TVs, including LCD/LED, plasma, OLED, and more. Ask for buying advice, or help others, share experiences etc.
By Juan
#5291
I am going to buy a new TV of 46/47 inches. I want the best TV in order to enjoy specially films and sports. 3D is not necessary for me, but if I must pay to enjoy the best 2D picture quality, I'll do.

I am looking for high-end models of LG (9500 or 8500), Philips (469705), Sony (HX900), Samsung (C8000), Loewe, ... Some of them have front glass (LG, Sony), and others not (Philips, Samsung). The very expensive models from Loewe yes they have and the cheaper ones not. The super expensive Bang & Olufsen yes they also have front glass.

What is better, having front glass or not? It seems there are advantages and disadvantages.

Asking specialzed vendors, they generally answer that if you have children and the TV is near them (touchable), it is better to YES have the front glass because if not the TV is not protected and can be easily broken or damaged, but with the front glass this is much more difficult to happen.

But the frontal glass produces reflexions that is a disadvantage in bright rooms. A vendor that seemed to be expert told me that thanks to the front glass the image is a little better, and concretely speaking a little sharper and brighter. He could not explained me the reason why this happens but he was very sure about it and told me that front glass has some special treatments to allow this and he taked the Loewe's argument that all the expensive models are with glass and only the cheaper ones are without glass.

In my personal case, yes I have children and yes the TV is in the middle of the living room, but in the other hand the room is very bright. So in one hand it seems I am the perfect candidate for front glass, but in the other I will suffer reflexions. I NEED SOME HELP.

Looking TVs, in my opinion picture quality is a little better on LGs than on Philips, for example, but the main difference between them is precisely the glass.

Rasmus (or other friends that can answer): can you help me? Better with or without front glass?
#5293
. A vendor that seemed to be expert told me that thanks to the front glass the image is a little better, and concretely speaking a little sharper and brighter.
The reason it happens is that matte fronts intentionally disperse light. This smoothens the image somewhat, and reduces local contrast.

Also, since the glass reflects light in a specific direction, it's hit or miss in lit rooms. Either you get terrible reflections with which the TV is virtually unusable other as furniture, or you don't, and if you don't, it will actually look darker, with better contrast, can look black even. A matte surface, on the other hand, always disperses the incoming light, so it doesn't look as black when it's "hit", but doesn't suffer much when it's "miss" either.

I'm personally intentionally looking for a matte model, because even though I tend to darken the room, but for those times when I want it well-lit, glass doesn't just look bad or something, it simply doesn't work, as reflections can obscure the image beyond recognition.
So I wouldn't take the risk with glass, unless you have very much freedom in regards to rearranging the furniture in the room to put the TV in a position where it doesn't get heavy reflections.
#5295
Yes I'd also agree avoid glass if in a bright room, try to find a matte screen that you are happy with.

FYI the Philips 2009 series 9664 and 9704 (LED) both features matte screens if you can live with the issues they are a good set. The Philips 2010 9705 has all sorts of problems I'd hold off it.

Just some annoyances with the Philips 9664
* Buggy HDMI handshanking
* Dirty window/screen effect when panning on white backgrounds
* Not very effective light sensor- raises the backlight fine during the day but drops it too much during the night even with lights on in the room meaning you have to turn it off and on which is annoying with the slow GUI Philips have on the TV.
* 9664/9704 no manual back light control