TV from CHINA. Yes, or No?

goz83

Hi. My 5 year old 50" LG plasma just caved in. There is no picture since yesterday. I have asked a tv repar guy for a quote and i am waiting to hear back. I actually offered to rebuild his website as a labour exchange job

Anyway, I am considering ordering a new TV from China, maybe from Alibaba or something. Nothing crazy, just a 50" to replace what I have. I have seen prices at under $300, but don't know about shipping or customs costs or anything yet. Anyone here have experience of this? The TV's are not branded models, but I don't mind if I get something that works fine. I'm not the type who wears Nike, or Adidas and I happily shop in Pennies for clothes. Not having a Sony, or Panasonic stamp won't be a problem if the product is good. I may even consider 3D TVs

Opinions?

The Orb

Taking a chance, would be pennywise and pound foolish imo. Would you really trust a cheap product from China to last ? I wouldn't.

goz83

The Orb wrote: »

Taking a chance, would be pennywise and pound foolish imo. Would you really trust a cheap product from China to last ? I wouldn't.

Nearly everything now is made in china, or taiwan when it comes to electronics.

ArphaRima

I live in China. The Chinese dont buy Chinese.

The Orb

goz83 wrote: »

Nearly everything now is made in china, or taiwan when it comes to electronics.

Maybe so, but if you buy cheap electronics you invariably get ****e . That doesn't imply that more expensive means high quality but I think if you bought something cheap you'll get tat with, for geographical reasons, a worthless guarantee or warranty.

goz83

Maybe so.....I guess it is a risk. I just don't fancy shelling out 1k+ for a new tv right now

The Orb

Check out powercity 50" plasmas for <€650, including Panasonic which I think are great, have one myself, 650 still not cheap but for a 50" you won't do much better
Ps I have no connection to powercity, I'm sure the other shops have similar deals!
Best of luck anyway

goz83

I have an aversion to buying stuff at powercity. Over the years, my family have purchased at least half a dozen TVs from powercity. Within a few weeks, they all had to be returned at least once. I'm talking massive TVs. My dad was always into BIG TVs and we had 55 inch TVs when most people were still sporting 22 inch TVs. He lives in a 2 bed apartment now and has a 42 inch screen in his bedroom and something like a 65 inch screen in his living room with some crazy expensive surround sound, which wouldn't fall too shy of satisfying a sports hall. Power city is out. I think Xtra Vision are doing some odd make LCD 42 inch on Wednesday for 399. Considering it. I also have 300 in tesco vouchers, so im having a look. I also ordered new sustain boards for the broken TV and I am hoping I can fix it.

redux

Most major brands , Sony, Samsung, etc. are made in China, in common with most electronics.

stephendevlin

dont do it!

andy1249

Unlike CRT's , which had been around for the best part of a century, flatscreens are still relatively new and the technology is not mature.

While you could buy pretty much any brand of CRT and expect a certain basic level of quality , you cannot do that with flatscreens.

The picture processing electronics are all custom asics ( application specific integrated circuits ) and these chip designs are all proprietary and owned by the respective makers.

What this means is that if you want a flatscreen with a decent and watchable picture , you must stick to the well known brands. They do not share technology with each other , they jealously guard their patents , and this is likely to be the case for at least another 12 years or so ( when the basic patents for flatscreen tech start to run out. )

So , Panasonic ( top dog ), Samsung , LG , Sony , etc. are the ones to go for , the no brand models are truly dreadful , its like sitting in front of an animated Monet .... You cannot go cheap with no name flatscreens , they are without doubt , the most awful muck !