Apr
19

Vizio LCD TV - Cheap LCD TV Update

Filed Under Cheap LCD TVs, Vizio LCD TV | Leave a Comment

Question: What do all these names have in common:

Vizio, Kenmark, Viewsonic, Kogan, Syntax, TCL, Polaroid, UMC, Olevia, Daewoo, Westinghouse, iLO, Goodmans, TEAC, Norcent and Zenith?

Answer: They’re all so-called, cheap LCD TVs.

Sometimes these are also called “no name” or “value” brand TVs. Some of these LCD TVs are only available in only one country, or just a few countries, whereas others are available around the world.

Important Note: Although they may be called cheap LCD TVs, they’re not necessarily cheaper than the major brands in every case. Especially in the current economy, where the big brands - Sony, Samsung, Philips, LG, Panasonic, Sharp etc - are becoming more price competitive.

For example in a recent review by Choice Australia of 42 inch / 106 cm LCD and Plasma TVs the cheapest was from Sanyo followed by a Samsung model than Panasonic and Philips.

The value TV in the comparison was a TCL brand model, which was placed 8th out of 10 in the overall ratings. However, the TCL was $650 more than the 2nd placed Samsung and $600 more than the 3rd placed Philips TV.

vizio-and-samsung-lcd-tv

Anyway the question of interest to most people about cheap LCD TVs is are they any good? And that is a tricky question to answer.

The issues behind that question revolve around what are the buying criteria that are important to you.

A low, or at least competitive price is obviously important to many people, but what do you trade off to get a lower pric?

If you read some of the reviews on cheap TVs, some people love them, others hate them. Others never have a problem, other have failures and then have problems with customer support trying to get their issues resolved.

Overall, assuming you find the picture quality and feature set acceptable, probably durability/reliability is the main gotcha with cheap LCD TVs. And reliability / customer support is one of those things its hard to really know how its going to be until you need it.

In the July 2008 issue of Popular Mechanics they compared the Samsung LN40A650 LCD TV against the VU42LF Vizio LCD TV. The Samsung was more than twice the price of the Vizio at the time of the review ($2700 vs $1100).

The reviewer concluded that although the Vizio looked good by itself, when compared side by side with the Samsung the (large) difference in price was justified.

So this reinforces our LCD TV buying guide tips:

1. Define your buying criteria - size, features, budget range.

2. Research on the internet to get a shortlist of which LCD TVs meet your buying criteria.

3.  Go and see the shortlist in the flesh, ideally side by side or at least within a short period of each other using the same source material

4.  Negotiate the best deal, remembering the internet is not necessarily the cheapest. Also remeber to watch out for internet shonks, there are plenty around.

Good shopping.

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Apr
16

Samsung LED TV

Filed Under LED TV, Samsung LCD TV | Leave a Comment

So putting the usual hype aside for a moment, what is LED TV exactly and what benefits does it offer?

The latest Samsung LED TVs, such as the UN46B7000, use an edge-lit LED-based, TFT active matrix, LCD panel (what a mouthful of techno-jargon!). Basically this means that the TV uses LED Backlight technology to increase the amount of light passing through the LCD panel.

So far Samsung is the only company to announce a full lineup of LED-based LCD TVs. These are still expensive as new technology products usually are, before the production volumes crank up.

However, if you’re desperate to impress your neighbours today, LED TVs offer the most advanced technology (at least until OLED comes along) and their design looks as sexy as hell, not least because they’re super thin.

Samsung also claim a 40% reduction in the power consumption for the LED TV compared with previous model, same size TVs.

samsung-led-tv-UN46B7000

Features:

The LCD TV panel is only 1.2 inches thick and the 46 inch model weighs around 50lbs (light for its size) and Samsung claims it is very easy to hang on a wall as a result.

For comparison a previous Samsung LN46A950 LED-backlit TV, which was released in 2008, weighs around 68lbs for the same screen size.

  • 3,000,000:1 Mega Contrast ratio provides an extended brightness range - deep blacks and bright  whites.
  • Advanced Color Processing for a wider range of natural colors and greater picture depth.
  • Auto Motion Plus 120 Hz technology eliminates virtually all motion blur, for a  smooth and crisp picture.

Street Price at time of posting:

The Samsung UN46B7000 has a screen size of 46 inches and a price of around $2,500 (April 2009).

Reviews and User Feedback

CNet said:

“. . [there are] some picture quality trade-offs caused by the LED system, namely less-than-perfect uniformity and off-angle viewing, along with the backlights’ somewhat distracting fluctuations.”

User Comments:

“HD, bluray quality is one which leaves viewer speechless”

“Fantastic picture, deep blacks, easy to set up”

“Overrated & overpriced”

“Incredibly thin, amazing blacks, high price!”

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