Television Advice Needed

[FATBLOKE]

i am coming to live in thailand soon and need some local advice as to the price of flat screen or plasma tv

is it worth bringing from europe or buy in thailand,, or will a european one even work in thailand?

prices locally anyone please/

thanks

[susquosh]

i am coming to live in thailand soon and need some local advice as to the price of flat screen or plasma tv

is it worth bringing from europe or buy in thailand,, or will a european one even work in thailand?

prices locally anyone please/

thanks

Do you mean flat screen or LCD.If LCD then expect to pay upwards of Bht.20,000 for a 32 inch screen depending on spec.Also bear in mind I live on Samui and prices here are inflated.

[dave111223]

I got a 46" LCD for about 45,000...which after some research seemed to be slightly lower than the price in US for the same model.

Europe generally has higher prices than the US, so i would assume you'd be better off just buying it here.

Also transporting the thing would probably be pretty expensive. They are pretty big and heavy, and fragile.

[MMR]

Assuming the unit uses a PAL decoder, a European model should work fine here.

[Crossy]

We've had this discussion many time before, in a nutshell:-

A mainland European TV will work just fine in LoS, a UK standard one WILL NOT (different flavour of PAL). Actually the only bit that won't work is the off-air receiver, if you watch satellite or DVDs no issue.

BUT

LCDs and particularly plasmas are heavy and delicate, if you've ever seen how airport baggage is treated you'd never even put clothes through the system, let alone some technology. If you choose to ship it freight then you'll have Thai customs (the worlds most corrupt government department) to deal with adding their random duty, VAT and 'storage' charges.

Buy here and save the hassle, prices are not significantly higher than Europe, my 32" Tatung cost 19,500 Baht six months ago.

[FATBLOKE]

thanks all

cheaper there than in europe it seems

anyone want a cheap lcd 50 inch, can be collected anywhere in MADRID!!!!!!

[Cuban]

>...cheap lcd 50 inch, can be collected anywhere in MADRID!!!!!!

How cheap? Can deliver to South Coast?

[sgunn65]

Actually I shipped mine over from UK as part of a shipment and paid no extra duty. Also I retuned in about 5 minutes and it works perfectly for Thai TV. The only problem is would rather nail my head to the floor than watch 5 minutes of Thai TV so, except when my wife watches her trash, I only watch DVD's on it.

That said I would like to get a 50" Flat screen for my business, so who knows where the cheapest one is.In Thailand (not Madrid)!!

Edited April 10, 2008 by sgunn65

[CCCP]

Most TV's, PLasma and LCD will work here as they tend to have various PAL modes, as well as NTSC and SECAM. I am surprised as to how low the prices are now in the UK though. The prices from what I see have gone down by nearly half in the last two years.

I used to be a dealer, and in 2001 a crappy JVC 42" cost be £4400 at Trade. Blimey!

[gjones]

in fact they are cheaper here than in the UK and if your TV is a Plasma unit its best to get rid of it as the LCD display is much better plus the newer LCD's are 1080 HiDef ready

Thailand broadcasts in Pal on normal TV but it's mostly cr_p so a TV is usually set on AV, either for DVD or Sat link

Just thought of something else if you are comming over bring a full set of Only Fools anf Horses, not seen them for years

Edited April 10, 2008 by gjones

[sgunn65]

Just thought of something else if you are comming over bring a full set of Only Fools anf Horses, not seen them for years

Hi gjones

Download Azureus then go to www.btjunkie.com and search only fools and horses click on the small arrow on the lhs and then open when a new box appears then let azureus do its work. If your connection goes down it will restart the download automatically when the connection is resumed. The you will have the batman and robin scene, the chandeliers and the wine bar all for free, how good is that?

[AFKAFSinLOS]

in fact they are cheaper here than in the UK and if your TV is a Plasma unit its best to get rid of it as the LCD display is much better plus the newer LCD's are 1080 HiDef ready

Thailand broadcasts in Pal on normal TV but it's mostly cr_p so a TV is usually set on AV, either for DVD or Sat link

Just thought of something else if you are comming over bring a full set of Only Fools anf Horses, not seen them for years

That's similar to my experience, and additionally I'd say check out the TV you are buying in the shop, using the type of input you will be watching on it here in Thailand, i.e DVD or cable/satellite. Problems with cable and satellite quality using True in particular are well documented. Powerbuy have a cable input if you push them to wire it up instead of the specially designed feeds from DVD they normally use to show an excellent picture. You see the drop in quality of cable vs dvd.

We bought Samsung plasma and swapped for Sharp LCD. That said, I've known people send LCD back and swap for Plasma as they weren't happy with quality. Again on cable. So pays to check in the shop...

Edited April 10, 2008 by AFKAFSinLOS

[IMA_FARANG]

i am coming to live in thailand soon and need some local advice as to the price of flat screen or plasma tv

is it worth bringing from europe or buy in thailand,, or will a european one even work in thailand?

prices locally anyone please/

thanks

I read through the responses to this post.

One thing most people haven't thought of....make sure the mains plug is correct or can be easily changed. A lot of Thai sockets are not grounded or earthed, whatever you want to call it. No ground wire, only two prongs. If your television is a three wire connector, molded to the cord, you will end up cutting it off and installing a two wire plug....or you will be cutting off the ground connector. Either way it looks like c##p and if done poorly can be dangerous.

Also, don't be so eager to get a bigger screen. 30 or 42 inch, depending on how far your going to be viewing it from. The number of pixels on the screen is determined by the screen size. If you get a bigger screen, all you do is expand the broadcast picture. The amount of picture information broadcast depends on the televison station. If you expand the picture too much, all you get is a patchy picture. So a bigger screen doesn't always mean a better picture. That 62 inch screen may not be better than the 42 inch screen.

[Cuban]

No ground wire, only two prongs. If your television is a three wire connector, molded to the cord, you will end up cutting it off and installing a two wire plug....or you will be cutting off the ground connector.

Although this is true - almost(?) every television set produced these days is double insulated* and so does not require an earth connection. However most TV sets will get an 'earth' through the sheild of the co-ax cable that comes from the cable TV or satellite feed. But as the case is probably plastic this is not an issue. The only time you risk getting a shock would be when touching the connectors at the back (or headphone or AV sockets at the front.) There are cases I believe of prison inmates getting shocks from the use of faulty TVs with a HP lead while sitting on a metal toilet.

In this case I think changing the plug is the least of the OPs worries. Correct fusing is a much more serious issue as one of the benifits of the UK domestic power plug is the in-line fuse, for most TV sets a 1 or 2 Amp fuse would be fine.

* It is cheaper to produce double insulated equipment than mess around building earthed domestic products these days. Easier to comply with international/multinational safety standards as well.

[oMega69]

I got a 46" LCD for about 45,000...which after some research seemed to be slightly lower than the price in US for the same model.

Europe generally has higher prices than the US, so i would assume you'd be better off just buying it here.

Also transporting the thing would probably be pretty expensive. They are pretty big and heavy, and fragile.

Sounds Nice . . what Brand? and what shop did you find yours in ?

[dotcom]

As an aside. Sony - in Thailand - set the prices - so it doesn't matter where you buy a Sony. Countrywide the prices are the same.

If they ever caught a dealer selling below list - they would take all his stock & he wouldn't be a dealer anymore.

Only company I know that works this way.

[rak sa_ngop]

As an aside. Sony - in Thailand - set the prices - so it doesn't matter where you buy a Sony. Countrywide the prices are the same.

If they ever caught a dealer selling below list - they would take all his stock & he wouldn't be a dealer anymore.

Only company I know that works this way.

Hmmm. 3 days ago I saw a Sony 26 inch LCD on offer at Powerbuy which was 1000 baht cheaper than at the Sony outlet. Of course when I tried to buy one it was out of stock. And the Sony price was quoted to me verbally so who knows.

[LivinLOS]

As an aside. Sony - in Thailand - set the prices - so it doesn't matter where you buy a Sony. Countrywide the prices are the same.

If they ever caught a dealer selling below list - they would take all his stock & he wouldn't be a dealer anymore.

Only company I know that works this way.

Having been comparison shopping for LCD's recently I can confirm thats complete crock..

Sony V and S series Bravias at totally different prices in multiple different stores.. almost a 10k difference on prices in the hiogh 30's to high 40's for the 40 inch models.

Whether thats below or above list I cant tell you but they are definitely not the same prices.

[dave111223]

I got a 46" LCD for about 45,000...which after some research seemed to be slightly lower than the price in US for the same model.

Europe generally has higher prices than the US, so i would assume you'd be better off just buying it here.

Also transporting the thing would probably be pretty expensive. They are pretty big and heavy, and fragile.

Sounds Nice . . what Brand? and what shop did you find yours in ?

Sharp Aquos; got it in an electronics store at Central Ladprao (cannot remember the name), got 0% financing so i paid it off over 10 months.