General Forum

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

Dave — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:23:28 GMT

joeyboygolf:

My wife will not use the Beo4 to control our Sky boxes, so I have given up trying to convince her. She still watches van or some other "who done it" from America so it must be simple!!!

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

Peter — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:05:48 GMT

Agree with the sentiments here. The Avant is now indecently cheap and has a picture to rival any similar size flat screen set on SD broadcasts - in fact it will probably be considerably better. The sound is fantastic and it integrates well with most modern B&O. It works seamlessly with a Sky+ or HD box, so well you would think the box was built in. She will notice the picture is far better than the BV6. Graham is quite right though - these now sell for almost nothing - the 32" DVD RF model being the most valuable. Choose an odd colour and they will almost pay you to take it away!

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

nobby — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:31:23 GMT

Top response from Graham there ... take it from a man who knows!

The other thing to consider ... does she have a large room ... the Avant 32 is "extremely imposing" in a small room and quite a contrast from the BV6.

Neil

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

joeyboygolf — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 04:21:24 GMT

With the headlong rush to buy flat screen LCD tv's there are literally hundreds and hundreds of these Avants available for sale. So many in fact you "can't give 'em away".

The service counters are for "anoraks", they mean very little. She won't be watching the service counters, she'll be watching the picture. So, does it have a good picture at the "standard" settings?? That is the most important thing.

Default picture settings are Billiance 32, Colour 32, Contrast 44. If it does not look good at these settings, walk away!

Does the DVD player work? Test it, it's no good complaining when you get home!

Most digiboxes will work just fine with the Avant 32DVD but you may have to control it with it's own remote if it is not in the chip. Many hundreds are. My wife will not use the Beo4 to control our Sky boxes, so I have given up trying to convince her. She still watches D*ck van D*ck or some other "who done it" from America so it must be simple!!!

And finally.......I would offer £350 on the grounds that you need to buy a remote and leave it at that. They are like London buses, there will be another one along soon!

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

vikinger — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:57:37 GMT

Agree with Jaff.

I'm not certain how all the figures are meant to add up, but the stand-by days (plus days in use) suggest that the TV has been disconnected from the mains and not used for a fair period during its 8 year life. (All seem to add-up to about 5 years). The actual video hours suggest relatively limited use on a daily basis with probably one or two on/ off per day. Doesn't look like any sort of problem to me. (Dealer views???)

Graham

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

burantek — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:25:02 GMT

I have a pair of Avants from 2001, so a year older than the one in question.

I consider them lightly used and my counters are about 2-3x your values, though you had more ON/OFF.

I guess in the states -when the TV goes on... it stays on!

So IMHO, I would consider very lightly used.

Anyone else?

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

Ian — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:07:24 GMT

Many thanks for the replies received. I've now got the service counters:

Standby: 1518 Days

Audio: 0126 Days

Video: 0182 Days

On/Off: 0521 (x10)

DVD: 0019

DVD Player: 64

Loader: 155

Can someone interpret? are these numbers good or bad?

Thanks

Ian

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

BarryNI — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:53:00 GMT

You might want to check my Avant 32 DVD complete with remote on Ebay. Current bid £400. I can confirm difficulty in transporting, they are quite tall, and a bit unstable. As far as an STB module is concerned, most SKY or Freeview boxes can be fitted to the back of the unit, a simple cradle could probably be handcrafted, and operated by using an IR repeater, from Keene Electronics about £45, which could probably be put behind the speaker frets one would then use the Freeview or SAT remote to control the STB. I operate my current TV with an STB standing on end slightly behind the TV, once you have switched it on, the only use for the B & O remote is to adjust Picture sound etc. and to run the DVD player.If you are lucky enough to still have analogue TV, then the built in tuner still gives a lovely picture.

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

vikinger — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:04:16 GMT

ouverture:

a couple of weeks back a really good thread started, and it might be worth looking at it before you part with the cash !

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/t/31883.aspx

The Avant 32 DVD is totally different from the early Avant 28 so I wouldn't worry on that particular score. Sounds like a good buy to me if the TV is in good condition. Maybe take a look at the hours it's been in use through the service menus. Transporting the thing might be an issue: you really should keep it upright and so will need to hire a van or get someone to move it for you. Plenty of discussion on this forum about whether or not you should risk transport face down in a car etc.

The latest STB chip may not be good enough to cover many STBs now on the market, a few boxes like Sky have stuck with the same codes so Sky is always a good fall-back. Freeview might mean finding a second hand Panasonic TU20/30.

The Avant is still a stunning television and as good as any HD flat screen at the same size at normal viewing distances. For SD broadcasts it is superior and doesn't have motion/sport picture problems often found with interlacing software on many HD screens. Unbeatable at current prices in my opinion.

Graham

Re: Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

ouverture — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:00:20 GMT

a couple of weeks back a really good thread started, and it might be worth looking at it before you part with the cash !

http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/t/31883.aspx

Avant 32 DVD - Good Upgrade?

Ian — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:32:45 GMT

My sister has a BV6-22, which she uses as her main TV and is now looking to get something bigger. She has been offered a Avant RF DVD 32" (Black) for £500 (excl. Beo4).

This TV has advantages in that the built-in DVD means she can lose her current non-B&O player, and a digit box can now be easily hidden behind the TV. But there are disadvantges too, namely the TV is from 2002, so is over 8 years old, doesn't come with a remote (so this adds £100 to the price (from eBay) or £200 if new), the STB-C is obviously from 2002 also, so any new digital box can't be controlled via Beo4 and the list can't be flash upgraded so invloves a chip upgrade (at extra cost), and the TV is 'old' technology.

Are my concerns genuine? or is this a great deal? What do people think?(she doesn't have Sky, so HD, etc is not an issue)

Ian