# What TV is best for Tivo



## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

My old Sony 32" W/S CRT TV is starting to fail and wanting advice on what to buy (LCD or Plasma) to get the best out of my 2 Tivos both running Mode 0.

Not looking for bigger than 37" (SWMBO says no bigger than 32")

One Tivo on cable and one on Freeview plus I also have a Virgin V+ box that gives HD albeit limited channels at present. No option for a dish so no to Sky or Freesat.

Any advice would be helpful


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

I'm sure you'll get loads of different opinions.

I purchased a LG 42" some years ago and have been very pleased with it. I have mode 0 running and I tweaked the Tivos contrast settings. I think some sets will mix better with the Tivo than others and I just made a lucky decision.

My friend on the other hand picked his set (a Panasonic) married up to a Sky+ set-up by following the Which recommendations. On paper it should be great but he's never been happy with his set-up, always comparing it to mine. Without really wanting to agree with him (trying to be diplomatic), I have to say its not great and I have never been able to put my finger on why.


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## cyril (Sep 5, 2001)

If I were you I'd go for the 37" Panasonic plasmas. I prefer them to any of the LCDs.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

cyril said:


> __________________
> TiVo saves you the one thing you can't buy -TIME.
> I need about 500k so we can build a UK TiVo series 3 HD ...who's with me  ?


£500k, sell the restaurant Cyril.


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## cyril (Sep 5, 2001)

healeydave said:


> £500k, sell the restaurant Cyril.


Well need offers over 700k 

Unfortunately the banks get all the dough, so still need a spare 500k.


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## Andy Leitch (Apr 30, 2005)

LCD or plasma? It doesn't matter, as a UK S1 TiVo cannot supply a signal good enough to make a difference, regardless of the display technology.

Edge enhancement is edge enhancement and will be visible on an LCD or plasma.


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

Andy Leitch said:


> LCD or plasma? It doesn't matter, as a UK S1 TiVo cannot supply a signal good enough to make a difference, regardless of the display technology.
> 
> Edge enhancement is edge enhancement and will be visible on an LCD or plasma.


Are you saying that is the case even when running Mode0 at Best quality ?


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Whats happened to that snow image, it looks awful, I guess its what you get through a digital camera when paused.
Just so no-one see's this thread in the future and thinks that's what the Tivo looks like all the time, I just took one of mine (unpaused)


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Had to replace the LCD I had on my Tivo Test Rig at the weekend because it started blanking after a few seconds of being on.

Picked up a cheap Hitachi 22" just for testing from Currys, but whilst there, I noticed the nice new Samsung 40" LED they have just got in. Man its so thin, I think I actually left some drool on it


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## B33K34 (Feb 9, 2003)

Seconded on the Panasonic plasma recommendation. Plasma's, IME are far more tolerent of poor quality input and have much better viewing angles. 

It is worth checking external dimensions of the screens - I was restricting myself to 37" sets but the Panasonic plasmas used to have a very wide frame around the screen. The 42" Pioneer i actually bought was only very slightly larger but is a significantly bigger viewing area.


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## bigwold (Jun 4, 2003)

healeydave said:


> nice new Samsung 40" LED


I thought that was a typo until I checked on Currys website - I really must try to keep up with technology


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

bigwold said:


> I thought that was a typo until I checked on Currys website - I really must try to keep up with technology


Wait til you see one in a store, its one of those items whose aesthetics can't be appreciated from a picture 

and I only saw the 40" , not the 46" or the 55"


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## cyril (Sep 5, 2001)

Unfortunately those LED TVs are still LCD-based.
The LEDs are the backlights, which is why they are so thin.
Very nice to look at side on, and catching up with plasma in PQ but I would still go for plasma myself.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

I think my Plasma is on its way out, its on 16 hrs a day from 7a.m til 11p.m, so I imagine the life expectancy is severely affected compared to normal usage.

I don't know the true symptoms of an end of life Plasma, but I'm getting golden speckles in the picture background like fine glitter.


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## Ian_m (Jan 9, 2001)

healeydave said:


> Wait til you see one in a store, its one of those items whose aesthetics can't be appreciated from a picture


Wait till you see the picture quality, light bleed and crap black level next to a Panasonic plasma in a viewing room and you will be buying the Plasma everytime......


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

cyril said:


> but I would still go for plasma myself.


Unfortunately I am going to be limited to 32" and it doesn't seem that any plasmas are available in that size. So any recommendations and experiences of 32" LCD that work well with Tivo using Mode0 welcomed


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

Ian_m said:


> Wait till you see the picture quality, light bleed and crap black level next to a Panasonic plasma in a viewing room and you will be buying the Plasma everytime......


I'll take your word for it, these stores (or at least ours) put them in brand order, hehe


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

healeydave said:


> I don't know the true symptoms of an end of life Plasma, but I'm getting golden speckles in the picture background like fine glitter.


"sparklies"?

Actually, that's often the symptoms of a bad HDMI cable, particularly if its a "long" one (2M+) - or has been bent/abused

Try a replacement HDMI cable before buying a new plasma screen


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

It could be damaged, its been plugged into different boxes just recently, I'll inspect it.

As its just a digital signal transport, I thought a damaged HDMI cable would just damage the picture completely.

Perhaps I shouldn't believe everything I see  but the gadget show did a test some months ago with 2 x identical calibrated TV's , using a cheap &#163;5 cable and a ridiculous &#163;100+ cable to prove that there would be no difference in picture quality because HDMi just send digital signals and the data either arrived or it didn't was the theory behind it.


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## stujac (Jan 26, 2002)

cyril said:


> If I were you I'd go for the 37" Panasonic plasmas. I prefer them to any of the LCDs.


Hope you don't mind a stateside opinion but I'm with him; I've got the 46" Panny plasma and absolutely love it. Have had it for a year without even the slightest issue.


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

It is true that there's no difference in picture quality between a &#163;5 or &#163;100 HDMI cable (its a digital signal).
BUT that doesn't mean the signal will never degrade, though its not usually an issue on shorter cables as used behind the TV.

As the signal degrades - due to length or interference/poor/damaged cable - you'll see bit-errors which will show up as random dots or lines. Too many errors and the screen will blank.

HDMI *should* have been designed as coax, not twisted pair that it is.. 
then we would be able to have long runs throughout the house with no problems.


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

stujac said:


> Have had it for a year without even the slightest issue.


I should hope not, I wouldn't expect a slight issue in a year with a cheap & nasty set!



I'm being pedantic here, I know what your saying, your very pleased with it in essence.


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## cyril (Sep 5, 2001)

RichardJH said:


> Unfortunately I am going to be limited to 32" and it doesn't seem that any plasmas are available in that size. So any recommendations and experiences of 32" LCD that work well with Tivo using Mode0 welcomed


I think LG do 32" plasmas, but they do use cheap processing and components -hence the cheap prices.
So the plasma advantages in a LG plasma are offset by slightly cheaper components and processing.
Depending on budget I guess 32" LCDs to go for are from Pioneer,Panasonic, Sony,Sharp, Samsung - I am guessing B&O,Vidikron,Runco and Loewe are too expensive!

Unfortunately it seems that all the 32" LED backlit LCD Tvs are from cheapo Chinese/Taiwanese brands- Sampo , Aeopto, Chi Mei etc.. They might be good value though -who knows?

I guess you can always add a Lumagen Radiance processor if the PQ isn't good enough


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## healeydave (Jun 4, 2003)

The only thing I will add, is I would stick with Plasma if you can get it in the screen size your looking for. 
I know Panasonic's are superior TV's but my friends Panasonic LCD does not look as good as my LG Plasma. We have tried everything to tweak the settings. Its probably because the Panasonic is showing up the picture inferiorities better than the LG but the result is a vast difference and I'd much rather have my output than my friends and that's no exaggeration!
I imagine a Panasonic Plasma would be better still with a Tivo.


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## stujac (Jan 26, 2002)

I agree with the above poster; I'm only endorsing Panasonic Plasma, not LCD. And to the previous poster, I'm on my 8th year with TiVo and have never had a problem that a hard drive swap didn't immediately cure. The TiVoHD is new to me but I still run the original Series 1.


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

Having had a better search around I have found a 32" LG 32PG6000
http://uk.lge.com/products/model/detail/plasmatv_32pg6000.jhtml#
and find that my local Tesco superstore is selling it for £399.97 which is cheaper than most of the 32" LCD TV's I have been looking at.

For my viewing with 2 Tivo's and a mountain of DVD's (none HD or Bluray) with any HD viewing coming from a Virgin V+ box ( cannot get Sky ) is it a good buy.


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)

Took the plunge and bought the LG plasma and am very pleased with it.
Will need to do some tweaking to get the best from Tivo.
Picture quality from Virgin V+ both HD and upscaled SD are excellent.
In built Freeview very good.
Using component output from DVD set to Progressive scan gives a new lease of life to a large collection of DVDs


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## pilotkato (Dec 29, 2007)

I'm currently using Tivo with an old Goodmans Freeview box and an old Sony Trinitron CRT tele. I tried to replace the Freeview box but couldn't find a new one that would work with Tivo (although I have seen the list that includes the popular Philips Freeview box that can be found on eBay).

I'd now like to replace the tele with a new LCD with built-in Freeview (as I prefer not to pay for cable or satellite). 

Does Tivo work with any of the new tele's with built-in Freeview?


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## BrianHughes (Jan 21, 2001)

No you can't use the built-in Freeview with Tivo.


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## AMc (Mar 22, 2002)

To clarify, the Tivo will work with practically any TV with a SCART socket but it won't record from the Freeview tuner in the TV.

You will need a new Set Top Box too - I use one of these and it works very well. You may have to contact SuperFi to find out if they are ever getting more stock.
http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/5012


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

RichardJH said:


> Unfortunately I am going to be limited to 32" and it doesn't seem that any plasmas are available in that size.


A moderately old post but I only just spotted it due to someone else kick starting the thread again today.

Surely it would have been much easier to have just traded in your wife for a new one than to have to get an inferior television because she apparently only views a television as being like an item of furniture (and therefore part of her domain).

Are you always this governed by your wife's preferences, even when it comes to traditionally male purchases like a television......


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## RichardJH (Oct 7, 2002)




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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

Unlike Pete, who apparently only admits feminine influence to his choice of cars...


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> Unlike Pete, who apparently only admits feminine influence to his choice of cars...


The usual predictable cheap jibe from those who have presumably spent their lives driving various repmobiles and/or ferrying their families around in estate cars.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

You do a lot of presuming Pete!


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> You do a lot of presuming Pete!


But I notice that you don't mention that 911 you have tucked away in the garage or that TVR that you used to own for several years........


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

An XK8 do for you? Never a fan of TVRs, I like to actually get to where I'm going. And I'm with Clarkson on 911s.

Since you have had a tendency to accuse me of being obscenely wealthy for some reason I don't like to mention the cars I drive for fear of providing ammunition. Odd, since what you can price together about your background from the odd statement you have made suggests some inherited wealth on your part.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> Since you have had a tendency to accuse me of being obscenely wealthy for some reason I don't like to mention the cars I drive for fear of providing ammunition.


I'm sure that you must be on a percentage cut of whatever the net profits are from T3 and any other titles you have thought up. Also your general attitude to buying top end technology when it is absolutely brand new regardless of expense suggests that the budget is not usually an issue.



> Odd, since what you can price together about your background from the odd statement you have made suggests some inherited wealth on your part.


Completely wrong then. My mother is moderately comfortably off (just normal middle class professional levels after my father toiling away for a lifetime only to drop down dead before he retired) but I didn't receive a penny from my father in his will and everything remained with my mother (one of the reasons undoubtedly being that he wasn't really planning to die at that stage and had probably written the will around the time I was still at university). She does give me the annual inheritance tax free transfer allowance of £1500 but that is it. All of the money I saved to buy my property (which I currently have no mortgage on after selling some shares in my old company three years ago) I earned through my own employment.

The XK8 presents a very British image (I like it appearance wise) but does not always seem to get the best reviews for driving experience.

I'm actually looking to replace the MR2 currently because it needs about £2k spending on it and would even then only be worth £4.5k and www.webuyanycar.com seem willing to pay me £3.5k for it (suspect they can get the various bits of work done a lot more cheaply than I can plus only £50k miles and one owner from new probably still counts for something) and because I'm bored with it I can't really face spending £2k or so on it just to keep it going.

I notice 9 or 10 year old XK8s are pretty reasonable (sub £10k) but presumably they are hideously unreliable by that stage and have massive servicing costs? Also I don' think they have been written up that favourably in terms of driving experience.

I'm quite interested in a 10 year old Fiat Coupe 20V of some kind. These are pretty fast but can be had for about £2.5k with a recent cam belt change. And if the whole lot does go pear shaped after a year or two one can simply bin it without much loss. Having said that I only like them in Ferrari red. Oddly I seem to like Boxsters in silver black or even midnight blue, whereas I would never buy an MR2 Roadster or a Fiat Coupe in those colours.

Anyhow the budget is very limited at the moment so a Fiat Coupe 20v it may well be. Also by dint of their age these avoid the £400+ road tax for high performance cars, although I'm not sure when that comes in? I expect you still think they are a "hairdressers car" though due to them not being British made or something?

We are horribly Off Topic now but I see that you were the one who started it back in Post 33. My comments regarding RichardJH's wife still related to her right of final veto over his choice of television set.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

Pete77 said:


> I'm sure that you must be on a percentage cut of whatever the net profits are from T3 and any other titles you have thought up.


I wish.



> Also your general attitude to buying top end technology when it is absolutely brand new regardless of expense suggests that the budget is not usually an issue.


Then Automan must be Bill Gates.



> The XK8 presents a very British image (I like it appearance wise) but does not always seem to get the best reviews for driving experience.


It's a Jag not a Lotus!



> I notice 9 or 10 year old XK8s are pretty reasonable (sub £10k) but presumably they are hideously unreliable by that stage and have massive servicing costs? Also I don' think they have been written up that favourably in terms of driving experience.


Running costs are pretty bad (find a me a £55k new 4 litre V8 where that's not true!), and there is tendency for engines to give up around 100k unless you do some preventative maintenance.



> I'm quite interested in a 10 year old Fiat Coupe 20V of some kind.


I wanted one a few years back, but I just didn't fit in it right. GTV was even worse. i guess most Italians are short.



> although I'm not sure when that comes in? I expect you still think they are a "hairdressers car" though due to them not being British made or something?


Hairdresser was unfair. I take it back. MGFs are just girls' cars.



> We are horribly Off Topic now but I see that you were the one who started it back in Post 33. My comments regarding RichardJH's wife still related to her right of final veto over his choice of television set.


If that was on topic in your head...


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TCM2007 said:


> If that was on topic in your head...


Its absolutely on topic.

In Richard JH's household the best tv for Tivo is clearly always going to be one that is under no circumstances any larger than the maximum dimensions sanctioned by SWMBO.


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

Pete77 said:


> I'm quite interested in a 10 year old Fiat Coupe 20V of some kind.


Go for it :up:

I used to have one of the late 20v Turbo models and I enjoyed it immensely. Fast (which I expected) and also extremely reliable (which I didn't). Around 33 mpg and easy to live with on a day to day basis.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

DX30 said:


> I used to have one of the late 20v Turbo models and I enjoyed it immensely. Fast (which I expected) and also extremely reliable (which I didn't). Around 33 mpg and easy to live with on a day to day basis.


What colour was it? For some reason the only colour in which I find it really strongly appealing is the Ferrari Red, even though I find the charcoal grey vaguely ok and the bottle green metallic possibly acceptable. To me light silver isn't right for it all and nor is dark blue, even though a Porsche Boxster looks great in both those colours. The burgundy metallic red also doesn't seem right either, even though a TVR Chimaera looks great in that colour.

Or course I admit I have Ferrari red on my current MR2 Roadster and it was also the colour of one of my two Fiat x1/9s (the other was metallic gold and I'm not prepared to discuss the colour of the MGF but it caused it to be a very attractive price at the time) so I'm biased but I wouldn't buy a Porsche Boxster or an XK/8 in Ferrari Red (silver and dark grey metallic seems a good colour for both) so certain cars seem to go with certain colours.

To my mind the styling of the Fiat Coupe is great at the front and the back but they rather bodged up the sides so it looks too much like a confused late 70s/early 80s wedge. But there is nothing else with this kind of imaginative design with this kind of performance of this age at this price level. Nissan 300Zxs are very long in the tooth now and I think fairly prone to some major mechanical issues when they are older and drink fuel as does that flashy Mitsubishi faster coupe they made for a few years.

The later model RX7s are stupidly expensive for this age as are Honda S2000s and is even more thirsty. For the money one might as well buy a Boxster as a eight or nine year old one seems a fair price (£9,999 or thereabouts) but I'm sure the servicing and parts costs are horrendous. The current prices for the TVR Griffith and Chimaera are utterly absurd as they are no lower than they were five years ago, even though the manufacturer has gone belly up and most of the cars will now be completely knackered in every possible way (given how poor the build quality was)

The only thing is that I know on certain days in the year on certain windy roads I will miss my soft top (whizzing round Unst in the Shetland Island at the very top of Great Britain on a gloriously sunny June day this year springs to mind) although most of the time complacency (from so many years of having a convertible) and old age mean that I rarely take the top down.


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

Pete77 said:


> What colour was it?


Silver - although officially Fiat called it "Steel Grey".

I think we'll have to agree to disagree over colours. I have owned several red cars so have nothing against the colour itself but I'm afraid I didn't think it suited the Coupe. I liked silver best (obvious really, since that is what I bought) with black a close second.

Alfa's on the other hand should only be red.


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

Pete77 said:


> What colour was it?


No, too easy, I'll let it ride....


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