[fine69]

Originally Posted by dkaile

Since you are in Delhi, just go down to Gaffar Market. And invest in the biggest TV you can afford according to your budget. Go for a good brand like Samsung or Sony. Since they are all original but without warranty, hence at almost half the price from the showrooms, invest in a good quality UPS (like a double battery one from Microtek) and you should be good to go.

How does it really work? Originals but without warranty and how does one figure whether its really original.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by fine69

How does it really work? Originals but without warranty and how does one figure whether its really original.

It's not that these are without warranty; they do have warranty but valid in the country of sale (eg. Singapore, Thailand, Dubai etc...). The warranty is not valid in India. There is usually a small difference in the model nomenclature, example 800A instead of 800 in India.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

It's not that these are without warranty; they do have warranty but valid in the country of sale (eg. Singapore, Thailand, Dubai etc...). The warranty is not valid in India. There is usually a small difference in the model nomenclature, example 800A instead of 800 in India.

Hmm, but no way of figuring out whether what we're being sold is a cheap chinese replica or an original?

I've parked the purchase of a 55" LED and was thinking of getting a cheaper 50" like Vu (available for 38k) or something but if 35-40k gets me a genuine Sony/Samsung/LG/Panasonic then why not, genuine being the deal here.

[AYP]

Originally Posted by fine69

Hmm, but no way of figuring out whether what we're being sold is a cheap chinese replica or an original?

I've parked the purchase of a 55" LED and was thinking of getting a cheaper 50" like Vu (available for 38k) or something but if 35-40k gets me a genuine Sony/Samsung/LG/Panasonic then why not, genuine being the deal here.

you might want to consider this Philips model-

http://www.amazon.in/Philips-48PFL49...0560303&sr=1-1

Philips may be a tad below the 'Big Four' but it still a much better bet than the other brands.

If you feel like spending a bit more, then this model looks good-

http://www.snapdeal.com/product/pana...rumbLabelId:64

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by fine69

Hmm, but no way of figuring out whether what we're being sold is a cheap chinese replica or an original?
...

Frankly, I've never heard of cheap replica name brand TVs! These are the genuine article with the only caveat being their warranty is not valid in India.

[magikrider]

Hello Bhpians,

Posting this thread after ages on Team-bhp! So I am in the market to buy 4 LED TVs. 55", 49/50", 40/42/43" and a 28". Have seen Sony and Panasonic mostly. Not interested in Samsung or LG as such. been impressed by the panasonic IPS LED panels more as their colors are more natural and deeper comparatively I think. was a Sony fan untill I heard about Panasonic from technical people and then noticed how they actually look better. have heard too many horror stories about samsung from friends and also about the lottery system for their panels and kinda lost faith and interest in the brand for TVs at least. not sure about LG and haven't looked much into it though I know that LG and Panasonic are the only 2 companies which make their own IPS panels and all their top models have them. I have also decided to not to go for 4K TVs as currently its a waste of money as no 4K content is available yet and don't think will be readily available for few more years. So need FHD Tvs.

So after checking a few showrooms like Vijay sales, Panasonic outlet, Sony outlet etc and doing a lot of research, I have narrowed down on a few models. for the 55", which will be kept in the drawing room, I have narrowed down on the Sony KDL-55W800C. No good model is available in Panasonic in the 55" range. the ones available are non IPS ones and doesn't look as good as the IPS panels. also the Sony 55W800D, which is the latest one is a bit more expensive but theres no difference at all between that and the 55W800C.

Now for the 49/50", am confused between the Sony KDL-50W800C or D OR the Panasonic TH-49CS580D. The Panasonic one has IPS LED Panel and looks pretty good but it has only 100 Hz frame rate or something where as Sony has Motionflow XR 800. So will this make any difference? also Panasonic has launched a new model, TH-49DS630D but its not yet available anywhere but shown on the company website. on inquiring was told that since the company has just launched it, can take couple of months to come to the showroom! this new model has a motion rate of 400 Hz too.

The Panasonic dealer told me that the Hz doesn't make any real world difference as our content are max 70-80 Hz. dunno how far this is true. he also suggested to go for a non-smart TV rather and install a chrome cast on it as the smart tvs gets slow in a year or so as the cache memory gets full as we use web on it. so he advised me to go for TH-50C410D instead. So does anyone have any experience of a smart TV slowing down after using it for sometime?

Now for the 40/42/43" one I am thinking between Panasonic TH-43D350DX (non smart), TH-42CS510D (smart) and the Sony KDL-43W800D or C or the Sony KDL-40W700C (40").

and finally for the 28" theres only one model each in Sony (KLV-28R412B) and Panasonic (TH-28C400DX).

So as you might have guessed, am leaning more towards the Panasonic for the 49", 43" and the 28" models and have almost narrowed down Sony for the 55" model. So which of these are better and why? and also how is IPS LED display superior compared to the VA Panels, which are put in Sony LCD-LED Tvs? also have learnt that all the TVs by all the above mentioned companies are LCD-LED TVs and none are 100% LED yet. OLED is a different category and not even considering that as doesn't seem worth and haven't even checked any.

Please help!

P.S. : will be going for Sony from the grey market, which will be without bill and warranty, as there is a lot of price difference and for Panasonic from the showroom with bill and warranty as they aren't available in Grey. but since panasonic is reasonably priced, the cost of sony from grey and panasonic from showroom comes to almost same.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by magikrider

Please help!

Ok, let me start by saying that picture quality, contrast, brightness etc are perception, it varies from person to person. The industry standard however, is in production of realistic hues, skin tones, etc without over-saturation and unnecessary compensation. This is not to say that individual perception is wrong and industry standard is right, it just means that the industry standard would be closest to real-world vision, i.e what you see live around your surroundings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLCZsJdfSHs

Sony caters to industry-standard, that's why they didn't venture into OLED (despite inventing it) which gives out too much contrast as a default. They instead went into making semiconductor based crystal-LED 4K t.v's which were far more densely packed than standard OLED and which could result in each LED pixel throwing out RGB light individually when required also shut off completely when necessary to give blacks as dark and natural as possible (without blue tint). It also has a longer life than the OLED.

Now the speed part, higher refresh rates and smoother motion looks good when sports are being played, albeit only very slightly. Sometimes higher speed and smooth motion makes the normal television shows look very artificial, almost like someone has set the video on 10% fast forward and I simply hate that (personal view again). It depends on the content provider though and for now the normal 100hz will do perfectly. I personally do not look into stuff like motion blur, speed etc.

As far as IPS-LCD and TFT-LCD goes, yes I have to admit that IPS as a technology is superior to TFT in terms of mainly viewing angles and blacks. The simple difference is that IPS uses twice as many transistors as TFT, the transistors enable better arrangement of the screen, TFT has an "angular-retardation" effect simply because of how light dissipates (very very fine mechanics at play here and the difference is not more than 10%). However, one thing about IPS is that due to the higher amount of transistors, light is blocked out from the LED source and needs a greater intensity of light to produce the same output as that from TFT, thus it consumes power to the tune of 20% more for same light discharge visually. A Sony TFT-LCD with LED backlight when tuned thoroughly (optimising black correction, contrast correction, Live Color, white balance, backlight level, brightness level, contrast level and many more) will bring down the difference significantly. Any television needs tuning, more so the Sony, when I got mine I hated the PQ but spent an hour setting it up (switch off light-sensor immediately when you get yours, it only focusses on reducing backlight for low power consumption and cannot predict what works for each individual's eyes).

As for recommendations, its complex and boils down to personal preferences. I cant give out generic suggestions knowing what I know, so here's how it stacks up :
-Best panel > Sharp with its RGB+Y stack (unbeatable)
-Best industry standard color gamut software > BRAVIA Engine 3
-Relatively future-proof refresh rate/speed > 200hz
-Future proof resolution > 4K without a doubt, 1080p will be extinct in 2 years.
-All other brands > Good or great in their own way but not leaders in innovation or quality by any stretch of imagination

Technology has a way of suddenly going extinct, when Blu-ray was coming out people including I, thought that 1080p is overkill, suddenly its inside 5 inch phones and I can make out the superiority of full-HD displays even within 5 inches. The problem is that LED/LCD's have never come close to the smooth PQ of older CRT systems of 21 inch Sony's of yore. For 40+ inches 4k will be the standard default in under 2 years as far as I see it. I've seen YouTube 4k videos on my 42 inch 4K Sony and after that 1080p looks terrible.

Having read all of the above, you can make a choice on what works best for your eyes and go for it irrespective of brand. Do note that stores tune their televisions rather poorly, or even intentionally so that better optimised television sets with fatter profit margins are sold.

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by fine69

Hmm, but no way of figuring out whether what we're being sold is a cheap chinese replica or an original?

I have yet to see a cheap replica LED TV being sold in Gaffar though I cannot say the same about other electronic items. All of these are in original packs and imported through couriers or in container loads with some circumvention of rules. I have been using them for ages now without issues. And it's especially appealing once you get hooked to the nearly half price from the authorised showrooms. Also it's very easy to detect a fake led tv, at least, with the fit and finish.

Cheers...

[Mr M R K]

Originally Posted by magikrider

Hello Bhpians,


The Panasonic dealer told me that the Hz doesn't make any real world difference as our content are max 70-80 Hz. dunno how far this is true. he also suggested to go for a non-smart TV rather and install a chrome cast on it as the smart tvs gets slow in a year or so as the cache memory gets full as we use web on it. so he advised me to go for TH-50C410D instead. So does anyone have any experience of a smart TV slowing down after using it for sometime?

When I was in the market searching for a 55", one of the dealer showed me a simple way to differentiate between various motion blur / refresh rate numbers.

Play a blu-ray via HDMI and skip to end of the movie where only credits are displayed via text rolling upwards. You'll immediately be able to see the difference between a 100 Hz and say 400 Hz. In a lower refresh rate, the text would appear blurry / sluggish, whereas in a higher refresh rate you'll see the text rolling up in a crisp motion.
I picked the TV with 400 Hz refresh rate, but it was also due to the fact that it was Smart 3D with price difference of equivalent 15k INR.

Please do go for smart TV, it's so much hassle free to have youtube / screen-share etc built in, rather than attaching more devices and blocking HDMI / USB ports, but that's a personal preference.

PS: I have a LG 55" Smart 3D TV, have been using for approx 15 months with no issues whatsoever. In fact the user interface only improved with software update some 6 months ago. (This is in UK, but I have seen similar models available in India with a minor difference in nomenclature)

[fine69]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

-Future proof resolution > 4K without a doubt, 1080p will be extinct in 2 years.

If wishes were horses....

1080p would still be seen until another 5 years, at minimum. Please note that most of the TV watching population doesn't have access to 4k content. They only watch what's decided by the service provider. Do we even have all channels in Full-HD yet? About 6 months back my national daily said that less than 10% people have subscribed to HD channels.

Now coming to that population that does access 4k content over internet, well, its only very few cities which have affordable broadband that can stream 4k content. There's neither significant demand nor supply of 4k content, if we talk about numbers that matter.

[avimal]

Another angle - to enjoy 4k content, one needs to upsize the tv by 2 for same viewing distance. E.g Full hd tv of 50 inch can be replaced by 60 inch of 4k tv. All these big size 4k tvs are very costly at the moment. It is wiser to wait for few years when price will be lesser and 4k content will be more easily available. Of course it is not an issue for rich men.

[magikrider]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Ok, let me start by saying that picture quality, contrast, brightness etc are perception, it varies from person to person. The industry standard however, is in production of realistic hues, skin tones, etc without over-saturation and unnecessary compensation. This is not to say that individual perception is wrong and industry standard is right, it just means that the industry standard would be closest to real-world vision, i.e what you see live around your surroundings.
.
.
.
PS: I have a LG 55" Smart 3D TV, have been using for approx 15 months with no issues whatsoever. In fact the user interface only improved with software update some 6 months ago. (This is in UK, but I have seen similar models available in India with a minor difference in nomenclature)

Originally Posted by fine69

If wishes were horses....

1080p would still be seen until another 5 years, at minimum. Please note that most of the TV watching population doesn't have access to 4k content. They only watch what's decided by the service provider. Do we even have all channels in Full-HD yet? About 6 months back my national daily said that less than 10% people have subscribed to HD channels.

Now coming to that population that does access 4k content over internet, well, its only very few cities which have affordable broadband that can stream 4k content. There's neither significant demand nor supply of 4k content, if we talk about numbers that matter.

Thanks a lot for your inputs guys…

I need to once again check both Sony and Panasonic I guess before finalizing. Today was waiting for a meeting at New Bombay and had sometime to kill so saw a Reliance Digital outlet in front and stepped in for few minutes and saw some Discovery HD channel being played on a Sony 50w800d and Panasonic 50c410d (IPS LED Panel) along with Samsung and LG around. The difference was evident. Sony had the least impressive picture with blacks almost looking like blue and Panasonic looked better comparatively. even the Samsung and LG units looked better. Don't know if the settings on the Sony were messed up or something.

But since the Panasonic one is available with only 100Hz frame rate, am kinda thinking about Sony again now. will also try the Image and Video test shown on Sony website on them before finalizing. thanks Dark knight. but I think the PQ in Sony after some playing around can be set to a decent level which can be pleasurable to look at. just needs lot of fine tuning. Tomorrow being a holiday, will try and check at some showroom again.

[ottocycle]

100Hz BMR of Panasonic corresponds to 50Hz panel refresh rate. 800Hz Motion flow of sony corresponds to 100Hz panel refresh rate. Here is the link that has converted true refresh rate corresponding to different fake refresh rate mentioned by tv brands. http://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/fake-...s-lg-trumotion

I am also in the market for 50" full hd tv. And have found that newer panasonic models are not yet launched. I am trying to delay my purchase a little as I want a 100Hz panel.

Between Sony VA panel and Panasonic IPS panel, you should make this decision based on viewing angles. Here is a good link http://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/livin.../viewing-angle

Basically, if tv is going to be viewed mostly directly from the front (probably in a room, or placed on the smaller wall of the rectangular hall) then VA panels will make more sense, because their picture quality will be better than IPS when viewed directly from the front. But if TV is going to be viewed from sides as well (if placed on bigger wall of the rectangular hall), IPS will retain the colors more, VA will look washed out.

Until/unless you opt for OLED, you have to always compromise between viewing angle vs picture quality in current day's LEDs.

[Fillmore]

There are some Calibration wizards that you can buy.
These have step by step instructions with videos to set your contrast, brightness, color, sharpness etc..

Each setting comes with an accompanied video and they tell you which setting on the TV to fiddle around with until you optimally set that level.
Eg: by default you might see only 2 shads of black on the TV in a given scene, but post calibration you will see all the shades of black that was intended to.

Really you can pickup any good brand and re-calibrate it with a little bit of patience.
Note: This is only for the calibration.
However when it comes to refresh rate, there it really matters what the TV comes with.

[Turbanator]

So as you might have guessed, am leaning more towards the Panasonic for the 49", 43" and the 28" models and have almost narrowed down Sony for the 55" model.

check Panasonic models - I must have bought more than 10 in past decade , nothing beats the colour accuracy and sharpness of Panasonic and these are very reliable most of the time these will have a free 3rd Year warranty

http://www.panasonic.com/in/consumer...-60cx700d.html
if on less budget

http://www.panasonic.com/in/consumer...-50as670d.html