I want to get a cheapish 40-42" TV for Christmas for the in-laws. Any recommendations for a basic model? Don't need any smart TV features (which they wouldn't use) and it doesn't need to be exceptional quality (coming from an old CRT) to keep my budget down. Similarly they only have one AV source (never even got to grips with a DVD player) so input/outputs don't matter either.
Any advice appreciated.
Don't go too "junky".. they can be short lived and you may find you are buying another set in a short time. I assume they would want the good old fashioned quality with reliability?
I have found LCD/LED sets to be more durable than plasma and if they watch much tv during the day they may have difficulty seeing it on a plasma.
I have had a great run with LG sets… I have had a bad run with other well known sets but wont mention names to avoid arguments.
Apart from LG I would consider Sharp, Changhong (popular in asia available from Bing Lee and The Good Guys) and Soniq from JB HiFI.
42" would be as small as you should go for a main tv. They may thing that is too large but in a few weeks they may be wondering why they didn't get a bigger one. :-)
For a basic set expect to pay around $500 for a 42" LCD/LED.
If you go for the junky sets like DSE or Kogan take out an extended warranty.