We have most of the decent brands of flat-screen telly at work.
For all our demo and presentation areas we use Sharp Aquos LCDs - very nice sets indeed. We used to use Hitachi plasmas; they had fantastic colour but seemed to have a slightly 'soft' picture.
(I have a slight and historic prejudice against plasma screens as they used to have a much shorter life than LCDs, they ran hot, and they were susceptible to screen burn, though I understand things have improved somewhat).
I've got a bunch of Samsungs (surprisingly good) and Panasonics (at first impression, great when you're looking at menus or STB user interfaces but once you start watching TV you realise it's processing the image far too aggressively and loses detail) at work for hooking up to things we're working on.
Like camera or hifi kit though there is no substitute for going out and looking at the kit you're considering with the kind of content you want to look at. Do not buy a set without seeing it directly connected to a video signal - the Currys of this world have dozens of sets connected to one splitter with horrible output that utterly shags the signal. If you're going to pay good money, demand to see it directly connected to an STB or DVD player. If they won't do that, they're not worth buying from. Similarly for sets with an integrated digital tuner (wouldn't bother myself if I were you since you have Sky) demand to see that working.
Oh and don't get suckered/pushed into buying a set capable of displaying 1080p. You don't need one for another few years, unless you go for a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player. The vast majority of consumer kit these days will only put out 720p or 1080i.
no subject
For all our demo and presentation areas we use Sharp Aquos LCDs - very nice sets indeed. We used to use Hitachi plasmas; they had fantastic colour but seemed to have a slightly 'soft' picture.
(I have a slight and historic prejudice against plasma screens as they used to have a much shorter life than LCDs, they ran hot, and they were susceptible to screen burn, though I understand things have improved somewhat).
I've got a bunch of Samsungs (surprisingly good) and Panasonics (at first impression, great when you're looking at menus or STB user interfaces but once you start watching TV you realise it's processing the image far too aggressively and loses detail) at work for hooking up to things we're working on.
Like camera or hifi kit though there is no substitute for going out and looking at the kit you're considering with the kind of content you want to look at. Do not buy a set without seeing it directly connected to a video signal - the Currys of this world have dozens of sets connected to one splitter with horrible output that utterly shags the signal. If you're going to pay good money, demand to see it directly connected to an STB or DVD player. If they won't do that, they're not worth buying from. Similarly for sets with an integrated digital tuner (wouldn't bother myself if I were you since you have Sky) demand to see that working.
Oh and don't get suckered/pushed into buying a set capable of displaying 1080p. You don't need one for another few years, unless you go for a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player. The vast majority of consumer kit these days will only put out 720p or 1080i.