Home audio & video: Poll: When it comes to TVs, what brand do you prefer?
- 7/11/07 2:11 PM
Choice of Home Entertainment Electronics
by slwilkie - 7/12/07 6:26 AM In reply to: Best Brand for TV? by jmarkrossI love this subject!
My wife would tend to agree with Sony "loyalists" coming from Hong Kong and remembering the 1980's.
Our family used to buy ITT products, we had a 1975 ITT that lasted 15 years (missed the Sony boom time) and even then it was just the sound that went (so was probably repairable!). I have a second hand ITT music centre which had a recent overhall. The sound is excellent, but the turntable has about had it, I'm sorry to say!
After that the brand of choice became Philips. Dad worked at the Co-operative supermarket and got a good discount and paid monthly. I still have a highly specified (semi) portable from 1992. It has had analogue, cable, digital terestrial and now Sky TV and its picture is still wonderful. My dad's top of the range TV died after only 10 years and my sisters portable one died about three years ago (about the same age as mine). Perhaps I used mine less.
The brand we went for recently was a CRT widescreen 36" Toshiba. It has the "picture frame" style and is everything we were looking for. The remote control is a bit of a let down in terms of durability as its buttons are too soft. But otherwise it is a good product and should last a while.
I was looking for a hard disc back up for my (Toshiba) computer and must confess I was looking for similar or Samsung or Hitachi. I believe that they would never put their name on substandard items and would probably fit the bill. Sure enough the Hitachi (and Toshiba USB memory device) were good value and were even pleasing to look at. Both had a good warranty too.
With a TV, I tend to look around and see what is on offer, in terms of style, price and features (such as contrast ratio or picture in picture). Then I consider other peoples experiences and my own.
With DVD's and audio seperates two names come to mind that I have full confidence in; Pioneer and Yamaha. The CD and DVD players I have are even upgradable so represent good basic engineering to begin with. I checked the consumer reports before I parted with my cash too.
As for Sony, I may loosly consider a TV, but their home audio seems often lacking in clarity and warmed over. Also I remember when there was a huge surcharge for their brand name. Now they are not the market leaders, in my opinion their policy of overpricing has backfired on them.
Having said that I bought an Aiwa (Sony subsidiary) cassette player a year and a half ago, and the quality of sound is excellent! Sonys attempt at a camera and their HD Handycam look competitive too.
Lastly if I do not consider the price competitive, the sound lacking and the styling ugly. There is no way I'm going to buy any product. In short Sony needs to do much more than engineer a good TV in the 1970's and 80's to win my unquestioning support.
It's a tie between Samsung and Sony for me.
by 8IronBob - 4/19/08 6:21 AM In reply to: Choice of Home Entertainment Electronics by slwilkieFor me, it's a tie between Samsung and Sony. They both have a joint plant, as you well know, and both make perhaps the best LCDs on the planet, imo. The picture quality on these are better than anything else on the shelf. They also know how to make 120Hz processing look great, too. Looking at the LN46A650 and KDL-46XBR4 side-by-side, I couldn't tell any difference in picture quality or features between the two. They were almost identical in every sense of the word. That made it really tough to decide, but I did go for the Samsung based on price. I don't regret it, the burgundy red doesn't bother me like others are complaining about.
cross brands
by nvisionmd - 7/12/07 7:22 AM In reply to: Best Brand for TV? by jmarkrossBy the way, Sony happens to be a label sticker company at this point seeing as they don't manufacture tv's either. Sony is made by Samsung (LCD). I have a small Sony which i love, the reason i bought it? PC input with WIDESCREEN resolution support for PC. I had a Samsung previous to my Sony and the reason i switched is due to having 3 panels die within the first 6 months. 3!! As far as home entertainment value and quality i'd have to say that Panasonic is hands down the winner. If not only for the reason of support. 48HR turn around service in home. Can anyone else beat that or even come close? Picture is amazing (as good as Pioneer Elite for the $) , compatibilty of all signal types, great response times and color reproduction. And lets top it off by saying they will be the only company to offer 1080p accross ALL sizes of plasma. Not that i feel the importance of 1080p, however there are a lot of people who want 1080p because they just don't know any better. Probably the 1080p FULL HD Sony propaganda wagon which caused them to think they needed it. Well there's my opinion.
TOSHIBA WHY?
by stewart norrie - 7/12/07 10:05 AM In reply to: cross brands by nvisionmdBeautiful picture razor sharp d.l.p. t.v. But the best part is customer service Lamp blew after 3 months called customer service and was told lamp was factory defective they were kind enough to send a upgraded lamp in 2 days and also gave me an extra 1 year warrenty on new lamp. stewee
I don't think so.
by curlyhiro - 7/13/07 11:01 PM In reply to: I buy SONY by kodiak53My first Sony TV back in the seventies was awsome. Still works today but, since then, every Sony TV I've bought had an electrical problem. Seems they really had a problem with bad connections. Had both of my last TV's have the same problem. Seems to fail after the warranty is over. No more Sony's for me.
Sony
by khuss66 - 7/11/07 4:49 PM In reply to: Poll: When it comes to TVs, what brand do you prefer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have a 17 year old Sony that has fallen to the floor in 2 seperate earthquakes, and still works (despite the broken plastic case.)
Reliability.
Samsung
by jimmy5799 - 7/11/07 4:54 PM In reply to: Poll: When it comes to TVs, what brand do you prefer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
their monitors are great and have yet to have one that has a problem.
why I choose Panasonic . . .
by Dan Dalrymple - 7/11/07 4:55 PM In reply to: Poll: When it comes to TVs, what brand do you prefer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
One reason . . . RELIABILITY !!!
I've owned a Panasonic FAX machine for over 15 years with no problems. I've tried many brands but Panasonic seems to be the most reliable of them all. They must have a great engineering department.
Example: I purchased a Nikon Coolpix 5400 digital camera that puked after only about 300 photos. Hundreds of the Nikon 5400s crashed but Nikon offers NO (ZERO) warranty on this camera! This was NOT a cheap camera when purchased. I thought Nikon was a good brand, live and learn. I now own a Panasonic DMC-F27 Lumix digital that has gone thru THOUSANDS of photos with no problems. I use my old Nikon Coolpix for a bookend.
I purchased a Panasonic phone system that works great, we love it. All in all, we've found that Panasonic offers good products with high reliability. We try to purchase Panasonic wherever possible.
PANASONIC
by 1snottyboy - 7/11/07 5:38 PM In reply to: why I choose Panasonic . . . by Dan Dalrymplei have to agree. inexpensive and it lasts so long you throw it out
before it quits. the last 27" Panasonic TV($350.00) i had lasted about 15yrs. it finally quit so i could buy a 36" for $450.00. im going to have to give this one to my mom so i can buy a flat screen cause i will die before it does.
Panasonic DMC FZ027
by slwilkie - 7/12/07 6:42 AM In reply to: why I choose Panasonic . . . by Dan DalrympleAbout a year ago my dad bought the same camera. It had all the features he wanted, the reviews were excellent and the price was just right for the budget. I would bet that his Panasonic will be working for a long time yet. This camera replaces his balda camera, so I hope it will have more use!
I bought a Canon EOS 30D and a Canon Pixma MP450 printer. The Camera was bought for its high speed capability. The printer its multi functions. I had the printer set up in minutes and printed a set of 7 and 8 pictures on A4 direct from the compact flash card this week. I was very pleased with the results!
Toshiba...
by gslrider - 7/12/07 11:14 AM In reply to: Panasonic DMC FZ027 by slwilkieMy last 3 TVs have been Toshiba. Originally, I bought the first one back in 1997, primarily because it was the least expensive, and I needed a TV. I was happy with the purchase. Quality was satisfactory, and features were more than acceptable. So when it was time for me to upgrade 5 years later, the first TVs I looked at were Toshiba. I looked at other brands, but taking into consideration price, picture quality, and features, Toshiba still came up on top (with JVC coming a close second). And 2 years later I bought another Toshiba, 34", S-video and Component connection.
Of course there were better TVs in the market, even though the picture quality was better, it wasn't THAT much better, that I could justify paying $200 - $300 more.
But those were CRT TVs. With LCD techonology getting better and better, and cheaper and cheaper, there are more brands to chose from. From my own research, I've narrowed my list to LG, Samsung, and Panansonic, when I'm ready to go HD.
TV brand (I prefer JVC)
by jik47 - 7/11/07 4:55 PM In reply to: Poll: When it comes to TVs, what brand do you prefer? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
On my electronics I prefer JVC as they make excellent electronics. I have a 32" JVC for 9 years now with absolutely no problems. TV has a fantastic picture and with the audio hooked through my JVC stereo, Klipsch Heresy speakers, the sound and picture is as good as the movies, if not better. Seriously though, I have JVC stereo equipment, DVD player, and TV and they all have performed flawlessly. Personally I will continue to buy their products they are excellent quality. I will match my TV's picture against any other TV. I have been very happy and satisfied JVC customer and recommend their products.
(NT) think you got the same setup as me.. copycat :-) hehe
by knelson276 - 7/11/07 5:11 PM In reply to: TV brand (I prefer JVC) by jik47My JVC 20" TV is still going, but try finding them!
by MsIrisMG - 7/11/07 7:11 PM In reply to: TV brand (I prefer JVC) by jik47Mine is 6.5 years old now, bought November 2000. The headphone jack is squirrely now (which affects the volume), there's no S-video, but the picture is so crisp it makes me cry. I'd love to replace it, when 2009 comes, with another JVC, but I can't find but the huge ones anymore. Gave myself a hernia getting this tube TV up 2 flights, I can't do that anymore.
Seems like JVC made top-flight televisions and crappy VCRs. And they're expensive! I'd like to be brand loyal, but I just might go to Toshiba when this one's time is up.
Not all JVC VCRs are crappy
by aliensquirl - 7/11/07 8:06 PM In reply to: My JVC 20" TV is still going, but try finding them! by MsIrisMGI must disagree with you as I just recently gave away one that I bought in 1986 and it was still working perfectly and was never in the shop. I upgraded to a DVR-VCR combo, otherwise I would still be using it.
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