I am in full agreement with Moxxey's post. We bought the 7-40 Mark III around the same time and it is interesting to note how we both had teething problems at the beginning and complained strongly about certain footage we saw. Instinctively, we felt worried that we had perhaps made the wrong decision in those early days. However, and this is a very big and significant 'however,' we have now had time to settle down with our new televisions and having viewed a diverse range of broadcasts (including DVDs) started to fully appreciate the quality of this set.

It was a learning curve and an interesting one at that. It all comes down to the quality of broadcasts. Everything that Moxxey states in his post is accurate so there is little point in me repeating it although I would add that I personally feel a high quality HD broadcast picture easily out does that of the picture on an Avant, which I bought for my Mum earlier last year (the 32 RF DVD 100hz version.) This isn't really all that relevent but since comparisons have been mentioned in previous posts I include my own opinion based on my comparisons between the two. I have never bought or even seen a picture on a BV3 so I cannot comment about that.

I adore my new television and feel completely satisfied now with my purchase. This is what always amazes me about B&O; their equipment always grows on me when I often dismiss it so early on. Clearly this says a lot about the thought and design that goes into their products. As for the 7-2 speaker, I love it. Its a fantastic design that compliments the television and creates a very nice looking overall 'package.' Of course the output quality is incredible and I recently mentioned to my dealer that I was amazed at how it seemed to play perfect 5.1 surround sound with a particular movie I watched. I found this hard to believe since it is the only speaker I use in my set up. During initiaI consulations I was advised not to go for a full surround set up due to the acoustics of the flat, which is in a 1800s Methodist Chapel so straight edges, walls, ceilings and symmetry in general is all over the place, albeit part of the appeal even if not best suited for surround sound.

When I was looking at televisions it was always going to be B&O for me and it always will be. I am loyal to the brand that I have come to love and appreciate over the years but its more than that, I truly love their products too. Other manufactured sets do nothing for me at all, not even a little bit, because it is the design concept I buy into (and want) more than it is picture or sound quality. When I was ready to make my purchase it came down to the BV7-40 or the BV5 and design wise my preference was always for the BV5. I would still say this now as I think the BV5 looks a lot better as a corner TV on a stand (which is the placement option for me) than the BV7 does; it also would compliment my artwork and furnishings a little better although at the end of the day there isn't a lot in it and I am edging on being a perfectionist. Besides which, whenever I was in my dealer I often chatted to customers and asked them which set they prefered between the two from a design viewpoint. Interestingly, the BV7-40 was by far the more popular of the two. It was also interesting to note that women prefered the 7-40. I couldn't find one who liked the BV5. Strange, but true. I finally chose the BV7-40 because it was much more future proof and I knew I would get a far better trade in later on if I wanted to change, and I will, to a BV9 or whatever it is available several years from now and if I consider it to be an affordable and worthwhile purchase at the time.

So there you have it. These are the facts about this television. You need to see it with a high quality HD signal and then make a decision whether it is the television to buy, or not as the case may be. It is a fantastic set, no question about that at all. If you are going to watch only SD then do not buy this television. That is a no brainer. If you are going watch digital then do. If you are going to watch HD digital then definitly do. As Moxxey has also stated in previous posts, BluRay is simply stunning.

Arguments for changing technologies are neither valid nor important considerations for me anymore. All technology outdates extremely quickly. There is no way to stay current and B&Os attempt to future proof products as best they can is second to none. This set does justify its asking price, which is something I was not saying originally.

I really love my TV.

Off topic, but I also want to say how much I have come to love using the Beo5. This is a really great remote and I would not go back to a Beo4 now. I am used to this and love the design. I now operate it with one hand, quickly, easily and without needing to look at it, including the text labels on the screen as well as the buttons. Again, I am beginning to realise that B&O really have spent time on the design to achieve this useability. We criticise B&O for many things, myself included, but I think they are still well ahead of their game and of the competition. You get a lot when you buy into B&O and its easy to take it all for granted. Nobody else does what they do as well as they do it. They are true innovators in their field. Years of research, development and experience is more than evident.

Simon.

Bingo:

I believe every word you say, Coolskin, but would you buy it again, the same size for the same price now?

YES I would buy it without hesitation. 

I've been a pretty aggressive supporter of Bang & Olufsen's video portfolio as of late, but I have to say that there are some more sensible points of view on this thread than the brick throwing of threads past. 

That being said, I'd still buy one, but I'd also understand someone who wouldn't.

In one sense the "spec junky" argument is a bit oversimplified. Though I'm not one myself, I can't really call anyone who cares about the maths a "spec junky" because these days the technology is moving so rapidly it will make your head spin! Plainly, if you look at the past 6-7 years of B&O's flat panel video side, they've come as far as almost anyone, but the issue remains that B&O and everyone else have miles left to go. It's not what Pioneer or Sharp or anyone else are doing here today that worry me, but what we'll all be doing in 5 years time. About then we'll start seeing OLEDs coming on line in sizes suitable for actual television viewing. What will happen then? To me it's not the piddling advances of right now, but how long we have to go before we've exploited this HD technology enough to live with it a while (which, knowing technology, may not happen as it has in the past).

That brings me to why I would absolutely buy a B&O television. Because we may never catch a break like we did in the decades where audio and video moved by centimeters and you could really make a wise long term investment in technology. I think that the idea of investing in longlasting technology is more or less gone, so I have to look past the circuitry and capability and think, "So self, when this big glass rectangle is hopelessly obsolete and can't connect HDMI 14.5, will I still like it?" I think that, though there are no guarantees, B&O has shown a consistent track record of building TVs that are coveted long after they're technologically irrelevant. It's like marrying a woman who has more than looks because you know you'll be together when she's not turning heads the way she used to. Now, if you don't mind buying a new set every 3-5 years to stay current, that's fine, but they're still not cheap, so the idea of getting your money's worth out of a BeoVision 7 (my personal favorite) seems more likely than a string of Pioneers and Sonys. And let's not forget that B&O takes excellent care to allow you to retire your AV gear to other rooms and still keep it on the network so as to get more than a single generation's use out of it.

I hope that makes sense. I know we're talking big bucks, but then again it's all expensive for "what it is."     

if i was going to buy a new tv - it might be a bv7 40

but unfortunately i'd have to use it with all my sony pvr gear as the bno alternative is overpriced and technically inept 

not having a built in dvb option is inexcusable in this day and age - analogue simply sin't worth recording

the whole thing would look an unsightly mess - a lot like my avant and the two freeview boxes that are attached to it looks now :( 

 that's what annoys me about bno - their implementation of 3rd party products and their total lack of giving me a viable bno alternative

However, the Beovision 3 did go some way by accident or design to incorporate a cabinet in which you could hide VHSs and DVD players. What I have never understood is why the Beovision 3 did not have freeview in-built for the UK market.

It is not just B&O that make it awkward to integrate other components. In the mid 90s my friend's brother had a fairly high end Pioneer stack system - I don't know the model number. However, the CD drive had a four disc casette that you took out, filled with CDs and slotted back in. This system was connected up with IDEesque cables and the only composite connectors available were for the LD (aux option).

Helpful!

Some really thought provoking threads here.

To clarify my point about the cost of B&O - for me I do not have a problem in spending £7k on a B&O TV - I already have spent not far off that when I bought my BV3 with all the bells and whistles.

I also don't have a problem with B&O pricing their BV7 at the same level - as long as I'm getting something for what I guess is called the "B&O premium".

Now when I bought my BV3 and compared it to every other TV on the market - I believed it was the best. Just by looking at the product, the TV picture, the sound quality, the motorised stand - it had (and still does have IMHO) a wow factor.

Now the change to flat panels creates a problem for B&O. First of all, people require it to be flat. That so far seems to have constrained the design team to produce TVs that are not dissimilar to other LCDs in the market. Hence I believe this effects the ability for ME (not B&O) to get my wallet out and hand over £7k as I'm not sure the TV merits the B&O premium anymore - its differential from Sony or a Panasonic is less pronounced. Please note the distinction between me and B&O - B&O can charge what they like, and as people say, the Wayne Rooneys will still buy them. But wait - I am able to hand over £7k, but not necessarily willing (in truth I'm not sure and may well be soon but this is not my argument!) so B&O are potentially losing a £7k sale. OK its not from Wayne Rooney, but I'm sure a B&O dealer would be happy for anyone to walk in their store and hand over £7k.

Re the issue of technology movement, first of all, my background in AV was originally as a Linn collector - I had a full Linn setup with pre/powers/CD/DAC. I changed as I got fed up of the boxes, after seeing a red BV3 in a dealer window, sold the lot, and bought BV3, BL8k/6k/BS3k.

Now I know the sound quality was not quite up to that of Linn - but I didn't care - I loved the convenience, lack of ugly boxes and beautiful products. And actually I believe B&O is higher up in the sound quality stakes than it was when I first entered - I think the BL9s are stunning, and feel the product I'd jump at (that may never arrive now) would have been a Beosound 5. The BS3000 looks great, but sound quality is not the detail of my Linn source.

My issue is that the BV7 is also not necessarily as good as the latest lasar TV or 8000p screen that Panny have just announced, but unlike the BS3000, it doesn't have other features still make me love it and through ££££s to my dealer. 

Where am I going with this, and I guess my thread. I guess its really where are B&O going. Do they know how to keep delivering goods that people like me will pay a premium for. As we move to people wanting flat panels and compressed music on an ipod will B&O still have a niche (other than with Wayne and the WAGs).

Justin
 

To me, B&O has represented functional sculptures. Their products were works of art that also performed within a/v.

Through the years I've bought quite a number of their artistic expressions. I'm sitting in my office looking at a Beosystem 6500 and a BeoVIsion 8 on a floor stand. They look as if they were made for one another -- and I wasn't in a second's doubt when I saw a BV8, I was going to own one of those.

I feel the BV7 has a similar expressive touch. What I do appreciate is the craftsmanship and daring shapes that B&O give their products. I have BL3 and BL5 speakers, as well as BL4000. I love the remotes (maybe with the exception of the Beo5, and Beo1 is a fun joke.)

Here's B&O's challenge, as I see it: when I was looking for a large flatscreen, I just couldn't go for the BV4. It's similar to other flatscreens out there (yes, metal, etc.), but still similar. It wasn't a functional sculpture -- and I went for another flatscreen, which wasn't as clearly evident of craftsmanship, but which was functionally superior.

B&O can compensate for not being on the cutting edge of technology through "I've got to have that sculptural design" - but they can't build me-too products that are functionally inferior and expect people to keep paying through the nose for them. Just not feasible.

The company really has to revisit its strengths - not just audio as expressed through its acoustic lens speakers, but also its ability to find shapes we can't be without.

I don't really care about HDMI, Full-HD and all that nonsense. (Nonsense, because we rarely have signals that require the new formats; and because these new formats have often been created to force us to bin perfectly good components for the wrong reasons.)

I do want my premium a/v components to be expressive of a desire to challenge the ordinary through quirky but functional and surprising audio visual solutions -- and B&O needs to sit down and think about that, again.
And they should accept that some of their products are a lot better than the others, and play to their strengths.