Spec me a telly.

[Knipples]

Ok so I am going to ask the Birthday fairy and Father Christmas to club together and buy me a new telly. The one I have now is 5 years old, and is crap. Its one of the old big bulky shaped ones (as in not a flat screen) and its just, well, poo.

Can people help with what sort of things I need to look for. I wouldn't mind it having built in freeview for when the Virgin dies (although i'm guessing that costs more) i'm not that fussed about HD, but it would be good I guess, my Dad said something about it needing to be a certain type of HD though.

I don't need it to be any bigger than the screen size of my current telly, which is 26 inches, (i've measured it across the screen diagonally, which I think is right) it physically cant be much bigger than that, cos of where it needs to sit (I have a desk with the telly, the virgin box, and the dvd recorder, which are taking up pretty much the whole desk as it is. I don't really want to spend anymore than between £200 and £250 (if thats possible)

I have £30's worth of vouchers which I have acquired from my credit card, which can be spent in certain shops (Currys, Argos, Halfords I think - was going to use these to help with the cost)

So yeah, give me some help please people!

[Mark]

Went looking for what Panasonic or Samsung might manage on that budget, not expecting to find much. How wrong was I:

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/panasonic-viera-tx-l26c20b-26-hd-ready-lcd-tv-07586149-pdt.html

Or save those vouchers for something else, and...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-TX-L26C20B-26-inch-Widescreen-Freeview/dp/B003WIZDP4 (or better still, go via the BD Shop :))

OK, it's the budget range, and I can't find a single reputable review, but given that Panasonic have a reputation for being one of the best there is at the top end, I'd hope some of that would work down to the budget sets.

It's only HD Ready, rather than Full HD, but that's fine for Virgin (you only benefit from Full HD if you've got a games console or blu-ray player). The cost argument for Freeview doesn't hold up - who wants to buy a TV that can't receive a TV signal?

[LeperousDust]

Just check around hotukdeals, and read the comments there. Loads to choose from usually. Just make sure its actually a hot deal :)

[Del Lardo]

Keep an eye on http://www.richersounds.com/ They normally have some good deals in store as well on ex-demo or returns and depending on who you talk to negotiation can be possible ;)

[Dymetrie]

Keep an eye on http://www.richersounds.com/ They normally have some good deals in store as well on ex-demo or returns and depending on who you talk to negotiation can be possible ;)

Our experience of Richer Sounds was quite amusing.

Going in to buy a TV, which was on offer, then we were advised that it was actually rubbish (A B series Samsung, so not top of the range, but no slouch! And only £250 for the 32" flavour) and we should buy a similar spec LG for £150 more.

Suffice to say the young lad lost himself a sale as we politely declined and bought a C series Samsung from Tesco instead, for a bit more but without the misinformation and smug "I know better than you" attitude :)

This post is of little help in your mission, however, young lady :D

[Knipples]

I had similar on the phone just now. They said they didn't have the Samsung tv I asked for in stock, but Samsung had just brought out a much better alternative, same size as the one they didn't stock anymore, for the grand total of £100 more.

I've settled on this one in the end http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/687138/SAMSUNG-B2430HD which I am more than happy with. My Dad has offered to pay the extra £50.

[Pumpkinstew]

The consensus from the experts in interwebland is that the difference you see between 720P/1080i and full 1080p is unnoticeable until you get to something big like a 36" screen.

Pretty much every new TV should have a freeview tuner (Sometimes called DVB-T or similar) and at least one HDMI. If you have boxes (Video, DVD, Satellite tuner etc) you want to hook up with a scart lead though make sure it still has connectors for that.

Have a look around Currys until you find a picture you like the look of, make a note of the model number and then find it online for 60-80% of the store price. :)

EDIT: Just noticed you decided on one. Ignore me.