Decide what to buy: the Reevoo.com blog

Today we’re continuing our guide to understanding TV model names. At first glance, TV product names are generally pretty complicated, unmemorable and unpronouncable combinations of letters and numbers. To the uninitiated this doesn’t help when you’re trying to find your way around the large television market.

However, closer inspection does often reveal some logic behind the names manufacturers give to their latest gift to the world. Today I’m going to walk through Sony’s naming conventions.

Our example product is the Sony Bravia KDL-32V4000.

Sony gives the KDL letters to all its LCD TVs. Sony makes no plasma TVs, and makes one cutting-edge OLED TV, the XEL-1.

The first two numbers refer to the screen size in inches.

The next letters indicate the series. Sony has a large number of different series. I’ve collected all the current series below, along with descriptions about each series series from Sony and the range of screen sizes the series is available in.

The final numbers refer to smaller variations within a series - so do check the detailed specifications!

You can browse Sony TVs on Reevoo.

Grim news today for home cinema fans, as the credit crunch really begins to show its teeth in the AV world. Pioneer, who make the highly-regarded Kuro range of premium TVs, will cease production this time next year in order to focus on in-car entertainment and less competitive home entertainment areas - like DJ kit.

Pioneer will also cut 30% of its workforce - a cool 10,000 jobs - and reduce its manufacturing capacity by 30%. Today’s news comes after Pioneer posted a £1bn expected loss for the year’s operations.

Until last year Pioneer focused exclusively on high quality plasma TVs, which were renouned for their deep black levels. The warning signs came in 2008, when Pioneer stopped making the plasma panels it was so well known for, instead using Panasonic panels, and releasing a new range of LCD TVs.

Pioneer remained a premium brand however. In 2008, Reevoo found that Pioneer was the most expensive TV manufacturer, with an average cost per TV of £1,258. That put the Kuro experience out of range of most TV shoppers, and may have put paid to Pioneer’s TV business.

As I said on Pioneer’s blog, this looks like an instance where the credit cruch has cut both ways. In the notoriously competive television market, the credit crunch has made it harder for Pioneer to manufacture their TVs at relatively small volumes, and it’s made it harder for shoppers to justify the Pioneer premium.

I’m sure there will be more details emerging over the next few days, but for now the message for shoppers is that 2009 could be your last chance to get your hands on a Pioneer TV, such as the Pioneer 5090 or a classic Pioneer Kuro PDP4280XD.

See Reevoo to buy, or just gaze at, the other Pioneer Kuros.

NB - this guide has been updated.  See the updated Panasonic TV model numbers post.

Today we’re continuing our guide to understanding TV model names. At first glance, TV product names are generally pretty complicated, unmemorable and unpronouncable combinations of letters and numbers. To the uninitiated this doesn’t help when you’re trying to find your way around the large television market.

However, closer inspection does often reveal some logic behind the names manufacturers give to their latest gift to the world. Today I’m going to walk through Panasonic’s naming conventions.

The first letters tell you a little about the type of screen:

- TH for plasma
- TX for LCD

The first two numbers refer to the screen size in inches.

The next letters and numbers are the series:

- P series are always plamsas
- L series are always LCDs
- A Z means the TV is Full HD
- An X means the TV is HD Ready, but not Full HD

Panasonic currently has the following series:

Panasonic Full HD LCD TVs:

- LZD800 (37″)
- LZD81 (32″, 37″)
- LZD85 (32″, 37″)
- LZD80 (32″, 37″)

Panasonic HD Ready LCD TVs:

- LXD85 (32″)
- LXD80 (26″, 32″)
- LXD8 (19″, 26″, 32″)

Panasonic Full HD plasma TVs:

- PZ800 (42″, 50″, 58″, 65″)
- PZ81 (42″, 46″, 50″)
- PZ85 (42″, 46″)
- PZ80 (42″, 46″)
- PZ8 (42″, 46″)

Panasonic HD Ready plasma TVs:

- PX80 (37″, 42″)
- PX8 (37″, 42″, 50″)

You can find out more about each series in Panasonic’s brochure (10mb pdf)

Finally, the B that’s sometimes included in the product name stands for region B – the UK.

Hi, I came across your site and your video explained alot, I have two questions:
1) What are the best three, value for money (up to £600) easy setup, standard definition, HD ready 37″ LCD televisions?
2) Is 1080p and 33,000 - 1 ratio as important for a 37″ TV as it is for a larger screen TV?

John, 51, NHS worker from Whitley Bay

I’ll tackle your second question first. People debate how important 1080p is for medium size screens like 37″. It partly depends on how close you are sitting to the TV and how good your eyesight is. If you don’t think you’ll be watching a lot of HD content I’d suggest that it’s probably not worth the extra outlay.

Contrast ratio on the other hand is important for all screen sizes, but as I said in the video it’s not the be-all-and-end-all of screen quality, and it’s often an unreliable number, so I would suggest using the ‘image quality’ ratings.

To answer your first question, here’s a link to the top rated TVs in your price range.

I’d suggest taking a look at the Panasonic Th-37PX80B.

It has one of the highest ratings for screen quality in this group, and a couple of the reviews mention good SD quality. You might want to watch out for a relatively low sound quality rating with that model however.

For all round performance at a good price, this Samsung 4 Series also looks like a good choice. One reviewer mentions that the Freeview picture is good.

For a Full HD (1080p) option, take a look at the LG 37LG6000. Not as many reviews, but several of the TVs ranked above it get poor reviews for their SD quality, and this model has a very good picture quality rating so far.

Time for another question from a reader:

I am looking to buy a new tv of around 37 to 40in and I am considering the Panasonic TH-37PX80B or Sony’s KDL 40V4000.

I will be watching standard defintion via Sky+ and DVDs. I do not intend to move to HD for some time.

I watch a lot of sport and I am concerned that the Sony could be subject to motion blur.

The awards in What HiFi have the Panasonic as the best 37in and the Sony as the best 40in.

My problem is which to chose between the tv?

- Paul, 51, Nottinghamshire. (’Man Utd fan’)

The main difference between these TVs, apart from the screen size, is that for ~£100 extra, the Sony is Full HD and has a higher reported contrast - but neither feature is particularly important if you’re planning to watch a lot of sport.

The Sony is also more highly rated than the Panasonic by confirmed purchasers on Reevoo.

A couple of the Sony reviewers did mention that this TV might not be great for watching football, but several of the reviews of the Panasonic mention positively that it doesn’s suffer from motion blur.

For me it would be the Panasonic of those two, but you should also consider the other highly rated 37 inch TV options.

For example this LG 37LG510 gets a good rating for image quality, with no-one reporting motion blur problems, and its even cheaper than the Pana.

Updated 23rd july 2009

At first glance, TV model names are generally pretty complicated, unmemorable and unpronounceable combinations of letters and numbers. To the uninitiated this doesn’t help when you’re trying to find your way around the large television market.

However, closer inspection does often reveal some logic behind the names manufacturers give to their latest gift to the world. Today I’m going to walk through Samsung’s naming conventions.

The first two letters refer to the type of screen - LE for LCD as in this example, UE for LED, or PS for plasma.

The second part of Samsung names is fairly obvious - the two digit number indicates the screen size in inches.

The next letter tells you what ye\r the model was re;eased: B models were released in 2009, A models in 2008.

The first number that comes after this represents the product series.  Here is an outline of the difference between each series:

The next numbers tell you when the model was released.  To use a made-up example, the 600 would be released a few months before the 650, but the 651 mightonly be released a week after the 650.  There can be slight differences in the appearances of models with different numbers in these positions - look at the product features section (on the left hand side of the product page) to check.  These differences tend to be superficial and not affect the performance of the TV.

Sometimes you’ll see a letter at the end of the model number.  This may just refer to the retailer who is selling the TV, but sometimes it can indicate a very small difference in the appearance of the TV, for example, whether the stand is oval or rectangular.

Robert from Cardiff recently got in touch with me to ask the following question:

Can you recommend a 32ins general allrounder? I need good picture quality and a screen that does not give a juddery football. I can spend up to £550.

Great question!

If you wanted to spend right up to your budget, £550 will get you a very nice 32″ TV. For example, this Panasonic TX32LZD80, rated 9.1 out of 10 on Reevoo.

However, you can get a very solid 32″ TV for considerably less, like this Samsung LE32A436T, also rated 9.1/10.

It does get a lower rating for image quality, but ought to be fine for watching sport.

What do you think is the best 32″ TV? Is it worth spending £550 or can you get a good telly for less?

If you’ve got any questions you want answered about anything to do with Home Entertainment, leave a comment below.

We’ve been talking about saving money and budget buys recently so we had to share the ultimate triple-use product. Save even more money by buying one product that works as three - like this HDTV which houses a Blu-ray player and a PC!

Named Allio, it has just launched in the US and comes in 32 and 42 inch models. The PC doesn’t have a bad spec at all - Intel Core Duo E8400 processor, 1TB hard drive and 4GB of RAM. It also comes with Windows Vista Home Premium and there are plenty of USB ports and wired / wireless network options.

The HDTV isn’t terrible either. It’s a 1080p panel with 2,000:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 brightness and twin 12-watt speakers. You can even watch your Blu-ray content as Picture-in-Picture or split-screen.

It’s not available in the UK yet but we’ll keep you posted. In the US, the current prices are:

32″ - £950

42″ - £1800

Low-cost versions are also on the way - even better!

More info here

We had credit crunch busting laptops last week and this week we bring you TVs. If you’ve needed to replace an old one or if you just want to treat the family at Christmas, we’ve checked out over 550 televisions to find you the best ones for under £400. In fact, most of them are even under £350!

Top 10 TVs under £400

1.       Goodmans LD3265D - 32″ - £330

2.       Goodmans LD1945WD - 19″ -  £170

3.       Sony Bravia KDL20S3030 - 20″ - £280

4.       Samsung LE32A436T - 32″ -  £358

5.       Sony Bravia KDL20S3000 - 20″ - £285

6.       Sony Bravia KDL26S3000 - 26″ - £375

7.       Sharp Aquos LC20AD5E - 20″ - £300

8.       Philips 19PFL5602D - 19″ -  £279

9.       Sony Bravia KDL20S3070 - 20″ -  £295

10.   Philips 19PFL5522D/05 - 19″ -  £257

If you’re looking for a bigger TV, I think that 32″ LCD Samsung LE32A436T is great value for money. With three HDMI ports and two scart interfaces, you won’t be short of places to plug in all your home entertainment bits and pieces.

One reviewer wrote:

“Great TV for the price point. I was quite surprised at the quality of both picture and sound. Definitely worth a go if you’re watching the pennies. Terrific value for money.”

And if you’re into gaming:

“sleek design, dust magnet though! Quality of picture when playing games on my xbox 360 is fantastic.”

It’s also praised for its image and sound quality so a pretty good all-rounder.

If you really want to save money though, the £170 19″ LCD Goodmans LD1945WD is a bargain. With great scores for design and image quality, if you don’t mind buying a little smaller, you can really save the pounds here.

Whichever TV you go for, just be sure you read the reviews first. You may be able to save money on the price but if the TV isn’t right for you, it’ll be money wasted.

Now all you need is a TV stand : )

Sony’s X4500 and W4500 series TVs were first announced back in August, and have been on general sale for a month or so now. I thought it would be good to round up thoughts from around the web on how these models shape up. If these are helpful I’ll turn this into a regular series of posts.

First up, the W4500 series.

My summary of the reviews:

Pros: SD picture, sound quality, contrast, motion handling, design

Cons: Time to download EPG settings, possible clouding issues, value for money

Definately a mixed bag, as you’ll see below!

What HiFi: Sound and Vision:

The 40W4500 is one of the finest TVs we’ve seen all year. And, if you want a screen that can make the most of high-definition content, you’d be bonkers not to give it an audition.
Read more

Bobby J on AV Forums:

The KDL-40W4500 is absolutely brilliant - it produces a clarity of picture in SD digital which is quite mind blowing whilst in analogue the picture is very acceptable - I now can’t wait for my 1st HD viewing.
Read more

BruceWayneIII on AV Forums:

Got my 46″ W4500. Watched a Blu-ray yesterday - Kung-fu Hustle - and although the movie’s image quality isn’t the best Blu-ray has to offer, I was however very, very impressed by the TV’s way of handling it. Deep black, no judder, smooth and colorful. Just excellent.
Read more

Trusted Reviews:

After the ‘warning shot’ of the 52W4500, the smaller 46W4500 seems to suffer even more distractingly with the picture-ruining light pooling problem that troubled us on the large model. Seriously, the problem is so aggravating this time out that it’s hard to believe these TVs are getting through Sony’s quality control systems. In fact, if I hadn’t now seen the problem on two separate W4500 TVs I might have suspected the 46W4500 was faulty.

Basically, someone at Sony needs to get to the bottom of what’s gone wrong with the W4500 range fast, or the brand’s already dwindling profits this year could be in for even more of a hammering.
Read more