Help Me Pick a TV (Need Answer Fastish)

I always wanted to tag a thread with NAF. :smiley:

Amazon is running a sale on HDTVs, so I figured I’d take a look. I really only need something for watching DVDs, and based on the media center I’m planning to get, I’m limited to a set that’s no bigger than 32". Based on ratings, reviews, and features, I’ve narrowed it down to three options:

Panasonic TC-L32X2 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV with iPod Dock ($344.77)
TCL L32HDF11TA 32-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV with 2-Year Warranty, Black ($299.99)
LG 32LD350 32-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV ($335.56)

I’d like to buy the TV either today or tomorrow, so weigh in! Comments are welcome if you have any thoughts on the matter, especially if you’ve owned any of these TVs or others of the same brands, but just voting works, too.

They all look about the same to me, so I’d just save myself 40 or 50 bucks and go with the TCL. Although, up to now, I’ve never heard of TCL.

Actually, I’d probably try to see them in person and have a look at the picture.

I need an other. I would probably go with the cheapest but TCL is not a company I have heard of which is just strange.

I would do a little online research about TCL and then make my decision.

That’s why I included the links to the product pages. Since they have reviews and all. :smiley: Here’s the Wikipedia page on TCL.

LG has the best contrast ratio, Panasonic has an extra HDMI if you care about that. Haven’t heard of TCL and TV’s are one thing where I don’t think you should get an off-brand. Too many problems down the line, and if you need warranty service, might as well go with someone who has a track record of it. I trust Japanese and Korean electronics over China-made (even though I think Panasonic does some outsourcing themselves). It’s also not a several hundred dollar difference but a smaller one.

I am also in the market for an HD television set. I have been advised to stay away from the 720p sets in favor of the 1080p true HD sets. I have also been advised to look for a 120Hz refresh rate as opposed to the older 60Hz. According to my adviser, the older standards are already on the way out. You may find some bargains, but will not be as happy for the long haul.

These two qualifications each add about $100 to the cost of the set.

What I’ve heard, BC, is that 1080p is useless on a 32", which is what I’m limiting myself to.

Keep in mind: I don’t really watch much TV now. I hang out with my mom maybe once a week or so and we watch stuff online then. This is purely to have something to display DVDs on when I want to watch a show or have friends over to watch something. At some point I’m sure I’ll go nuts and dump a couple grand into a really nice TV; right now, it’s about just getting something functional.

I vote for this one:

Samsung LN32C450 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV - $279

That was actually on my short list of five, but I struck it off because of a review on Amazon that says there’s a known issue that Samsung hasn’t fixed because it tends to crop up just after the TV is out of the original warranty period.

Newegg has LCD TVs. I trust their electronics reviews far and above anywhere else’s, if/when available.

tc-l32x2: 4 egg rating, 3 reviews

l32hdf11ta: not listed on newegg. DO NOT WANT. I can’t even find a single thing sold under this brand. Not worth the risk.

32ld350: 5 egg rating, 9 reviews

I’d go for the LG.

rachel: For computer components, I absolutely go by Newegg. However, for things more on the consumer electronics end of things, Amazon tends to be pretty trustworthy, which is who I linked. All three TVs have 30+ ratings there (versus the bare handful on Newegg), and they all have an average of about 4.5 stars out of 5. The TCL TV you’re so wary about has a slew of positive remarks, *and *it comes with a two-year warranty.

I’m always very wary about buying off-brand electronics. It might be fine but personally I wouldn’t even consider the TCL.

I’ve been really happy with the 42" LG I bought a few months ago, so that was my poll choice. The iPod dock is a cool bonus though, if you’ll use it. I think both Panasonic and LG put out a good product and have pretty good reputations about honoring warranties without hassle, so you probably won’t regret either.

It’s not that Amazon is untrustworthy; they’re just the middleman. But a random electronics company is not inherently trustworthy. Even if they’ve been well-reviewed, there’s no way to know whether they’ll be around to honor a warranty 12 months down the road. Whereas LG and Panasonic have both established reputations.

If a brand has absolutely NO presence on newegg, they haven’t demonstrated to me that they have the reputation to even consider looking at. And they don’t have the staying power to guarantee any kind of future support for their product. Also, the reviewers on newegg tend to be tech/electronics-savvy. Not that reviewers on amazon are dumb. But I have a much higher level of trust in newegg reviewers. AFAIK there are no product shills on newegg. Amazon, I couldn’t say that for.

Just my thoughts, it’s ultimately your decision.

Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about in terms of trust–when I use the word, I’m looking at actual customer reviews. There’s a very small number of them on Newegg, which makes it very hard to judge how the equipment will perform, versus literally dozens on Amazon, which gives you a much broader perspective.

One of TCL’s brands is RCA. This company has been around since the '80s–we just don’t know them as TCL in the U.S. It’s not some fly-by-night startup that’s going to be gone in three months.

I still wouldn’t buy it. If you are really attached to that tv, then go for it. But I wouldn’t do it.

We’ll see–I’m still not married to anything in particular. Looks like most people agree with you on the LG so far, though.

We bought an LG dvr a couple of years ago, and we hate it so much we have automatically scratched LG off the list of brands of electronics we’ll buy.

We bought a Sony five dvd player with surround sound for a wedding present eight years ago (took all the wedding money and bought ourselves something nice, is what I’m saying), and it’s still working flawlessly - our next tv is likely to be a Sony.

First of all, I’m seeing that set at $369 and not $279. If I’m missing some way to buy it at $279, please let me know because I may actually buy one for my mom.

Secondly, how do these people know that “Samsung hasn’t fixed the problem, because the sets are out of warranty and they don’t care.”? If the sets are out of warranty, Samsung has had over a year to address the issue, if there even was one outside of standard failure rate. Everything has a failure rate. How do these geniuses know what engineering changes have or haven’t happened in that time frame?

Negative reviews from a few people who had their sets die in recent months is kind of a self selecting group which will, by nature of the group, represent a small yet vocal minority. Samsung is a very well respected LCD set manufacturer. 26/34 reviewers rate the set at 4-5 stars. One person was unhappy with the set new and seven other people are unhappy after months or more of ownership.

I don’t mean to sound condescending, but your decision is a textbook example of why the old saw “the plural of anecdote is not data” is often repeated. If there’s a way to get that Samsung at $279, you’d be nuts not to. At $369, I’d probably still choose it over the Panasonic or LG. I might take the TCL at half the asking price as a disposable set, but I wouldn’t pay a nickel more.

For me, the point isn’t what problems Samsung has or hasn’t fixed–the point is that when there has been a known issue that tends to hit sets outside of warranty, Samsung doesn’t care about fixing it or even acknowledging that it exists. That is *not *the kind of company I want to buy from. Because while I don’t know that they *haven’t *fixed the issue in their new TVs, I also don’t know that they have–or that I’ll be getting a new set instead of an old one that’s going to die after a year.

A quick search for Samsung failure out of warranty turned up a bunch of complaints, including this and this.

As to your question about price, the best deal was $279 yesterday, which is apparently no longer available.

And no, the plural of anecdote is not data. But if you can find anywhere I can get *data *on these TVs instead of anecdotes, please do let me know. Until that point, I have to use the information I have available.

Well, I stand corrected. It appears that you did a bit of due diligence beyond reading reviews on Amazon, which is what your previous post implied.

I honestly didn’t meant to be offensive. I will re-state that Samsung is a very well respected LCD set manufacturer and not some fly-by-night operation. If they are dodging responsibilty for faulty capacitors, shame on them. That’s certainly still not a given, but I understand your reluctance to buy their product under the circumstances.

Regarding the price of the Samsung set, $279 was an absolute bargain and I would have bought one without blinking had I seen this thread however many less hours than 7 it was before it went up $90.

Best of luck in your purchase.