Request for help with TV purchase decision

[anshulkwatra]

Friends and Guides,

Need your help with my purchase decision for a television.

I am aware that there have been several discussions on television purchase. However, seeking guidance from a confusion perspective.

Requirements:
1. Viewers - Children > 16 Hrs, Wife 10 - 16 hrs per week and myself ~ 4 - 6 hrs per week (in that order; however ignoring children's need in this)

2. Type of viewing - Star World HD (~ 6 Hrs); general watching, one movie

Existing infra in place:
1. Tata sky HD
2. ~ 750 GB of movies including couple of movies / tv series in HD (filetype: *.avi, *.divx, *.mkv)
3. Iomega Iconnect with two hard disks connected

Room setup:
1. Wall to wall distance - 14ft
2. Possible distance from eye to tv - 12ft
3. Lets name the walls L1, B1, L2 and B2. TV is to be placed on center of B1 wall. There are doors at junction of walls L1 & B1 and L2 & B1
4. Bed headrest is touching wall B2


Budget:
Least
However, would not want to spend more than 6700 pm or 80K MAX


Pre-work:
We went out on Sun to look around for options. I carried with myself a set of sample videos - Hobbit (HD - MKV format), Bourne Identity (HD - MP4 format), Samsung sample video (HD - AVHCD format)

We looked at the following products/brands at different showrooms

1. Sony - 40EX650 - 59K at Jumbo VK. Checked at others but this is the best price (Reliance Digital, MG Ezone)
Great video and audio. Did not play Hobbit

2. Sony - 42W650A - 62K at Jumbo VK. Checked at others but this is the best price (Reliance Digital, MG Ezone)
Video better than 40EX650, much smoother. Did not play hobbit

3. Panasonic - 50" plasma with 3d - 50K at Jumbo VK (display piece was probably TH-P50GT50D)
Great video, great blacks. however the bourne identity was too dark for ease of viewing (showroom lights were on). AVHCD and Hobbit did not play

4. Samsung - 40F5500 - 60K at MG Ezone at Yusuf Sarai. Checked at others Jumbo's price was better, but dont remember it (Reliance Digital, Jumbo)
Similar to Sony 40Ex650. not much difference

5. Toshiba - 40PU200 - 42K at MG Ezone at Yusuf Sarai
Sound was great. Hobbit not played. Very dark. As dark as Panasonic plasma.


For all tvs we played our own video on a thumb drive with a similar TV setting (contrast, brightness etc). Did try and change the setting for a better picture (if possible).


For all these checked, none them needed additional speakers (at least for the videos we had)

Please advise:

1. Brand, size, type etc
2. shop from where we could get a better price/service. We felt Jumbo was by far the best

Thanks in advance
Anshul

 

[devilwearsprada]

I would suggest you to also check sony's new panels(W-Series) although they aren't that good as last year's(Correct me if I am wrong). Also, do check vijay sales for TV's. Here in Gurgaon VS gives the best price and major discounts. And I am a well treated customer myself. Also, look for Sharp Aqueos - They make great panels!
All the Best for your search!

 

[anshulkwatra]

Thanks @devilwearsprada for sharing that bit. Will definitely give Vijay Sales at Lajpat Ngr a visit and check

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

Samsung F5500 in 40" or 46" are good displays. Try bargaining for 46". If you can spend few thousands more then demo the F6100. I saw these recently at Croma and was pretty impressed.

 

[anshulkwatra]

Thanks @shaiju_o_thomas. Will check. 46" size is very inviting. Seemed to give that wow feel. Will check.

 

[just4kix]

If you simply rename .mkv to .avi, the files will play.

 

[anshulkwatra]

Thanks @just4kix. I remember reading posts on conversions and workarounds for MKV. Will do that once I can get the TV home. Today, need your and other guru's help in finding a the right tv.

Thanks in advance.

 

[anshulkwatra]

Re: Request for help with TV purchase decision - bought 50UT50D

Thanks everybody on the forum for the guidance in getting to the decision.

We finally bought a Panasonic 50UT50D plasma. Reasons for choice - PQ, SQ and meeting the basic criteria - budget, Full HD, DLNA

We bought it last week (Sat) from Jumbo VK. We got it delivered and installed yesterday.

For the premiere on the TV, watched sample of 3D videos given by the store, sample of Bourne Ultimatum (HD), Harry Potter (HD) and Hercule Piorot Ep 1.

Checked the PCT hours on arrival, showed 00:00:16 and number of times as 0

Please advise on the setting, taking care etc etc.

Thanks everybody for the help in decision making.

Anshul

 

[gurujee]

Congrats. How much U paid. Post some pics. How is SD pic quality and brightness. Congrats again. Enjoy.

 

[shanmune]

Re: Request for help with TV purchase decision - bought 50UT50D

Thanks everybody on the forum for the guidance in getting to the decision.

We finally bought a Panasonic 50UT50D plasma. Reasons for choice - PQ, SQ and meeting the basic criteria - budget, Full HD, DLNA

We bought it last week (Sat) from Jumbo VK. We got it delivered and installed yesterday.

For the premiere on the TV, watched sample of 3D videos given by the store, sample of Bourne Ultimatum (HD), Harry Potter (HD) and Hercule Piorot Ep 1.

Checked the PCT hours on arrival, showed 00:00:16 and number of times as 0

Please advise on the setting, taking care etc etc.

Thanks everybody for the help in decision making.

Anshul

Congrats on your new purchase. You got the best TV for the budget and it can perform almost close to the top flagship models. Though you need to take few precautions, you won't complain as UT50 can produce excellent PQ. Here is a very good link where are few discussions/posts related to taking care of plasma for the initial 200 hours (though the below link talks about ST50, it is more or less applicable for UT50 or for any plasma for the matter).
http://www.hifivision.com/televisio...d-first-impressions-reviews-tweaks-etc-9.html

While you can go through the above thread for more details, let me put setting details short and crisp.

Contrast (MIN:0 MAX:100): set it to 35 to 40
Brightness (MIN:-50 MAX:50): set it to 0
Sharpness: (MIN:-50 MAX:50): set it to 0
Colour: (MIN:0 MAX:100): set it to 40
Colour mode: Normal or Warm
Picture mode: Normal (Strictly no to "Dynamic" mode)

 

[anshulkwatra]

Thanks Everybody

@gurujee - thanks for the synopsis. Would definitely read through the posts. The guy (from Panasonic) had put the contrast at 80, reduced to 50. Will reduce it further.

@gurujee - the IPTV is not working last two days so don't know how the TV channels are looking. Have been playing movies over the network. Watched some DVD and cam print movies. Not a huge issue with pixilation. Don't see much of it. Wife wanted us to experience our wedding once again (watched the shaadi videos), colours were natural and loved the large size.

Definitely watching content at 720 or better is the killer experience.

Thanks

 

[sandesh1978]

Congrats and have a joyful tv watching experience.... Cheers...

 

[vij]

Didnt think ut50 is still in stock with dealers. Good buy...

 

[just4kix]

Re: Request for help with TV purchase decision - bought 50UT50D

Thanks everybody on the forum for the guidance in getting to the decision.

We finally bought a Panasonic 50UT50D plasma. Reasons for choice - PQ, SQ and meeting the basic criteria - budget, Full HD, DLNA

We bought it last week (Sat) from Jumbo VK. We got it delivered and installed yesterday.

For the premiere on the TV, watched sample of 3D videos given by the store, sample of Bourne Ultimatum (HD), Harry Potter (HD) and Hercule Piorot Ep 1.

Checked the PCT hours on arrival, showed 00:00:16 and number of times as 0

Please advise on the setting, taking care etc etc.

Thanks everybody for the help in decision making.

Anshul

Congrats on your purchase. Be careful in the period of first 200 hours.

 

[prosenjit]

congrats....
enjoy the true cinema mode...this is a fantastic mode in low light ambient..enjoyable and zero stress to eyes

 

[aakashr]

congrats..............perfect choice!!!

was actually going to comment having a look at your earlier list.............all are entry level LEDs and then in the same list you have the top end Panasonic GT50 which will blow all these entry level LEDs. But even the UT50 is a cut above the rest!!!

 

[just4kix]

Re: Request for help with TV purchase decision - bought 50UT50D

Thanks everybody on the forum for the guidance in getting to the decision.

We finally bought a Panasonic 50UT50D plasma. Reasons for choice - PQ, SQ and meeting the basic criteria - budget, Full HD, DLNA

We bought it last week (Sat) from Jumbo VK. We got it delivered and installed yesterday.

For the premiere on the TV, watched sample of 3D videos given by the store, sample of Bourne Ultimatum (HD), Harry Potter (HD) and Hercule Piorot Ep 1.

Checked the PCT hours on arrival, showed 00:00:16 and number of times as 0

Please advise on the setting, taking care etc etc.

Thanks everybody for the help in decision making.

Anshul

Follow shanmune's suggestions for various settings. EXPERIMENT for the best settings that pleases you. In the first 200 hours, keep contrast below 35 and brightness at -4/-5. Watch all channels in zoom mode - basically pushing all logos out of the screen.

Read this thread: Prevent Image Retention and Burn-in

 

[anshulkwatra]

Dear All,

Please find some snaps (not great), I need to take some nice photographs with a normal camera. Also needs to take snaps with SD and HD video.

 

[anshulkwatra]

Uploading the pics with HD and SD video

 

[upender.yadav]

I wanted to buy a LED tv, iam confused which one i should buy? I have selected Toshiba 23PU200 LED 23" Full HD Television and Panasonic TH-L24X5D LED 24 inches Full HD Television. Please suggest the best option from these two?