Looking For A HDTV For Gaming.

DY357LX

<div class="IPBDescription">Any Recommendations?</div>Been playing on my PS3 and Xbox 360 a lot recently and starting to notice the difference between my old 28" SDTV and my friends 42" Viera HDTV.
(Especially text! Surprisingly blurry/small in some titles.)

So I'm looking for a full 1080p HDTV with the following:
At least 1 SCART + 2 HDMI ports. (Wii on SCART, PS3 + 360 on HDMI's)
60hz or greater (quite a few 360 titles require 50hz to run)
At least 30 inches.
Contrast Ratio suitable for gaming. (5:000 or higher? I'm unsure on a decent ratio.)
Preferably from a trust-worthy (UK) seller such as Amazon.

That's about it.

I was considering <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003EEM1M4/sr=1-1/qid=1285015343/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1285015343&sr=1-1&seller=" target="_blank">this.</a> But the 50hz in the title puts me off.

Any site/set suggestions?

Thanks.

puzl

You need to spend a fair bit of time poking around avforums. Whatever you decide you will be stuck with for 4-7 years so take your time. I would personally not consider going for anything 1080p less than 37".

I went through this a couple of years ago and came to the conclusion that you can't go far wrong with either Samsung or Sony (though things may have changed since then). My advice would be to look at the top of the range from these manufactures from about 18 months ago as they will have new models coming for the holidays and you're bound to find a bargain.


But avforums is an amazing resource for the info you are looking for. You'll find a topic for each model with lots of discussion by people who have exactly the requirements you have listed.

Kouji_San

I've seen some Philips HDTV's that whip butt as well, Kristal clear I mean

DY357LX

Cool, thanks for the tips.

At the moment I'm browsing avforums and Amazon.co.uk. Am surprised at some of the "Used" items and their prices.

There's some serious money to be saved if you don't mind an ex-display model or one with a "tatty box".
("That's what she said" joke here.)

My main problem is finding out weather the tv's are 60hz or higher in the spec's. Other than that, I'm enjoying the pursuit.

lolfighter

What's a tatty box?

spellman23

*redacted, ir noob*

Nossah

I bought myself a Samsung LE37A656 about 1.5 years ago. It was out for about half a year at that time. I payed a little under 700 euro's for it back then but i didn't pay VAT due to a special discount. She still serves me very faithfully these days and i use it for all manner of things such as gaming with my PS3 and media streaming. I also have the second computer for my render farm hooked up to it since i use a dual screen setup for my main PC and i couldn't be bothered to buy another screen for a computer that's just gonna sit there rendering frames. I've also had my main PC hooked up to it for a bit to "experiment" and it had no trouble keeping up with some rather frantic gaming including some fast paced fps. Picture is also sharper than the Sony my father has which is of about the same age. It is a tad larger though at 40".

I have nothing but praise for this particular Samsung model and i hear the 40" (LE40A656) is just as good. One point of critique i need to make though is that the built-in speakers suck ass, but well, most built in speakers for these kinds of TV's do. Hook up a nice set of speakers and a sub and i assure you it will serve you well.

Can probably pick it up for cheap with the coming holidays too.

EDIT: it's also a 100hz TV.

monopolowa

If you can wait a bit, see what kind of deals pop up on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving here in the US, official start of the holiday shopping season). I got a Sharp LC-46SB57UN last fall from www.newegg.com for about $700 (around half price) and I absolutely love it. (46", 120 Hz, tons of inputs, etc.)

As mentioned above, you should use external speakers if possible with most of these tvs

sherpa

I went for a Samsung that runs at 780p- I figured that as there's so few games that run natievely in 1080p then they'd look a bit poop when upscaled to "full" HD. I admit to knowing little about technology, though!

Kouji_San

No research done, just a remark. But aren't most fullHD tv's 1080i though? With TrueHD 1080p still being rare and expensive...

I still have a 100Hz bigbox widescreen TV PAL-16:9 tv, hell it still works and I dun feel like upgrading TV powered madness. What with no PS3 or anything over DVD res over here...

Geminosity

I tend to stick with samsung as not only are they the ones that make the screens for Sony's TVs but they seem to keep the better ones for their own sets (higher contrast :3 ).

That said, the two samsungs in our house right now have certain quirks... then again most things around me do (as one of my friends has pointed out multiple times :p )
Our old 32" cuts out temporarily if there are any flashes on the screen (lightning and flashbangs are a nightmare XD ) while the 42" doesn't like changing sources much so if you change channel it'll start cutting out intermittently (not often but it happens) until you turn it off and on again.