TerryM wrote:

The quality of a TVs internal processing will have a major influence on the picture quality,especially of SD material.

Otherwise,why would one have need of expensive external processors such as Lumagen?

Not really. I think you miss the point. I mean that LCDs tend to show the picture "as is" in all their glory or pixelated when the quality is poor. When you get a very powerful source, a top notch Samsung LCD will be as good as, say, a BV10-46. I was back up North at Christmas and my Mum's new Samsung is pretty damned impressive with a HD source. I hardly can tell any difference.

What I'm trying to say is that if you get a great source - say HD - then the difference between good TVs is minimal. ie. I watched her new Samsung at Christmas, got back and viewed by new BV10-46 and thought "there's no difference!".

However get an SD picture and the Samsung is definitely more pixelated and, of course, the sound was terrible. Even the BV10's audio is much better than the Samsung.

If you look at the original question, the poster was asking whether there's going to be any new panel changes coming soon and whether it's worth waiting. What I'm trying to say is that the changes will be very very minimal. It's the source for the picture that will make much more of a difference. There's a HUGE difference watching SD on an LCD compared to HD!

I believe the major benefits you'll gain from jumping from a MkII to one of the newer models is the BeoSystem 3 engine with its HDMI connectors and the 1080P Full HD display.

I'm not sure I agree with Moxxy on this one.  The system chassis is the primary benefit (sound, picture, connectivity processor), thereafter, you'll see very modest brightness, contrast, black level and panning improvements between the MKIII display of late 2007, the MKIV and MK V. You'll also get the Digital TV Tuner in more recent models.

To my mind I would not buy a complete brand new TV at the current time for 3 reasons:

- 3D is a gimmick and commercial revenue generating opportunity that is going nowhere. 

- B&O will be introducing a new chassis later this year. 

- Whilst it remains a rumour, I'd hold off on any new main TV until Apple plays their hand. Ultimately, they could change the whole TV game this year if they do actually enter the market. And if they do, its unlikely to be just a modest improvement on what we all have today - it will be transformational.

I think the smart move is to get your hands on a traded in MK IV or V from someone whose bought the latest 3D model. Also smart coz the kitchen might be back on.

Hope that helps.

mawheele wrote:

I'm not sure I agree with Moxxy on this one.  The system chassis is the primary benefit (sound, picture, connectivity processor), thereafter, you'll see very modest brightness, contrast, black level and panning improvements between the MKIII display of late 2007, the MKIV and MK V. You'll also get the Digital TV Tuner in more recent models.

Having owned these TVs, I can assure you there there was far more of a "modest" update to the panels between those versions. I owned a BV7-40 MII (briefly!), an early BV7-40 MKIII and 2 x BV7-40MKIVs. I'm in more of a position than many to talk about the difference between the BV7-40 revisions.

The difference between the MKIII and MKIV was significant. A huge jump. The MKIII was very dark, made some movies and PS3 games unplayable. The first revision MKIV was a massive improvement. My original MKIV became faulty after 6 months and was replaced by a newer model. Even this rev.b MKIV was brighter - a small jump, but not significant as the jump from MKIII and MKIV.

What's the difference between these TVs (III and IV)? Not the Beosystem 3. That was omnipresent. It was the panel. LCD panels have consistently improved over the last four years. The Beosystem 3, apart from some minor audio improvements, has barely changed - this drives the "picture processing", which proves that it isn't this, but the panel that makes the difference.

Further to this, my new BV10-46 is a very minor step up from the Beosystem 3 powered BV7-40 MKIV, but lacks the powerful picture processing in the Beosystem 3, indicating that the panel these days plays a much more important part than, say, the BS3.

Panels have got so good in the last year or so that we're seeing only fairly minor changes in picture quality. As I said above, a brand new Samsung with a top quality input (Sky HD) will display a top notch image. Audio lacks, however.

Gone are the days where the jump is so significant. For instance, the BV7-40 MKII lacked the Beosystem 3 and a HD panel. The jump to the MKIII was major. The jump from the MKIII to the MKIV major, for other reasons (panel quality). The jump from the MKIV to MKV/MKVI is less significant.

So, buy your BV7-40 now and improvements going forward will be relatively minor in comparison to the previous big jumps in picture quality on the BV7-40.

Like moxxey, i also had MKII which is HD ready, to be honest i would have kept this if there are HDMI connections rather than picture quality because 720p is still pretty good in B&O products. THe MKIII is a big leap only in terms of connections although i can't recall if i was wowed by picture quality but improvement picture quality there is. One of the reasons for upgrading to MKIII was the cost (£3k) including free blue ray upgrade and a stb bracket as the MKIII was also near end of production line. I didn't have any of moxxey' s software issues though. I must admit the MK III picture is a little dark on comparison with major manufacturers panels.

I have upgraded to MK-VI 3D non DVD over christmas and i felt this was a quantum leap. An internal 3D BR costing >£2K is ridiculous and i settled with sony s480 3D BR using atlona.  Toy story 3D is amazing. HD source is a significant improvement for me. The picture is actually LED, much sharper image similiar to BV10-32. Furthermore it only cost me 1.5k to upgrade as there was 1k off trade in and the residual value of the MKIII panel.

buy your 7-40 now.....you won't regret it.

Vince

I don't know about other Aussies, but I find these upgrade prices a bargin !

Of course I am not sure of the currency ... GBP or Ueros, but still !!!!

I think we are not well served :-( but we are still probably better off than our NZ cousins :-((

vlohjr1 wrote:

Like moxxey, i also had MKII which is HD ready, to be honest i would have kept this if there are HDMI connections rather than picture quality because 720p is still pretty good in B&O products.

Yes, you make a very good point which I forgot about! Even though the MKII came with a single DVI socket, no Beosystem 3 and a 720p panel, it was actually *better* than the MKIII for SD images as the newer MKIII had to upscale SD to the 1080p panel and, suddenly, it looked a little like a downgrade (moving from MKII to MKIII). The MKIV and newer panels improved this big time. Can't tell you how happy I was when I ditched the MKIII!

elephant wrote:

I don't know about other Aussies, but I find these upgrade prices a bargin !

Yes, you're definitely right there. I upgraded my BV7-32 to a BV7-40 MKII, then to a MKIII and a MKIV. Each time I spent under £2000 upgrading, which I thought was fair value to get a new B&O TV. I have friends who are quite willing to spend £1500 on a regular TV.

My philosophy is to upgrade every 2-3, paying around £1500-2000 each time.

Mind you, as we've discussed above, the BV7-40 MKIV was so good (particularly my latter model), I didn't feel the need to upgrade to newer BV7s. Hence the swap to the BV10-46 -> bigger screen, more compact, looks like a painting on the easel stand!

On a completely different note, our Australian Software Store is one of the best-performing as we're able to undercut a lot of the local Australian prices (as we buy software in GBP), as Australian software titles are priced at least 25% higher than they are in USD (in the States), even though the AUD is performing very well at the moment!

moxxey wrote:

Australian software titles are priced at least 25% higher than they are in USD (in the States), even though the AUD is performing very well at the moment!

So true, both Apple and B&O still use an old model exchange rate !!!

e.g. ATV2 is USD99 but AUD129 even though the exchange rate is 1.04 in our favour !!!