Confused:IPS LED/Plasma, and which home theatre?

[dr_rohit]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and I find the answers here fascinatingly informative. I need help !

a) I want to buy a full HD TV that plays movies off USB. Budget is Rs. 70,000.My viewing distance is 9 feet. I am confused as to buy a plasma or a LED. As I understand, plasma has better contrast, refresh rate and viewing angle. Whereas LED has less power consumption and more shelf life.

My questions are:

1. Would you recommend a plasma or a LED?
2. If a plasma, then Panasonic/Samsung ?
3. If a led, one with a IPS LCD panel or without ?
4. If a led, then Samsung/Sony/Panasonic?

b)Next, I also want to buy a 5.1 DVD home theatre system. I looked up the Samsung-Sony systems but there are so many options. Budget is 10000-12000. I do not want a wireless system. Which one would you recommend?

Many thanks in advance for your time !

Regards,
Rohit

 

[dillihifi]

Well lets start from the usuage. As you have said that you want to watch movies of the USB, further for movie watching the bigger the screen the better the experience will be. To give you some concrete answers you may please share the following information.

How big the room in which you want to intall the TV ? What will the viewing distance like ? Any windows/light sources which may throw reflections on the screen ? Some idea like the content you will be watching e.g. 1080p rips/SD telecast/HD telecast for the most of the time.

As for the 5.1 seeing your budget I will suggest that you stretch it a little further and go for a HTIB from companies like onkyo, denon, yamaha. Well you can also buy some pre owned ones or go for some group buy.

 

[Spinekar]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and I find the answers here fascinatingly informative. I need help !

a) I want to buy a full HD TV that plays movies off USB. Budget is Rs. 70,000.My viewing distance is 9 feet. I am confused as to buy a plasma or a LED. As I understand, plasma has better contrast, refresh rate and viewing angle. Whereas LED has less power consumption and more shelf life.

My questions are:

1. Would you recommend a plasma or a LED?
2. If a plasma, then Panasonic/Samsung ?
3. If a led, one with a IPS LCD panel or without ?
4. If a led, then Samsung/Sony/Panasonic?

b)Next, I also want to buy a 5.1 DVD home theatre system. I looked up the Samsung-Sony systems but there are so many options. Budget is 10000-12000. I do not want a wireless system. Which one would you recommend?

Many thanks in advance for your time !

Regards,
Rohit

go to showrooms and start looking at tv's and listening to the systems that u think u want and also to systems that u find when u r there and do some more of this hunting and somewhere down the line u will know what u want and by this time u will have an idea what kind of budget u r looking at then come back here and start asking questions, u then would have enhanced ur budget quite a bit and probably got something of a compromise system between what u started off with and what u actually wanted ( thats what happened to me) or something like that............ all the best in ur hunt

 

[dr_rohit]

Well lets start from the usuage. As you have said that you want to watch movies of the USB, further for movie watching the bigger the screen the better the experience will be. To give you some concrete answers you may please share the following information.

How big the room in which you want to intall the TV ? What will the viewing distance like ? Any windows/light sources which may throw reflections on the screen ? Some idea like the content you will be watching e.g. 1080p rips/SD telecast/HD telecast for the most of the time.

As for the 5.1 seeing your budget I will suggest that you stretch it a little further and go for a HTIB from companies like onkyo, denon, yamaha. Well you can also buy some pre owned ones or go for some group buy.

@ dillihifi,

Many thanks for sparing the time to reply. I will answer your queries one by one.

1. How big the room in which you want to intall the TV ?
--------- The room is 21 by 12, but the viewing area is about 12 by 12.

2.What will the viewing distance like ?
---------- The viewing distance will be at least 9.5 feet.

3.Any windows/light sources which may throw reflections on the screen ?
----------- There are no windows directly facing the tv, but there are windows to the left and right.

4.Some idea like the content you will be watching?
------------ Tata Sky HD (Im a Cricket Freak), and Movies either in HD or SD as available.

Concerning the HT, yes I have stretched my budget a little Thinking of going in for Yamaha. Either an amp (RX V3067) and speaker package ( NS-P285)separately, or a HT package (YHT 292). Your suggestions on this ?

 

[dr_rohit]

go to showrooms and start looking at tv's and listening to the systems that u think u want and also to systems that u find when u r there and do some more of this hunting and somewhere down the line u will know what u want and by this time u will have an idea what kind of budget u r looking at then come back here and start asking questions, u then would have enhanced ur budget quite a bit and probably got something of a compromise system between what u started off with and what u actually wanted ( thats what happened to me) or something like that............ all the best in ur hunt

@ arunhc: Yes I have started doing that.. and already increased my budget for the HT !

Thanks...

 

[dillihifi]

Thanks for the answers dr_rohit

Well you have a viewing distance of around 10 ft and I would suggest that you go for a 5o/46 inch TV.

Do see a couple of TVs from the asthetic point of view. For the content viewing you have listed I would personally recommend a plasma (kindly take a look at the samsung 51d550 or 51d490) these would be value for money and give the best pictures for the sports and movies. You can also consider the LCD/LED Tvs but do go for a 46/47 inch one. As there are no windows directly facing the TV so a plasma would do great provided you do draw curtains across the windows.

If you are also not watching from blue rays you can also go for a HD ready plasma as there would not be much of a difference. Do take some demos of the TVs and see which one is right for you.

Further the HT part seems that you are on the right path but you surely meant the yamaha 367 and not the 3067 which is a lakh plus receiver

 

[dr_rohit]

@ dillihifi,

I would be more comfortable with a size of 40/42. More than that would exceed my budget. P51-D490 is within 70 but it isn't full HD. P51-D550 is almost 80,000. A plasma is an option yes, but just yesterday I was at an multi-brand shop and the LED picture looked significantly better than the plasma picture. I think Im more happy with the LED picture quality.

And more surprisingly, I found the Sony picture (40EX520) to be more pleasing than Samsung. The salesperson was telling me that Samsung has run this brilliant marketing campaign which has led everyone to believe that Samsung has overtaken Sony. However, that said, playing different formats off usb in Sony is a big headache as compared to Samsung. What is your take on a shootout between Sony KDL-40EX520 and the Samsung UA40D5900VR ?

And yes, my bad, i meant the Yamaha 367. Is it a good receiver? Do you think I should go for a combo of 367 and speakers (Yamaha NS-P285), or a HTIB package (Yamaha YHT 292)?

 

[dillihifi]

Well in brightly lit shops the LCDs/LEDs look better but in normal lighting conditions the Plasmas will outperform them. I read that a group buy for the plasma 51d550 was underway where the quoted price was 63k with a pair of 3d glasses thrown in.

LEDs are also quite good. You can go for any of the options you have shortlisted. I have no idea regarding the USB playback of the models mentioned but make sure they play some of the common formats and furthermore you can always convert between format a and format b.

I think the receiver with the package will be a good buy. I think sagarvikram in this forum has the same receiver, you can get some inputs from him. He has put up his speakers on sale so you can get some inputs.

Get the components and enjoy your home theater

 

[dr_rohit]

@dillihifi,

Thanks ! Will look into the group buy, and also try to contact sagarvikram.

Cheers!

 

[hunt]

@dr_rohit

I am looking for 40" inch led... was comparing Sony KDL-40EX520 with Samsung UA40D5900VR..

40EX520 - I found PQ better than samsung
web browser is present.. but basic.. no flash support

UA40D5900VR - PQ is gud... founf little blusih when comp to Sony.
- no web browser,
- more samsung apps...

did u get any comparison results...

 

[dr_rohit]

@hunt

I compared the SOny EX520 and the Samsung UA40D5000/5500/5900VR in at least 4 Multi brand shops.

I found the PQ of Sony EX520 series waaaaaay better than Samsung UA40D5000/5500/5900VR.

So much better that I think the only reason why people buy a Samsung is because:

a) It is cheaper

b) There is better format support.

I have decided to go in for either the 40EX520 or the 46EX520. I will also be buying a media player to negate the format disadvantage.

Regards,

Dr. Rohit

 

[cavallino]

Hello,

I am new to this forum and I find the answers here fascinatingly informative. I need help !

a) I want to buy a full HD TV that plays movies off USB. Budget is Rs. 70,000.My viewing distance is 9 feet. I am confused as to buy a plasma or a LED. As I understand, plasma has better contrast, refresh rate and viewing angle. Whereas LED has less power consumption and more shelf life.

My questions are:

1. Would you recommend a plasma or a LED?
2. If a plasma, then Panasonic/Samsung ?
3. If a led, one with a IPS LCD panel or without ?
4. If a led, then Samsung/Sony/Panasonic?

b)Next, I also want to buy a 5.1 DVD home theatre system. I looked up the Samsung-Sony systems but there are so many options. Budget is 10000-12000. I do not want a wireless system. Which one would you recommend?

Many thanks in advance for your time !

Regards,
Rohit

Here are my two paisas

I have recently bought a 42 inch and made the mistake of installing it in a room with 10 feet viewing distance - believe me after first few days you would find 42 small for 10 feet viewing distance. Unlike the old tvs you would be able to appreciate the lcd/plsma better at a closer range. Twice the size of the screen as viewing distance sounds about right to me (THX actually recommends 1.5 times the distance). Also 16:9 vs 4:3 means that effectively the 42 inch is not that big.

2. Plasma's are definitely brighter (if you go for plasma's Panasonic is a good bet

3. If you go for led do consider LG (I know LG!) they use the IPS (samsung does not state the kind of panel used!) and if you consider 3D, their passive technology vs active tech of panasonic/sony/samsung feels more comfortable to view.

 

[dr_rohit]

@Cavallino

Yeah, I am mostly going in for the 46 incher. Panasonic plasmas are unfortunately ruled out because the v20 range is not available now. And havent really checked out LG LEDs properly so far. And i am not too keen on 3D.

Im just in love with the Sony PQ !

Thanks a ton anyways

 

[cricfansd]

For viewing distance you can always use this tool
Viewing Distance Calculator

Do note that light output of plasma is significantly lower than LCD. So if your viewing room has lot of light during day time viewing then you will have more problem with plasma compared to LCD. The colours will look washed out and contrast will be worse. Also do not buy LCD with glossy screen if you have the light problem.

IPS panels are better suited to make small displays IMO. Forget about the whole Apple non-sense as they wanted to make a tablet with good viewing angle as you will be tilting more for a handheld. In my old TV (circa 2005) the viewing angle is decent even with older PVA displays from Sharp. The problem with IPS displays are the poor contrast compared to the MVA/PVA displays which is a deal breaker for me compared to viewing angle as I don't watch TV from arbitrary positions. MVA and PVA panels are made by Samsung and Sharp fabs. Sony uses Samsung panels. IMO Samsung panels are probably best of the kind.

 

[dr_rohit]

@cricfansd

Yes my room has a LOT of light during the day time so I guess I should be relieved that im not going in for a plasma.

I did not find the light reflection to be big issue with the SONY LEds although the area behind me in the showroom had lots of lights.

Thanks for the viewing distance calculator tool !

Regards,

Dr. Rohit

 

[cavallino]

@Cavallino

Yeah, I am mostly going in for the 46 incher. Panasonic plasmas are unfortunately ruled out because the v20 range is not available now. And havent really checked out LG LEDs properly so far. And i am not too keen on 3D.

Im just in love with the Sony PQ !

Thanks a ton anyways

I get your point. I started with the same notion, didn't want the 3D, but ended up buying it because, as you might have noticed, the TV companies ensure that the latest tech is only in their more expensive models. With LEDs there is still some issue of black levels and contrast ratios. So one ends up looking at 3D models not because one wants 3D but because one wants good PQ and things like ARC, playability of all formats from USB etc. So my suggestion is that at this stage don't narrow your options.

 

[dr_rohit]

@Cavallino

I get your point too, but then a 3D tv with all the high end features will overshoot most budgets !

Certainly mine