I can talk endlessly about the best washing machine, dishwasher and mobile phone to get but regarding TVs these days I havent a clue. After all its been 5 years since we bought the last one and prior to that my dads old TV was 25 years old when we dumped it.!

Our current TV has given up the ghost and we have been advised its not cost effective to repair as likely to be over £150 as its cathode ray. Unfortunately the one we bought from Mercury TV in 2007 in good faith appears to have already been 10 years old at the time of purchase so well obselete now.

We are therefore looking at getting a new one- prefer not too expensive and of a good size but we dont have the facility for a wall mounted one. If anyone has any suggestions it would be helpful. We have already been advised to avoid LG and look for Panasonic preferably in the lower price brackets.

Any advice helpful on make model and supplier!

I bought mive from Sainsbury Sava Centre, great choice of TV's plus a lot of Nectar points and obviously comes with a guarantee. At least check them out to compare prices! Hope that helps

Bought my Finlux from my local Euronics dealer. Mercury was the local FH dealer but now unfortunately closed. Worth hunting one down as customer service is excellent.
Finlux is their own brand but developed from the Finlandia brand which was the 'bees knees' years ago. Got a free 5 year guarantee and same day installation. I was in the shop at 11.15 and it was delivered 2 hours later. The chaps installed it, tuned it in and connected all the DVD players etc., and removed the old very heavy 28" CRT TV for free, which places like Comet charge for.
Maybe not the cheapest but they offered to price match a more expensive set which I decide against as it only had the usual 1 year warranty.

They also offer a similar same day service for washing machines and fridges.

John Lewis. 5 year guarantee on ALL TV's and they will price match. We bought ours from JL in Bluewater and price matched against Richer Sounds in Maidstone. They reduced the price by over £100.

Very helpful staff and they will not fob you off if anything goes wrong. When out two and a half year old TV went bang we had their repairers pick it up the next day, call us a day later to say it was fubared and a credit note was with us a day later.

Fantastic service.

roz

Not recommending PCWorld or any other vendor, but the link gives a good guide on important considerations.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/TV-buyers-...rcial.html

It is also advisable to consider the power consumption for the type of set you choose - it may surprise you how much even a modern TV contributes to the power bill.

A recent Which? report showed that buying a cheaper or own-brand TV is often a false economy as their energy use is so high that over the lifetime of the TV, it will cost you hundreds of pounds more than a more expensive but energy efficient one.

All our TVs are Samsungs and the quality is fabulous.

Be aware, however, the thinner the TV, the worse the sound, even on an expensive model. If you go ultra-slim you will probably need a secondary pair of speakers to make the sound bearable. We have a top-of-the-range Samsung and the sound is adequate, and a mid-range Samsung and the sound is dreadful - like it is being played through someone's phone in the next room. We happened to have a sound-bar from a previous set-up and use that to supplement the audio.

If you are not bothered about ultra-slim, you will probably be able to pick up a bargain on an old-style slim TV (i.e the type that came out c. 5 years ago and have just been superseded by the ultra-thin ones). Most come with a stand in the form of a 'foot'.

1. Do lots of research: tedious and time consuming, but it's worth understanding the jargon. LED sets tend to be the lowest energy consumption. Don't bother with plasma sets.
2. Don't buy from Sainsbury's as their prices are consistently higher than places like Currys or Comet, even though they claim "special offers". Check on-line if you don't believe me.
3. Go for a trusted, probably far east, big-name brand as these companies have a global reputation to maintain.
4. Decide on the size, if possible cut out some paper so that you have a realistic idea of how big the actual screen size will be.
5. You can get some basic info. from the "Which" web site, but it will try and get you to buy their guide to TV if you sign up for a life subscription to Which magazine!
6. Visit somewhere like Curry's in Catford and you will realise the enormous range of TVs available. Staff are sometimes helpful and then sometimes will knock you sideways with tons of technical info. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions. Remember that modern TVs can also be used as computer monitors, for games, photos and so on. Smart TVs are probably the future as they have things like BBC i-player available.
7. Don't bother with 3D.

Further advice available: just ask!

Check what sort of cable connections you get with the new TV. Most new TVs don't have Scart sockets. If you have an old VCR, DVD player or ancient Sky box, you will need converters for Scart to HDMI (which is the new Scart, if you see what I mean). Sky boxes also have an S-Video output which can be useful if you run short of HDMI sockets.

I heartily recommend this:

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/tvs/12854...-ue40d6530

I recently got one for my parents and it is spectacular in quality, picture, features aesthetics and value.

I love my LG, had it for 7 years.

It's so cool, you can rotate it via the remote - or do they all do that now?!

Thanks for all the fabulous advice- really overwhelming! I'll read up on it all over the weekend. Right now its actually very peaceful not having anything other than 5 channels on an ancient tiny portable!

Roz, dont buy a tv, get Twister!

Either that or take the batteries out of the remote - that will keep you fit if you want to channel-hop.

Its ok, my seat is right next to the little table with the TV on top as the screen is so small I cant otherwise see it unless I sit up close. So no remote required!

I'm missing the easy way to distract the children ie cbeebies, milkshake and no chance of playing dvd however I have to say they have got on with other things and I dont miss the fights over which channel to watch or the upset when the Night Garden ends and they have to go to bed. Says a lot about our addiction to TV doesnt it! I on the other hand am studying better without distraction and reading books without one eye on the telly and the house seems a lot more peaceful. The cost of a new one is so expensive not sure when we will get one again to be honest but aware that in a few weeks time we wont even have the old portables when analogue is switched off...

Hi Roz, Sainsburys have a TV sale on at the moment. We just picked up a 22" HDTV with built in Freeview and DVD for £129. They are doing larger ones as well.