Re: buy better equipment
The overcomplication was partly for decoration, thank you for noticing :)
On the other hand I do have no wish to buy an overpriced display screen combined with massively overpriced electronics which the manufacturers want me to completely replace every two or three years. A decent screen (only) with a separate decent external receiver/recorder/player (only) would be fine by me thank you.
I do see lots of recommendations for Panasonic but having bought a Panasonic DMREZ25 DVD recorder back in the day, I am never ever again buying Panasonic ever anywhere no way no how. Piece of total and utter sh*t.
It "works" sometimes, if you can manage your way through the utterly impenetrable user interface. And if you watch something sufficiently low bitrate (ITV4 daytime repeats of Gerry Anderson stuff?) it actually repeatably crashes. I haven't retuned it yet for this week's changes. I have no idea if it will survive. Beware of low flying EZ25s if you're in the vicinity when it fails.
Not a way to make friends, Panasonic.
So, who does that leave, other than DIY?