Very helpful article. I am a first time buyer and I was going to purchase a video. Thanks for the information.

George
Posted on 10th May, 2007
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I cant decide between the Panasonic TH-42PX600U and the Hitachi Director’s Series 42HDX99. Please compare the two. Is the anti reflective/anti glare panel on the Hitachi a marketing trick or does it really work? What about the sound quality of the Panasonic vs the Hitachi. Are other 42 inch Hitachis worth taking a look at?

Compare and choose…

Hitachi Ultravision 42HDS69 vs Panasonic TH-42PX600U

PLEASE………Compare and recommend between the Panasonic TH-42PX600U and the Pioneer PDP-4270HD.

Thank you,

These are all 2006 models not 2007.  I prefer the Hitachi,  more features and high resolution than the other two, though Panasonic has deeper better black level.

The HD Guru

I bought the polaroid 46″ 1080P at walmart just less than a month ago. I think I’m going to take it back. $1400 for a TV that can’t be repaired after one year is BS.

Does Philips have a good service reputation?
Yes, Philips has a nationwide service network for in and out of warranty service.

The HD Guru 

There are many repair centers that repair these units. Out of warranty repair centers are around. You just have to open up the phone book and look.

I don’t not know which brand you are referring to, however in order to provide proper field service a vendor needs to provide a service shop with billing (to place parts orders), service manuals, parts availability and technical assistance. If this expensive infrastructure is not in place repairing a flat panel  is rarely easy  (as in an  obvious problem with common part that is widely available) to impossible ( i.e. a part unique to the TV).

The HD Guru 

Your points are very well taken. The bottom line: Many of these second and third tier companies couldn’t care less if your set gets fixed. I speak from the vantage point of a repair technician. Most of the traditional Japanese names are still standing (somewhat) behind their sets. But if your set breaks, contact a good local facility. Just because the manufacturers are slugs doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. It just means the odds go down.

As an aside, you may want to qualify your remarks about Philips’ service network. Many of their servicers quit them on Jan 1, 2007 when they attempted to slash the repair rates they pay their servicers.

But even Philips is better than these Chinese fly-by-night sets. For 1 classic example Google “gemstar vizio vivitech DLP” and read about this disposable wonder.

Bought an Olevia 26″ HDTV in Dec 2006; It broke down in Jun 2007. Was replaced with a NEW unit. Only cost to me was $35 for shipping unserviceable unit back to them.

Bought an AKAI 42″ PLASMA TV about 18 months ago at Sam’s Club. It broke down in Jun 2007. Had extended warranty with Sam’s Club; within 20 days, Sam’s Club sent me a check for the cost of the TV. ($1,497.00).

Bought a PANASONIC 42″ Plasma at BEST BUY in Jul 2006; In Jun 2006, one of the inputs wouldn’t work. Took about 45 days to get the part (extended warranty). TV works fine now.

Guess I;ve been lucky.

Olevia says they replace all units (over 45 days old) with ones that are factory refurbished. Are you sure it was new, not just repacked as new?

The HD Guru 

Mr. Martinez has proven HD Guru’s point. The Panasonic has fixed by field service personnel, the 2 off brands (yes, Akai is an off brand, they just bought a “name”) were exchanged or bought out. If your set breaks past the warranty or extended warranty peroid, are you really OK being told to just buy a new one?

I would never consider these brands.

I am impressed with your research I bought a cheap Olivea and had a problem three weeks later. The dealer informed me there is no warranty and no authorized servicers. I am out of luck I WILL always but from a Japanese company as they have the best interst of the consumer in mind. By the way how long will these other companies be around?

How can three out of three TVs breaking be considered good luck. My mother has a BW Zenith Console in her garage that has never needed repairs and still works. Our Quality standards for these manufacturers have sunk to an all time low and don’t say “new technology” did we see these problems when color TVs came out or the first VCRs. We still have one of those tanks around, It cost a thousand dollars back then and it had a real warranty and was repairable, so where do these fly-by-night operations get off not having to make parts available?

Customers are looking at cheaP CHEAP CHEAP ….i AM A 25 YEAR SERVICER AND i CAN TELL YOU there is not a good tv manufactured period . Now manufactures that try Hitachi #1 Lg #2 Toshiba #3 sony #4 all help a little Phillips stinks period poor parts poor communication and this filters back to the customer. Keep buying walmart china needs the money

Our biggest disaster was a very expensive Sony LCD. It took local service six weeks to get the part and when it arrived it was the wrong one. Took 4 months to repair. So much for the BIG names. My advice is buy whatever brand floats your boat from Sam’s club or Costco and purchase the longest extended warranty you feel comfortable with. Their warranties are the best in the industry and very affordable. Now take your new TV home plug it in and quit worrying.

i have two of the lcd that you said are disposable.this page is very helpful. If i new what i now know i would have brought another brand.i will tell my friends about this web page before they buy there lcd.i must say this webpage is very very helpful.

We are an authorized warranty service center and deal with all the above mfg’s. For plasma, Panasonic has by far the best customer service and support, Sharp for LCD’s is the best. Beyond that they all pretty much rank the same. RCA and Philips have bad customer relations, while the “no name” brands have none to speak of.

Thank you for the very informative article. Some of those lower cost brands have great pictures to go along with the low price, now I’m not so sure if I should take a chance on them knowing what I know now. As for Polaroid, I don’t consider anything that costs $1149 to be “disposable.”

That leads me to another point. Do we have any idea what the lifespan of a plasma or LCD HDTV will be? My current TV is around 6 years old and given me no problems and my last one lasted for 6 years as well. The one I had before that, a store brand, lasted 10 years and only needed warranty work once. My parents had a used Sears TV that was 15 years old, worked fine, and had never needed repairs. The only reason they got rid of it was they moved into a smaller house and had no place for it. Can we expect these kind of numbers with these new, $1200+ HDTVs?

When I finally do buy, I’ll probably consider one of the established brands like Sharp, Magnavox, or Samsung. Another brand I had considered was Viewsonic. They have good picture quality and the company has been making computer monitors for a long time. I wonder how their TVs are and how their warranty/parts/service are. If anyone has any info on any of the brands I mentioned, I’d like to know.

Thanks.

Name brand plasmas are rated at 60,000 hours (the measurement is to one half original brightness.) Panasonic just upped its rating on its 1080p plasmas to 100,000 hours.

LCD backlights are rated at around 50,000 (though I have yet to see any documentation to back up this claim). 

Many TVs are replaced every seven to ten years, but generally they are moved to another room or handed down to  a child or relative a not replaced because they break.

In the HD Guru’s experience, the traditional brands are very reliable.   

The HD Guru  

Glad to know about Polaroid! What about Viewsonic? I have been a happy user of their PC monitors for over two decades, and they make affordable LCD TVs. Are they reliable? Do they offer after-warranty service?

Thanks for this valuable info!

As a veteran of 35+ years in the electronics business (20+ in retail and 10+ in wholesale). I am constantly amazed at the consumer that demands cheaper, cheaper, cheaper and then is surprised when the units are no good.

The margins in the electronics business are so low (for legit players) at all levels (retail, distributors, manufacturers) that it is almost not worth it sometimes to sell one. Then people want to pay nothing for units that are technological marvels.

Your article points out – you don’t get something for nothing!.

After doing much research on these off-brand sets,we have been able to obtain most parts for these.It takes time to do the reasearch,but after getting parts and information it has not been that hard.We do see some backorders,that take time ,but we have been about %75 succsessful at getting these brands repaired.Vizio sets are the easiest of these companies to get parts for,followed by Insegnia, Westinghouse, and then Poloroid.We even now repair the SVA plasma and LCD sets and the Hyundai LCD sets,both these companies were thought to not have parts and service info avaiable,but they do.The key here is to do some reasearch,get the company info,then keep it handy so you don’t have to do it over again when the next set comes in for repair.

Thanks for the input The folks in Arizonia are lucky to have a repair shop like yours. Tim can be found at arizonavideoelectronics dot com

The HD Guru 

I bought the Westinghouse 40w1 40″ LCD 720p TV from HSN.com…it has the built in DVD player…I was fine and dandy with buying it since it was cheap. Problem is, all of this specific model television will not display anything in widescreen unless is is coming from VGA/HDMI inputs…RGB? Composite? Nope. It’s a known issue, but I didn’t know it. I hooked up my Wii via RGB and set it to widescreen….I was screwed.

I called Westinghouse a week after the purchase, and after telling me that I would have to pay for shipping to CA from GA to fix it, they decided it wasn’t their problem and that there was nothing they could do. My XBOX 360 via HDMI works in widescreen, so to them, it was something wrong I was doing.

Westinghouse has to have the worst customer service of any company I have ever dealt with. What should I do? Should I file a class action lawsuit for all the owners of this set? There are lemon laws, correct?

Help

May I suggest you check out HSN’s return policies.

The HD Guru 

Very down to earth and informative article. As a servicer for over 25yrs, it’s good to have a ‘non servicer’ inform the public since they rarely believe us. And ignore the typically uneducated and uninformed remarks by Shurt Cicuit. We techs have been ignoring him for years. Thanks again for the article.

I too repair all those named brands. However, you are mistaken that they cannot be fixed. Yes, its true that many times parts are not available and many times the ETA is months.
Overall, those off brands stink. I am sick of customers saying “the tv should of not broke for the amount I paid”.
How much did you pay? $1000. O ok just wondering:)

I learned the hard way to stay away from anything but top tier. My first flat panel LCD tv was an Olevia 27″. One day I noticed it looked like someone had folded the panel in half and there was a line running down the middle. I bought it from Beach Camera so called them and discovered it was 6 weeks out of warranty. They suggested I call Olevia and that’s when I discovered it wasn’t worth fixing so bought a new Toshiba Regza with an extended warranty. I am so happy the Olevia went bad because the Toshiba is fantastic!!! I’ll never try to save money again by being cheap with my electronics!

Smart move Dana.:-)

There is a reason a BMW costs more than a Hyndai, Nissan, or Ford, the same can be said for a TV.

What is so complicated about Olevia warranties. They have 2 levels. Basic and Onsite. Basic comes with thier cheap models and only covers shipping one way. Onsite comes with their high end models and covers onsite repair or two way shipping. Both warranties have a DOA period where they cover shipping both ways even on basic warranty models. Even their Refurbished TVs have a DOA warranty! I don’t know about the other brands since I don’t own any of them, but if HDGuru did as poor a job checking their facts as they did on Olevia, this article is less than worthless.

There is noting complicated about Olevia’s warranty. The “facts” are stated accurately. Perhaps you don’t understand what a refurbished HDTV is, so I will explain, in simple, easy terms.

A refurbished TV is one that was “used” by another person (length of time unknown), stops functioning properly (aka “breaks”) and has been  repaired.

The HD Guru leaves it up to the reader to decide if they like a vendor’s warranty. If you want your 46 day old TV 42″ flat panel (that was purchased as a brand new HDTV) to be exchanged for a refurbished TV at  an additional cost of $225 for shipping (under the warranty) when it needs repair,  by all means, go to your local Olevia dealer, buy lots of  Olevias and be happy.

The HD Guru   

I do not consider $700.00 a cheap TV. I bought the Olevia 32″LCD from Circuit City in Dec2006, it broke in May2007. The year warranty is worthless when, as the HD Guru said, you have to pay about $200.00 to ship it back. I took the TV to a reputable repair business and they tried to contact Olevia’s customer service to get the part and have the repair service paid by Olevia since it was still under warranty but with no success. They even offered to be a service provider for them in the area. The end result is that Olevia would only send the part to me at no cost but I still have to pay for the repairs. To me this warranty means they(Olevia) are protecting their interests because they know ahead of time their products will be coming back. Sounds like they are knowingly building poor quality products for a quick buck. They have lost me as a customer and I’m sure many more!

The problem starts while in warranty.
I service alot of plasma,s and when it comes to the “3rd party sets” its hard to find any service info and if you can its even hardy to get them,and if you get them sometimes the parts are not the right parts!! Good luck….

One 3rd-tier manufacturer you don’t mention is Sceptre. I bought a 32″ Sceptre LCD HDTV (X32GV-Komodo) from Costco because if their (Costco’s, not Sceptre’s) excellent no questions asked return policy. So far, the set has worked flawlessly. FWIW – I poked at Sceptre’s website, and the Warranty link on the support page is a dead end. I seem to recall it’s a paltry 90-day warranty. I did find an RMA form on Scetpre’s website, though, and it had the following table for out-of-warranty repairs:

Ack! For some reason the table didn’t make it into my previous comment. Let me try again…

Labor: $100 for 19in and below, $175 for 20in and up, $250 for 30un and up
Shipping: $35 for 19in and below, otherwise varies
Part(s): “Call”

I am looking for a new TV and was considering some of these second tier brands. Pricing is attractive but repair issues are a valid concern. HD guru went into some detail about the second/third tier manufacturer warranties but not the first tier brands. I read the Sony warranty and don’t feel a whole lot better. Their service network is far superior if you can bring your unit in, but if you have to ship it due to unit size or distance you are going to get hosed just like the third tier brands. The Panasonic concierge service appears to be a legitimate value added service that I for one would consider paying more for a like size/feature panasonic versus a vizio, maxtent, insignia, etc.

I would not discount these brands entirely.
Maybe I got lucky but I purchased a Syntax Olevia LT32HV LCD in summer of 2005 and have not had any problems with it at all. I got a really good deal at the time with free shipping, about $800 after the $100 rebate. Dual tuner model that is not made any more, really nice POP3 and POP12 options, no HD tuner built in though. It works good with widescreen movies and the Oppo DVD player that I bought to match up with the DVI connector. The 720p resolution is good for regular DVDs. I have also used it as a computer monitor and it works great at 1024 x 728 max resolution.
I will use this until it breaks but probably buy a new Sharp LCD in 2008 anyway to replace my other TV.

Several years ago I purchased a 15″ Magnavox LCD EDTV when they were in the $350 range. They only had a 90 day warranty, which I didn’t notice at the time, but certainly did once it failed after 7 months. When I called the ‘repair’ charge was $240 plus s/h plus taxes (on a service item?). Since I’m a bit of an electronics builder and helped a TV repair guy many years ago I asked about getting a service manual and/or parts since I believed it to be a pretty simple repair. Not offered, even to repair businesses – only way to repair it was to send it back to the main location. The magnavox service representative suggested I might be better off purchasing a new one since black friday was coming up soon & he knew that Best Buy & circuit city would be having a similar set for less than the repair charges.

You really do have your title right – probably best to consider these disposable (& not just the no-name sets that you mention). The lesson that I learned was looking at the warranty & buying from someplace that will give you another alternative such as a retailer refund/exchange.

HD Guru, your article is packed with information for the savy consumer. However, the paranoia over cheap tv’s is even more commical. Let’s all face it…you get what you pay for and sometimes even the expensive sets are a P.O.C.! Let’s all consider the good old days of indestructible 8-track players and vacuum tubes in our radios and click our heels three times!

Hey I have a 27″ Sceptre flat screen and the image panel broke, is there anywhere I can get it fixed for cheap or is this a stupid question. Can I get one ordered and delivered or no? I called the manufacturer and they told me it wasn’t worth it to fix, just buy a new one.,….Any suggestions…

American Express will double your warranty up to one year, and I believe will even extend a service plan by a year, if the total period is 5 years. If The set breaks after warranty, AMEX will pay to fix it up to the cost of the item. TThey will even reimburese the diagnostic charge. Its a benefit that few take advantage of. I never buy electronics without the card.

Guru,
The Vizio warranty for a “New” plasma or lcd states, from there web site ;

On-Site Repair is performed on displays purchased as new which are 30 inches and larger.
If it is determined, after discussion with VIZIO Technical Support and within the terms and conditions of the VIZIO Limited Product Warranty, that an on-site repair is qualified, the customer will be provided with an on-site repair (OSR) authorization number. Proof of purchase is required to confirm the product is within the one-year limited warranty period.

So if it is new and it’s 30″ or over the warranty is on-site. No shipping involved here.

I just got a 26″ GFM brand LCD HDTV from Meijer,
and after reading this forum, I agree that this tv
probably and unfortunately, is disposable.

So far, even though it’s small, and cheap ($330+tax),
It’s been a fun eye opener as far as OTA reception, and the
High PQ inherent in HDTV, and it works well.

I hope it lasts a while, so I can afford a larger screen model, and
a better brand name!

Thank you for your article. It is very comprehensive and for someone that has not yet purchased an lcd t.v. this is invaluable.

1K is a LOT Of money for us, so we are still using, and will continue to use until they break, our old (5yrs old) tv’s.

Better safe than sorry and like the fact that someone other than me has gone to the trouble of sorting through the repairs and warranties. All this was new info for me and it will help me make a sound(er) decision when we can afford it.

Can’t thank you enough.
PEACE

I bought a LT 37 HVS Olevia TV in 2005
It stopped working in 2007
The tv repairman diagnosed the problem as being the main board and it needs replaced. That was 2 monthes ago and so far the part is not available at Olevia. No promise date.
Can the part be purchased? Either from Olevia or a parts supplier?

THANK YOU! This info has been very helpful in my business, I am a assistant manager of an electronics store and I’ve been trying to convince my buyer to stop ordering these disposable tv’s since apex was still in the picture. They have all been nothing but trouble, this article finally got the message across.

In my experience hitachi has the best customer service in the business,and has repaired tv’s for my customers after the tv warranty had expired. YOU CAN’T BEAT THAT!

In addition to Panasonic’s “Concierge” service, Sharp will extend the warranty on a new Aquos TV by three months, free of charge. You have to register your product on their website to take advantage of this. Additionally, if your TV needs to be taken in for repairs, a 32″ loaner television will be provided to you for the time your TV is in the shop.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and a smaller Vizio. I can easily tell that the Sharp has a far, far superior picture than the Vizio. So far, no problems, though.

Olevia Customer Service what a nightmare dealing with these folks.. Received a 242-T11 42″ LCD Flat Panel as a gift sometime late August this year and very first thing I did was to register TV On-Line with Olevia’s Website. I was pretty satisfied with the overall features and functionality that I decided to replace my existing Samsung-LNS3251D and upgrade my parents TV with my Samsung since the Olevia was a 42″ vs. the Samsung 32″. WHAT A MISTAKE!! A month of using TV started noticing power problems where the the TV would shut off on its’ own and the only way to turn TV back on was to jiggle the power cord connected in the back of TV. Sent an E-Mail to Support and waited for a week and did not receive a response so I decided to call in to Olevia Tech Support and explained the issue and Tech Support diagnosed it to a bad power supply and that they would open a service ticket and that they would ship me the defective components and once I received the components I would call them and they would schedule a Local Service shop to replace the components. Two weeks goes by and did not receive anything from Olevia so I decided to call for a status update and to see when and if my parts had shipped and was told that the parts would ship soon because shipping had been backlogged for sometime.
Another week goes by and still did not receive my parts so I call Customer Service again to ask about my parts (now we’re into the third week of Sept.) so I asked them what was the story and why are they having such a hard time shipping my parts and finally the rep. tells that my parts are back-ordered and they could not give me a date of when they would ship. Anyways I suggested that since these parts were not available that maybe a replacement would be more appropriate and the agent agreed and took my information etc. Another two weeks go by and still nothing so I call back to Customer Service (after waiting for twenty minutes) to get a status and rep asks whether or not I faxed in my proof of purchase and my Credit Card Number (because without this nothing gets done).
Needless to say I am PISSED because I’ve still not received my replacement TV. It is now Oct 19th and a Service ticket has been in since early September and the TV still shuts off on its’ own when it wants to. I’ve made it a point to call at the beginning each week (even though I have to wait any where from 20 to 60 mins.) to get a status update, tracking number, something that tells when this virtual TV will ship . All I can say is stay away from this Brand because the product may be decent but their Customer Service BLOWS! About the only thing that they know how to do is LIE, STALL, MAKE EXCUSES etc. I RECOMMEND STAY AWAY FROM SYNTAX OLEVIA BRAND…..

To anyone who bought a vizio and probaly has a daewoo
in the driveway to go along with it do me a favor and
stop playing victim when the product has issues. As an electronics salesman (a real one who knows his product and gets paid commision) I get sick when people convince themselfs that insignia is a comproble product to samsung based on the physcoligical effect of saving a few bucks. I shelled out for the panasonic in the bedroom and the pioneer elite in the livingroom and i know i have a realaible , impressive product i can be proud of. You get what you pay for. A 250 dollar LG hometheater in a box is nowhere near the product that krell power equipment with martin logan speakers are no matter how hard you try to convince yourself it is

I want to thank you for a super informative website, as a prospective buyer of a new plasma/LCD TV I need all the help I can get. I was looking at these 2/3 tier sets for cost reasons but now I may change my mind due to this site. I also want to know…I want the best set for me (LCD or Plasma)I like to play my XBOX 360 and I want to know which is best? I have heard about Plasma burn-ins and really am not sure which will be best for my situation…please help thanks

I purchased a Panasonic 50″ DLP from Sam’s club 3 years ago. I did not purchase the extended warranty as Panasonic has such a great reputation. After 3 months usage the lamp went bad. Panasonic had a technician come out and repair the TV. 6 months go by and once again the lamp goes out and my frustration goes up. A call to Panasonic brings the same technician with another lamp. I anxiously await another failure and sure enough 7 months later, bingo, the lmap fails for the 3rd time. I call Panasonic and of course I am told the unit it out of warranty. The customer service just basically said they were sorry but could not repair the unit again. They could see it had been repaired twice before. I was so aggrevated my eyes were crossed. I decided to go see the technician who did the repairs. He said he would talk to some of the Panasonic repair people and get back with me. In a few days he called and said all agreed there had to be more wrong with the TV than just bad lamps. He eventually replaced the entire light engine. The TV has made it through 14 months now with no failure. I am dissappointed the set failed as much as it has, but if it was one of the “off” brands, I am sure the repairs would have never been completed.

I purchased a 20″ poloroid T.V. at walmart,,they give 90 days,,,Polorid one year,,,My T.V. went out
12months and three weeks,,,,I have tried to get it
fix,,,no success,,,no parts,,,,I was told if I had
taken out the warranty,they would have to replace it.,,,I wrote everyone but the governor,,,,JOA

I thought the article was very well written and is full of valuable information but I think there may be exceptions to the rule.

Here is one exception: You say that LG is good and Insignia is bad. This may be true for many models but lets take a look at the Insignia NS-PDP42 which anyone here can quickly look up at BB’s site. Now, keep that up and take a look at the LG 42PC3D… See any similarities??? You should because they are the same TV. The LG appears to have went through two different front panel designs, where one is exactly the same as the insignia and the other is slightly different but thats not important. Now of course this is last years LG but it was good then, so it should be at least fairly good now.

So, should I trust the Insignia that is an LG or not? I have seen the TV at BB and it really is excellent and can be gotten for $800… Also keep in mind that I saw the screen at BB that actually shows that LG is the supplier for the TV so this isn’t just an opinion, it is a fact.

Now, keep in ming I am not saying your article is wrong, because I think you are mostly right but in the example i mentioned, it seems like it wouldn’t apply. I say that because I could surely order the LG parts for the Insignia if its past the insignia warranty and even though I have to take it to BB, they will honor the 1 year warranty.

Let me know what you think…

Just another sob story. This is a guy that feels bad that he bought $5,000+ TV and these “crappy” TV’s have the same if not better PQ… Think of it this way big expensive tv breaks in 4 years with the the same PQ as a vizio. You can go buy 3 more before you hit the total on a “big name” TV.

Save some dough and go by a sports car or some other furniture for your damn house. They are raking you into thinking these big names are big and powerful. but really it’s all basically the same.

I bought a Olevia 37 two years, have been watching it every day, never have any problem. If you want to buy it online, stick with amazon.com or buy.com, a poster earlier said bought olevia from beach camera. Stores like beach camera sells bad stuff all the time.

I have both a 32″ Westy, and a 42″ Olivea. The Oliva died after one week, fortunately MicroCenter exchanged it. I’m very please with the Pic quality, and obviously the price was right with these tier two units.

Fortunately living in So Cal., Viso, Westy, Oliva and other Manufactures have their repair facilies within 30 miles of my location. Makes it an easier decision to make the purchase, since I can drop them off and pick them up at no charge.

We just bought a sanyo tv from wal-mart. Is this a good Name brand? or is it as bad as the others?

Any thoughts on the difference between the Philips Ambilight and non-Ambilight models? Is the feature worth it, noticeable, irritating? Subjective questions, but I haven’t heard to much about this supposed breakthrough feature.

Hi,

This is for Mark S. of Lansing,MI or anyone else in the Meijer store area. I just bought a GFM brand 20″ lcd tv…but there is no program code for my WOW! Universal remote. Can anyone tell me what code they’ve used? Meijer, WOW, and GFM cs were all of no help.

Thanks

I have read a lot of comments here and was wondering does SAMSUNG have one of the best warranties?

Also are DLP tvs worth it or will they just be old news by 2008?

about LG , I had one of their 17 inch pc monitors that after 2 years developed a crack in the front bezel in one of the corners. I checked the website and the warranty was 3 years. I called customer support and explained the situation. As stated it was under warranty, they did not have the same 17 inch in stock so I was sent a 19 inch in its place. I was very impressed and would surely buy another LG monitor. They even covered the shipping for delivery and the defective return.

Thanks for the valueable info on two and three tier sets!!!! I was looking at the Panasonic for my first plasma. Consumer Reports says they’re 50″ model has the best picture. My ? as to which is better the LCD or Plasma still has not been answered so I am still confused.

James S said:

“This is for Mark S. of Lansing,MI or anyone else in the Meijer store area. I just bought a GFM brand 20″ lcd tv…but there is no program code for my WOW! Universal remote. Can anyone tell me what code they’ve used? Meijer, WOW, and GFM cs were all of no help.”

Hi James
I’m unfamiliar with the WOW (Are you referring to World OF Warcraft?) remote codes, but I did notive that meijer does also sell a GFM brand programmable remote for $10 (8 on sale).. would that help?

Hey Folks, Sorry for the second post, but this one is independent from the response I gave to James S above…

I know previously I had said that I got a GFM 26″ LCD HDTV from Meijer, and here is an update to that:
——————

I recently got a 19″ Trutech LCD HDTV(with DVD Built in) on BF from target, and realized after viewing the full picture on the 19″, that my GFM was cropping off about 6pct of the image all the way around the screen.. Like in a ZOOM mode.. (I knew it was doing this since I owned it, but didn’t realize just how much I was missing!)

SO, I patiently explained to the folks at my local Meijer about this defect, and surprisingly, they let me exchange my 26″ set for another GFM 26″ set to see if that would make a difference.
It turns out that GFM had updated their tv sets, so I GOT A NEW version of my set! It’s model number is now V07LCD26. And it’s all silver, and has HDMI input, and basically, had been totally redesigned. Even the remote is totally new.. I’m Frigging Lucky! PHEW!!!

bottom line: much nicer remote, better tuner (I can pull in more/clearer stations), much better blacks/color saturation, more inputs/outputs, and no picture cropping! The remote has a picture aspect button, so when I select the zoom option, it does look similar to the older version’s ‘cropped’ look of the set that I returned for exchange.

I have to give a SHOUT OUT of THANKS to Meijer for allowing me to exchange my set quite a while after their 30 day return policy!

—> SO, I’m hoping that this newly redesigned and hopefully higher quality model isn’t just a disposable HDTV! *Fingers Crossed* for luck…
I LOVE IT! (so far anyway lol ….. wink wink- *fingers crossed for luck*

I just purchased an olevia 47″ lcd from circuit city for $650 plus tax. That is $1050 less 10% AAA coupon, less $300 “sign up for directv” which I immediately canceled. I admit I am nervous about throwing $650 away – but the extended warranties are hundreds of dollars which I do not wish to spend on a $650 tv, so I purchased with AMEX and will take the chance. So far the picture is quite fantastic. We’ll see how it looks when Comcast brings my hd settop box later today. By the way, the $1050 was a “black friday” online price I found out about in a post on slickdeals dot net, I find a lot of good deals on there.

Does anyone have any info/problems with the Phillips 40″ Plasma, they seem to have similar specs to the Panasonic, but is much cheaper, not sure if I should take the chance!

First time LCD buyer. Havn’t bought yet though . After reading all these post I see what to stay away from. Even though its a odd size 37″, I have restrictions that make me go that way, the question I need answered WHAT IS the most RELIABLE set to buy? What if any warranty , besides buying with American Express Card, should I purchase?
I’m 70 yrs old & likely wont be getting another set after this buy, if I live a longer life somebody else will be doing the buying . Appreciate any suggestions. Thank you.

Dear Lesson Learned,
Good!
I have been in the TV service industry for almost 35 years, have sat on the board of an electronics service association; I strongly suggest you stick with a tier one manufacturer such as Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, etc. You will pay a bit more – but you WILL be supported.

Most of the very cheap flat panels are made by one or two factories in China. They just change the name on the things. I don’t have a problem with China – but I do have a problem with the common belief that flat screen “must” be top-of-the-line. It is not. Cheap flat panels are the equivalent of $49.95 DVD’s or VCR’s. Or better yet, what do you expect from a “house” wine – not much. These cheap brands are the “house” brands.

Go to nesda.com and use their locator to call up your local independent service company. Ask them. We are the ones who fix them.

I want to thank you for steering me away from Vizio and Olevia. I was seriously considering purchasing one of their LCD TV’s. Instead, I am looking at Sony and Sharp.

I bought a 32″ Polaroid LCD from Circuit City. Fortunately, I bought the extended warrant. The tv went out after 13 months. The tech that was dispatched to check out the tv said he had the exact model I had and it too had the same problem as mine. He said he had not been able to fix his and doubted he could fix mine either. It’s been one month since the tech took the tv to his shop and still no word on it. After I called the tech several times, I was told they would call me if the tv was repaired and there was no need to call them anymore. Circuit City customer support has been lousy and a letter to the president of the company only drew an apology. Stay away from Polaroid and Circuit City!!!!

Some people on here keep touting the extended warranty as a way around these problems. But extended warranties are a waste of money. If the warranty that comes with it is not good enough for you, then go a different route. All you’re doing with an extended warranty is paying for a repair before it breaks. What if your TV last 10 or 15 years without a problem? Then that money you spent on an extended warranty is just gone. That’s money you could’ve spent on something else like a BluRay player etc.

I’ve never bought an extened warranty and have been just fine with all my electronics. If it breaks, then I pay for the repair, not before. Or I may decide it’s not worth repairing if it’s several years old.

We have bought two Olevia TV (32″ and 47″) since a year ago. They both have performed flawlessly and both PQ has been very good. I do think the cost for what you get from this brand is excellent. Even Consumer Report puts some of its set as very good buys and has no issue with its reliability. My experience with their tech support (twice) has been excellent as well.

I am not sure why all the bashing here concerning the so-called secondary HDTVs. After all, these appliances ARE disposable items these day, not just because of the high repair cost, but also due to the rapid improvement of the technology which practically makes every set obsolete after 6 months regardless of brands.

Just think if the failure rate is 1:1000 for Sony and 1:100 for Olevia within the first three years, unless you are very unlucky, you will never need to deal with warrenty at all for both brands.

After three years, it is very hard to choose to fix a bad Sony or buy a new one since it costs so much at the time you buy it. But you can easily throw away the Olevia and buy a brand new one with up-to-date technology.

Excellent discussion! Great and helpful article! We have a Magnovox TV (14 yrs old) and it works just fine… but too small for our 15 ft living room.
We are now looking to buy a larger set with better definition. Thanks for the tips.
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER people… “disposable” also means it has to go somewhere. It really is time we think about where all that crap goes after it can’t be repaired again. Loooong term units AND a more healthy planet would be nice to take into consideration!

I’m considering the Magnovox 26″ that Target is selling for around $549.00 (without a DVD). Is Magnavox considered Tier 1 and how is their warranty plan rated?

Great article!

As a salesperson in a custom-installation company, we often get people that don’t understand why we charge fair price for top tier televisions when they see advertisements for cheapsters all day long. Your article is just one more reason to not go ‘bottom-dollar’. My parents have an old tube television that has been working for decades – I would love to see how newer flat-panels work (or don’t) in 5-10 years.

I would love for people to focus a little more on quality and less on the ‘best deal’ – focusing on VALUE. These disposable sets do not just ‘go away’. They pile up in our landfills because peopole were too cheap to pay for something that lasted.

WHEW!
I’ve been looking at and researching LCD HDTVs for the last month and a half. Since it’s a replacement for the bedroom, which is used infrequently, I started out looking for 21″-23″ then decided if I’m going to go with 23″ why not 26″. I fell in love with the Bravia and liked Toshiba, Sharp, etc., all the top tier brands, but their price is more than I want to spend right now.

About a week ago I saw, online, what I thought was, a great sale at Walmart for the Vizio, saw an even better sale a week later at Target for Olevia and wondered about the Spcetre, Insigna and Envision, etc. TVs at the other stores. I went into the store for a personal view of the two aforementioned. Suprisingly, I wasn’t impressed with the Vizio, but very impressed with the Olevia. (A friend has the 32″ and I liked hers, though it has been replaced due to a vertical line suddenly appearing on the left of the screen–less that a year old.)

Needless to say, after reading The Guru’s extensive report (and others who has had difficulty with performance and repair), I think I’ll return a few more bottles and wait for post holiday sales to see what’s being offered before January inventory kicks in and 2008 restocking begins.

Since this is a replacement for a more than 30-yr old 20″ Sony, which was hardly ever used, the good news is that time is on my side.

Thanks again for such a great feedback!

Buyer beware, BUYER BEWARE! Hitachi Tv’s are lemons, (Junk).
They look good at first, price is good but after a month or 2 they die. So if you do not want to waste your good hard earned money run from Hitachi. Boycott Hitachi Products. If it is too good to be true then it is. That should be Hitachi’s slogan. (Sounds like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck).
I bought a brand new 42 inch Hitachi 42hds69 Plasma tv and it just died after a month. It has been serviced 4 times already in 9 months. Replacing digital boards, power boards and other internal circuitry. Remember this is a brand new tv but you would never know it. 3 of those months we were unable to even use it because it was out of service.
I called Hitachi and spoke with senior manager RON JOHNSON 1-800-654-7013 who said he would look in to my complaint about my tv being a lemon and call me back. After a week, what a shock he never called back. After going to pick up my tv from Industrial Electronic Repair 407-855-7214 on Sand Lake Rd in Orlando Florida for the 4th time (They are clueless idiots) and seeing that they damaged my tv even further by putting a 3 inch gouge in the front.
I call Hitachi just to be told by customer service that RON JOHNSON said that having the tv serviced 4 times and the service center putting a 3 inch gouge in the tv did not fit the bill to either replace the lemon or even provide an extended warranty. Hitachi said there was nothing they could do and RON JOHNSON did not even have the courtesy to tell me himself but have customer service screen and flag my call. So now I am out all this money, Hitachi Tv is a LEMON and to add insult to injury the tv is damaged on the front as a reminder every day what a piece of junk Hitachi products are. Hitachi products are made poorly, customer service is non existent, Senior manager RON Johnson is a Yes man who does not believe 4 repairs in 9 months plus damage by Industrial Electronics Repair warrants any action by Hitachi for this tv being a LEMON. BUYER BEWARE, Stay away from Hitachi products. Unlike cars that have Lemon laws electronics do not so it is big business who will win every time. Do not learn the hard way like I did. Once again Boycott Hitachi products or you will get burned the hard way as I did. Hitachi products are Junk Lemons with a quick expiration date. Send a message to Hitachi and boycott their products! And make sure you post your bad experienced about Hitachi on the boards and reviews so people know the truth about Hitachi. Anyone including hitachi can let me know directly about their bad experience at floridabreeze@gmail.com

Floridabreeze, you failed to tell everyone you did not follow the manufacturer’s instructions on proper care of this set. Hitachi is not responsible for mishandling by the customer. You were also rude with me on the phone.

I bought a Westinghouse 37″ LCD. It died after 4 months – 1 month after the nice 90 day pre-paid shipping BS trick. If you bought a Westinghouse, you’re fk’d. Sorry to tell you that. Not only was my shipping/insurance $235 because the original box was obliterated during the initial shipping, but you ARE going to get a refurbished unit in return. Bitch and moan all you want. You are stuck with it. Believe me – you ARE. They don’t care – all the way up the chain.

BTW, they shipped me a 27″ LCD in return for my 37″ and I STILL do not have my 37″ REFURBED unit as of today. That’s right – their illegal immigrant warehouse workers in Santa Fe Springs california cannot read. Laugh if you want. Wait till you go to return yours. Sell your functional Westinghouse ASAP!!!! If it dies you are DONE.

As for Vizio, they do offer a fairly reasonable extended onsite warranty – that should quell most fears listed here, no?

E.g., for a 47″ LCD they offer the following:

2 Year Consumer Care Plan (On-Site) $124.99
3 Year Consumer Care Plan (On-Site) $ 159.99
4 Year Consumer Care Plan (On-Site) $ 189.99
5 Year Consumer Care Plan (On-Site) $ 229.99

That seems to be a pretty good compromise and not the doom and gloom listed here?

Greg, which dealer do you work for? Or perhaps an extended service contract company?

Which independent service companies in which cities service Vizio? I have been involved in the service industry, and industry associations for a couple of decades. Most that I talk to wouldn’t work on one.

Soooooo…what good is an ESP contract? They do a refurb exchange with a 30 day warranty? If it is IN warranty – how much to ship back to Vizio if service is unavailable?

Just curious. Also curious how you knew the breakdown of costs for an ESP (insurance) policy?

Floridabreeze,

You got a call center rep with a script.

The call center they use is actually a pretty good one as they go. Go to nesda.com and the service locator and put in your zip code. There are a couple of good service centers in your area that would be very proactive about your Hitachi.

Walt Herrin is the VP of service for Hitachi and I can tell you he is one heck of standup guy. I don’t do Hitachi warranty service, but I wouldn’t turn them down if they call.

Kurt

Hi Kurt (if that’s your real name…or shall I call you SONY/SAMSUNG CSR “Kurt”?),

Put your conspiracy theories away.

I am buying a TV in the coming months, was concerned about repairs given this site’s “info” and simply went on Vizio’s website to check out the real options.

Perhaps if you did the same rather than fan the flames of paranoia and fear, you’d have found the same result.

So, if you head to Vizio.com, then to “support”, then to “extended service plans” you too can enter your model number (even if you don’t work for Vizio like me…er, I mean oh, dammit! nevermind)

Anyhow, I called and they offer *on-site* repair for the larger HDTVs here in NY. You get to input your model # and price paid and off you go. You’ll get the numbers I quoted above.

So, Kurt, the moral here is that you should not jump on the bandwagon when without research.

People buying $1,500 TVs need real information, not 12th century scare tactics and well, See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

Bah,

The sad fact of the matter is that you can get a better TV with the 2nd tier companies.

These are the guys who truly push innovation on technology and price. Sceptre and Westinghouse were the 1st to offer 1080p to the masses, and were the first to offer 32″ 37″ 42″ and 47″ LCD displays. In addition, they were the 1st to offer 1080p inputs through component.

Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Philips etc are just now offering these features which there guys were offering for years.

And the other one, Olevia, is the first to offer a broadcast studio quality scaler/deinterlacer integrated into some of their TVs for better upscaling of Standard Definition and better processing of High Def, than most other TVs regardless of brand. The Olevia 747i is one of only a handful of sets that deliver remarkable SD along with amazing HD even at 1080p/24 which most sets can’t handle.

With all that said, I’d rather (like what someone else mentioned) buy from a store like Costco and Sams club with extended warranties and if something goes wrong just deal exclusively with them, then play phone tag with these manufacturer’s call centers.

Jack, I agree with you thoughts on these so-called second tiered brands. We have owned now three Olevia TVs, two 32′ and one 47′ over a year and have consistently amazed at the PQ quality and all the innovations built into these TVs. The 247 model is even with energy star rating for power consumption. There are very few brands with that kind of rating, now the report on significant power usage is being reported in the press,particularly for plasma TVs. The TV provides in home one year warranty which I never need to access. My two contacts with the tech support during the initial set-up were very pleasant to the point I even wrote a letter to the co for the positive experience. So it is so puzzling to observe fears instilled on some posts in people on these less expensive TVs. I am sure all brands will produce “lemons” occasionally as indicated by some here, but price is not really an absolute indicator, in my opinion with my experience. BTW, pracically all brands are being made in Asian countries, so it is not a differentiating factor either. Buy your set with the most pleasing picture quality and most reasonale price!

Hi Richard,

I think the concern listed in the main article is aimed squarely at the “after the warranty” repair. That’s where things get scary. E.g., If you don’t buy an extended warranty with the vizio, you stand to be out $1000+ on the first day after the one year mark.

That is, of course, wholly unacceptable. It should not cost $1,000 to fix a $1,000 TV after one year.

Now, I don’t know how much better first tier products are in terms of repair cost. but one would think that they *should* handily beat a $1,000 repair cost.

When I buy, I’m springing for the extra 5yr warranty.

I bought a 42 Olevia about 9 months ago because it is what we could afford…it has performed very well…great sound; great picture; no problems….as for Sony, I once splurged and bought one … unfortunately I got a lemon and finally just wrote it off as “my bad luck…” Would I buy Sony again? Yeah, if I could afford one. Richard H. Ho — you make the best case for common sense.

Looking for a remote for a 242-T11 42″ Olevia…the one I have works great but always like to have a spare….any help appreciated.

By the way, my Olevia was purchased because Consumer Reports gave it high marks….we’ve had ZERO problems with it….great TV for the price. If you want a Caddy, they are out there too!

Geez floridabreeze…get a life.

My company services these level (2) and (3) units out of warranty for Circuit City and Best Buy. Obtaining parts for these models is more difficult than the major manufacturers but is not impossible. We troubleshoot to component level when possible which results in average repair charges of $200-300, board replacement repairs average several hundred dollars more.
There is no doubt that the technical superiority remains with the big name units as well as reliability. The level (2) and (3) products do not use the higher grade components in their design and often performance degrades quickly due to stress and heat damage.
There are very obvious design differences when comparing a Pioneer Elite to a Vizio or Poloroid brand product, you certainly do “get what you pay for”.

J. Weibel
Custom Electronics
customelectronics.org

does radio shack support its house products

I have a Sceptre 27″ NAGA 3. The lousy power supply went. I woke up one morning. The red LED wasn’t lit. Tried to turn it on. NOTHING. I’ve had this HDTV for three years. So I decided to do it myself. (I’ve built computers.) Simple. Four phillips screws. Unplug the power supply cord. Took me 5 seconds to take it out of the set. Going to cost me $125.00, from Sceptre. That includes shipping from California. The 27″ and 30″ NAGA brands are the same power supply. What kills me, is the cost of the power supply. 1/4th the cost of the HDTV! Imagine the poor customer who doesn’t know how to use a Volt Ohm Meter? Probably cost over $200.00 for a TV repair moron to fix it!
I guess HDTV’s which are LCD’s need to have better power supplies. Three years, is one sorry ass power supply. (My computer is older than that. I use it everyday!)
I rarely look at the television. Since I loathe the MSM!
Anyways…Peace out to the whole world!
Oh…IMPEACH AND IMPRISON BOTH THOSE CRIMINALS IN THE WHITEHOUSE!

so exactly what companies are considered tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3? i’m planning on buying my first hd lcd tv in the near future, and want to know what all brands are considered tier 1 so i know what all of my options are. and please don’t just say “oh, the major name brands…sony, samsung etc…” becuse i haven’t seen mention of a couple brands such as magnavox and jvc. i’d just like to know where all the companies are ranked.

You’ll find the most comprehensive list of HDTVs in the January Comsumer Report. They discussed brands with best picture, and best buys based on cost and PQ. Additionally you’ll find reliability/repair record of each brand. I’d think it has the most objective reviews. With the information, go to stores such as CC or Best Buy to compare picture quality.
Any public library will carry CR, if you are not a subscriber.

What about the LG’s. A TV service provider suggested this brand for because service and parts were the best. He also said it was made by the same company that was once Zenith. What do you think about this brand.

I’m thinking about buying a 2003 51″ hitachi rear projection HDTV for $500. Is it worth it, or is it a disposable unit also? Is maintenance for this 2003 HDTV a nightmare. It is is good shape right now. help me decide please.

We’re interested in smaller LCD HDTV sets. We want a 19-26″ TV for bedroom and 26″ for another room. Can’t go any larger because they will be in enclosed cabinets. I can’t find any info on this size. We purchased a 26″ Magnavox (26MD357B) with built in DVD, and a Samsung 19″ (LN-T1953H). Before time runs out on return, how to these rate? We’re seniors and need info we can understand. Also, do we need upgraded connections for satelight hookup?

Well…..

we will be returning our second (yes SECOND!!!) first tier 32″ LCD Sharp Aquos this weekend. We purchased our highly rated tv from Best Buy — a mistake which we will NEVER repeat. Despite the superlative that proceeds the “Buy” part of their name, we have experieinced anything but the “Best” from them. And although we usually do not buy into extended waranties we’re so glad we did this time.

Fortunately, each time we ‘ve had a major problem with our set Sharp has come through and done right by us. I wish I could say the same for “Worst” Buy. Their customer service leaves a lot do be desired. And after reading posts about the 2nd and 3rd tier brand I am really thankful we stuck with a repuatble manufacturer since I don’t consider a tv set, especially LCDs costing upwards of $800, disposable.

To that end I would extend a “buyer beware” when it comes to any major electronic purchase from “Best” Buy. The first set we purchased had defective inputs which we did not discover until we got the set home (an hour and a half away because we live in a rural area). We learned that the inputs were defective only after talking with a service guy who reccomended returning the set to BB becuase the repair would be as costly (factoring in travel, part shipping time….).

When we took the set back to BB for a refund, they tried to suggest that there was nothing wrong with the set! We insisted that they hook it up themselves while we watched. Guess what? They found half the inputs were defective… imagine that! Unfortunately we let them talk us out of a refund and they instead offered to replace it. We made them hook it up in the store to make sure everything worked as it should.

Once satisfied we returned home and enjoyed the set for 14 months. Then suddenly a diagonal line appeared in the upper left hand corner that never went away. To top it off the picture started cutting out (audio remained) a week after the line appeared. This all happened right after Thanksgiving. We’ve called BB 4 times to get a service person out but no one has ever called us back or follwed up like they’ve promised. Finally we called Sharp and they got the matter resolved within the week. Solution: BB needs to replace our set with a new one. Gee…. maybe that’s why BB never got back to us. Unfortunately for us we now have a few local merchants that carry the newer LCD and Plasma tvs. I say unfortuate because I would much rather support local business. At least when something goes “wrong” I know we’ll have substantially superior service than what BB seems capable (or willing) to supply.

Looks like chosing a top tier business is as important as chosing a top tier tv manufacturer.

Has anyone any feedback on Emerson hdtv’s. That company has been around a long time or is it just there name.

Well here is the sad update on our LCD Sharp woes. The Sharp employees we ‘ve spoken with have told us many things, all stories chock full of misleading information. They said (based on the service call) that the set was non-repairable (fine) and that we needed to return the set to Best Buy for an exchange. When I specifically asked if there was some sort of refernce number I needed for the store to verify this they gave me a case number (we would later find out this is meaningless). They told us that if there was a problem at Best Buy to call the 800 Sharp number with the case nunmber and all would be fine.

We called Best Buy and told them what the Sharp people told us and we were told by a Best Buy employee to “just bring the set in for an exchange”. I told them that we lived an hour and a half away and wante dto make sure we would have no problem exchanging the set for on of equal quality/value. We were assured that would not be a problem and that we could even exchange it for another brand (this turned out to be half true).

We made the hour and ahalf trip on a Saturday, and wasted two hours at Best Buy becaue they did not have an RA (return authorization) number, which aparently is not the same as the case number the Sharp rep. had given us!

End result: we returned home with the defective set, frustrtated, disheartened and angry with both Sharp and Best Buy who seem not to care at all that their ineptitued and lack of care left us with an expensive non-working set.

Short of suing and or involving our state attorney general I’m not sure what else to do next. My advice: steer clear of ANY sharp product because they will not stand behind their own product, and NEVER purchase anything fronm Best Buy because they only care about selling and not fostering good customer relations.

I have one of the ‘throwaway’ Insignia 42″ plasmas. I know, now, from doing enough digging that it is truly a rebadged LG 42PC3D. I accessed the service menu and LG is plastered all over the place there.

Since LG is a top-tier manufacturer (as listed at the end of the article) and I purchased the 4-year product warranty from BB, I’ll trust they’ll be able to find parts if necessary to fix my set should it break down (one quick Google search on 42PC3D-UE will bring back at least 200 parts hits)

So far I’m happy with the picture quality and the set as a whole. Tiny bit of IR, but nothing unusual for the first 100-200 hrs or so.

I think people are really getting too hung-up with so-called tiers of the HDTV they are buying or have bought. In a global economy, product parts are readily available for different brands and in many cases the difference in price is more related to the amount of advertisement the “name-brands” do to spread their names, thus the comsumers pay for the higher built-in prices. The “lower tier” brands tend to pass the saving to consumers. A case in point, just yesterday, Olevia announced an agreement with SHARP (a considered “First Tier co), to supply a minimum of 200,000 control panels with option to supply more. Olevia is considered by many as second or even third tier because of its low price and relatively no name status. As an owner of three of its HDTV ranging from 32″ to 47″ over a year, I can tell you its quality is as good as many and close to the best with price tags of 2 to 3 times. I’ll buy another one anytime!

I bought an Olevia and it lasted 13 months! What a surprise! No picture, but great sound.

Then went out and bought an Akai. Another disaster, although it lasted 2 months longer.

Scams, I tell ya.

I’m either getting a Sharp Aquos or Sony Bravia from Sears.

Help, I just brought the near LAF8 samsung LCD, everything was great for the first few weeks. The screen now has hundreds of white verticle lines on all channels and when playing DVD’s. What are they and can it be repaired?

RE: To Greg From Kurt Rodgers

You are right Kurt Rodgers is not my real name. That would be Kurt Dodgers. If you took the trouble and put your mouse over my name – you would have found the hyperlink that would go to the website of my SERVICE business. One that I started in 1981. I don’t hide when I comment or post.

I didn’t fall of the turnip truck yesterday and and one who professes knowledge should be challenged for their creds.

I have been a Regional Service Engineer for Mitsubishi and am certified by 5 professional organizations as well as a voting member of SMPTE. My most recent article, published by the Virginia Professional Electronics Association, is
http://www.vpea.org/reporter/VPEA_Reporter_Winter08.pdf

This 4671f has been giving me headaches since day one.

Makes me think the majority of the reviews on amazon are LIES!

Slow downs, double ball effects with football, now, a growing # of dead pixels..

Some people are bad mouthing 2nd tiers

Well, I sold off my 6 month old Olevia 747i to finance this Samsung ‘Upgrade’

..And I wish I hadn’t, as this Samsung is giving me degrading experiences.

And Samsung’s tech support is a bunch of low paid scripted idiots…ARGH!!

When I didn’t know about the main switch on the back of the now sold TV and called Olevia, they were courteous and insightful and helped me resolve that problem.

It seems by comparison that the folks at Samsung don’t even want to help me!!

The 2nd tiers want your business.

Seems that the likes of Samsung doesn’t care about the average Joe.

Yeh, I HOPE someone at samsung sees this, and does something about the poor quality these products and services actually are!!! – Otherwise no more Samsung products in this household!!

Very disappointed in Samsung. Very flimsy construction for the price. Sonys are much better, but still overpriced

I hear that Vizio is outselling all of the 1st tiers. And people are generally satisfied with them.

All the effort to talk down the so-called tier two such as Olevia and Vizio are by those more conscious of brand names or even those servicing these name brands. Those so called first tiers provide repair services through contracting with local repair shops, thus it is a business for these people. Both Olevis and Vizio are rated very favorably by Consumer Reports with some models considered excellent buys. Their picture quality is still a bit lower than that of SONY, but their reliability has not been questioned. I would not have traded in your Olevia 747 for any others as it is the flagship of the brand with many rave reviews published.

I want to suprise my Hubby with a TV for the Super Bowl and was going to Purchase a Vizio after seeing this article, I have changed my plans. I think I will go with an LG or something. I am on a definate budget. Any suggestions ?

I own a two-way radio repair business, and been doing so for the last 15 years. I’ve seen the same trend in “cheap” electronics in the professional radio business. Customers are wanting more and more for less and less. Well, guess what? China has answered your wishes and flooded the market with cheap disposable junk. Be it HDTV’s, radios, phones, etc. Thankfully there are still brands with quality and can withstand years of service.

If you want a TV that’s going to last, get a SONY! Get the most expensive model (XBR4 or at mininum W-Series). Money spend now will over time actually save you money. 10 years down the road it will still be working.

Most problems with HDTV’s are actually simple component failiars. They replace an entire board for $200-500, when the only problem is 1 defective part on that board which costs anywhere from 10 cents to 20 bucks. It’s simplier for the manufacturer to just replace the whole board, and charge the customer for it. Sometimes the actual display panel is defective, which in that case you throw it in the garbage and get a new one.

Bottom line, cheap electronics are cheap for one reason. They are built with cheap parts using cheap labor. You get what you pay for. I’m sorry to say, but these second and third tier HDTV’s won’t last 5 years.

After reading all these posts, buyers experiences, researching through ConsumerReports.org, and all other available HDTV avenues available online, I have come to the conclusion……. buy from Costco.

You have your choice of price and reputation in all Tier levels and Costco provides an additional 2 year warranty in house on all purchases. Any problems, just go through them. Yes, you need to be a member to buy from them. No store nearby, they do have a dot com.

I joined Costco 18 months ago just to buy an HDTV. I purchased a 37″ Vizio and haven’t had a single problem. But knowing that if there is EVER an issue with the TV, I have peace of mind of the warranty.

I do have an issue of spending $1000 and up on something that the industry expects me to toss if it fails to operate normally. Imagine what would happen if Ford or Chevy told its customers the same, there would be hell to pay on Capital Hill.

I have to agree with rex… buy from either Costco or Sams for more “piece of mind”.

This has been a very informative guide to us the comsumer guess like the old saying says,you get what you pay for a extra dollar will save headaches down the road purchase name brands and not knock around lcd plasma tvs thanks again hdguru

We purchased our DLP Mitsubishi TV model wd-52628 in July 2006 for about $2500.

Just 15 months later, we think that the DM module failed. We can’t get to the ‘Device’ settings anymore or control our volume on our TV. I described this to two repair men. They said it was the DM module. This is an expensive repair. The part is about $400 and the repair is about $250. This is a lot of money to spend on top of the initial purchase price. I contact Mitsubishi on 3 occasions and have not received any help or assistance. It was only 3 months out of warranty on when I first contacted them!

I have researched this on the internet (Google: Mitsubishi DM module). There are multitudinous reports of problems with the DM module starting in about 2004 or earlier.

Here is a recent item I found on Craig’s list:

MITSUBISHI 62″ DLP Television
________________________________________
Reply to: sale-543490631@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-01-18, 1:39PM CST

MODEL WD62825. Two years old. Paid $4000. Needs new DM Module, on backorder until March and we don’t want to wait. Will sell for parts.

• Location: Flower Mound
• it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 543490631

Here is a long list of Consumer Affairs complaints regarding the same issue:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/home_electronics/mitsubishi.html

I am just sick about this since we waited a long time to get a big screen TV.

i find it interesting on how many people wrote in the blog…… and all having problems with tv sets…….

perhaps its the owners….. as quite frankly…… i have NEVER had a problem with a tv…. accept a free 13in which was free from sprint back in the days of free tv’s to get a cell…. and it works but had a problem with volume… loose wire…..

i have a olevia…. 532…. got last summer…. figured… i might use it as a monitor… too…. one day…. works great….. my biggest compliant is i dont like reading the instructions…. and would like the little light off when turned off…. but when it really bugs me i’ll read it …… till then…

happy with a under $530. lcd tv with bracket….

and now have to see about getting another one… and donating the in great working order mitabishis they replaced…….

Many people are missing the point – all of these items are effectively disposable. A service tech visit to your house is going to start at about $300 to $350. Then you pay $150-$200 an hour, plus parts and shipping, to get your set fixed out of warranty. I hate to say it, but at this point, it’s actually cheaper to buy a TV and throw it away than it is to get one fixed. If you get that bargain $600 42″ TV and it dies in 3 years (most electronics which survive more than 3 months burn in will survive 2-5 years), you’ll be able to replace it with another bargain TV of the same size for about 1/2 what you paid.

If the loss of the TV will seriously set you back, you can buy failure insurance. The store will call it an extended warranty, but it’s basically an insurance policy. The failure rate of electronics is extremely low, but none of these sets has a zero failure rate. To those who have expensive sets and haven’t had them fail, I remind you that the plural of anecdote is not data.

To expect these modern electronics to last as long as my Father in law’s old console TV is irrational. He had his TV for 25 years. When he finally got rid of it, the top 2″ showed a curved portion of the VBI, and there was little to no blue left. My Mother in law still doesn’t know why they bothered to replace it…it worked “fine”. With new HDMI specs coming out every two years, and the DRM issues floating around, I wouldn’t expect you to be able to go more than about 5 years without a forced upgrade if you stay current with technology. Sets from just 5-7 years ago don’t even have HDMI, and many still don’t have more than 1 HDMI input.

While it’s good to know that your set is disposable, I wouldn’t fret too much about it. If you want a long insurance policy (warranty), buy one. If you’re okay playing your odds, know that you’re likely to get 4-5 years out of your current set, and when it fails, you’ll be able to buy a better one of the same size for less than it would cost to fix the old one. Human interaction is expensive, good human interaction is very expensive. The cost to manufacture these things in the thousands has dropped to the point where their cost is insignificant to the cost of good repair technicians. That’s the reason that most TV repair shops have gone out of business.

Well said. This is one of the most sage postings on this topic. With new technology continuously developed in practically everything manufactured, it is no exception for HDTV viewing. Products got less expensive and better with time, sometimes in very short time. It simply doesn’t pay to get electronics repaired these days.
I just ordered a SONY DAV-1 music theater system to go with our HDTV. The system came out in 2005 at $1000 and I got it for $299! Do you think I want to get it repaired on my dime (it has one year’s warranty) if something significant go wrong after the warranty expires? No!

I’ts ironic how finding this site/thread has made me completely flip my plan of action re. my soon to be made 32″ lcd hdtv purchase….Budget is a concern for me, but I wanted some semblance of quality, so I was going to go the ‘happy’ medium route of making a ‘mid tier’ purchase…..Now, after reading this thread, I’m thinking that mid tier is the worst choice…..Now I’m thinking, that if the $679 32″ mid tier tv is really no better/not going to last longer than the $500 32″ cheapie, and I’ll soon have to dispose of either one, then the best two choices are to either get the cheapie, or splurge/borrow money and get a top tier/name brand…..Wha does the Guru or my fellow shoppers think of this conclusion ?

Well Im not sure what to do now. Ive had a Toshiba and a Sony Vega (tube tvs) and neither lasted all that many years (six each). Need to buy a new one and Im thinking why spend the big bucks for the name brands. 32″ LCD is what were looking at. Looked at Olevia, and Insignia priced in the $600 range everything else jumps up significantly higher. I cant afford to consider even $600 disposable. Wheres the best place to purchase?

I agree with Jordon (a few posts up) that electonics have become disposible. Buy that top-of-the line Sony if you can afford it, but if you have to settle for one that meets you budget, don’t beat yourself up. No matter how much you spend now, in 3 to 5 years, you will be happy to trade up for the advanced technology that will be available then. Not many folks are still using the PCs that seemed snappy & feature-laden from 5 years ago. Do your research, buy what you like & skip the extended warrenty. Put the money you saved into a home theater system or hold it for that TV you know you’re gonna buy a few years from now.

I purchased an Emerson HDTV, a year ago from WalMart, and I turned it off yesterday to run errands, came back and the TV would not turn on. Anyone else having problems like this? Can it be fixed and is it expensive? or is it just trash now.

I believe Jordan makes the most sense here. But I think it is a shame that we have to spend so much for something that won’t last. I just sold my Pioneer 50″ rear projection TV that I bought over twenty years ago, it was still working and looking as good as day one and it survived the trailer ride to the new owners apartment with no problems. We just didn’t have room for it, moved to smaller house. I’m retired and thought I would be buying my last TV but now I’m not so sure of that. This buying new stuff every few years to have the newest technology is for young people that are making a good wage and can afford it, nothing wrong with that, I did it when I was young. The difference now seems to be that you have to replace it because it’s designed to fail. I still have no idea what I will end up buying but I will be preparing myself to expect the worst and hoping for the best.

I think Roger hit the nail on the head. Designed to fail seems to be the best word to describe some of the electronics being offered today.
I think those companies who knowingly sell defective products are just as guilty as those producing them. It’s a shame, it seems, neither can be held accountable.
In January 07, I bought a 42″ Polaroid from CC. It was not the cheapest set in the place and had an American nameplate. I always felt middle of the road was safe ground and felt good for purchasing from an American company. Even if it was built in China at least the profit stayed here. I payed $1599.
In November of 07, the TV blew up. Wouldn’t do anything other than a awfull screaching noise. I was without a TV for a month and the customer service people were obviously used to dealing with aggravated people. When I spoke to the manager at CC, he informed me since I hadn’t purchased the CC warranty he couldn’t help me. “Those are what we consider entry level HD TVs”, he said.
In Dec 07, I purchased an extended warranty from CC for $294.07 for two years. Lucky I was able to do that.
In January 08, two weeks after the manufacturer warranty expired, it now randomely makes the same screaching noise although at least I am still able to watch it.
When the service technician showed up, he wrote down the serial number, the model number and said he would order parts to fix it. He was here for 5 minutes. 30 minutes after he left, he called and told me that since he had not witnessed the problem with the TV, he would have to report to his supervisor, no problem found. I won’t share the explitives that followed. I had to take the day off work to be here for him. I was a little angry.
I then videotaped the TV until it acted up twice. I then called and scheduled another service call and explained to the operator what had happened.
The service technician returned, and again wrote down the model number and was ready to leave. I made him watch my video. He suggested that it might be my dish box. Again, I won’t share the explitives that followed. It is the exact same noise as when the TV failed th first time.
He told me he would order the parts. Two days later, yesterday, I recieved a call that I have been approved to exchange my TV and to take the TV to my nearest CC.
Once CC exchanges the TV, the contract is considered fullfilled. I got two months out of a two year warranty. Further, they will only give me the current replacement value. I wonder what that will be.
I have done a lot of research this time. I think I will be buying a Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR4.
Any feed back? Is this a good choice, or will I be screwed again?
Thanks.

Vizio’s warranty policies have changed. On new TVs, anything 32 inches and above receives free on-site repairs for a year. They also allow you to extend this for $80 for two years or $100 or three, etc. The best part about the Vizio warranties is their “Zero Bright Pixel Defect Guarantee” for the duration of the warranty. No other bargain brand TV retailer offers such a guarantee.

Very nice story. Thanks for your hard work!

I can tell you that I had an issue with my Olevia 42″ tv, and it was resolved by Olevia. They sent me a new motherboard UPS, and power supply. I got a call from the on site tech office the same day I got the equipment, it was Weds. On Fri a tech came to my house, and installed the equipment.

I love my TV

I have an akai PT4799HD Projection tv that won’t turn on. The set worked fine till this morning and after looking in the manual I replaced the batteries and when that didn’t work I unplugged it for the “30″ seconds that it calls for. This did not reset the unit and it still does the same thing. I contacted AKAI and have not received a response as of yet.
Any ideas as to what can be done, or am I out of luck? There aren’t any listings for service centers in Oregon let alone Southern Oregon.

The thing I find interesting about this article is that the author says Insignia is a throw-away brand and LG is reputable. Well, my Insignia plasma TV is really a rebadged LG42PC3D…literally. Same panel, same bezel (except charcoal black all around, no silver), same menus, same features (except mine has an extra HDMI port and higher contrast ratio). Also, one look at the Plasma Forum on the AVS website will show that even the Pioneers, Panasonics and Samsungs have issues, and lots of them.

I understand buyers need to ‘beware’, but a broad-brush statement like this being a throw-away set without looking under the covers is a little inflamatory. I purchased the 4-year extended warranty with my set because NONE of the manufacturers seem to have the technology down just yet. Just as many Kuros and XBRs going to the shop as Insignias. And I’m confident that even if BB can’t fix my set, some competent LG tech can.

Would like to know about an Element TV purchased at Circuit City

Though I agree with the poster in regards to larger sets, I’ve done my research, and there is something to be said about going with an off-brand for smaller TVs.
I bought a 32″ element 720p at circuit city for 500 bucks. The same set is now 479. It looks as nice as any of the name brands, and the cheapest name brand at CC in a 32″ model is 176 dollars more.
I got CC’s 3 year replacement plan for 90 bucks on top of the price of the TV, which means I saved 85 bucks over the name brand, and I have a warranty wherein if ANYTHING goes wrong, CC fixes it without question. Now I have 2 more years to save up for a newer, larger 1080p set, after which I won’t lose a whole lot if this TV goes out.

With a larger set, the price differences are usually similar, 200 bucks less here, 100 bucks less there, and when you’re dropping 2 grand on a TV, that’s not a big difference, but when you’re only spending 500, that’s huge.

I bought a Vizio 37″ a few months back with my tax refund and have been wondering if an extended service plan is worth it. If the plan is at useful, based on what I read here, it could be. Considering a 5-year plan is $150 (half of what a shipping box costs for out-of-warranty) I might just do it.

You have to be a COMPLETE and TOTAL moron to buy ANY of these crap brands. It shows once again how stupid people are. They spend all that money and do ZERO research. Do people REALLY think they are getting quality from TARGET??? Walmart??? Or the Junk Worst Buy brands??? c’mon. BUY A BRAIN first people! No surprise that the minimum wage moron at Circuit Jokey had no clue. They have an IQ ceiling there for employees. 6 or lower

If you are going to claim “top tier TV companies invest in the future” and “With better warranties and service, the top brands have an incentive to build higher quality more reliable HDTVs.”, then you should show the cost and process of repairing name-brand HDTVs out-of-warranty? All you’ve done is shown that off-brand HDTVs suck, but you haven’t proven that name-brand HDTVs are any better!

Have a 42″AKAI LCD that is 9 months old. Well within the warrenty. Akai service center agreed that it is within warrenty. Assigned a service center 2 and one half hours away. Said they had sent my information to this service center and they agreed to take the service call. I called them and they said they did not have any paper work from AKAI and they would never drive 2.5 hours for a service call. AKAI said they would reassign my case. They said they have up to a MONTH to do so and, once assigned, it could take 4-8 weeks to get parts from them (AKAI). So, we are talking a potential 3 months. Thanks to SAMS club, we can simply return the tv. They said they have had tons of problems with AKAI which is why they no longer carry the TV. My advice is to not purchase anything from AKAI.

Even,
You’re totally right! Name brand TV’s have the same types of problems as the 2nd tier companies as far as build quality goes. I had a name brand Sharp Aquos that literally 1 week after the warranty was up dies on me. The cost to repair it? $650.

After doing some research, I found that model tended to have a very serious problem shortly after the warranty expired, where everbody started having the same problem I had (ie: sound stops working and TV starts turning itself off).

Just because it is a top tier brand, does not mean the build quality is necessarily better!

I purchased a 46 inch Gateway Plansma and it lasted 4 years without any problems. It stared turning off on its own and eventually would not power on. I called Gateway and they offered to send a technician out for a non refundable $500.00 fee that does not include parts! I thought this was a scam, but have found it was true. I’m still looking for an honest technician who will fix my Gateway Plansma that will not charge me an arm and a leg. Gateway said they will send the parts if I can find someone to fix it. Can you recomend a technician in Jacksonville, Florida? I refuse to scram it or buy another plasma.

Thank you for this article. I was about to spend close to $700 (incl. Taxes) on a Vizio. However, after reading this article and all the comments left by other, i realize what a huge mistake that would’ve been. I will now save up to $2000 and buy me a “good” tv that will last me at least ten years (hopefully more)

Andrew

Andrew, don’t just automatically think that because you’ll be getting a name brand TV, you will be fine. Right now, I’m considering between a Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba, but each unit or model will have it’s own problems. Be sure to read plenty of reviews as well as the manufacturer’s warranty policies to make sure you are covered. Also, I don’t know how what you will be basing your decision off of when purchasing but never go off of what you see in the store. They will not be indicative of how the set will look in your place unless your room is surrounded by very bright fluorescent lights. Be sure to play around with the TV’s settings until you find a picture you like.

Why are people driven into the arms of tier 2 and tier 3? Easy, because they’ve heard or experienced themselves an expensive brand name TV breaking down just outside of the warrenty period.

Call me crazy, but how is having a $1,600 break down out of its warrenty period any different than having a $600 TV break down out of its warrenty period?

At any rate, I think people go in cycles. They buy a cheapie and when it breaks down they resolve to buy from a more respectable brand even if it costs them. When that one breaks down they end up asking themselves why they paid more for a TV that lasted as long and so the next time they buy cheap again.

The real question nobody asks is why can’t a manufacturer, any one, make a reliable TV that lasts. Is it rocket science? There are tube TV’s still going on 20+ years old that people use. Why can’t we have that anymore?

Because there is alot of money to be made in the “disposable TV” business. But I’m also not naive enough to think that Westinghouse and Vizio are the only ones playing it. Sony? Are you freaking kidding me? The company that installs spyware on your computer won’t sell you a TV that needs replaced? So what if they want you to replace their TV in 3 or 4 years instead of 1 or 2 like a Vizio. It’s all the same game.

Someone show me a reliable HDTV.

Wish I saw this before I bought a new Westinghouse. I haven’t had any problems with it yet. As a matter of fact, it works fantastic. But it’s been over 90 days and seems I might get screwed on the costs if it ever breaks.

Maybe I should have originally bought a Samsung like planned.

If it makes you feel better, I bought a 32″ Westinghouse last year and so far so good. The picture is really good and I’ve had no issues to date. It’s been well over a year now.

*knocks on wood*

Tim,

Don’t believe the lies about cheaper HDTV’s not being as reliable as name brand TV’s. I’ve owned a Westinghouse for over 2 years with no problems now, and a Vizio for over a year and a half with no problems.

My name brand Sharp Aquos HDTV however lasted a whopping 12 months and 2 weeks. The warranty was for 1 year.

Let’s see:
47″ Westinghouse costed $1100 at the time
37″ Vizio costed $700 at the time
32″ Sharp Aqous $1300 at the time

Seems like cheaper is the way to go to me in this crapshoot.

I am in no way an expert or anything. I’m practically a noob looking to buy his first TV, but I’m not sure if it’s just about which brand makes more reliable TV’s and which don’t. I think it has to do in part with who will stand behind their product when it’s not working perfectly. When your TV breaks down, who is more likely to admit they screwed up and try to fix it? The Vizio or the Sony? I believe it would be Sony because that’s how they justify their price. They charge more to keep you loyal so the next time you’ll say, “Hey, Sony really did their job when things got rough…” Also you are paying more for that name, but they know you paid more and want you to keep paying more so they will pay more attention to you.

We have had 2 CRT Sony WEGA TVs in our home and neither one has given us a single problem, nothing I can think off the top of my head. Nothing that needed to be fixed. One’s pushing 13 years and the other’s close to 9, but they still work quite well. Based on the luck I’ve had with electronics in general……I’ll stick to the big brands until they severely underachieve and make me think twice about paying extra.

Ronak,
Both the major and the 2nd teir companies stand by their products if their is a problem…as long as it’s in warranty. You could apply the Sony logic that you stated if you want, but I doubt the will be any different than Sharp (The Leader In LCD’s until recently) who has TV’s with known issues that appear just after the warranty period.
That extra money you are paying is nothing more than a Word or Logo on your shiny new HDTV.

I bought a Toshiba LCD from Sears 47HL167. On the second day it had thick black lines coming from right to left when first turned on. They will disappear after about 30 minutes of warm up. Sears attempted to repair the set but it required a new panel. Toshiba refused the panel and offered to replace with a new set. A 46RV530U, I am not happy with that offer. They want me to sign an agreement for that which I am reluctant. I think they should either repair my set or replace with a better set. Am I wrong feeling that way? I sure could use some advise.
Thank You, Debbie

If it craps out in its second day the warrenty is still in effect. You may want to scour the language of the warrenty, but I’m pretty sure they are obliged to repair or replace – not with an inferior TV. If they can’t do that you should be able to get your money back. I would raise holy-hell at Sears first to take it back and get a full refund, but if that doesn’t work you have Toshiba. They must legally honor their warrenty.

You are in the position of power here. I suppose if they really tried to mess with you then you’d have a nice little small claims court action you could file against them. But it would be unfathomable to me that they’d let it get that far.

If I have my models correct, then the 46RV530U is not an inferior model, it is the new 2008 model which replaced the 47 model that you have. You lose one inch, but you’re getting a newer TV. One that I’ve heard has fixed some of the issues of the older model. Check what the people over AVS forum have to say.

draiken78:

From the research that I have done so far, I’ve heard better things about the top brands than the 2nd tier brands. I have also heard less bad things about the top brands than the 2nd tier brands. I also happen to think that Sony is overpriced, but they have shown me a better track record than anybody else.

Currently, the top 3 TVs that I am looking at are from Panasonic, Samsung and Toshiba. For my price range, Panasonic is king in plasma, Samsung is king in LCD and hopefully Toshiba is good enough that the money’s worth it. It’s the only one out of the 3 offering the best deal for the money, but they may or may not be as reliable as the other two.

Right now I’m confident that if I went with either one of the 3, if I had a problem occur it would be solved in a timely manner as long it was warrantied. I don’t know if Vizio or Olevia would do that or not.

Ronak,

I can’t really argue with your logic. I’m personally biased based on my horrible experience with my expensive Sharp Aquos. The fact is, I could have had them repair my TV in a timely fashion, but since the warranty was up (by a whopping 2 weeks) the price was more expensive than just getting a new 32″ TV.

I haven’t had my 37″ Vizio for an extended period of time yet, but I can really recommend my 47″ Westinghouse TV. I’ve read very few complaints about most their TV’s, and my has been going for 2 years strong with no problems what-so-ever.

I aboslutely tell everybody to consider Westinghouse when looking for a HDTV. The picture is a notch below the big dogs, but at half the price in most cases, to go along with the reliability that I and others have had it is a great deal. Personally, I think they own the best deal for a secoond HDTV for your bedroom, as a 720p 32″ is only about $500 these days.

First of all I want to thank you all for the input. Here is an update.

I called Toshiba to let them know that I did compair the two tvs and that the 46 inch did not have the features of my 47 inch. He said they could only offer either the 46 inch replacement or a refurbished 47 inch tv.

I then went to Sears and they say they will gladly take it back and deal with Toshiba. But only if I get another tv from them.

I looked at their sets and to get a satisfactory replacement set I am going to have to fork out another whopping, hard earned $1,000.00. Because, when I bought my 47 in. it had just went on sale. It looks like the prices have not come down as I had hoped.

More comments please. What would you do?

Thank you

If I were given that choice I’d probably suck it up and take the new 46-inch. You’re getting a new TV and sacrificing an inch and maybe a few features, but really it’s a TV. So long as it displays things properly that’s the most important thing.

I still don’t understand why Sears wouldn’t give you your money back. You bought a defective piece of merchandise from them.

And people wonder why Wal-Mart is so popular.

Debbie:

I agree with Scott. If Sears won’t man up and give you your money back, you just might have to settle for the new model. I know it sucks, but I went through the same thing when our camera stopped working, and Sears came out with my money. It really is an unfortunate situation, but you’ll have to decide if the features that you’ll be losing are worth it or not.

draiken78:

You know, I hadn’t honestly even researched the Westinghouse before. It can’t hurt to give it a shot, what do I have to lose? How would you say the picture quality is for sports, especially football, and OTA HD? Is there a brand that it is comparable to it? Also, I’m not completely against the 2nd tier brands. I helped my sister buy a 27” 720p Vizio last year and so far it’s been doing great. She says she loves it, but electronics are my passion and I only want the best for me. I don’t automatically rule out any electronic based on name, it’s just that I go with the tried and tested ones first and go from there. I want to say thanks for the help, you’re making my research easier for me!

Ronak,

Well, if you helped your sister buy a Vizio, I would say that the picture is nearly the same as most Vizio models. I do have to say however, that the Vizio gives better blacks.

As far as sports, they look great on it. I’m a big fan of football and baseball, and the picture is excellent.

Be carefull though. One of the reasons the Westinghouses used to be cheap was because they used to be sold as monitors. So no built in OTA tuner! I know they have plenty of models with the tuner now, but be carefull and make sure it does. It would definately suck to get one without it if you plan to snag your signal from the air with an antenna.

I can vouch for my 32″ Westinghouse. I watch Sports in HD on it and it looks fantastic. Like any LCD TV, digital pictures look so-so, some shows and networks better than others. But it’s in HD where the Westinghouse really shines.

To Scott P.

The problem with your Westinghouse is not really regarding the picture quality, though on average a top tier set will outperform it.

The problem is in regards to support, or lack thereof, in the event that you encounter a problem with the set that necessitates service.

The no-names simply do not provide adequate service to their customer.

You pay through the teeth to have the set shipped for the warranty service (or a warranty swap for a refurbished set).

Or, you’ll really pay with a limb for post-warranty service (cost of shipping and service/swap).

Or you will have absolutely no recourse whatsoever to recover your investment should it fail post-warranty (no parts and service data).

Compare this to a top-tier. If you have a problem under warranty, usually the company will act satisfactorily, including having the set shipped at their own expense and not at yours. Or, they will send a tech over to fix your set. Even post-warranty service may be cheaper: you take the set to an authorized servicer or have a tech come over and fix the set in-house. And, since top-tier companies tend to keep an inventory of parts and service data, the chances of recovering your investment post-warranty is good.

I tend to think of an expensive purchase, such as an HDTV, as an investment I wish to maximize as much as possible. Therefore, for the long term it makes sense to purchase a set made by a well-established 1st tier brand. Not only will you get superior performance but, more importantly, there will be good help available to assist you when you need it.

Ashram:

I guess I can see what you’re saying in regards to the warranty period. The top tiers might do a better job in the warranty period. But outside of it, I think you are screwed with either top tier or 2nd tier. If it’s outside the warranty period you are going to incur significant costs on both ends, and then you have to decide whether it’s really worth it to repair or replace.

Much as I hate them and used to laugh at people who buy them, I think extended warranties for these TV’s is not a bad idea. Sometimes that extra couple hundred dollars is worth the peace of mind. But if you are going to go without a net, so to speak, I’d rather a Westinghouse crap out a month after the warranty period than a Sharp Aquos, like the gentleman above had happen to him.

Sears took back the Toshiba. Gave me a full refund just as I thought they would. They did not have what I wanted in stock at the store so I went to Circuit City and they had what I wanted and matched the price at Best Buy and said they will price match any lower price for the next 90 days.

So my Toshiba delema is over. I just made sure I got the extended warranty.

Excellent Debbie!

I would like you to change the wording “When the warranty expires, if the set breaks, it’s ready for the town dump.”
to ready for the town ewaste facility as these sets should definitely not end up in the landfill.
thanks, Michelle Ress

I bought a TruTech 19″ LCD TV at Target on Black Friday 2006…spur of the moment and just because it was affordable. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an antenna feed or electrical outlet in the only logical place for it in my bedroom, so it sat in the box until a couple of months ago. I was relieved when I finally had it “installed” and could verify that the set actually worked. Two days ago I lost the picture…not the back light, just the picture. Of course, Target says “sorry…there’s nothing we can do”. I thought I’d be “smart” and buy a replacement at Costco, as I know they stand behind their products. But it sounds like after two years I’d be in the same situation if (or when) that TV fails. I just want an inexpensive bedroom TV. But it sounds like there is no such thing in the LCD world. After reading this site, NONE of the affordable LCD TVs sound reliable, and I’m in a rural area where TV repair service, authorized or independent, is hard to come by. Does anyone still manufacture or sell the “old-fastioned” CRT TVs that ran year after year reliably? As a retiree on a fixed income I can’t afford to replace my TV every couple of years.

What about a Brand that sears carries, Proscan… I have never heard of it and am having diffuculty finding information about it on the internet.

I didn’t read all these posts here, but your Vizio warranty info is very out of date.

They will on-site service if they can on displays over 30″, you only have to mail in 30″ or smaller displays.

If it cannot be repaired on-site, here is what their warranty says:

“For displays forty-two inches (42″) and larger, VIZIO will generally cover the transportation charges to perform an on-site swap of the original unit with the replacement unit. For displays under forty-two inches (42″), the customer is responsible for the transportation charges to VIZIO’s service center. VIZIO will be responsible for the return transportation charges from the service center to the customer. Please read VIZIO’s Limited Product Warranty for warranty terms and conditions.”

So, at worst you have to pay shipping one way, which isn’t terrible. Not perfect, but you aren’t getting screwed too bad.

Also, you can buy Vizios at Costco, and they extend the warranty automatically.

http://www.vizio.com/support/vip_services/warranty_information.aspx

My wife,and,I bought a 37″ LCD Sylvania -6637-LCT A,last Fall,At Brandsmart U.S.A.(10-13-07) Sylvania has been a houshold name as long as I can remember,but when the picture started flickering in the top 1/3 of the screen,I was told by “Funai Corp.” customer service to,”reset TV”.3 weeks later,3 more inches were flickering,and,they said to send them the tv,(in a box they`d send us) ;a $75.00 check,and,they would either,repair,or,send us a check,for the purchase price.So,we waited for the box,and,waited,…..,and,waited.five conversations,and,3 months later,(after threatened with the BBB)the box arrived last friday.The local news had a story about flat panels,and,a tv flickering just like Ours! So I guess our Sylvania/Funai is third tier junk,Huh,???Is it worth repairing???

Walmart still sells regular CRT TV’s. They are standard definition digital TV’s. In the 27″ size they have one (not sure of the brand) for $197, and an RCA for $248. One thing people should watch out for is that many of the famous names we grew up with, like Poloroid, only put their names on stuff someone else makes. It is sheer bias to go in depth on 2nd and 3rd tier warrantees and give a pass on the big boys. I have bought a lot of Sony and Panasonic stuff that was lightly used and well cared for and crapped out long before it should have. Another thing to remember is that this article was written a year ago, an eternity in the electronics business.

I have loved my Clarity Visual Systems Bobcat 40″ LCD. Recently, however, I am getting dark streaks that appear to be getting worse. Clarity was sold to another firm in Oregon and dealing with them has been difficult and shipping would be too expensive. Can you recommend a quality repair facility for this “broadcast control room monitor” that I am using for a home TV that is located in the Los Angeles area? Thank you and I loved your article. Just got my Dad to buy a Panasonic LCD instead of the off brands.

This article is not only very outdated but very misleading.
For one Vizio has totally revamped their warranty policy and is very solid and does provide serive and tech support out of warranty.

It’s also very misleading in the fact the article will have you believe that if your Panasonic, Sony Samsung etc breaks down out of warranty that’ll they’ll take care of you. Sure a cert. repairman will come out and look at your set but you are still going to have to pay for any out of warranty service. You are still on the hook for all cost’s labor, parts and shipping if neccesary. And yes this will cost you big time.
so no the big boys won’t take care of you financially. This article should have stated that instead of misleading people.
Plus it should be updated.

that is crap, Look up Vizio’s Warranty and then post your Blah Blah Blah!!!!!

I got a gfm meijer brand 26 lcd and it craped out after 6 months and meijers tells me they dont carry that tv anymore and they had problems with it and it had only a 30 day return policy on .. talk about scrap tv guess 600.00 every 6 months is okay for the rich and famous ..but myself i work hard for my money ..im choosing to stay with conventional tube tv’s good luck everyone with the lcd technology..

I do believe Best Buy will repair an Insignia TV after the one year warranty. The difference is that with a 4 year guarantee, the customer pays nothing, but without it, the customer pays a minimum of $120 just for Best Buy technicians to look at the tv. Best Buy is also a certified repair center for every brand it sells as far as TV’s go.

Also about Insignia, LG has only been making Insignia TV’s for the past year. RCA makes their DVD players and the Blu Ray is supposedly made by Panasonic.

It’s a mistake to think of buying any tech product as “an investment” just as buying a car is no investment, only an expense. A monetary investment has the potential to grow in dollar value. As soon as you drive that new car off the lot or that fancy HDTV is set up in your room it’s depreciating and is obsolete. Just look at the numbers: about $2400 for the big screen set-up that may last 6 years = $200/yr = about $17/mo. However, if you’re financing that purchase you’ll need to add the interest cost, which in the beginning could be more than $17. And how will you use that TV? Purchase or rent movies and games? Will you want new components for that TV? Satelite or cable service? When you look at all the additional temptation, the cost of the TV itself may be the least of your problems. Your home entertainment expenses, whether you turn the thing on or not, could easily cost at least $200/mo. Forget about saving up for the future replacement TV. Yet folks fuss about the price of a good novel and don’t bother to use a free library card. That’s okay. $200/mo may be a sound, affordable investment in fun for you and your family. Just be real about all this and keep it in perspective as the price of food and gas and bullets rise. I, for example, am currently spending more time and effort worrying about a TV purchase and reliable repair service than who I’ll vote to become my President for possibly longer than this TV will last. That’s pitiful. I’ll be a conflicted old hippie/tech geek until I die of confusion.

As a servicer, broadcast engineer, and professional electronics tech for over 40yrs, I am surprised at what some “so called servicers” are saying.
HDguru is exactly right, quality manufacturers (and I was an authorized servicer for over 25 of them at one time) will build a good product, and back it up. Sony, Mitsubishi, Sharp, Samsung, Pioneer, Marantz, and others build a quality product and back it with service and parts. There is one ‘small catch……..’
You have to be willing to pay for it. Americans are too cheap, and too lazy. They want the latest, newest, flashiest, and cheapest item available, and then want to moan and groan when it goes south. Grow up, do your homework, talk to a service tech, check it out first and then invest, not just buy.
Caveat Emptor.

In a blue funk:
In a day, I’ve read all that’s posted on this discussion site about “disposable tv’s. I had hoped to learn how to decide about the best way to spend $500 or less for a new tv. For 4 years now, I’ve been using (mostly with rabbit ears, now with cheapo cable services) a 11-or-so-inch color tv my son-in-law converted for in-home viewing from its original service in a 1988 van.

But my head is spinning now. Top tier, even if 22-inches or so? Or any tier, as long as it’s from Best Buy and I buy also the longest warranty they sell (which must reduce my total out-of-pocket …. say to $600. I just cannot spend more.

My desired uses for this tv are (1) 3-4 evenings a week, watch 1-2 hours of network tv shows; (2) if possible, hook up my dvd player to the tv and watch my small collection of good movies; and (3) sometimes hear or watch weather reports, given I live in Biloxi, MS, center of Hurricane Heaven. At 63, these past 6 months are the first time in my life I’ve lived on/near a coastline of any sort, so weather reports are important, huh?

So now what? This weekend I’ve done all the research I can find worth doing on the web, which consists (First) of the big-TV reviews on Consumer Reports (and thinking and hoping the brands of tv’s in my price range will be expected to perform like their Big Brothers and Sisters), an; and (Second) reading the entirity of this discussion posting.

I will be most eager for a wise somebody to offer a best-knowledge briefing as soon as possible. I HAD hoped to go buy that tv today. However, given the quality of much of the discussion in this venue, I’m willing to wait for some wisdom that may come my way today or any day this coming week (August 3-10).

LinnieWV – my advice is to ignore all of this nonsense, and buy yourself a nice used CRT (tube) TV. Your intended uses are fairly light, and you don’t need all of the bells and whistles the flat panels force on you – they’re often confusing even for enthusiasts. You don’t even need an HDTV; regular DVDs will look just fine on a standard TV.

You can usually find people on your local Craigslist.org site selling nice 32″ standard tube TVs for around $100-200 at any given time, and under $100 for a 27″ TV. Even if you got stuck with a lemon, you could still buy several more TVs before hitting that $600 price.

If you’re worried about the transition to digital broadcasts next year, it won’t apply to you if you use cable TV. If you ever cancel the cable subscription, you can buy a digital converter box at Wal-Mart for about $40-60 that will hook up to your rabbit ears and convert the digital signal for your old TV.

Again, if all you want to do is watch some TV and a few DVDs, there is no compelling reason to jump into all of this cutting-edge tech. Just get a bigger tube TV and enjoy the simplicity while everyone else is wrestling with their HDMI connections and such. Try to stick to the better brands like Sony, of course. They usually don’t cost much more in a used tube TV anyway.

To linnie, the best bet is to actually look up the manufacturer’s warranty itself. This article is very outdated and many warranty’s have either changed or they were just poorly researched in the begining. Best Buy will take care of Insignia and Vizio’s warrant is actually very good and does give you in home repair service thru a national network called Repair Solutions for set’s under 42 inches and ITI for sets that are 42″ and over. These are the same companies that you’ll use for out of warranty service.
What also is very misleading about the article is that it leaves you with the impression that the top tier namew will “take care of you”. All that means is they will set up a repair service, just like Vizio or anyone else who has in home repair network. That’s it. Sony, Samsung, Panasonic etc. isn’t going to pay for it. It’s out of warranty. And the cost of out of warranty of any of these brands whether it’s Sony or Vizio or who ever is going to cost a bundle. I drive a honda, it will be out of warranty in the next 5,000 miles. I can take it to all the certified Honda repair shops I want, I still have to pay for it. Same with your TV. You have to pay for it. And in many cases, the cost will exceed the price of a new TV. So yes even the big boys will be a “disposable TV”.

Just one question: how do you think top tier brands will service you after one year? It’s sad that HDGuru articles are so filled with so much FUD that makes them completely irrelevant.

I agree that you do get what you pay for, but if you do your research well and take all comments from experts and “experts” alike, you’ll see that the premium these top tier brands want (Sony, I’m looking at you!) does NOT give you that much greater picture quality improvement.

My son joined the marines fresh out of high school and is stationed in California. He made his first TV purchase on his own from Best Buy Store #437. He bought a Westinghouse 26 hd lcd tv. He took it home and plugged it in, it didn’t work. He drove another 45 minutes back to store to exchange it and they wouldn’t. Said he couldn’t prove it defective and he would have to call Westinghouse. Westinghouse said he has to take it to best buy. Nobody will help!!!! and my son is out $500.

If the tv is returnable within the 30 day period, they have to honor that policy. If not, Best Buy has to send it to the manufacturer to be fixed or replaced. Hold on to you original receipt and make copies of it. Don’t take no for an answer. Be assertive in this manner. Ask for the store manager and demand that they take it back.

A suggestion from a electronic technician with some 40 years experience. Whatever brand you choose. When you get it home, run in for a few days ( called a burn -in ) with out turning it off. Use all the inputs and all the buttons. This will help weed out an early failure refered to as ” infant mortality “. The greatest probably of failure is when a set is new. I have purchased 5 Olevia sets and gave them the burn-in procedure. All have gone 2 years without a failure. I am not giving this as a brand recommendation although I’m pleased with the sets but to perhaps show that the burn-in procedure has merit.

I am a first time buyer and i found a Sharp 32″ 720p flat-panel LCD HDTV at bestbuy.com for $580. Would you recommend this TV? Is it a good buy? I am looking for a TV with this size and around this price range. Thank you!

I bought a 47″ Westinghouse LCD from eCost.com. It was a refurb. After 3 days it had trouble turning on. After 1 week, it was dead. It was $860+shipping. I called eCost; they said they dont take back TVs over 21″, I had to contact Westinghouse. OMG! I called Westinghouse. They said I had to take it to a service center they will fix it for free. This thing is a beast; 47′. Gets better, the only service center is 80 miles away! I call the service center–they say Westinghouse is so bad they don’t fix their products anymore. So now I have to ship the TV at my cost ($120)!!! Now I’ve realized this TV will be trouble so I goto the SquareTrade ext warranty link eCost sent me. I can ext the warranty for 3 years for $101. I find a promo code which reduces the cost to $72! Cool. I feel better. I sign up for the ext warranty–then I notice it says only 1 yr NOT 3! I call SquareTrade and they say its eCost’s error not theirs but they extend the warrant to 3 yrs, no extra charge! I hear only good things about SquareTrade’s warranties, so do some research and ext your warranty!! NOW!

I AM A TV AND APPLIANCE SALESMAN IN OKLAHOMA. ONE OF MY COMPANYS HARDEST FIGHTS IS COMPETING WITH WALMART ON THERE BOTTOM DOLLAR TVS. THE ONE WAY I USUALLY GET THE SALE IS BY SHOWING THEM THIS REPORT. HAVE YOU PUBLISHED A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL DISPOSABLE TVS ON THE MARKET? IF SO IT WOULD HELP A LOT.

P.S. THE LG SCARLET HAS BEEN THE TOP SALER SO FAR THIS SEASON.

to bad this report is very outdated and many comapnies have since upgraded their warranty and out of warranty policies.

A great warranty policy is only as good as the company that backs it. I had a Vizio that kept turning off. I was still under warranty and the tech did come out and diagnosed the problem. However, when he called Vizio to order the replacement parts, Vizio never returned his calls. So after three weeks I returned the set to Costco and got a Sony. After six months, it’s working great. I am confident that if I have a problem Sony will immediately take care of it, since they have many authorized service centers located nearby. Vizio does not so I would have to send the TV back to them and wait for a ‘refurbished’ TV. And who knows how long they will last.

[...] They are disposable third tier or "junk" TV. Virtually no factory support in parts or maintenance. Do not buy ANY of the "no-name" brands you have never heard of, or that have just come on the TV scene in the last couple of years, like Vizio and Polaroid! See, http://www.hdguru.com/your-new-disposabl…; [...]

Hdguru just announced that Olevia went bankrupt. Good luck to those buyers of their TVs that thought they got such a good deal on a high quality TV.

BEST BUY is the WORST BUY. THEY SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the LCD panel on my $900 42″ Olevia was accidentally broken with a toy by my son, I contacted Olevia to set up a repair. They told mr that the price would be 70% of whatever I paid for the TV, plus shipping to and from California.
there pimp, Target stores. $630 plus shipping, truly a ripoff. The TV will most likely end up in the trash…
before I buy another TV I will definitely call a top-brand to inquire about their service network.

further more I hold Target stores responsible for foisting this scam on its customers.

This is interesting but I wonder about the value of reading a few posts from a number of disgruntled owners? As consumers, we need to know the likelihood for failure (yes, CR offers this for major brands), what warranties cover, and what is available after warranties end? Here is what I’d like to see in a summary table by brand:
1. failure rate — when repair required
2. failure rate — when replacement required
3. standard warranty — define full protection for parts and for labor
4. manufacturer’s extended warranty — cost and coverage (too many stores to list their policies, should be identified locally)
5. manufacturer’s out of warranty repair — available? in home charges? in shop charges? shipping to service center required and rate chart?

With this information I believe it would be easier to decide on the price range for a flat panel purchase.

[...] http://hdguru.com/your-new-disposable-flat-panel-hdtv/107/ addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hdtvsaleonline.com%2Fblog%2Finsignia-hdtv%2Fare-insignia-hdtvs-from-bestbuy-any-good’; addthis_title = ‘Are+Insignia+HDTV%26%2339%3Bs+from+Bestbuy+any+good%3F’; addthis_pub = ”; Posted in Insignia HDTV 4 Responses [...]

I purchased a Vizio VX32L HDTV about a year and a half ago. Worked great until recent power outage from Hurricane Ike (windstorm that hit us here in Columbus, OH). TV was plugged into surge protector nad was not turned on at the time power went off or the time power went back on. However, color was damaged (highly saturated blacks and blues are now red, highly saturated light blues are now pink, etc). The service company that services out of warranty Vizios (Repair Solutions, LLC. (RPS)
(800) 762-0796) was very, very helpful and gave me the link for an online Vizio parts provider (relatively new): http://www.vizparts.com. Now I have the freedom to choose a local servicer without worry that the Vizio part will be unavailable (or I may even try to replace the mainboard myself, since that’s what it sounds like it is).

My 2 year old Toshiba plasma HDTV went out about five weeks ago; Mack Camera, who i bough a 3 year extended warranty provided “on-site” warranty repairs two weeks ago by sending out two non-techs to pick up my unit and take it back with them in their minivan. As of today their website’s latest update is saying there is a “repair issue”. Several calls and emails to them are going unreturned. After almost five weeks without the TV is very disappointing to my three small kids, my wife and me. I was told by Maria of Mack that the unit would be repaired on-site, and the driver Luis told me it would take less than 2 weeks to get my repaired TV back. Both turned out to be untruths. Recent research indicated that the problem (no picture) with my 42HP66 is not uncommom. I will update this post, as the situation unfolds. I will also relate my story, good or bad, to as many places as possible.

MS….loved your comment in regards to keeping perspective upon things. Its true that we can spend days on end researching a good TV instead of spending that time researching who I’ll be voting for this election period.

[...] I'm looking for an HDTV. Im stuck between two brands, either the ViewSonic 22"/26" or Vizio 22"/26". Which brand generally produces a better product? Are there any other cheap alternatives that you would suggest? Thanks! In a LCD HDTV, both are junk or "third tier" TV. Save up you $$$ until you can afford a Toshiba or a Sharp, even if it's in a 19", in these smaller sizes. If you want to spend the extra, the two top dogs in 26" are Panasonic and Sony. Buy the one with the best combo of price and warranty. See, http://www.hdguru.com/your-new-disposable-flat-panel-hdtv/107 addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hdtvsaleonline.com%2Fblog%2Fviewsonic-hdtv%2Flooking-for-a-hdtv-for-college’; addthis_title = ‘Looking+for+a+HDTV+for+college%3F’; addthis_pub = ”; Posted in ViewSonic HDTV One Response [...]

For a 32″ LCD, I’m looking at the Sony line. Is the XBR series that much better than their Bravia KDL-32M4000? I’ve been told that with the 32″ LCD TV’s, the 1080p high definition is not as noticable. Can you comment?

Guru, Here’s a good one for you. My Mitsubishi WD62827 (Diamond Series – not 2nd or 3rd tier)has numerous problems and has had since we bought it. We did not return it or purchase an extended because an “Account Executive” that worked for Mitsu became “friendly” with us and advised me not to purchase one because “he wouild be out warranty”. He did help us a few times but then left the company. Now it needs a light engine – almost $1200.00. Your responses about disposable tv’s prompted me to ask you what you think. This is almost half the price I paid for the tv. I am in the process of screaming at Mitsu on the legalities of their representative giving out the wrong advice and I should hear from them soon. Ever hear of anything like this or any experience with Mitsubishi? I have asked them to replace the set as this one is not worth fixing my thinking being that superficial repairs may not fix all the problems. I think circuit board/s are the problems.

Bob Eckert
719-528-1939

i’m not sure what kind of service people expect.
tv tech rapidly changes. any service engineers that could repair a wide range of units would be very costly. it wouldn’t be cost effective. you are getting cutting edge technology for very low prices, and thats comes with a certain risk.

Guru, I notice you stopped replying to these messages in August 2007. Do you not reply or answer questions anymore?

Bob Eckert

Now i rethink to buy a LCD …

Wow, after reading this old article it seems like most of the responses on here are from folks who did not really research their purchase very well… Yes, I agree some of the makers on this list are bad but not all. But from the responses it seems to be a matter of the customer assuming that a TV will last a long time and I just don’t get that..? If the warranty is for 1 year, then it’s for 1 year.. Not 2 years, etc… It seems that everyone is confusing this aspect. The smart bet is to cover yourself and therefore not worry about the issue of repair until something does happen.. Most people I have talked to always state they do not believe in Extended Service Plans…? Why wouldn’t you..? Every consumer should be asking themselves how will I pay for this repair down the road should I have to…? If you are not Mr. or Mrs. Moneybags then you would be silly not to buy it. Personally, I have to take responsibility for my own purchases and I do so by buying the warranties on high-end items and not on others that I can just replace relatively cheaply. Another issue listed on here is parts and everyone complains they cost too much… Well, let’s think about it… There are only certain providers for parts is one problem because there is no competition.. 2) TV’s can be mass-produced alot cheaper than if put together separately per board which is the retail price you pay for the boards so maybe that is what is being overlooked on some of the complaints.. Lastly, I agree with the other person who stated that this report is really old and most companies have redesigned their warranties so all you have to do is some homework – which again no one likes to do since it’s easier to bitch about it later I guess…Just my insight to this lengthy list of complaints.

[...] In a 32" or 37" LCD, the 2 top brands, for BOTH performance and reliability, are Panasonic Viera and Sony Bravia. A little bit less expensive, but still good quality is Toshiba Regza followed, perhaps, by Sharp Aquos and Samsung. In "name brands," Philips/Magnavox (same mfg) are at the bottom of the list – too many consumer complaints. What ever you get, stay away from the cheap, disposable, third tier sets like Vizio and the other 3 you mention. http://hdguru.com/your-new-disposable-flat-screen-hdtv/107/ [...]

Does anyone know anything about Curtis Mathes Lcd TV’s. Are they a good TV? What about service and warranty. Know at one time was a great company and product.

Thanks

[...] I am buying it for my PS3 use and that is pretty much it for right now. Later on I will use it for Cable and what not. I would love any information. Vizio is a third tier, disposable, "junk" TV. Don't waste your money! http://www.hdguru.com/your-new-disposable-flat-panel-hdtv/107/ [...]

I have placed a lot of faith is Consumer Reports in the past. I am planning to purchase a 19″ to 22″ LCD TV for the bedroom this Christmas. The December 2008 isssue to Comsumer Reports gives a pretty good rating to some of the Insignia, Westinghouse NuVision, and Vizio brands. That is rather scarey. I am supprised that they do not do a longivity check prior to recommending. They do not give reliability ratings on any of the sets teststed. Thanks to your site the 2nd and 3rd tier is off my list. GREAT SITE!!

First of all the the post you are referring to and comments with it are nearly two years old. I own both a Vizio 32inch plasma and their newer SV420XVT model and have had zero problems. They both are great tvs and my XVT’s picture quality is better than a Sony I have. Both came with great warranty options and were super easy to set-up. I’m not sure what all the hate towards Vizio is, but like someone else said, if Consumer Reports recommends them, I think they are a good bet!

I have owned nothing but Olevia’s (Syntax)for the past 3 years, this also goes for my oldest son. I paid $699 for my 42″ and I also have a 26″. Have had mine for 3 and 1 years. My son owns 2 also and I can say nothing but good things about them. 2 guys at work own them and love them. The picture is amazing and I nor my son or anyone else I know have ever had a problem. The extended warranty thru Office Depot was much cheaper than advertised on your site. Sorry, but I will be buying another one of these “junk” televisions this month on Black Friday. Going with a 47″ 1080 this time. Love em!

Vizio GV42L 42″ LCD HDTV

I bought 2 of these TV’s about a year and a half ago and I’m still in love with them. Haven’t had a problem with either of them.

My brother-in-law bought one for himself and his parents.

Hoping to get the 50 inch 1080p this Holiday season.

[...] I am looking to buy a new TV, i have noticed that i could get a Vizio LCD 42′ 1080P for around $900, or a Vizio Plasma 42″ 720p for around $750. I was hoping that someone who has one, or sells them could help me out. Are these good tvs? any other suggestions? If you know anything better/cheaper i am looking for anything in between 42″-52″.. i can spend up to about $1,500 but would like to keep it around 1000 -anything and everything will help. Thank you. 1. Plasma – they are very good, and the best for movies and fast action sports. 2.Vizio = third tier, cheap, disposable junk, whether plasma or LCD. The pic isn’t bad, for the budget price, BUT read this!! http://www.hdguru.com/your-new-disposable-flat-panel-hdtv/107/ Plasma: If you go plasma, the only intelligent buy is the Panasonic 42″, 46″ or 50″ Viera. Dollar for dollar, this is the very best buy in your budget range, for BOTH performance and reliability. LCD: In 40″ – 52″ the top brand for BOTH performance and reliability is Sony Bravia. A little less expensive, but still very good quality, is Toshiba Regza followed, perhaps, by the Sharp Aquos and Samsung. If you can’t afford to buy one of these suggested brands, either wait until you can, or get a smaller screen size. Quality is everything in these very expensive TVs. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fplasmama.com%2Fvizio-plasma-tv%2Fvizio-lcd-and-plasma-tvs-how-good-are-they’; addthis_title = ‘Vizio+LCD+and+Plasma+Tv%26%238217%3Bs+how+good+are+they%3F’; addthis_pub = ”; Rate this: 3.2 [...]

Eric,
Olevia and Target aren’t ripping you off or scamming you.The “Panel” on an LCD TV is 70% or more of the total price of the TV, Guess what? if you bought a 2K Sony, and your son messed up the panel, it would cost $1400 to fix.

Second and Third tiers are fine although lately, so called “First” tiers are coming more into line with the lower tiers in terms of pricing.Best bet RUN the hell out of any TV you buy early on, if it makes it past 30 days without ANY issues, you should be fine.If it doesn’t dump that sucker back on the retailer. Yes TV’s do die after six months or a year, but ALOT of them show early signs, if you know what to look/listen for,(Hi pitch whines etc) Remember issues NEVER get better just worse with time.

Not to beat a dead horse, but very few companies have the Billion dollar manufacturing plants to produce Panels, so ANY LCD TV you buy is going to have a “Quality” panel. I have nothing against a Sony or LG, they make great sets, but believe me THEY also have tons of problems. Should you buy a “House” brand or one of the big guys? for me, if we are talking 30% or less price difference I would likely go with the “Better” brand. Over 50% FORGET IT…I would rather put that ‘Extra” 50% in the bank for my NEXT TV, a few years down the line.How about extended warrenties? Well that depends on price/coverage particulars/ how “Hard” your family is on gear and how ANAL you are. For example I have seen Laptop protection plans that cover EVERYTHING including negligence, now if you are a Klutz that would be like money in the bank.If you are careful like me, it’s a waste of cash. Ask yourself this question if you spent $800 on a “House” brand and it lasted 3 years, than broke with NO recourse, would you be more angry/sad than spending $2500 and after 3 years you need a $800 repair?

Is a $1600 Sony better than an $800 Olevia sure….Better than TWO Olevia’s, No way…Best case you get similar TV for half price/worst case, at some point you “Dispose” of the Olevia and buy ANOTHER TV for $800, and your no worse off…

I guess your in Canada? I get the Insignia at that size and price how can you go wrong? some day when you are looking for something 40″+ that’s when I’d worry…Enjoy

Can anyone tell me about gfm models from meijer? They have a 42″ 1080 plasma tv for $499 on the day after thanksgiving. Worth it or not?

Mr Guru needs to update his info. VIZIO’s warranty policy has changed. TV’s over 30 inches qualify for on site repair. This is not the first time this site had wrong info. He is biased.

Mr HD Guru must be in jail for having bad judgement or got electrocuted fixing one of those off brand TV’s. I haven’t seen a post from him in a long time.
I have a Poloroid and an Olevia and haven’t had a problem with either and have had them for 2 years. I’ve also checked, there are quite a few repair shops that will fix both of those brands. They use many of the same parts the top tiers use.
Some people put way too much analyizing into buying things. Life’s too short to worry about what can go wrong. Watch your TV, have fun doing it.

I was gonna buy a tv, but now that they are all apparently a POS, Ill stick with my 17 yr old sharp 20″ tv in the living room that still works fine.

would sanyo be considered as an name brand tv manufac. or not?

This discussion thread has been an eye-opener. Until I read it, I had planned to buy a cheap flat-screen tv. But this thread makes clear that such a purchase would be wasted money. Since I only use my 19″ tv one or two hours weekly, I’ve decided to keep it and simply buy a cheap digital tuner, using one of the $40 vouchers. Many thanks to the creator of the thread, and to to many posters.

I bookmarked your blog, thanks for sharing this very interesting post

My dad bought a vizio from costco. 1 year later it didn’t appear to do HD. They brought a new TV to his HOUSE. I have a 26″viore in my bedroom, a 40″ polaroid in my living room an the only problems I can report is the universal remotes don’t do EVERYTHING I want….. WOW, F-in amazing. They couldn’t forsee EVERY remote code in the future….. the bastards. GURU? Buy an O-scope, dvm and then shut up while you read the owners manual.

As you claimed, “All the top name brands including Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi Samsung,… Out of warranty service is no problem. All the major name brand TV companies have vast parts supplies and a nationwide network of factory authorized servicers.”

One man’s Samsung LCD screen goes dead in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In order to get it repaired, he’s supposed to either drive or send it to Philadelphia, PA, for 3 days, pay about $100 just to get it looked at, and pick it up afterward weather or not the TV was fixed.

I wouldn’t put up with that.

LOL at the comment about
>>plus160
Posted on 22nd August, 2007

There is a reason a BMW costs more than a Hyndai, Nissan, or Ford, the same can be said for a TV.

I noticed many of the responses are commenting that the all the top name brands have vast amount of parts in supply.

If this is the case why is Sony having such a hard time giving me a difinitive delivery date for the replacment parts for my defective XBR-4 panel/inverter.
They keep moving the date. Is it Sony’s policy to keep the new product supply chain moving and put the customer with a bad TV in the back seat?

I am having a hard time getting info as to where I can get the warenty work done on my VIZIO TV in my area. I live out in the country in South West Texas. I wish there was a list of the aurthorizer service centers in all areas.

What are your recommendations on ProScan LCD TVs?

Costco has a 32 inch ProScan LCD TV for only $380 (after a $50 rebate). Is this a good buy?

I want a good tv, not necessarily a brand-name tv, as long as it is good. I’m not as concerned about post-warranty service as usually by the time TVs break they are not worth reparing – especially if a new one is $380.

To be sure, however, I do want a great picture, decent user interface, and plenty of input options.

Are there big issues with the ProScan TVs?

i bought a element 26″ 2 years ago and my tv is still working just fine. all this B.S about BUY NAME BRAND! some people due to todays economy cant afford to buy SAMSUNG,PANASONIC,LG or SONY! so they go for the cheap brands to save money! I went the cheap route and my ELEMENT 26″tv is still working fine after 2 years!

I got an Olevia 532H at 2007 blackfriday for less than 400 dollars. Everything was peachy until last week. The sound was out and I have to use the earphone jack to connect to external amplified speakers. At the same time the component input showed whole screen with pinkish hue. I swapped cables & DVD players confirmed the TV’s component port is out. Switch the DVD to S-video for the time being. Since I didn’t pay too much for it in the beginning, It is surly qualified as an “disposable TV”…

Which TV & brand is better for a PS3 System? HD Guru can you help me out with this?

i’m a consumer electronics tech +45yrs. here are the meanings of commonly used terms for used units:

REMANUFACTURED-entire assemblies or known high failure parts replaced plus any updates. restores to “as built” condition and “detailed”.

REBUILT-failure corrected.other high failure parts may be replaced, plus clean unit.

REFURBISHED-can be a quick functional check, and nothing more than a “detail” of the unit

beware when seeing these terms used!

Hey Audioguy… the reason BMWs are more than a Hyundai has nothing to do with quality. BMW and most Germans cars have junk hardware, switches and controls.

There has been 5 BMWs in my family and everyone had multiple switch and hardware failures… some serious… we don’t buy BMWs anymore. The BMW 7 series have been one of the MOST troublesome cars on the market.

There is also a reaon why Consumer Report can not recommend ANY Mercedes Benz. The fit and finish not-with-standing German cars are junk.

After passing an entire wall of LCD/Plasma TVs and noticing that not a single one offered a warranty longer than 1 year, I’ve come to the conclusion I’ll just stop watching TV when my CRT goes out, maybe in another 10 years…

what category would you place Sanyo in? i heard they got high praise form consumer reports.

Hi,

I am a tech that has worked on HDTV’s for well over 4 years now. However I am looking to find/get something for troubleshooting support (Brands such as Poloroid) that are only qualifying for after warranty support. Most of the larger sets have gone to replacing a much larger module that is in fact just a larger collection of boards, diodes, etc; that can be tested in shop prior to shipping out. I know this saves time and troubleshooting, however in the brands I speak of here, particularly the Poloroid, they have sent an entire main module to replace. That was over a couple of years ago, and now there are machines needing parts and those larger modules aren’t available! (at least my search hasn’t turned up any!!!) And unlike HP, there aren’t any online troubleshooting tutorials for the different brands we speak of here. Two questions, if the main company such as Poloroid isn’t gonna supply parts and/or troubleshooting, where can they be found? Two, do you see these lower end sets being scrapped within the next year due to the problems with servicing them being mentioned here?

Any answers and/or info would be greatly appreciated……

Regards,

Sam Shipp

None of this is new. They just stole Sony’s warranty practices. This is NOT unique to the cheap sets. Sony has been doing this for years. They have been masters at designing their crap to fail 1 day after the warranty expires and charging 3X the value of the item to fix it.

I have two Olevia Lcds. A 32″ and a 27″, both work great. The picture is fantastic. I don’t know what you people’s problem is, but I bet if you quit dropping it on the floor, it will work fine.

I have two Olevia Lcds. A 32″ and a 27″, both work great. The picture is fantastic. I don’t know what you people’s problem is, but I bet if you quit dropping it on the floor, it will work fine.

purchased a 29″ LG slimfit from a reputable store here in the phil, decided on LG believing that it is a global brand..feb 2009 the screen turned black&white, it began rolling up&down even sideways. the warranty is just for a year so i payed for the service&parts but up to this day i am still encountering the same problem! on friday april 8 LGE is coming once again to pull out my unit. i truly believe it is production defect, bec not even their best Korea-trained technician can fix it.

ps.

purchased it oct 31, 2007 so the units good for only a year and three months.

I have just purchased a LG blue-ray dvd player using it with a Vizio 32″ HDTV. I am getting yellow pixels showing up while playing movies( HD and SD), could this be from a bad HDMI cable??? I’ve checked all the TV and DVD player setting and everything seems to be ok.

I bought a 42 inch Toshiba Regza LCD TV. I do not watch a lot of tv and would consider my usage below average. 17 months after I bought the set the panel went out. The TV is out of warranty and the cost to repair it exceeds its value. My last TV set lasted 17 years and I have had only one TV set repaired in my lifetime & that was due to a lightning strike. I am very disappointed in the prevalent attitude today that everything is disposable, especially since things cost so much more than their reliable predecessors. By the way, Toshiba knew that the panel in that particular set had problems & still refused to offer any compensation for repairs. Samsung made the panel & I’ve been told makes many of them. I wouldn’t buy a TV from either of these companies and am wondering after reading all these posts if any of these hi tech sets are worth even the lower prices mentioned.

Well, if these companies are knowingly selling units that will die shortly after the warranty runs out, I can safely say that any cheap HD set I buy is going to suffer a horrible (warranty covered) tragedy at the 10/11 month mark.

Thanks for this post

I have a problem with my 37” vizio plasma. Its been a year since i bought it and now when you turne it on it turns back off. every time i turn it on it seems to gain power until it finally stays on. Can you tell me whats the problem with it. i called costumer service and they weren’t any help all they could say was they could come take a look at it for $360, might as well just buy a new tv. please help!!!!

The screen got broken on my Olevia 37 inch Tv. I called the company about repair. They said they would replace the screen for $195 and I would pay for shipping 1 way at $66.00. I need to pay $100 for diagnostics and the shipping up front. The $100 would be applied to the cost of the repair. The total cost then would be about $260 if that is all thats wrong. I am afraid they could just say there was a lot of other things wrong and then have a big bill that the TV would not be worth fixing and then they get to keep the TV and I loose the money I paid down on my Credit card. What do you think and do you know anything about their credibilty?

Why should someone who paid under $500.00 for a 37 inch LCD HDTV worry about the availability of repair after the warranty runs out? If the TV has a good, easily adjustable picture, satisfies the buyer and lasts a year, don’t you think they got their money’s worth? Like it or not, this is the age of the disposable everything from inkjet printers to that jerk you married. These days you pays your money and you takes your chances. The days of, “The customer is always right!” are long gone.

Buy a decent brand, and you won’t regret it. I have a 27 inch Sony XBR crt that is 18yrs old (1992, built-in 2-tuner PIP, etc.). The picture was amazing all these years, and when I got a converter box for it, it looks even better now. Sure, it’s not 1080p HDTV or even 720, but from 6ft away, the pic is still sharp & contrasty, people think I have cable or DirectTV. I just have a plain roof antenna. Soo… I thought about replacing it with an LCD HDTV… Guess what I’m shopping for… yes, another friggin’ Sony XBR, 46 or 52. I paid $1200 for it (pricey for a 27 back then), but I think I got my money’s worth. On top of that, I can sell it on eBay or Craig’s for about $100 dollars, no prob – ’cause it’s an XBR (like reselling an old classic car)!
Save a bot more money, and get the highest quality tv you can afford.

I own a 47″ HDTV Olevia 747i since Dec 2008,this was first HDTV and I guess I made the right choice,I never had any or have any issue with it,picture quality is a lot better than some expensive brand out there.I bought mine for about $699 + $243 (two yrs on site warranty at TigerDirect.

Buy a name brand? I purchased a LG 42″ tv 2 years ago. 7 Capacitors went out after 15 months and the remaining capacitors went out after 22 months. LG wouldn’t do anything – it was out of warranty. Repair tech said the capacitors were not of the right capacity for the TV and were actually a product defect. In my opinion, should have been a recall. I will not buy LG ever again.

Purchased three LG,S Lcd.s 1080s with my roommate for her new home .Two 42″ & a 55″ with extended warranties from COMP U.S.A . The 55 INCH was defective from the get go. Picture kept freezing every few minutes. But i thought it was a cable service problem. After multiple service calls from comcast.
I realized it was the T.V.
Comp U.S.A said they had no more of that model in stock .We purchased them all on a weekend promo sale . But would exchange it for a different one .
Got the model #ers and found out our unit was a much higher end one then the one they offered in exchange and didn’t really want to lug that big thing back to the store myself. So i called LG.
And after 45 minutes of being extremely adamant. They scheduled a service call. Tech came out fixed it buy replacing a major board and also replaced the T.V. stand that was a little tilted .
Gave me a history lesson about samsung and LG being the same family .Two Korean Brothers in the same business. Also gave me tips on the best way to use our new LG washer and dryer .That the manual didn’t mention . And the T.V. works really fantastic now. So my point here is .Spend a little more money for your T.V. and you get a much better warranty experience and product. I highly recommend LG. Not only do they have a beautiful picture and better technology then most other brands .
They come to you for the repair , and stand buy there product.

actually i had bought an Olevia 42in about 3yrs ago… it blew about 2days ago…now there is no longer an Olevia company to call… I have to say that these days buying a TV has to do with where the purchase is made..buy a tv at a walmart or sams club costco..etc is better because of their membership policies..if it stops working you take it right back to them and they give you a new one…just purchase the stores extended warranty…

I’m planning on buying a 37″ visio an if they don’t offer. Warranty on it after a year , an it breaks after a year , then you know wat ill jus toss it an jus BUY ME ANOTHER, CUZ duck it its jus money. An plus they always come out better a- newer every year

Interesting that this thread is still “live” after two years..

A couple points that don’t seem to be made here, from a guy who owns a TV repair company that fixes about 10,000 TV’s a year…

1) To those people who are saying “since I only paid $XXXX for this set, I expect to throw it away after a year, and there’s always newer and better stuff” – hogwash. Unless you’re far richer than I am (or any of our customers) you are NOT going to feel that way if your investment goes dead after 13 months. Guaranteed. We talk to you guys all the time, EVERYONE says “but, my LAST TV lasted 10 years!”

2) This practice is patently illegal, and only exists because the consumers affected don’t have the chutzpah to take real ACTION. There’s a federal law – the Magnuson-Moss Act (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/adv/bus01.shtm), which – among other things – mandates that warranty service must be “without charge” (section 2304 (d)), the product must be replaced or refunded after a “reasonable number of attempts” at repair (section 2304 (a) (4)), and must be done in a “reasonable time and without charge” (section 2304 (a) (1)).

For those in California, the Song-Beverly Act (http://www.lemonlawca.com/songbeverly.html)further expands your rights. Song Beverly says, for instance, that every manufacturer MUST provide parts for SEVEN years (1793.03 (b)) and must maintain service “reasonably close” to all areas where their products are sold. Products also must be fixed within 30 days (1793.2 (b)) AND if the product has to be shipped, the manufacturer has to pay for the shipping (1793.2 (c)).

Why do customers put up with this? I’ve been suggesting that buyers of “off” brands that provide no service support either sue the company, or at a minimum report it to their state consumer protection agency as well as the FTC (and in CA, the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair.)

Not only are end-users hurt by this, but the companies that provide REAL support are at a disadvantage. The companies like Sony, Mits, Sharp, LG, Toshiba, etc that incur the cost of having this support CAN’T match the up front price of a company like Olevia or Polaroid. Every customer who buys one of the off brands not only runs the risk of having a very expensive boat anchor, but they’re actually furthering the process of driving companies that still provide support OUT of business…

This is the exact same dynamic as companies that hire illegal workers and pay them substandard wages (with no benefits) to do a particular job, competing against companies that hire legitimate eligible citizens and have to pay them a few bucks more.

The end product COSTS a bit more of course, but if we allow the companies that are operating ILLEGALLY to profit and gain market share by taking advantage of their low cost structure then we’re actually DAMAGING the companies that do things above board and by the books.

I certainly don’t want to pay any more for anything than I have to, but the playing field should at least be level – every company should have to comply with the same set of laws, and then if one company just “does it better” or somehow “makes it cheaper”, more power to them!

I have a Hyundai 50″ Plasma except that Hyundai does not want to admit they manufactured this product. I sent them documentation but they keep denying they ever made this TV….but of course they still sell them in EU and other continents….USA standards for warranty & repair pushed them out and now I am stuck with a Plasma Mirror….I look at it and see an idiot for ever buying it. DO NOT BUY HYUNDAI no matter where you live…!

Oi galera, gostaria de uma ajuda, eu adquirir um pacote de TV HD no PC no site http://www.tvhd.com.br tenho acesso a vários canais através de um painel de controle que eu visualizo no próprio navegador, como eu faço para gravar os programas e série de TV no meu PC, lembrando que não tem nem um programa instalado no meu PC é todo pelo próprio navegador.
Quem tiver uma luz por favor me ajude meu e-mail: duvalino_2222@ig.com.br