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colinB
11-01-2011, 14:53
Went to buy a Sony32"ex403 from richer last night , sale price £300 but , as usual RC are sold out " but we have the LG one sir" spiel. Er, no thanks.
RC are on my doorstep and to get the sony at the same price i have to do south of the river to Best Buy and struggle home on the train with the thing.
I also have a Argos on my street and they have the 100hz 503 model for £100, money i dont really want to spend but, with new models on the way and VAT i dont want to hang around.

The question on my mind is is it worth spending the extra £100 for the faster rate if i dont watch sport, or is it more complicated than that?
I saw no difference comparing the two in store but that was watching wild life on one, not the best example of fast motion tv.

Stratmangler
11-01-2011, 15:03
Did you see a Cheetah running down its prey on the wildlife programme, or was it more sedate ?
Do you like and watch action movies ?

I personally would err towards the higher hertz, but the difference between 50 and 100 Hz is not all that great.

Ultimately the best thing to do is take DVD or BlueRay discs with you and be very critical of what you see.

Reid Malenfant
11-01-2011, 15:34
I'd go along with what Chris says ;) What you often tend to find is that TVs with higher refresh rates have faster LCD panels, if they didn't you'd get the same kind of smearing as seen on a 50Hz panel when a camera pans or something moves accross the frame quickly on the 100Hz setting.

You aren't so much paying for the bit of extra processing as a better spec of panel at the end of the day.

colinB
11-01-2011, 15:45
Thanks guys. I dont watch action movies really but i think i see what you are saying. I have to decide if im happy paying more for a slightly better tv.

The Vinyl Adventure
11-01-2011, 16:35
get them to show you scrolling credits ... that will show you the difference

id buy the 503 ... i think i have said that before though :)

colinB
11-01-2011, 17:15
Cheers Hamish. You have said that before, im just being a cheap skate. Its the scotsman in me. :rolleyes:

The Vinyl Adventure
11-01-2011, 17:34
26 years of not knowing there was a bit of scot in me allowed me to crush those tight fisted scrounging scot tenancies ... now a year and I bit later I am still crap with my money ... and now I can take the piss out of the Scottish legitimately ... its win win for me really ... well ... that is until I spend all my cash I suppose?!

MartinT
11-01-2011, 17:42
If they were CRT sets you'd really see the flicker of the 50Hz set compared with the 100Hz one, but LCDs don't really refresh a scanning beam so the refresh means how often the frame buffer is updated, a slightly different thing.

If you don't see the difference then there's no need for 100Hz as even 50Hz LCDs have a pretty stable picture compared with CRT.

colinB
11-01-2011, 17:44
Surely there was a clue in your christian name :)

Reid Malenfant
11-01-2011, 18:36
If they were CRT sets you'd really see the flicker of the 50Hz set compared with the 100Hz one, but LCDs don't really refresh a scanning beam so the refresh means how often the frame buffer is updated, a slightly different thing.
Phosphor persistence is the problem with CRTs, similar to fluorescent tubes which might explain why they tend to have gone high frequency.

The Vinyl Adventure
11-01-2011, 20:30
Surely there was a clue in your christian name :)



Prior to meeting her idea I could have a half scottish mother didnt even cross my mind ... Even though in hind sight it seems a pretty logical conclusion to come to .... Perhaps I was just in denial ;)

Jac Hawk
11-01-2011, 21:23
My advice for what it's worth is go to a shop where you can see both running, i know it's not your home and they may look different at home, but at least you are getting a side by side comparison under the same lighting conditions.

colinB
11-01-2011, 21:40
Is 100hz also better for console games?

Reid Malenfant
11-01-2011, 21:43
Is 100hz also better for console games?
It could help, yes. Games tend to be fast so anything that refreshes the screen more will result in less jumpiness or smearing on the screen.

E2A:- Like Hamish mentioned earlier, get a look at credits scrolling from bottom to top. You'll soon see a difference ;)

pwood
18-01-2011, 13:22
What did you buy then? FWIW my Panasonic G10 has 600htz which when turned on and off makes little if any difference. LCD's are different as the response rate is far lower than plasma. the trouble with extra processing is it can add artifacts all of its own. LG btw are not a make to ignore. Their LCD screen have very natural colour paletts and have in most cases ISF mode etc to set the picture up. Sonys seem to be hit or miss with backlight bleed which is far more significant and only now seem to have it sorted but those models are not in the reduced much in price.

To check for smear watch peoples heads in any program as when they turn its pretty fast and you may be able to notice smear there. In a shop they tend to have all the toys turned on which in some cases makes matters worse.

colinB
18-01-2011, 14:19
Funnily enough, im of to the Sony centre on tottenham crt road tonight.
They had the ex models on display and some very good discounts.
Sometimes i could see a difference with the 100hz set ( watching the horse racing and the grass looked less blurry) but watching star wars on terrestial it was hard to tell.
I know some of the sonys have issues but i think the new non led EX basic range is ok .
The panasonics and the Samsung 6 series looked great but not in my budget.

colinB
18-01-2011, 14:27
Actually smearing doesntannoy me as much as judder ! Oh and poor blacks.
My 5 year old Philips lcd has no obvious motion issues i can tell of but during night scenes i cant see a thing.
I saw a LG model in the window of Richer Sounds and thought it had real impact ( might have been LED) but judging by reviews they have hits and misses.

pwood
18-01-2011, 14:39
Funnily enough, im of to the Sony centre on tottenham crt road tonight.
They had the ex models on display and some very good discounts.
Sometimes i could see a difference with the 100hz set ( watching the horse racing and the grass looked less blurry) but watching star wars on terrestial it was hard to tell.
I know some of the sonys have issues but i think the new non led EX basic range is ok .
The panasonics and the Samsung 6 series looked great but not in my budget.

Cant say I have seen a Samsung LCD that looks all that anyway. Bear in mind a lot of LCD's especially from the big manufacturers are now being shipped with built in Freeview HD tuners so they dont want left with a stockpile when its launched country wide (london gets it already I believe). Not a major issue as a hard disk set top box can be added which is more practical anyway.

LED is backlighting is a good feature as long as its rear backlit LED. Most tend to be side lit to make the tv thinnner which when its flat against a wall make little difference in reality and brings its own set of issues.

When you get to the Sony centre make sure the sets are all set to the same settings usually standard mode not dynamic and turn off all processing initially. Use a mixture of freeview and Blueray as the cheaper sets will not have as good a scaler for upscaling the freeview signal so check you are happy with the freeview picture. BBC parliament channel is pretty consistent and doesn't jump about much so is good for a side by side in a shop.

Have fun

Paul

colinB
18-01-2011, 15:33
Just saw a LG 37LD 490, £400 in richers widow. £400 for a 37" hd tuner:eek:
Dont know if it has all the play it again widgets which is important to me.
I can see iplayer which is good.

pwood
19-01-2011, 16:49
whatever you choose go large:) the screen shrinks I tell you it shrinks.

black level is why I went for a Panny. richer have 42inch for around £400.

Reid Malenfant
19-01-2011, 16:51
whatever you choose go large:) the screen shrinks I tell you it shrinks.
You think you have it bad :doh: It looks like someone sat on the top of mine & squashed it :eyebrows:

Reid Malenfant
19-01-2011, 19:10
You think you have it bad :doh: It looks like someone sat on the top of mine & squashed it :eyebrows:
Talking of which i just checked out the specs of the new 58" 3D version of my TV 3480

Response time down from 1mS to 500uS & now they have gone 400Hz (not needed). But the best bit is it's LED backlit, with 1000 LEDs & variable control over all areas for contrast :cool: Stuff the 3D thing :ner:

If this TV packs up inside of the next 4 years it'll get a helping hand to be terminal :donk: :whistle:

colinB
19-01-2011, 19:25
Just been down to the sony centre and the stocks were low. Had the choice of 37" 50hz or 32" 100hz, couldnt afford anything else. I chose the sony shop because i prefer the staff there to any of the other stores.

I heard the wise voice of the AOS team in my head ( along with the usual voices of course) and went for the technology, sacrificing a few inches. My old screen was a 26" any way so i think im still going to enjoy my new toy.
Thanks for all your help :)

Reid Malenfant
19-01-2011, 19:32
Have fun Colin :)