I plan to buy a flat panel TV to take advantage of HD broadcasts as well as blu ray disc, etc. Assuming its going to be around 50 inches in size, can I please have some recommendations as to which is the best picture quality TV to get ? Someone has recommended the Sony Bravia 350 series which has the highest contrast ratio of 18,000 to 1 but I'm more interested in opinions from users than specs.

Any comments/recommendations are most welcomed. Thanks !

Joe

The Pioneer LX508 is definitely one to look at. It has fabulous quality and I'd be surprised if the Sony beats it, especially since the Sony's an LCD to the Pioneer's plasma.

Then again, the Pioneer costs a lot more I believe.

I second Frank's recommendation of the Pioneer. At a recent show the Sony and Pioneer rooms were close by to one another and both playing the same Blu Ray disc into their respective TV ranges. The Sony's were good, for LCD, but the Pioneers were uniformly stunning. Even taking into account the price difference, I wouldn't hesitate to buy the Pioneer.

When it comes time to replace my Fujitsu (still a superb screen - with some of the best scaling and picture processing onboard - if you watch Sky or Freeview SD broadcasts this is REALLY important), then on current evidence, I'll be getting a Pioneer.

Joesilva, i agree with the above recomdations ie the pioneer, i still think the 58series fujitsu is better than the pioneer, but neither of these sets are full HD which was your question, the only full HD at a resonable price is the panny pz serie, unless you go for lcd.

quote:

Originally posted by john R1:
Joesilva, i agree with the above recomdations ie the pioneer, i still think the 58series fujitsu is better than the pioneer, but neither of these sets are full HD which was your question, the only full HD at a resonable price is the panny pz serie, unless you go for lcd.

I beg to differ. I've just bought the Pioneer LX508D & it is full HD + the picture is stunning.

Charlie

sorry my mistake, whats it like on blue-ray charles, as i have seen the full HD pioneer fed by a pioneer blue-ray player and the picture from an early blue-ray disc was pretty bad ?

Thanks guys. Appreciate all your input. I will go look at the pioneer. Offhand, how much does it cost roughly ?

What would be the best Blu-Ray player currently available and would it include a hard disc for recording ?

Best wishes,

Joe

joesilva, seems to be around £3400 from what i have seen,

quote:

Originally posted by john R1:
sorry my mistake, whats it like on blue-ray charles, as i have seen the full HD pioneer fed by a pioneer blue-ray player and the picture from an early blue-ray disc was pretty bad ?

Blu-ray, HD DVD & Sky HD are all excellent, it's even given the DVD5 (still the best for SD) a new lease of life. So far I'm chuffed to bits.

Charlie

quote:

Originally posted by joesilva:
What would be the best Blu-Ray player currently available and would it include a hard disc for recording ?
Joe

from what I've read so far, the current high-end Pioneer blu-ray player will give you the best picture, while the current Sony high-end will give you the best sound. note that the Sony uses the Pioneer mechanics, which is always good news I don't doubt however that both are simply excellent. if I'm not mistaken, none of them include a hard drive.

I use the Sony BDP-S500 & it's excellent on both sound & picture.

quote:

Originally posted by joesilva:
Thanks guys. Appreciate all your input. I will go look at the pioneer. Offhand, how much does it cost roughly ?

What would be the best Blu-Ray player currently available and would it include a hard disc for recording ?

Best wishes,

Joe

Hi Joe,

interestingly one of the best Blu rays right now is the Sony. However it doesn't include a hard drive for recording.

I read an interesting financial report whereby Sony have admitted that their TV's are not competetive here in the UK. We have the 3000 series whereas I believe out there you have the 3500 series. I have seen a photo on another forum of the 7000 series which was at one of the American shows so I think its fair to say improvements are coming for sony.

For me I still haven't decided between the Fujitsu's and the pioneers. Fugitsu have just released a new screen the P55XHA51Wsb which is supposed to improve on what they already do. The Pioneers seem to have the initial wow factor and winning all the awards in the UK. I have seen them a few times and yes they are good but I still have reservations about buying one.

One which no one mentions are the new Samsungs, we have just had them fitted in the gym. They are very good indeed and I would be interested in what others who have seen one, think of them.

Regards

PB

quote:

One which no one mentions are the new Samsungs, we have just had them fitted in the gym. They are very good indeed and I would be interested in what others who have seen one, think of them.

Hi PB,

I think they are excellent. There are some quirks, like auto aspect not being there on some of them. But the screens are very good and they seem well put together.

Very competitive, I would have thought.

Steve

PB, I think the reason why the Fujitsus don't have the presence is because they're panels rather than TVs. They make very good pictures.