tv buying confusion

[wanderluster]

well the 5 yr old samsung 42" stupid tv  went pop and they say it is 9k to repair..   obviously not worth it.

 

so now what to buy?  smart tv? stupid tv?  i have ubc (true visions). mostly watch nat geo, history, discovery and a couple of movie channels.        but as soon as where is a little weather, out it goes.

 

if smart tv what do you guys use for keyboard?   majic remote?  the left right up down game?  or buy seperate keyboard? 

 

this is only the bedroom tv, so dont need more than 42-43" ,, 

 

this is the second samsung tv that has died in under 5 yrs..   so a little hesitant on samsung, but what else are you recommending?   LG sony  panasonic etc

 

and while i am posting this, can you also recommend smart tv sites?

 

i know the following and that is all i know (obviously not so up to date technically)

putlocker

afdah

couch-tuner

 

what else is good?  i am canadian (americas 51st state) , so not overly interested in european stuff.   not interested in coronation street. 

 

thanks for any real input and advice that you can help me with.  (cause we all know that all any thai salesman can tell you is the size and price in english and my gf will get mad if i ask her to ask more than 1 question, most will understand this thai thing)

 

yours truly 

 

technically behind the times

[Henryford]

Don't buy a Samsung, mine went after only 2 years. LG are the best now.

[techno]

I would go for a Panasonic. I have had mine for 8 years with no problems or repairs

[thai3]

Sony Panasonic and Toshiba usually come out best

[Peterw42]

Branding is exactly that, Branding.

Do some research and you will find no matter what the brand, the actual LED panels often come from the same factory, You could pull apart a Samsung TV and find Toshiba chips and vica versa. Unless you are buying a no name chinese brand, reliability etc will be similar.

 

[geronimo]

I have a 32 inch LG smart TV and it does pretty much everything, smartphone can hook up, Wifi, and for 13,000 baht, it didn't break the bank.

[Sayonarax]

Just buy a 40"-42" with IPS or LED Full HD for around 12-14k

 

If you want to add apps like netflix etc, just buy a chromecast or android box. (more freedom and better hardware/software) 

 

Id buy an LG TV over Samsung anyday of the week. Samsung make good phones not TVs.

[jadee]

Sorry to read about the TV, I have a 40" Samsung LED from 2011 so I hope mine doesn't go pop when it hits the 5-year mark this year!
Mine is a 'smart' TV that does 3D and to be honest, I wouldn't reccomend one. I found the Samsung interface really slow and restrictive, and limited as you can't access Google Play or just download any app you want. 
If I were you, I'd buy a standard LED TV (any brand) and a seperate Android TV box. I bought and Android box from aliexpress.com a few years ago and it changed my life. Android boxes contain the CPU, RAM, GPU etc and connect to the TV via HDMI, basically turning your TV into a giant phone (not touch screen of course!). WIth a wireless keyboard and mouse, even a controller for games, the possibilities are endless, Youtube, Netflix, any game, browsing the web, it's great. 
If/when my Samsung goes pop, that's my plan anyway. 

[Deepinthailand]

I would go for LG smart TV comes in handy if you want to lie in bed surfing the internet buy a small wireless mouse TV will have a usb jack for it plus you are best to make sure it has at least two HDMI ports for sat receiver and stuff... 3 is better you never know. you could go for an android or chromecast type box. either way look around for best price and if you can last out till nov/dec you will get the yearly clearout sales.

[phuketjock]

I also have had a Samsung TV and two, yes two, Samsung aircons go bad on me

and they were not cheap....

I have a Toshiba smart TV in my room and my wife has a Sony smart TV in her laundry 

business, they both seem to perform as advertised.

The Toshiba has a separate remote for the smart side of things and I also use a cordless

mouse with it, when you use the search on the TV a key board comes up on screen similar

to a smart phone, and that is the extent of my smart TV knowledge.

good luck.

My wife's Sony had a vertical black line appear on the screen a few months after purchase

on a reduced price deal.

Took it to the sony service centre here in Phuket, no forms to fill in, no questions ask. just her

ID card and fault fixed in less than a week, did not even need the purchase receipt, excellent

service.

As you may guess I would definitely not recommend the purchase of anything made

by Samsung!!!!

Edited August 24, 2016 by phuketjock

[55Jay]

In the past  3 1/2 years, the 3 power supplies/capacitors go on the board inside my 2008 model Samsung dumb TV, have gone kaput one by one.   I used Youtube videos the figure out that was it, then took it to my local tv repair guy in town.  He soldered in new ones for about 60 Baht.  That's been the only problem with it in 8 years, still works great.

 

[BudRight]

As was stated elsewhere, only Samsung and LG make panels. The rest buy their panels from them. 

[seajae]

from what I am reading here LG must have improved greatly in the last couple of years as they were really bad when I used them, same with much of the LG range, always died in the bum well before other brands. When I bought a new TV a couple of years ago I got a sony,  wasnt sure which way to go so we asked a salesman we knew quite well, price wasnt a factor we just wanted a good tv  and he said that sony was the best/most reliable from what he had experienced in the shop(very large one), these guys deal with these for many years so they do have a pretty good idea which ones to go for, the one he recommended was cheaper than the one I had been thinking about too, all in all it probably comes down to a matter of what you are actually after in a tv, we just wanted one that did all the basics easily but saying that it is capable of doing many of the extra things as well, just stick to the top brands

[dddave]

My 7 year old 42" LG has been problem free.

One suggestion I'd make is make sure whatever you buy has a sufficient number of HDMI ports as more and more devices make use of HDMI.  I notice many of the cheaper sets have only one or two.  My LG has 3 which seems sufficient.  Also, an optical audio port is nice to have if you someday may want to use an outboard audio system.

So many streaming options now...hard to understand them all.  I had more luck running Kodi off my Windows laptop than from an Android box.

Power Buy/Power Mall often seem to have some very good promotions.

 

[Nice Boyd]

Sony Panasonic and Toshiba usually come out best

Toshiba lasted 5 years for me


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[wanderluster]

i would like to thank all for their input on this topic and i have learned quite a bit.

 

cheers to all

[yaagjon]

I bought a 65 Samsung off the shop floor for a very large discounted price, in fact I thought they had made mistake as it was 100,000 less than the normal price.

 

Anyway it kept going wrong, but Samsung kept sending their technicians around to replace sections from the back of the TV, I think three times they came round, in the end, apart from the screen I have a new TV!!

 

Just keep your receipt.

[impulse]

I got familiar with TCL living in China for years.  In BKK, I have a Toshiba, a Samsung and 3 TCLs between home and office.  24" -50", all full HD or 4K.

 

The TCLs were by far the cheapest, and I can't see any difference in quality or performance.  I may change my mind after a few years, but as of today- TCL is the best value.

[therenegade]

I like watching movies from my USB key. if it s your case, bring a USB key and try all type of file. avi, mkv, mp4 files

plus look at the subtitle. ad a sub to your movies. sub must be big enough. and look if sound and picture are synchronised during play back.

after look if you want mat or reflective screen.
look if you want plug a Playstation or else for your kids.

I have a Samsung smart TV, very happy with it. now 4 years old. I would try panasonic. USB movies and subtitle is number one for me. all depends what you want. if you just want watch tv, get a cheap TV.

the problem in Thailand, it s the heat. when pc get older they crash. TV are like pc.
if you place a little fan behind the TV I m sure you extend lifespan.

[NanLaew]

4 hours ago, wanderluster said:

i would like to thank all for their input on this topic and i have learned quite a bit.

 

cheers to all

 

Now pop along to Big C where they have 43" LG's on special for 9890 baht.

Edited August 25, 2016 by NanLaew

[phuketjock]

18 hours ago, BudRight said:

As was stated elsewhere, only Samsung and LG make panels. The rest buy their panels from them. 

 

I am sorry Budright I cannot accept a sweeping statement like that without some kind of proof,

Toshiba, Sony and Panasonic were at the forefront of colour TV development long before LG or

Samsung had there first factories so highly likely that they would be sourcing their parts from the

pioneers of colour TV not the other way round!!       

[BudRight]

2 hours ago, phuketjock said:

 

I am sorry Budright I cannot accept a sweeping statement like that without some kind of proof,

Toshiba, Sony and Panasonic were at the forefront of colour TV development long before LG or

Samsung had there first factories so highly likely that they would be sourcing their parts from the

pioneers of colour TV not the other way round!!       

 

I'm so tired of Googling shit for people. Toshiba doesn't even make TVs anymore, let alone panels. It's 2016 dude.

 

https://andreweverard.com/2015/01/29/toshibas-tv-making-pull-out-is-bad-news-not-good-for-japans-surviving-manufacturers/

Edited August 25, 2016 by BudRight

[Scotwight]

20 hours ago, BudRight said:

As was stated elsewhere, only Samsung and LG make panels. The rest buy their panels from them. 

In recent years Sony made up the difference using its excellent X-Reality Pro processing engine and Triluminous colour technology. Last year's 4K models actually used panels from China instead of a big brand which was seemingly a cost-cutting risk that paid off spectacularly - the products were excellent and the prices reasonable.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/television/battle-of-the-flagship-hd-tvs-samsung-h8000-vs-sony-w955-1246259

 

[dhream]

They've not been made to repair since the Trinitron days. Throw it away.
Also forget the Japanese and Korean overpriced brands.
Chinese TCL brand is better and cheaper now. Google it.

Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-TL10 using Tapatalk

[Scotwight]

3 hours ago, dhream said:

They've not been made to repair since the Trinitron days. Throw it away.
Also forget the Japanese and Korean overpriced brands.
Chinese TCL brand is better and cheaper now. Google it.

Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-TL10 using Tapatalk
 

http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-xbr-x930d-review/

 

Best TV I've ever seen.  Android TV is the best OS available if you want to coordinate it with your other electronics.  I use the TV with external sound system.  The upscaler  works wonders with non 4k content.  Strange women show up at my house wanting to watch TV and play games.  Works with PS and has own line of great games with PS 3 and 4 controller.  All in all I have 7 remotes.  Uses VPN and KODI and everything else.  

[phuketjock]

18 hours ago, BudRight said:

 

I'm so tired of Googling shit for people. Toshiba doesn't even make TVs anymore, let alone panels. It's 2016 dude.

 

https://andreweverard.com/2015/01/29/toshibas-tv-making-pull-out-is-bad-news-not-good-for-japans-surviving-manufacturers/

 

Irrelevant to your statement what about Sony and Panasonic??

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Scotwight said:

http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-xbr-x930d-review/

 

Best TV I've ever seen.  Android TV is the best OS available if you want to coordinate it with your other electronics.  I use the TV with external sound system.  The upscaler  works wonders with non 4k content.  Strange women show up at my house wanting to watch TV and play games.  Works with PS and has own line of great games with PS 3 and 4 controller.  All in all I have 7 remotes.  Uses VPN and KODI and everything else.  

 

For $2,500, it should do your laundry, too.

[Scotwight]

3 hours ago, impulse said:

 

For $2,500, it should do your laundry, too.

Watching two uni girls play the game below in mini skirt uniforms - priceless.

 

 

[teatree]

Buy a Sony.

[Hutch68]

Panasonic or Sony. There not supposed to last, what would these company's do if they made tv's to last a life time? Someone once told me who knows about these new super tv's is that if you get 5 years out of it then you have done well as that is all they are made to last for. He did however advise Panasonic to be the best buy.