m on a ~40" screen, even for Blu-ray/1080p content.

 

[pboy]

check out hirsch's.. they had this deal with standard bank or something the other week.. 46inch sony bravia for 4500. i stand to be corrected, but the lady said it was R1500 below their cost.
only thing is, you needed to have a standard bank credit card to qualify to buy..

 

[techead]

SD=plasma... Dont bother with LCD unless you increase your budget to like R20k

It's also great for HD, but if you gonna connect to your PC the 1024x768 res is kinda sucky!!!

 

[PostmanPot]

Sinotech have one or two plasma offerings on display at Makro [Ottery], looked very good next to the Samsungs (I could see they were on dim settings). Excellent brightness and colours considering the shop lighting. They were about 10% cheaper than the Samsungs, also with the 5 year warranty. Samsungs will have better PQ, but I agree that the warranty is appealing in your case.

One thing that may be of concern in your case is that Sinotech's menus aren't as advanced as Samsung's. This can play a role especially when hooking up PC via HDMI, although you could just use the VGA connector.