What HiFi Television Awards

The rest of the What HiFi TV awards are as follows:

Best 26in TV: Samsung LE26C450

Best 32in TV: Panasonic TX-L32D25

Best 37in TV: Sony KDL-37EX503

Best budget 40-42in TV: Sony KDL-40EX503

Best premium 40-42in TV: Samsung UE40C8000

Best 46in TV: Sony KDL-46HX903

Best 50in+ TV : Panasonic TX-P50V20

Best 3D TV: Samsung PS50C6900

What HiFi is one of cheap televisions favourite sites for television news and reviews so we look forward to another year of great advice on home cinema issues and to seeing what new developments hits the industry in 2011. Oh and well done to Sony for getting this years award!

Cheap Panasonic LCD TV Deal Tesco Televisions

Tesco aren’t exactly the best when it comes to explaining the features on any of the Tesco televisions they sell. The description for this Panasonic LCD TV deal only says “The Panasonic TX-L26C10B 26″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview offers advanced picture and sound quality for home entertainment.  You can also link other AV devices via Viera link with the use of one remote & playback for digital photos (JPEG ) by just inserting the SD card into the TV.  The TV has a built-in Nicam sound system with 2 HDMI and 2 SCART connections.”

But anywho onto the reviews for the Panasonic TX-L26C10B LCD television sold by Tesco that I mentioned earlier. The 9.4 out of 10 score in the customer reviews for this cheap television come from around 30 people (not the normal 1 biased review). Below is one of the custome reviews which is actually the most negative I could find with 8 out of 10 but its the most balanced review of the Panasonic LCD television at Tesco in my humble opinion.

Good Points “Excelent value for money product. I bought it as a bedroom TV so did not need all the bells and whistles that came with a higher spec TV. One important aspect that had to be right was the sound quality as we had been very disappointed with Samsung model which had sounded very thin but this Panasonic is definitely good enough and has audio output anyway.”

Bad Points “Not that it is a problem with our set up because we view it face on but the quality of the picture is diminished when viewed from a shallow angle, a common issue with lesser spec LCD screens.”

If you buy one of these Panasonic TX-L26C10B LCD TVs from Tesco or any other online shop for that matter please let us know you opinions and reviews in the cheap televisions comments section below.

Sony BDP-S760 Blu-Ray DVD Player

Both Techradar and What HiFi gave the Sony BDP-S760 Blu-ray DVD player 5 out of 5 stars in their reviews.

Techradar Sony BDP-S760 Blu-ray DVD player review said:

“I don’t think there’s any player currently available at this price point that compares for Blu-ray playback. I’m still a massive fan of LG’s BD390 for its media-streaming abilities, but maybe I’ll have to find a place in my rack for the BDP-S760 as well. It is a reference machine for the budget conscious.”

The What HiFi Sony BDP-S760 Blu-ray DVD player review said:

“Spin the Blu-ray of Fast & Furious, and the BDP-S760 produces an impeccable image, majoring on detail, edge definition and clarity. The welcome lack of on-screen noise gives the action a sense of realism that eludes rival machines.Switch to the Fast & Furious DVD and while the drop down from HD to standard-definition is apparent, the Sony still produces a punchy, accurately drawn image.”

I’m impressed already and will be puting the Sony BDP-s760 bluray dvd player on my cheap TV Christmas list .If you have recently brought on of these BDP 760 Blu-ray players from Sony please let me know what you think of it in the cheap televisions comments section below.

Sony Bravia KDL-40W5500 LCD TV Deal

The marketing spiel about the Sony Bravia KDL-40W5500 full HD 40 inch LCD television says “The Bravia W5500 has all the Sony technology you need to experience a new level of entertainment. Bravia Engine 3 digital processing delivers a depth, richness and clarity that will take your breath away. Motionflow 100Hz technology keeps fast-moving sports and action crisp and clear.”

Although this is their television deal of the week the Sony Bravia KDL-40W5500 LCD TV looks good in the reviews too. Customers from play.com have given it an average of 5 out of 5 stars with one of them saying “Just upgraded from one of the first Samsung 40 inch lcd 1080p televisions to hit the market and I certainly made the right choice. This TV is superb. Upscaled dvd’s and blu ray are stunning. Freeview provides a very solid picture and the menu system is very good.”

The review from What HiFi wasn’t as generous giving it 4 out of 5 stars and although they were impressed with this LCD TV they complained about the irregular backlighting which is why they didn’t give it the full 5 stars in their review: “That’s where the Sony’s fifth star has gone. We don’t think our KDL-40W5500 is faulty, we just don’t think the backlighting is good enough.”

The KDL-40W5500 Sony Bravia LCD TV doesn’t come with built in Freesat like some of the newer models but you can get up to £150 of you money back in the Sony Trade-In offer.

Assassins Creed II Screenshot

Well just from the gameplay images and video I think Assassin’s Creed II looks like a visual feast. Gamespot gave it an editors choice review score of 9 out of ten and described Assassin’s Creed II as: “Assassin’s Creed II is what you’d want an action sequel to be: bigger, better, and more beautiful.”

The IGN Assassin’s Creed II video review above also gives it a glowing review with a score of 9.2. Their actual site review finished with “This is one case where the sequel has triumphed over the original by catching the gameplay up to the already excellent visuals. No matter what your preconceptions are about Assassin’s Creed II, the game is well worth your time and money.”

After watching Assassins Creed 2 video review it looks like another title that should be on everyones wish list this Christmas.

Sony Bravia KDL-40Z5800 LCD TV

One thing worth mentioning is TechRadar did say “you’d probably be better going for one of Panasonic’s plasma-based Freesat TVs instead” now I am a big fan of plasma televisions so I could twist this lol, but they are referring to the wide viewing angles. No LCD or LED TV copes well when your not looking directly at them. Would be nice to know if OLED technology would solve the problem too! If that doesn’t bother you and your still not convinced about going plasma and have the finance to afford it then the Sony Bravia KDL-40X5800 LCD TV is probably the television for you. The built-in FreeSat is another good thing to have (and Sony are still installing this for free at the moment).

The TechRadar Verdict said “Despite carrying a slightly high price tag that inevitably forces us to look more keenly at its failings, the 40Z5500 remains overall a really terrific TV thanks to the way it combines the clutter-busting appeal of the built-in Freesat tuner with a totally uncompromising stack of picture processing which results in some of the very finest picture quality yet seen from an LCD TV.”.

LG Cheap SL9000 LED TV

Well priced and very good looking its hard to see how these wont be extremely successful LED televisions for LG. We are trying to get some more pictures and hopefully some on the blog and television review sites will get their lucky hands on some of the SL9000 televisions soon to give them a proper test.

LG 42SL9000 and 47SL9000 LED TVs

Fingers crossed we get some more of the LG SL9000 pictures soon and the LED TVs start to become cheap televisions sooner rather than later.

Tesco Televisions

Technika

This appears the be Tescos home brand of televisions which is a bit annoying as cheap televisions can’t really track down much more information about who builds the panels. I’d expect they would be cheap and Chinese though. The Technika televisions for sale on Tesco are the Technika 40″ HD Ready 1080P LCD TV with Freeview 40-920, the Technika 32″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview & DVD Player 32-310, the Technika 32″ HD Ready 1080p LCD TV with built-in Freeview 32-250, the Technika 32″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview LCD32-209/209V, the Technika 26″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview & DVD Player 26-310, the Technika 26″ HD Ready 1080P Slim LCD TV with Freeview 26-920, the Technika 22″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview, DVD player & iPod Dock 22-218 and finally the Technika 19″ HD Ready LCD TV with USB Record built in DVD & Freeview 19-220.

Nordmende

Like Technika I’ve never heard of Nordmende televisions before looking on the Tesco electronics website but it appears this is a seperate television manufacturer altogether. Tesco only one Nordmende television Nordmende 32″ HD Ready LCD TV with built-in Freeview NU323LD. Looking at the Nordmende website it appears to be confused as to if the company is Irish or German (Bremen to be precise). The website states:

“NordMende is a range of high quality audio visual and white goods available in the island of Ireland. Owned by the KAL Group, the new NordMende brand was officially launched in their Dublin based headquarters in August 2008 and attended by Ireland’s Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan. With the strap line Home Economics, the brand stands for well-designed, higher than average specification products at affordable prices. The NordMende name originates from Germany where NordMende was a manufacturer of entertainment electronics based in the city of Bremen. It is still recognised as a brand name associated with audio/visual products throughout the world but is perhaps now best known in Ireland thanks to the KAL Group.”

UMC

Again another odd sounding television company with no website that I can find and only one television in the Tesco store. It is a very cheap television but comes in the rather strange size of 23″. It is only £199 so a dirt cheap deal. Its called the UMC 23″ HD Ready 1080P LCD TV with built-in Freeview X23/39.

The rest of the televisions sold by Tesco are the usual LCD and plasma panel suspects really. LG, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba. Just be careful with the warrantys Tesco offer on their television as they are not free like the brilliant John Lewis 5 year ones and can add upto £350 onto your final bill. I know Tesco is normally cheaper than other supermarkets but when buying a television you may want to visit your local Waitrose / John Lewis just to duoble cheap you are getting the best deal.

Cheap BDP3000 Philips Blu-Ray Player

The Philips BDP3000 is currently retailing in the shops at a very good price of around £130 from Argos.com and Pixmania.com which is seriously good for a well branded cheap Blu-Ray DVD player which seems to tick all the features boxes. Its also had some pretty good reviews from the likes of Whathifi getting 4 out of 5 stars and saying “A Solid performer at a tantalisingly affordable price”.

The Philips BDP3000 Blu-Ray DVD player specifications and features list cheap televisions was given says:

*  Blu-ray Disc playback for sharp images in full HD 1080p
* 1080p at 24 fps for cinema-like images
* DVD video upscaling to 1080p via HDMI for near-HD images
* DivX Ultra for enhanced playback of DivX media files
* x.v.Colour brings more natural colours to HD camcorder videos
* BD-Live* (Profile 2.0) to enjoy online Blu-ray bonus content
* Enjoy all your movies and music from CDs and DVDs
* EasyLink controls all EasyLink products with a single remote
* Dolby TrueHD for high fidelity 7.1 surround sound

Plenty of Blu-Ray DVD player jargon to look at but what really matters is how the Philips BDP3000 performs on your television screen at home. Looking at the user reviews at Amazon UK they seem to back up the editorial reviews from the BDP3000 Philips Blu-Ray DVD player with 4 and a half stars out of 5!

Philips BDP3000 Blu-Ray DVD Player Reviews

One of the reviews of the Philips BDP3000 Blu-Ray DVD player reads:

“Let’s not get too technical about this. What you want to know about any blu ray/dvd player is the picture quality. The picture quality is superb. You really can’t go wrong at this price and I honestly can’t see how much better the more expensive models can be. I have seen the Sony blu ray entry player, the Philips is a bit cheaper, the picture quality is the same. The Sony machine may look a little better. This one is bog standard black and no flashy bits. I was very impressed by the upscale of old ordinary dvd’s. Less impressed by the huge writing that appears on the screen when you skip chapters! If you are looking for some fancy machine to remember your name, make your tea, then this is not it. If you simply want a machine that shows off the best of blu ray then this does it. It might not be the quickest to get going, it may not always remember where you left off (it does sometimes) but it does the thing it is supposed to, the reason you want it, it displays your film in breath taking quality.”.

So if your in the hunt for a Blu-Ray DVD player this Christmas it seems this would be a seriously good contender for your hard earned money. Just one thing to keep in mind the BDP3000 is a lot chunkier than the new slim line models being made which do look cool, but they don’t come anywhere near in terms of value.

Sharp Aquos LC46LE700 46 Inch LCD TV

THe basic feature of the LC46LE700 are:
Screen Size      46
Integrated Digital Freeview     Yes
HD Type     Full HD
100Hz Technology     Yes
200Hz Technology     No
Contrast Ratio     2,000,000:1
Pixel Resolution     1920 x 1080
HDMI Inputs     4
Optical Sound Out     No
Speaker Output (Watts)     20w
Built in Speakers     Yes

And Sharp’s marketing jargon says “Sharp Full Screen LED backlight TVs have hundreds of LEDs arranged in rows to cover the entire screen, from corner to corner. The colours are brighter and more vibrant whilst the blacks are deeper resulting in more fine details in darker pictures. The new X-GEN panel with its wider pixel aperture design allows for visually brighter images whilst the Brilliant Colour Processor helps the precise expression of colours. The LE700 range also feature 100Hz technology and a high-speed 4 millisecond response rate to reduce blur and recreate natural flowing images. Complete with USB input for JPEG or MP3 playback and 4 HDMI inputs for easy multimedia connectivity.”

The conclusion to Avforums review on the Sharp Aquos LC46LE700 LCD TV said “The image put out by the LC-46LE700 after calibration is by no means terrible, but the unfortunate truth is that this display really doesn’t excel in any area above its competitors, other than eco-efficiency. The low input lag is impressive and is a real plus point for video gamers, but even this is by no means a unique achievement in this fiercely competitive market. The final issue is almost certainly the price, which unfortunately puts the LC-46LE700 up against recent Plasma displays which perform to a consistently higher standard in every single area – except, of course, for power consumption.” Go to their website if you want to read the full review and see how indepth their television reviews are.