Bush IDPDP42TV008

...charge of the planet, but Bush - you know, the electronics people. They make tellies and video players and DVD players and that type of thing, usually pretty damned cheaply, too. But that's not the only reason I like them - cheap Bush is handy to have, but it's not bad quality either. You tend to get the best of all worlds with Bush - a good price, reasonable reliability and some features to play with too.

I have a 32" normal ...
...It would be the third Bush I've ever owned and as I've never had any problems with the previous two, I wasn't bothered at all by the prospect of having another.

So what are we looking at here (apart from a television, that is)? It's a Bush Integrated Digital Television with 42-inch plasma screen model number IDPDP42TV008, which includes a built-in Freeview Digital TV receiver as well as the normal, old-fashioned, 'analogue' tuner. ... more

(24/10/06 - an update to this review has been attached to the end of the original, below.)

I like Bush. Really, I do.

No, not what your dirty little mind is telling you and not that weird guy who's apparently in charge of the planet, but Bush - you know, the electronics people. They make tellies and video players and DVD players and that type of thing, usually pretty damned cheaply, too. But that's not the only reason I like them - cheap Bush is handy to have, but it's not bad quality either. You tend to get the best of all worlds with Bush - a good price, reasonable reliability and some features to play with too.

I have a 32" normal Bush TV on the television stand in the living room upstairs but, in advance of the World Cup earlier this year, I needed a large telly to go in the bar and I really wanted a large plasma or LCD screen. The trouble is, large-screen plasma and LCD TVs are still quite expensive, so it took some shopping around to find exactly what I wanted and my local cash'n'carry had this particular TV on offer. It would be the third Bush I've ever owned and as I've never had any problems with the previous two, I wasn't bothered at all by the prospect of having another.

So what are we looking at here (apart from a television, that is)? It's a Bush Integrated Digital Television with 42-inch plasma screen model number IDPDP42TV008, which includes a built-in Freeview Digital TV receiver as well as the normal, old-fashioned, 'analogue' tuner. It's important to point out right now that this TV is not Hi-Definition. In all the shops across all the land, TV salesmen will tell you that Hi-Def is the way forward, but I am yet to be convinced on this. Sure, Hi-Def provides a greater quality image, but we're not talking aboutCinemascope movies all the time here and the majority of people still watch the news and believe that Coronation Street is real life. Emmerdale is the unluckiest village in the country and Eastenders the most depressing place on the planet and it doesn't matter how much you dress it up, Hi-Def won't make these soaps - which dominate the TV ratings - look any better. News channels still rely on videophones that look no better in black and white than they do in Hi-Def and most of us don't have televisions large enough to appreciate the Hi-Def quality images nor the budget to achieve it.

Sure, Hi-Def is the way forward, but the Americans have had this technology for ages and HD televisions over there are quite cheap and run-of-the-mill these days. To obtain Hi-Definition television viewing here in the UK you have to pay a vast sum of money for the television and apparently there is a big difference between the term "HD-Ready" and "HD-Compatible" and once you've got the television the only way - for the moment, at least - to view anything in HD is to take out a subscription with Sky. Their Hi-Definition box costs quite a bit of money on top of the cost of your TV and then you have to pay them a HD-subscription to get only a handful of channels currently broadcasting in this new format.

When Hi-Definition becomes more mainstream here in the UK and the prices of the equipment and subscription charges come down, then I might consider going that route, but for a big-screen television in my pub to broadcast football matches and other sporting events, it simply didn't even enter the equation.

And, to be honest, the quality of this Bush plasma screen is more than sufficient to keep my paying punters happy. By the time Ronaldo was up to his tricks my customers were several pints down and didn't really care what colour the telly broadcast in any more.

Bush provide you with a television that has enough features to keep you happy, but doesn't go overboard with the technology. They buy in components from other manufacturers in bulk to keep the costs down and present it all in a neat, silver casing that looks as slinky and as expensive as some of the more major brands. You get three SCART sockets for connecting other equipment such as PlayStations, DVD Players and Sky receivers, an aerial input socket for your normal television reception and even a PC monitor input so that you can display your computer screen through your TV. A coaxial digital audio output socket allows you to transfer the television's audio to another source, such as a Dolby Digital decoder for even better sound and, because this television has a Freeview receiver built-in, there is a DVB Common Interface socket to allow you to plug in options for additional Pay-TV services should you desire them.

Finally, the whole thing comes with a sturdy leg-stand to put it on top of whatever unit you wish, or the rear of the TV has suitable bracket holes for mounting to the wall if you would rather take this option.

So now you've got it plugged in, connected to every conceivable device you can think of, and you switch it on for the first time. Set-up is automatic and very easy; the first time you switch the television on it will scan the analogue channels and tune the television in for you from the aerial reception. For me, it did this in less than two minutes and even tuned the basic channels in to the right numbers. Often, I've had to spend ages after the telly has tuned itself in so that I can have BBC1 on channel one, and so on; not so with this TV, everything was correctly tuned the first time and there was no need for messing.

In the top right corner of the remote control a button marked TV/DTV allows you to slip between the normal analogue broadcasts and the digital Freeview reception built in to this unit. As long as you have a suitable aerial on your property and are in an area of digital TV reception (which the majority of us are these days), then this Bush TV will quickly have you connected to full, widescreen digital reception and the quality change is palpable.

The imagery on this screen is simply excellent for the manufacturer and the budget. The picture quality is sharp and clear, the colours bright and vibrant and there is no discernible screen flicker or ghosting, where images appear to follow each other across the screen slightly delayed from the main picture. I haven't yet managed to watch anything on this television that has looked anywhere near disappointing and the customers to the pub love the large, clear display. It was such a successful purchase that it had paid for itself by the end of England's second World-Cup game.

The remote control is pretty much your bog-standard remote with a couple of exceptions. As well as your standard remote functions, also included are options for the digital TV reception, allowing you to call up the digital TV guide to see what channels and programmes are available to you, set timers to switch channels or turn the television on when appropriate, call up information on the programme you are watching or flick neatly between Digital TV and Digital Radio.

This television is a widescreen TV, capable of broadcasting images in the 16:9 format that is common-place on digital broadcasts these days and whilst really early Bush widescreen TVs didn't do this automatically and those that did would flick annoyingly between full-screen 16:9 ratio and the old-fashioned 4:3 ratio that would leave large black lines at either side of the picture, this modern Bush does none of this. It will automatically size the picture to fit the screen depending on the broadcast being received, as much more expensive televisions do, and often you don't even notice that the resizing has happened. There are options to over-ride the picture sizing and you can also adjust the colour temperature of the screen to give a cooler appearance or a warmer appearance.

The audio on the television is equally impressive. The television comes with twin stereo speakers and uses Nicam stereo sound which is clear and sharp and more than acceptable for day-to-day viewing. Under the television's menu system you can set up the audio independently for the analogue and digital receivers and a BBE Digital Sound feature allows you to appreciate better quality audio on your digital receiver by correcting any phase delay ordistortion naturally that might be generated by the speaker system.

Screen saver functions prevent the television image being burned to the plasma display should you pause a DVD or video or should the image freeze for too long and a parental lock feature prevents young hands from getting to grips with the adult channels - or other channels of your choice - that are available on Freeview reception. Software upgrades can be downloaded via the digital television receiver through a BBC channel to ensure your television stays up-to-date with specifications and interactive services available to you through such channels as BBC News 24 or Sky News can be accessed via the red button, similar in many ways to the services offered through Sky digital, although admittedly much of the interactive services available through Freeview at this time are quite restrictive.

My conclusion? If you're looking for a big-screen plasma television that isn't going to break the bank, check out the offerings from Bush. They're available in most high-street stores or on the Interweb, their prices are more than reasonable, their features are more than competitive for other bargain-basement manufacturers and I haven't had any Bush break down on me yet.

So there you have it - my 42-inch Bush. And all of my customers love it.

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Updated 26th October 2006

Sadly, one of the issues with Plasma televisions is that they are not particularly reliable and many manufacturers are now moving away from making these products because the cost of administering faulty returns is outweighing the profits made from selling them in the first place.

After just four months of irregular operation (this telly was not used every day) the impressive screen simply gave up the ghost. The bottom third resolved itself to just displaying a flickering hash of reds, greens and blues and that was the end of that.

Fortunately, my supplier - Makros of Ipswich - agreed to replace the telly with a like-for-like or similar unit.

It is worth noting, however, that you should not transport, carry or move in any way shape or form a plasma television on its back. They should always be carried upright; any deviation from this will cause the injected neon-xenon gas to separate within the screen and once this has happened there is no hope for repair. Remember, if a manufacturer or supplier can actually prove that you have transported a plasma on its rear, which it advises you not to do on the box, then you may struggle to get your money back out of them.

I still like this telly a lot, but be careful with them. If you get a reliable one then expect many pleasurable viewing years; if you get an unreliable one you could spend a lot of time carting it back and forth between the shop and your home. 

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