Practically Classics Forum

Having sent Mother's 30 year old Toshiba to the recycling place just under a year ago, I have a 42" LG in the living room and a smaller LG in my bedroom (I can't remember, but I think it's about 25") that replaced a working 21" Hitachi CRT. Both LGs were bought on price - the cheapest "leading brand" that I could find! I had gone through two or three Freeview boxes and decided to get "digital" tellys instead. The bedroom one is about four years old now and has never missed a beat, the main one had had some sound-video sync problems, but at last they have sorted the problem - at the transmitter end! I did send LG an email about the problem and they responded quickly and gave some sensible suggestions, so the support is pretty good too!

My only gripe is that, apart from an extra row of buttons on the main set's remote, the remotes are identical. However the functions of various buttons have been changed on the newer one, which means I have to think when I am using them!

Actually, I have just remembered - the small set has useless loudspeakers! Tinny is a polite way of describing them!! I have an old set of amplified computer speakers running from the headphone socket and they have improved things no end. The big set is acceptable - not good, but I can get away without spending a fortune on a sound bar for a while! It's a shame it hasn't an analogue output (only a SCART input and two or three HDMI ones) - I'd use the stereo's amplifier and proper speakers if I could!

Have you checked to see if one of the SCART sockets has an output in it? Often you will find that SCART1 does. You can also purchase an HDMI - analogue converter or an optical - analogue converter if it has an optical output.

tractorman wrote:I had gone through two or three Freeview boxes and decided to get "digital" tellys instead.

My Sony has a freeview tuner as well as its now redundant analogue one, only trouble is it's 2k and not 8k standard - having been built in 2002 - so it "only" has 99 preset positions but on the plus side they can (OK, have to) be tuned manually and in any order I choose which is why Film 4 is number 1 on the set even though it has to be number 15 on my PiVR and as your post suggested, even the best built-in speakers in flat panel TVs tend not to be anything spectacular as there's not really much of an enclosure for them. Its tube is flat though, but even deeper front to back because of this.
I did try an LCD (Toshiba, ISTR) but it was in the house a couple of hours before it was put back in the box and returned to AsDa for a refund. The Sony still only has around 7,000 hours on the clock and should last for another 93,000 at least which will take me well into the 2050s by which time there'll be so much pure crap on the box that I won't bother replacing it after all. Actually, I'll be in a care home by then and won't care.

Rich, don't buy the cheapest, the contrast ratios of the budget basement sets tend to be poor. Yes, screens from one of only two factories these days but quality varies massively so don't buy one that you can't try out before deciding.

tv is standing in the corner with the skybox dvd & orange tv tuning thing plugged in scarts seem ok... although have been dodgy for years do have surround sound gadget but that has been stored in the loft for years been looking at a 39 & 40 odd inch tv but €450 + its far too expensive. just hoping that ours will last a bit longer as we need to replace the steam powered computer first.. we are just about to spend €25,000 on a central heating system & little extras like this are a pain in the ar#e

I have to admit that I was lucky - the 42" was a smidge over £300 when I bought it from Curry's just under a year ago. It was a basic piece of tackle - not Smart or anything remotely fancy (though HD). It would almost be worth coming over to buy one here - there are a number of reasonably specified items on the Curry's site and I don't think they are the cheapest!

Mind you, having been a farm worker - and worked in schools, I have learnt how to be tight! My central heating modifications will cost £2000 or so! However, that's just a multifuel stove without a boiler and a radiator fitted to the old back boiler stubs on the landing (where the pipes go to the hot water tank etc). They wanted something over £2000 extra to change the iron pipes and header tank to copper/plastic and then wondered about the Rayburn, with it's iron boiler! I can buy a lot of electricity for the storage heater for £2000!

As I'm sort of doing the heating and decorating the sitting room, I haven't bothered with improving the sound from the TV. I hope to get my old stereo down from my bedroom and use it in the sitting room - all part of updating the house! I suspect my old Warfdale speakers will improve the system somewhat - they are certainly large enough to produce a good rich sound!

Would a PAL/Nicam standard set from the UK work anywhere other than in the UK, RoI and Hong Kong? Maybe all these newer tellies are multi standard but if buying from another country you need to find this out as for sure an 819 line French (Secam G or NTSC?) telly and a 625 line UK/HK/RoI (PAL) one aren't compatible in each other's location. Unless of course you make a modulator like the one I use to be able to watch the old TV22.

I do like looking at a smooth, much loved old bush: