GONZO Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 £25/m for telephone and broad band. Get into some hard ball negotiating with BT and TalkTalk. Play one off against the other and you should be able to drive down the cost of telephone and unlimited broad band. Plus, pay the line rental up front for the year for a bit more saving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Whisky Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Try the Charity Shops (British Heart Foundation Charity Shops carry electrical stuff). So many people have sets with built-in Freeview now that the set-top boxes are redundant in many homes (I've given three away!). That said, they're cheap to buy new as well - Tescos or even Aldi have them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 Colin, we can get 20 freeview, 10 HD , 15 radio stations. More than we want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 You will need a Freeview box for each TV that is not already Freeview. They connect via a SCART lead ( or HDMI on new stuff) and the TV must have a SCART socket ( some old ones dont ) Freeview boxes are fairly cheap but very unreliable in some makes. The latest YouView box is very good and mine is reliable so far (6 months), but again you need one for each TV. But it might be cheaper to buy a small TV for each bedroom rather than a YouView box for each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted November 20, 2014 Author Share Posted November 20, 2014 The number of replies has been great, thanks. I'm getting through all the advice and slowly getting a plan together. Get my aerial sorted and have a new one- the original is very old. Keep my old tv at the moment Take a trip to my local av retailer and have a look at some HD boxes. Look into a new tv in the future. The tv in the lounge is one of these! Had it for nearly 10 years ! Then I bought it ex-display Edited By cymaz on 20/11/2014 19:54:04 Edited By cymaz on 20/11/2014 19:55:43 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Fledermaus Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Just to keep the pot boiling Cymaz, Finlux TVs always get a good review in What HiFi. magazine. One of the largest TV manufactures in the World, based in Turkey, I think, they make a lot of branded TVs for other manufacturers. You can't buy them on the high street, but they do have their own UK based distribution outlet and web site, next day delivery is free. They currently have a 42" Smart TV with built in freeview for £299. Might be worth considering. FINLUX Edited By Colin Ashman on 21/11/2014 15:40:45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Well the own brand TV makes generally seem the worst according to Which? so it would be worth paying a pound to read their reports before you buy. In particular check out Which? 'Dont Buy' models. Mainly Samsung. LG, Sony & Panasonic seem to be best buys but it varies greatly with model number. Just one John Lewis brand ( 1199 pounds & made by LG) was also a best buy. Note also that if you buy a 'smart' tv that they spy on what you view! ( according to Which? Sept 2014) and you probably cannot get away from that as you have to sign up to the makers conditions or you cannot use the smart tv features. Some savvy person found their TV even extracted their childrens names from their home videos played on the tv and sent the names unencrypted to the makers. Beware what you watch on a smart tv! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Fledermaus Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Posted by kc on 21/11/2014 15:52:44: Well the own brand TV makes generally seem the worst according to Which? so it would be worth paying a pound to read their reports before you buy. In particular check out Which? 'Dont Buy' models. Mainly Samsung. LG, Sony & Panasonic seem to be best buys but it varies greatly with model number. Just one John Lewis brand ( 1199 pounds & made by LG) was also a best buy. Note also that if you buy a 'smart' tv that they spy on what you view! ( according to Which? Sept 2014) and you probably cannot get away from that as you have to sign up to the makers conditions or you cannot use the smart tv features. Some savvy person found their TV even extracted their childrens names from their home videos played on the tv and sent the names unencrypted to the makers. Beware what you watch on a smart tv! It depends then on which you trust to give a reasoned and balanced review Which or What HiFi Sound and Vision LINK Edited By Colin Ashman on 21/11/2014 16:11:38 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 We have no reason to distrust Which? / Consumers Association. They are the most strictly independant testers in the country. Edited By kc on 21/11/2014 16:28:40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Fledermaus Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 Don't want to get into a silly argument about which is the more trusted otherwise it will be handbags at dawn. I'm sure Cymaz is more than capable his own mind up that's assuming he even wants to buy a TV at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted November 21, 2014 Share Posted November 21, 2014 There is no argument -- the Consumers Association /Which? is a completely independant tester. Magazines have to look after their advertisers and are not independant. The website Colin linked to says the Finlux is £150 cheaper than the rival Samsung UE40H6400 .. While the Which? website correctly shows the price of that Samsung as only 100 pounds dearer. You decide who you trust! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 In conclusion to this thread a few things have happened. So I thought I would bring all the helpful contributors up to date. The issue of a new telly was resolved by number 1 son, who as a complete surprise, bought Mrs Cymaz and I a new 50" Panasonic led with Freeview. The aerial then was replaced and updated to get the telly working. I bought a Panasonic Freeview recorder and blu ray player combined so we could make the most of the HD. Over Christmas the Sky box was never turned on! And we haven't missed it. So the Sky TV will be cancelled and that will leave us the Sky phone and broadband - and we're happy with those. So thanks to one and all for the help Edited By cymaz on 27/12/2014 10:56:26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 I went from my old 36" CRT to 50". The physical face size is about the same once the CRT frame was added in. The Panasonic is remarkable....I'll post the model number up soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 This is the one Percy V. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 I have a 23' x 13' lounge and we sit about 12' from the telly. Surprisingly it doesn't look to bad as the frame is so thin? But I'm no salesman. My lad had a piece of card the same size as the telly to see what it would look like. Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avtur Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Posted by Percy Verance on 27/12/2014 13:58:38: Good spec on the Panasonic by the way. I've not seen a 1200 hertz refesh rate anywhere before........ The Sony I had my eye on has 800hz rate, which is probably more than enough. I guess these telly makers are in a constant battle to outgun each other though....... I think you're right, it's a numbers game and they (manufacturers) rely on the fact that "some" consumers will always want the the very latest model with with the biggest numbers. Whether or not those numbers actually convert to a disernable difference in performance ... well thats the question. I guess that's where the "canny" consumer can make an informed buying decision ... previous model at a lower price might offer 'good value' .. Come to think of it the same 'might' be true for some of our modeling products ? Edited By avtur on 27/12/2014 17:38:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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