[Blue_V]

Im looking for 32 inch TV. Im not interested in 3D, internet etc. I just want great picture quality and viewing angles, clear sound without distortion (not looking for unrealistic performance figures if you know what I mean) and able to read most movie formats from a USB/external HDD.

Any suggestions?

[dark.knight]

When it comes to reliability and track record of innovation in picture and sound Sony has been known for both the longest. Now when you say great picture and sound it could be entirely personal opinion, some like very high contrast & quicker refresh rates while others want a more natural picture quality and are ok with normal picture processing.

In general I'd trust Sony to give the most natural picture quality and sound, you will also get a LOT of options to fine tune each aspect to your taste. I just checked the website and in the given models W600A would be a good buy, as it comes with a bass speaker in the back. It is also 200hz, which while people like it, I simply hate it because the faster refresh rates create a fast-forward effect on motion. Again my opinion, the quality of Samsung is almost on par and LG is price-competitive. Reliability of any brand has been quite unpredictable, where some go on for 5 years without trouble and some throw up troubles in under a year.

[Blue_V]

Sony may be great but they cannot read many file formats. I don't know if that has changed recently.
How is LG 32LB5820 ? It seems to be laden with features. Anyone has bought it?

[Guite]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

I just checked the website and in the given models W600A would be a good buy, as it comes with a bass speaker in the back. It is also 200hz, which while people like it, I simply hate it because the faster refresh rates create a fast-forward effect on motion.

There is a catch in the terminology used by Sony. The specification states "Motionflow XR 200 hz". This figure does not represent the native refresh rate of the panel. My 48W600B has same specification but the panel, made by Samsung, has 50hz refresh rate. This I found out from service menu and online search. There is a discussion to this effect as well at AVS forum.

Its another matter that I cannot find Motionflow option in my TV. Few people have raised this issue at the Sony community website but no resolution seen.

In any case, higher refresh rate and frame interpolation is supposed to provide smoother motion, not fast forward effect.

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by Blue_V

Im looking for 32 inch TV. Im not interested in 3D, internet etc. I just want great picture quality and viewing angles, clear sound without distortion (not looking for unrealistic performance figures if you know what I mean) and able to read most movie formats from a USB/external HDD.

Any suggestions?

Check out Toshiba P2305 model too. I have the 39" version and the picture/sound is great.

Originally Posted by Guite

There is a catch in the terminology used by Sony. The specification states "Motionflow XR 200 hz". This figure does not represent the native refresh rate of the panel. My 48W600B has same specification but the panel, made by Samsung, has 50hz refresh rate. This I found out from service menu and online search. There is a discussion to this effect as well at AVS forum.

Panels do not have any refresh rate associated with them. Its the logic board which connects to the panel controls the speed at which the pixels should be refreshed. The better the board is, the better the picture quality is.
I have no degrees in electronics but saying based on earlier generations of tvs so, feel free to correct me.

[Guite]

Originally Posted by gemi_kk

Panels do not have any refresh rate associated with them. Its the logic board which connects to the panel controls the speed at which the pixels should be refreshed. The better the board is, the better the picture quality is.
I have no degrees in electronics but saying based on earlier generations of tvs so, feel free to correct me.

Panels do have refresh rate. You may like to read up http://www.cnet.com/news/what-is-refresh-rate/ and other trust worthy websites for more detail.

[Blue_V]

Went hunting for a 32" Full HD TV. I wanted to evaluate LG 32 5820, Samsung 32 H5500, Sony 32 W700. I found their 40 inch variants side by side in chroma. LG's colors felt bit unnatural and soft. Samsung and Sony felt more crisper and better colors. After spending sometime with these two, Samsung had more black levels and also lost out on details due to that. Skin tones felt little yellow and warm. Played my USB video, 1.5GB size, video felt too sharp. Sony's skin tones felt more natural. Black levels did not wash out details. USB video looked the best of the three. But Samsung has SMART motion control, which is quite impressive. The camera is free with the 40 inch variant.

[alter.e.go]

I have zeroed in on the Toshiba 29P2305ZE for my room. Toshiba seems to be the only one giving 3 years warranty hence tending towards it

[mayankk]

What's your take on brands like aoc, Haier, onida etc.
The cheaper options.

Purely from a longevity point of view. I'm looking for a 39-42 inch TV for guestroom purposes, so quality of picture, sound etc doesn't need to be exemplary, just adequate.

[khoj]

Philips will be cheap and yet be able to offer decent PQ & longevity.

Originally Posted by mayankk

What's your take on brands like aoc, Haier, onida etc.
The cheaper options.

Purely from a longevity point of view. I'm looking for a 39-42 inch TV for guestroom purposes, so quality of picture, sound etc doesn't need to be exemplary, just adequate.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by khoj

Philips will be cheap and yet be able to offer decent PQ & longevity.

Alright.
The room will also be a game room, with my old consoles being set up there.
How about a projector?
Are the benq, portronics, Asus,lg ones on eBay and such any good?
I have a Sony soundbox that can take care of the audio.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Alright.
The room will also be a game room, with my old consoles being set up there.
How about a projector?
Are the benq, portronics, Asus,lg ones on eBay and such any good?
I have a Sony soundbox that can take care of the audio.

I have an optoma HD ready model and it's great. Been using it since 2008, so far so good.
A friend has a benq and it's neat as well.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by diyguy

I have an optoma HD ready model and it's great. Been using it since 2008, so far so good.
A friend has a benq and it's neat as well.

Which one from optoma?
I checked them out, and they were quite high priced, and also only found them on amazon.com.

Benq is available on quite a few websites. Which one does your friend use?
What is the minimum spec I should go for?Most of the ones, any brand, I have seen are native res 800x600.That will not do for most purposes, would it?

I am willing to spend upto the cost of a budget 42 inch LED, which comes to about 30-35k.

If not, do plasmas make any kind of sense in this day?
Longevity wise.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Which one from optoma?
I checked them out, and they were quite high priced, and also only found them on amazon.com.

Benq is available on quite a few websites. Which one does your friend use?
What is the minimum spec I should go for?Most of the ones, any brand, I have seen are native res 800x600.That will not do for most purposes, would it?

I am willing to spend upto the cost of a budget 42 inch LED, which comes to about 30-35k.

If not, do plasmas make any kind of sense in this day?
Longevity wise.

I have the Optoma HD70. My friend has a Benq short throw one was approx 80K or so. The bulb of a projector has a life of about 2000 hours typically. The cost is usually 10K and above for a replacement bulb. So it is not a replacement for a TV, but for occasional viewing.
Minimum you should get a HD ready projector if not a full HD.

Plasmas are quite popular here on this forum. I personally have 2 LCDs and one LED. My FIL has a Hitachi Plasma - 42 or 40 inch and it has been doing well for about 6 years now. You should check the grey market for direct imports. I recently got my friend a full smart Samsung 40 LED, I think the model was 6400 and it cost him 43.5K from the Chennai grey market. Similarly the non-smart ones are significantly lower.