The Saturday Plan was simple: Run through Macquarie Centre with a notebook and camera, looking at the 32-40 inch LCD TVs on display (typically High Definition (HDTV) capable), and quickly rating them, with my pants down. Oh, how the simple plans are often the worst. My pants ended up staying on, to everyone’s disappointment.
Without too much further burble, here’s the current state of play for LCD TVs when shopping at Macquarie Centre.
All prices are in Aussie dollars ($AUD) and should include GST. Macquarie Centre is a shopping mall in the North Ryde/Marsfield/Epping area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Notes: The idea isn’t to work out which TV is the best or cheapest (though that would be nice) – the problem is that all the TVs are set up differently, by different people at different times, with different signals. This is a subjective test, not a scientific one. Data is inconsistent because I am too. I am not an expert. Do not listen to my opinion if you’ve already bought a TV and are happy with it. If I slag it off, it’s just because the one I saw had a problem. Price cockups are my own. OK? Personally: I’m looking for HDMI/HDCP or at worst DVI input.
Last Updated: 13th November, 2005
g: guess: model number wasn’t easily visible. NLD – no longer on display; might not be back.
Make | Model | Size | Price | Res | Image | Comments |
Dick Smith Powerhouse | Reasonable selection and price. | |||||
Trio | TTH-32L | 81 | 1599 (1799) | 1366×768 | 4 | Picture ghosted visibly in DVD playback. Dim (see comments). |
Sharp AQUOS | g: LC37G1XSYS | 93 | 4293 | 1366×768 | 7 | NLD. undersaturated. Big external box, darker grey than new Aquos’. Thin bezel. |
Sharp AQUOS | New (wide) g: LC32GA4X |
81 | 3598 | 1366×768 | 8 | no ext box on newer Aquos. Thin bezel. Pretty good. |
Panasonic VIERA | g: TX32LX1A | 80.2 | 3599 (3498) | 1280×768 | 8 | possibly oversaturated, but good image. |
JVC | g: LT-Z32SX5 | 81 | 2372 | 1366×768 | 7 | NLD. oversaturated, but OK |
Sharp AQUOS | LC32G1XSYS | 81 | 2493 | 1366×768 | 5 | NLD. Big Ext Box shockingly bad input source, but probably faithfully reproduced every horrid pixel. |
Samsung | g: LA32R51B | 81 | 2798 (2987) | ? | 7 | HDMI. undersaturated. visible artifacts around cricket score, but OK otherwise |
Sony | KLV-S32A10 | 81 | 2998 | 1366×768 | 7 | Input source was split to 2 TVs and darkish. DVD wasn’t super-recent. Could be good. |
Sony | KLV-S40A10 | 101 | 5179 | 1366×768 | 4 | Input source terrible, same on 4x TVs in same grid, but screen seemed pretty good. Sales guy said V series in next week. |
Myer | Terribly set up. I’m amazed if they sell any. Do not buy a TV from Myer @ Mac Centre. Do not make decisions based on Myer in-store image quality. It will almost certainly be better in your home (or in just about any area of dangerous radiation) |
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Sharp AQUOS | LC37GA4X | 93 | 4999 | 1366×768 | 3- | terrible source |
Sharp AQUOS | LC32GA4X | 81 | 3499 | 1366×768 | 3- | crap source |
Panasonic | TX-32LX500A | 80 | 3199 | 1280×768 | 3- | even worse source. Website says HDMI, though. |
LG | RT-32LZ50 | 81 | 2999 | ? | 3- | pretty bloody bad source – misread as RT-32L250 |
Samsung | LA32R51BX | 81 | 2999 | ? | 3- | (links to PDF) again, don’t look at the LCD TVs in Myer. |
JB Hi Fi | Usually pretty good prices, big range. I like JB because I had a good experience with their after-sales service when I bought a lemon of an MP3 player. | |||||
Sony WEGA | KLVL-32M1 | 81 | 4499 (3999) | 1366×768 | 7- | Annoying Indirect link. Big frame, lots of wasted space. Big ugly external box too. Is it meant to be VEGA? |
Sony BRAVIA | KLV-S32A10 | 81 | 2998 | 1366×768 | 8 | Annoying Indirect link. Good-looking thin frame. Some interlace-line flicker, minimal ghosting. I am tempted, but website shows only KLVV32A10 has HDMI… |
Panasonic VIERA | TX32LX1A | 80 | 3999 (2998) | 1280×768 | 7 | (Price typo before? big jump) It looks good on paper, but then… 15:9? |
Panasonic | TX-32LX500A | 80 | 2999 (3499) | ? | 7 | SD card reader, HDMI |
Sharp AQUOS | LC37G1XSYS | 93 | 4450 | 1366×768 | 6 | Old model Big box. Didn’t look as good as it has before. |
Sharp AQUOS | LC32GA4X | 81 | 3299 (3999) | 1366×768 | 8 | Looked good this time. Wide speaker model. |
ViewPIA | LC37IT11 | 93 | 2998 | ? | 5+ | Model Typo? LC37IE11 on website. Some interference visible in darker sections – diagonal refresh lines. Pity. |
Samsung | LA32R51B | 81 | 2898 (2999) | 1366×768 | 7 | undersaturated. |
LG | RT-32LZ50 | 81 | 2948 (3299) | 6 | *but haggle! ("Ask for a JB Deal!") – overbright blacks (looked purple) | |
JVC | LT-Z32SX5 | 81 | 3299 | 1366×768 | 6 | NLD. oversaturated, but OK |
TEAC | LCH03240 (?) | 81 | 2298 | ? | 4- | bad quality, dark image, ugly shell. Possibly lower res. Website acts as strange, hurtful punishment for those wanting to find out about their products. |
Palsonic | TFTV810 | 81 | 2899 | ? | 4 | too dark. 16ms refresh but seemed to ghost |
Big W | If you’re buying an LCD TV from here, it’s because you’ve seen it elsewhere, the price is better, and when you saw it, it had been set up by someone without a serious smack problem. Think they use an analog 4:3 input and set the TVs to stretch the image. | |||||
AWA | TFTD94G | 94* | 2784 | 1366×768 | 3 | Low score due to terrible ?analog? ghosted blurry crap setup, and stretched image. Shifty said "looks crappy like a rear projection". Could actually be a good TV. Though if they have a website, it’s ranked well below my casual mention re LCD TV Prices. It’s a pity it’s set up so atrociously, because I really want to like this TV, especially at the amazing price. |
AWA | TFTD81 | 81 | 1998 | ? | 0 | TV was displaying snow. Snow was stretched horizontally. Possibly some ghosting. Snow may have been oversaturated. Do not buy to watch snow. |
I’ll post some images sometime. That’s the plan, anyway.
Update: Was playing with the data in Excel, and uploaded a numbers-only copy here 29 Oct. 13th November. Gosh I’m nice.
JUST BUY SOMETHING AND STOP PUNISHING EVERYONE AROUND YOU WITH YOUR INDECISIVENESS.
craig = ??????????????
But my indecisiveness is a public service, surely? 🙂
Darryn, Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh bun ur-tze.
I have one of those trio TTH-32L and it does have DVI, its on the side panel next to the D-SUB port. Also, the brightness of the backlight can be turned up, it is seperate to the regular brightness controll.
Thanks Bolty!
TRIO Corporation Pty Ltd – http://www.triocorp.com.au/
use lcd panels from
LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd. – http://www.lgphilips-lcd.com/
http://www.bigw.com.au/catalogue%2016-03-06/site/pages/04/a.html