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Thread: TVs with built in freeview

  1. #1
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    Default TVs with built in freeview

    I've always hated tv threads but sadly, I am here writing my own....

    I want to buy a new tv for the new house so my question is: shall I get one with built in freeview and HD ready? I'm not bothered about size (cos cr@p programmes look the same on small or large screens) or shall I get a standard tv and a separate freeview box or not even bother with the freeview?

    Any recommendations for a brand and where can I get the best deal?

  2. #2
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    We're considering a Sony Bravia with freeview built in, according to Consumer that's a good one.
    I have a question for a techie out there though; I assume that even though it's got freeview built in, it will also have a receiver for terrestial (antenna) reception? As Prime is not on freeview that would be a reason to choose a tv without freeview with a separate freeview box so you can do both?
    Clear as mud?

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by cappuccino View Post
    I've always hated tv threads but sadly, I am here writing my own....

    I want to buy a new tv for the new house so my question is: shall I get one with built in freeview and HD ready? I'm not bothered about size (cos cr@p programmes look the same on small or large screens) or shall I get a standard tv and a separate freeview box or not even bother with the freeview?

    Any recommendations for a brand and where can I get the best deal?
    So many choices for a TV today, would need to know more to give any good advice.

    Do you want LCD or Plasma (do you care), HD Ready or Full HD, with or without Freeview, what screen size, how much and where from?

    AFAIK, if it has an integrated Freeview decoder then it will be a full HD version.

    Do you want Freeview, or will the current terrestrial channels do?
    Can you actually pick up Terrestrial Freeview, or do you need the Satellite version?
    Is your aerial good enough, or will you need to have a new one installed?

    If you are looking for a good deal, I would start at Price Me - TVs and select from the TVs on offer. Remember to haggle with the shop, use the best price from one to influence the others to reduce their prices as much as possible.

    Brand I would recommend in Panasonic.

    Ian

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by miep View Post
    We're considering a Sony Bravia with freeview built in, according to Consumer that's a good one.
    I have a question for a techie out there though; I assume that even though it's got freeview built in, it will also have a receiver for terrestial (antenna) reception? As Prime is not on freeview that would be a reason to choose a tv without freeview with a separate freeview box so you can do both?
    Clear as mud?
    AFAIK, all the integrated freeview TVs are terrestrial and not satellite so will also use the antenna (you may need a better antenna though).

    All the TVs with integrated Freeview should also have an analog tuner to allow them to recieve normal TV stations such as Prime, but would just check when buying to make sure.

    Ian

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by cappuccino View Post
    ....
    Any recommendations for a brand and where can I get the best deal?
    This is probably a thread you should have started before Xmas as the prices have gone up since then. Like miep I looked at the consumer guide, did a bit more research and decided that LCD was the way to go and that the Sony Bravia with Freeview was a reasonable choice. I saw an advert in the Boxing Day sales at Dick Smith for the Sony KDL40V4000*for $1959 (now $2500) and went to have a look at it.

    The picture seemed brighter than the Samsung which was one of the other recommended ones and generally better than the rest in the price range. It didn't have the 100Mhz motion control (less blur) of the Sony W range or the 200Mhz of the Sony Z range but I couldn't afford those anyway.

    I checked the prices in some of the other shops and it seemed like a good deal. Before purchasing it I went to Harvey Norman to check their prices and found that it was actually slightly cheaper there.

    I then got talking to one of the salesmen and he steered me towards a plasma instead, the Panasonic PZ850. He said that it was by far the best deal in the sale and that all but one of the salesmen had plasma's and most of them had Panasonics. He also said that the 'entry level' Sony LCD I was looking at actually wasn't very good, poor refresh rate, contrast etc. Feeling confused and needing to do more research I left empty handed.

    The next week I popped in to Smith's City and had a similar conversation with a salesman there. He also steered me towards the PZ850 and said it was the best deal in the shop. Having finally been convinced I bought one and even got 6 months free My SKy HDi thrown in (worth $150) and a free screen cleaning cloth!

    The quality of the picture, especially on HD sources is incredible. The TV has a picture and picture function which allows you to display the image from two different sources side by side so if you put the same program from Freeview in one and normal Sky in the other the difference is quite noticeable.

    Another nice feature is the SD card slot so you can flick through photo's on a large screen and in stunning quality.

    The same TV is now being advertised for at least $600 more so it looks like the hype about 'beat the price rise' may be true.

    One thing to note is that Freeview is broadcast in UHF. TV1, 2 3 and C4 are broadcast in VHF so you will need to make sure that your aerial is correct. They say that if you have good reception of UHF free-to-air channels e.g. Trackside, Maori TV, and live in a coverage area you are likely to get good Freeview reception.

    If you look at a site like Dick Smiths and search for aerials you can see what a UHF and VHF aerial look like. I have a combo one but looking at the aerials on some of my neighbours roofs VHF only seems quite common.

    One of the sales pitches for integrated Freeview is that you only need one remote control. This is obviously true and at the moment we hardly ever use the Sky one. I suspect this will change once the My Sky HDi box turns up though

    The down side of plasmas is that they use more power on average, 475W v 224W of the Sony LCD v 98W of our old 29" CRT TV.

    Because of that, it also kicks out a fair bit of heat so needs 4 fans to keep it cool. You only really hear these though when the TV is on mute. If we feel cold this winter we can just sit a bit closer to the TV

  6. #6
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    Thanks Ian Is there anything you don't know?

    Aaarghhh Richard! We had just about decided and now we'll need to do more research on plasma's! Please tell me they're much more expensive as that might solve the problem.
    I'm also amazed that the beat the price hike hype isn't just hype! Although my main reason to start looking now was that the $ is slipping so fast, I was kind of hoping to get a good deal on old stock or something like that.
    Oh well, the old TV still works so no real rush I guess.

  7. #7
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    Thanks guys - it's all still too confusing for me so I will take my time on research (and by the time I decide what to get, no doubt something new will have been launched!)

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