TV buyers in Thailand beware !

[killerbeez]

1 minute ago, XenZen said:

there are just too many factors that will destroy stuff...

Agree... we just don't deserve nice things! ????

[SpaceKadet]

I will tend to agree with the posters saying that electronics stuff sold in Thailand is just rejects from the factories. You might be lucky and it will work for a long time, but many times it won't. I bought a Samsung 49" TV from HomePro on special offer some 3 years ago. Top specs, 4K, you name it. Last year it developed a small light spot on the panel, by now it's up to 13. HomePro says they don't do service, call Samsung....

 

Lots of other electric and electronic stuff have failed for me quickly here in Thailand. Microwaves, fridges, Hi-Fi, phones, TV's. Not PC's as I build my own stuff, select quality components, and they are generally in an air conditioned room.

 

I take it all down to sub quality batches from the manufacturers, together with heat and high humidity in this country, coupled with ants and gecko crap.

 

And I would never buy anything from a Chinese company.... no matter how cheap.

[killerbeez]

Blimey... Lots of people here with sob stories. My house still has the same lightbulbs I first put in it ten years ago! What are you people don't with your stuff?

[Henryford]

12 hours ago, SpaceKadet said:

I will tend to agree with the posters saying that electronics stuff sold in Thailand is just rejects from the factories. You might be lucky and it will work for a long time, but many times it won't. I bought a Samsung 49" TV from HomePro on special offer some 3 years ago. Top specs, 4K, you name it. Last year it developed a small light spot on the panel, by now it's up to 13. HomePro says they don't do service, call Samsung....

 

Lots of other electric and electronic stuff have failed for me quickly here in Thailand. Microwaves, fridges, Hi-Fi, phones, TV's. Not PC's as I build my own stuff, select quality components, and they are generally in an air conditioned room.

 

I take it all down to sub quality batches from the manufacturers, together with heat and high humidity in this country, coupled with ants and gecko crap.

 

And I would never buy anything from a Chinese company.... no matter how cheap.

Well that rules out 99% of mobile phones.

[SpaceKadet]

11 hours ago, Henryford said:

Well that rules out 99% of mobile phones.

I'm using Samsung. It's not Chinese, neither is Nokia, Sony, Google, HTC, Asus, iPhone or many others for that matter.

 

I said Chinese Company, not manufactured in China as that is almost impossible to avoid nowadays.

[manarak]

as an update, the TCL is still working good, I'm quite happy with the performance for the price.

reading from USB and from ethernet also works without a problem, reads 99% of formats.

 

I also found someone to repair my old TV, so now I have a huge TV in the bedroom ????

[wgdanson]

5 minutes ago, manarak said:

as an update, the TCL is still working good, I'm quite happy with the performance for the price.

reading from USB and from ethernet also works without a problem, reads 99% of formats.

 

I also found someone to repair my old TV, so now I have a huge TV in the bedroom ????

I have big TV in the bedroom, but find better  things to do there !

[utalkin2me]

I have this theory when tvs and household appliances go out early, I am betting 85% or so percent of those have been moved to different apartments at least once. If you get a good one and it sits i am betting 10 year minimum. 

 

idk why but i like the samsung panels they seem to give less problems in the long run in my experience. 

[petermik]

7 hours ago, wgdanson said:

I have big TV in the bedroom, but find better  things to do there !

You will ruin your eyesight trying to do crosswords in poor light...........

[mtls2005]

On 5/31/2018 at 3:49 PM, manarak said:

It wouldn't be a big leap to assume the quality isn't the same.

 

It's a leap. How big is up for discussion.

 

Country-specific model numbers and SKUs are hardly indicative of quality levels. These are often required for local regulatory approvals.

[tgw]

An update to this thread

 

The TCL is still working, but there have been quirks with the remote.

Sometimes the remote just quits working. Cause unclear. At first I thought it's the batteries or the remote, but progressively ruled that out. Noticed the problem goes away for some time when I cut the power to the TV and reconnect it after a minute or two. Thought it was overheating of a component, put a fan behind the TV, but still had a remote outage. I guess something is wrong with the software.

 

Another quirk is that the TV cannot render Thai subtitles. I recoded the subs in all kinds of UTF-8 and UTF-16 formats to no avail. The older Panasonic in the bedroom can read UTF-8 with no problems, but I'd rather have Thai subtitles in the living room... 555

I've written to TCL support, but got no answer.

 

So when buying a new TV, it could be a good idea to bring a USB stick with a movie with Thai subs to test compatibility if that is important for you.