So last week, or rather the week before last we went out to do the Sunday shopping at the local huge monster size Tesco (like WalMart for you Americans) and I saw my opportunity to buy a HDTV. It was a spontaneous decision when I saw the price of a LG 32 inch HDTV

So we took the TV home, and really enjoyed the new setup with PS3 and the Wii all plugged in, and the MacMini in the PC port of the TV. Everything worked really well and the PS3 in HD was stunning.

The weekend after we went to checkout this big pet store in Chingford and wouldn’t you know it, they had a couple of big electronic shops next to them. Just out of curiosity we took a look at their HDTV sections and wouldn’t you know it, they were selling the same LG TV for £100 less.

Tesco had said that I could bring the TV back if I didn’t like it, so thats exactly what I did. We then went to EmpireDirect which had a HUGE TV section, I noticed that I could get an upgrade size for the same price and since everyone at work had told me that LG was not as good as Samsung, I went for a Samsung 37 inch Full HD.

At first impression, the TV was rather good, and it had nice features. But the sound was awful and the picture was so bitty. The built in Digital TV receiver was utter shite, with the worse MPEG decoder. The picture from the TV looked like a YouTube video, reviewed on a TV. Just awful. Very disappointed, I called the shop on Sunday morning and they told me to bring it in, and let the manager decided.

The sales guy at the store was very nice when I bought the Samsung, and when I took it back to the store, I explained my woes and how disappointed I was with it. Rather than give me the bullshit of 15% re-packaging fees they would charge for a return other than faulty equipment, he said “Lets say its faulty and send it back”. This was great news, because now I could get a nice LG (with their great remotes) at the same size or bigger than the Samsung at the same price.

I chose the LG 40” Full HD, which was the same price, as they had some special store offer. Then he went on to tell me they didn’t have any new ones in store and the next time would be Tuesday. ARGH! What a fucking nightmare this is turning out to be. I was very close to just giving up on the whole thing and just be happy with the PS3 being played through the 24” Dell monitor I’d been using before.

At this point, the guy suggested that since I was looking for good sound a great picture, why don’t I pay an extra £60 and get a nice Sony one, which he said had the best sound. I was so fed up with going back and forth, unpacking and repacking the TVs, I just couldn’t be bothered with yet another journey. But at that point I thought, well fuck it, Sony TVs have always been great, and my family has owned 3 of them during the last 30 years. They last looooong time, picture is great, sound is great and it’s a reliable brand.

I said to him, OK lets go with the Sony Bravia 40 inch 1080p, fuck it, it’s only money and I NEED a good TV or I’ll go mad after all this hassle.

WOW, what a TV. Picture is Awesome, Full HD 1080p, AMAZING sound, so many inputs, so many features and settings for every input. If anyone is out there looking for a HDTV at 40 inches, this IS the only one to get. Samsung, LG, Toshiba and others can kiss my arse. Even the fucking remote control is well thought and well designed. Also bought Plant Earth BluRay, and that looks fucking amazing.

Nikki is also very happy with the TV :)