Cheap LCD TVs May Prove To Cost You More

Buying an unbranded cheap TV will cost you more.

When you buy a Television or any consumer electronic item you must think about more than just the purchase price, you have to also think about the future repair costs and the life expectancy of the Television.

Cheap unbranded LCD televisions and cheap unbranded plasma televisions that are manufactured by anonymous factories may seem to be excellent value for money. Usually they are sold at lower prices than the comparable sized models from reliable known brands such as JVC, LG, Hitachi, Philips, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Sharp and Toshiba. The specification that they offer may look equivalent to the main brands of televisions and often the styling isnt dissimilar.

Why are non-branded televisions so cheap?

It is easy to think that you are paying a premium for the badge on the branded models of televisions, whilst this is to some extent true there are further differences that justify the extra cost of the branded televisions.

Another explanation for cheap unbranded TV brands being cheaper is that they dont operate from high-priced offices in the UK backed up with warehouses, and staff. They often transport the products directly from the factory in China, Eastern Europe, etc to the retailers warehouse with no or hardly any staff and premises in the UK. This may seem to be good thing and would help explain the price differential.

The manufacturers of Cheap TVs dont have to invest in their brand reliability, as known brands do. This is because you dont know which factory manufactured the Television so you will not be able to avoid it in the future if you purchase another unbranded Television. So they dont have the same incentive to protect their brand from poor performing unreliable products.

The likelihood of cheap TVs from unfamiliar manufacturers going faulty are greater for the reason that they dont operate the same stringent levels of quality control that the top brands do. As a result the probability that the unbranded cheap TV will go faulty from new, either directly out of the box, or once, or even more than once in the first 12 months is far greater than for the quality known brands of TVs.

The circuit design and internal components on unfamiliar cheap Television brands are not of the same quality as the main brands of televisions, yet again increasing the likelihood of the TV going faulty. Reliability surveys carried out by the consumer magazine Which have continually found that Television brands such as Panasonic and Sony consistently out perform the cheaper unknown cheap Television brands.

It is more difficult to repair cheap televisions from unknown brands

Replacement parts are not as readily available on cheap Television brands as they are for the main TV brands. This is often for the reason that there arent any parts kept in the UK by the manufacturer for the unbranded cheap televisions unlike the main brand TVs so it takes longer to obtain the parts.

Also it is more difficult to repair unknown cheaper brand televisions for the reason that they havent got the technical support in the UK that the main brands do. Consequently if an repair engineer struggles to carry out the repair he cant ask the manufacturer for assistance as a result it will be more likely that the TV cant be repaired. Throughout the first 12 months this isnt a problem since the dealer that sold you the cheap TV will have to repair it or replace it. But after this period it means that it is more likely that you will have toreplace the cheaper unknown brand Television earlier than a main brand Television.

In situations where a TV has had a poor service history with recurring problems it isnt unknown for main brand Television manufacturers to exchange the product up to 12 months outside of the original guarantee. This might also occur if the Television became un-repairable. This type of assistance isnt obtainable on the unbranded cheaper TVs.

Main brand TVs have superior picture and sound quality.

An additional reason for the difference in the retail price between unknown brands and known main brands is that the major manufacturers invest in research and development to find ways of advancing existing technology to improve the performance compared to unfamiliar brands. Quite often the technology and specification of cheaper LCD televisions and cheaper Plasma TVs from unheard of brands is at least a year or more behind the technology in the equivalent major brand LCD televisions or Plasma televisions. The consequence of this is that the performance of recognized brands is superior to the cheaper unfamiliar brands. Ultimately magazines such as What Hifi and What Video give the unheard of brands of cheap TVs low ratings compared to the known brand of televisions.

Conclusion

Cheaper brands of TVs suffer poorer reliability and dont possess the features and performance of the more costly main brand Television manufacturers. Considering that you often buy a TV to last for 5 years or more, when you share the cost differential by the number of years that you intend to keep the TV for, it is worth paying the additional amount for a branded TV. More often than not the cheaper unbranded TV will prove to be more expensive because of poor reliability and the probability that it will have to be replaced earlier. This is forgetting about the better performance of the major brand televisions. Therefore the unbranded cheap TVs stand for poor value compared to TVs from Philips, Pioneer, Sony, JVC, LG, Toshiba, Panasonic etc.

Armadeus Cornelius is an AV enthusiast and expert with nearly 20 years experience in consumer electronics.His website at www.digitaldirect.co.uk offers Cheap LCD and Plasma TVs and a large selection of AV products at rock bottom prices. For your convenience you may also find these links useful cheap tv and cheap hdtv lcd