advice please on new SD TV

There are no plasmas at 37 inches; the minimum size is 42 inches.

What's your budget?

You're unlikely to find any SD TVs. All HD TVs upscale SD pictures. You could go for an HD ready (720p) TV instead of full HD (1080p). To future proof it, you may be better off buying a full HD TV.

EDIT: Just saw your budget. Let me find some options for you...

Check this:

http://www.johnlewis.com/231570054/Product.aspx

It represents excellent value for money for your requirements. Any reason why you don't want to go larger than 42 inches? You will soon get used to the size. What's your viewing distance?

No larger than 37" bb.

BB,

thank you for your input&link to john lewis website~I note that Richer Sounds have this at £329.... as per your question,viewing distance is approx(edit) 2metres (we currently have a 32"CRT TV at this distance). . 37" seems like the ideal size for space available, 42" too large a screen,..?.

Given that I want to remain with SD, are you directing me to plasma, as opposed to led...?

1) When you go to store, check the TV at 2m distance & see how you feel.

2) I'm not directing you to anything. Plasmas generally are cheaper & offer better value for money. I have personally demoed that particular model & was very impressed with what I saw. Being HD ready (720p) as opposed to full HD (1080p), the amount of upscaling of SD images will be less, resulting in sharper picture.

3) Check this for TV viewing distance: http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Article/How-Far-Should-I-Sit.php

Also bear in mind that John Lewis will price match Richer Sound's price.

If you want 37-inch TV, check these out:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/samsung/ue37es5500/sams-ue3...

http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/samsung/ue37eh5000/sams-ue3...

http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/lg/37ls570t/lg-37ls570t

http://www.richersounds.com/product/tv---all/panasonic/viera-txl37e5b/pa...

The LG model comes with a free5 year guarantee.

Many people on these forums generally prefer plasma TVs over LCD / LED TVs (without going into detail, an LED TV is essentially an LCD TV). There's plusses and minuses to both technologies, but I wouldn't get bogged down with the technology behind the TV - the best bet is to go with what you think produces the better picture, irrespective of the technology used within it.

The TV originally linked to by BB is a great set for the price - it would be hard to beat that. However, I'd recommend going to check it and some others out in the flesh if you can. I'd also agree that getting a Full HD TV (i.e. 1080p) would be a better long term bet. With an HDTV, a 42" set would be fine at 2 metres, and with high def content, a larger set would be actually be preferable.

Out of interest, is there a reason why you're not interested in HD? As BB has pointed out, any new TV you buy now will be an HDTV - it will upscale standard def content, but the result may well be that you find the picture is not as good as your current CRT - this will be exaggerated if you increase the size of the TV at the same time. Unfortunately this is just a by product of the gradual shift from SD to HD - your old TV was designed to play SD content so is optimised for that, whereas an HDTV is designed for playing HD content, and thus is really optimised for this.

I can understand not wanting to go to the expense of upgrading your Virgin contract, but many TVs nowadays come with a Freeview HD tuner in them which at least gets you the BBC One HD, BBC HD, ITV HD and Channel 4 HD channels - I'm not sure about you, but these channels represent probably 90% of my TV viewing! Blu-ray players are also extremely cheap nowadays, and Blu-ray discs themselves have come down massively in price since last year. A BD player will still play your existing DVD collection, allowing you to gradually increase your offline HD content as and when you want to.

Finally, you can also pick yourself up an internet TV box like the Apple TV or Roku 2 XS, or a device which combines both  - with its new circa £150 price point for the 12 GB version, the Playstation 3 is actually a really good deal, given it gives you both a Blu-ray player and access to all the standard UK catch up services (BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and C4OD). It also offers streaming music and movie services, and finally of course, games (but you don't have to go there if you don't want to!). Any device such as this will also give you another fairly cheap route into HD content.

Anyway, I've perhaps gone off-topic a bit, but thought it was worth bringing up the subject for you to consider!

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your replies. Once it is sale time at my local Richer Sounds I will check out the Samsung ue37eh5000 and LG 37LS5600,as these would appear to fit my criteria. If it becomes apparent that the picture quality on SD isnt up to scratch I will just bite the bullet to upgrade my Virgin contract and go for a HD box

As a final question, am I correct in saying that I will need to also replace my old Toshiba SD220-E DVD player to one that is capable of upscaling my DVD'S ?

I would keep  your toshiba dvd player unless you want a blu-ray player, it should be fine for upscaling your dvd's.

Your DVD player doesn't have hdmi. Don't know if the TVs you're considering have SCART. Look out for a cheap blu ray player during the boxing day sales. It will upscale your DVDs as well & give you the opportunity to buy blu ray discs in the future.