Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

We’re all feeling the pinch in the run up to Christmas, but with all the great movies coming on TV it’s still the best time of year to upgrade to a home cinema system.  In a gesture of seasonal goodwill, major manufacturers like LG, Sony, Samsung and Philips all have cheap home cinema systems on the market suitable for the budget-conscious.  Although you still won’t be able to pick up a Blu ray system for much less than £350, there’s lots of choice in DVD home cinema systems under £150. Here’s the pick of the bunch, plus one to avoid.*

(*we’re basing our choices on the opinions of real shoppers who really own these products, not because these manufacturers have offered to send one of these systems over if we write nice things.  Although we wouldn’t say no if one arrived at Reevoo Towers, no strings attached. In case anyone from Sony/LG/Philips/Samsung was wondering…)

LG HT304SU

Whether you’re looking for something to fit into your living room discreetly, or you’re a fan of great design, LG’s HT304SU 5.1 DVD system is one to consider.  The front, centre and rear speakers are neat little glossy black balls, but they still give out a decent 300W when teamed with the subwoofer.  It’s impressively flexible, catering for DivX and MP3 CDs, and letting you copy tracks from CDs directly to MP3 players which can plug into its USB socket.  Reviewers are generally very happy, awarding on average a score of 8.4/10, but are irritated by the short rear speaker cables.

Panasonic SC-PT170

This Panasonic home cinema system has a more traditional look, but it’s still very clever under the surface.  As well as upscaling, HDMI connections and 5.1 surround sound, it has a couple of more unusual features.  It’s very energy-efficent - up to 50% better than previous models.  Whispermode is Panasonic’s smart way to make sure you get the full effect of surround sound even at low volumes, which keeps you and your neighbours happy. Whispermode does get mixed reports from Reevoo reviews, but they’re still impressed enough with the system to give it an average score of 8.6/10.

Sony DAV-DZ280

This Sony home cinema system is the right choice if you’re looking for something to double as a hifi.  It has an iPod dock and technical wizardry to give music back what compressed file formats like MP3 take away. And with 850W of power, you won’t want more volume.  Reviewers do report the system’s tricky to set up and there were complaints again about the length of the speaker wires provided. Apart from this, owners were very happy and it was rated 9/10 on average.

One to avoid: while reviewers are very happy with Goodmans TVs and set-top boxes, lots of them have had significant problems with its HEC142 home cinema system, which is cursed with slow response time and unreliable sound and playback.

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 : )

I’ve been looking at the prices you can expect to pay if you buy a TV from the top brands. This will help if you’re shopping for a TV by brand - how much can you expect to pay for a Sony these days?

This data comes from thousands of purchases from Reevoo’s retail partners in 2008.

There’s no suprises at the top and bottom of the table - you can expect to get a Matsui TV for just over £200, while the average price forked out for a Pioneer set is over £1000!

Here’s the full list:

Matsui - £209
Goodmans - £250
Hitachi - £282
Philips - £522
LG - £547
Samsung - £578
Sony - £627
Toshiba - £639
Panasonic - £717
Sharp - £841
Pioneer - £1,258

This list tells us a lot about the screen sizes where manufacturers are selling the most products. For example, Matsui make televisons from 14-42″, with prices ranging from £60-550, but on average people are paying around £200, so I’d be cautious if I was looking at a £500 Matsui - not many people are buying them.

While that’s helpful, it’s also really valuable to look how the average cost for each brand varies within a particular screen size. Here’s how things pan out in 32″ TVs:

Toshiba - £414
Hitachi - £418
Philips - £445
Sharp - £455
LG - £456
Samsung - £458
Sony - £538
Panasonic - £600

Overall the average price paid for a 32″ TV was £465. Within a screen size, you’d expect to pay more for extra features, like 3 or 4 HDMI ports rather than just 2; higher picture or sound quality; or perhaps just to get a shiny logo on the front.

Of the top manufacturers, it’s interesting to see that only Sony and Panasonic sets are selling for above the average price. Although both manufacters produce models available for around £400, they stand out as the premium brands at this screen size.

On the budget end, few manufactuers are selling 32″ for much less than £400, but Hitachi and Toshiba’s low end models are very popular, making them the value-for-money pick of the 32 inchers.

Which brand do you think offers the best value-for-money? Who do you think is just charging for their logo? Share your thoughts with other shoppers.