With the Holiday season on its way, you should probably read up on how reliable Plasma and LCD TVs are, and how this article believes that extended warranty is probably a waste of your money.
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LCD, Plasma TVs Found Highly Reliable
- Thread starter Rich Tate
- Start date
Or, you just buy your TV at Costco. (no, I don't work there)
I got one of those Visio 42" 1080p LCD TVs for $1000 a few months ago. They give you a two year warranty on all their TVs which you just don't find anywhere. Then if you check out with your AMEX card AMEX covers you up to $1000 for another year. Presto, 3 year warranty, no additional charge.
That's worth paying an extra few bucks vs. ordering online where you have no idea what level of service you'd get if the set breaks.
That's even worth buying a $50 membership if you don't have one. Even if you never go there again that's the cheapest three year TV warranty you can find.
I got one of those Visio 42" 1080p LCD TVs for $1000 a few months ago. They give you a two year warranty on all their TVs which you just don't find anywhere. Then if you check out with your AMEX card AMEX covers you up to $1000 for another year. Presto, 3 year warranty, no additional charge.
That's worth paying an extra few bucks vs. ordering online where you have no idea what level of service you'd get if the set breaks.
That's even worth buying a $50 membership if you don't have one. Even if you never go there again that's the cheapest three year TV warranty you can find.
I'm not sure it makes much sense to consider a light bulb a repair. It's more like routine maintenance, and while it's true that you won't replace a bulb in a Plasma or LCD (at least not if it's a flat panel), they also cost more per inch.
I'm far more interested in the percentage of problems excluding bulb replacement.
If it's just bulbs, I'll save more money (and get a better, and larger, picture) with high quality LCoS, like Sony's XBR2 SXRD sets or JVC's Lcos sets or one of the better DLP sets (though rainbow affect may affect some viewers) by going rear projection.
I'm far more interested in the percentage of problems excluding bulb replacement.
If it's just bulbs, I'll save more money (and get a better, and larger, picture) with high quality LCoS, like Sony's XBR2 SXRD sets or JVC's Lcos sets or one of the better DLP sets (though rainbow affect may affect some viewers) by going rear projection.
My understanding is that those bulbs are not like your standard household light build, and do in fact cost several hundred dollars to replace, so it is indeed a very big deal to consider.
http://tv.about.com/od/dlp/a/DLPprojlamp.htm
According to that link, the bulbs can last anywhere from 500 - 3000 hours, though 1000 - 2000 is more typical. And they can cost $200 or more to repalce. Even at the high-end esitmate of 3000 hours you are looking at less than 1.5 years to replace the bulb if you use the set about 6 hours each day.
My LCD (52" Vizio from Costco) has a rating of 45,000 hours until half original brightness. Basically that means I'll have long since replaced this set before thats ever an issue.
Agreed. Costco is currently about $1000 less on Panasonic/Sony/Phillips plasmas and LCDs than Best Buy or Circuit City and I have no idea why. I recently had the pleasure of paying off a Magnolia (Best Buy) no interest card that still had $3000 left due for a 50" Panny plasma while walking past 58" Panasonic plasmas at Costco for $2600. That was disgruntling though what the hey, I've been using it for two years and it still looks good (and a 58" wouldn't fit). LCDs do have a backlight that can go out, but I've never actually seen that happen. Plasmas do not but they can supposedly "dim", though I have the 42" bought in '02 still in use in my game room and it looks as good now as it always did.
Scope avsforum and enjoy the pros/cons of each discussed drastically beyond the point of nauseation.
Rabid Badger
2[H]4U
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Sweet. Looks like my Toshiba LCD should last for a good long while.
3% repair rate they say? They should come walk through the repair shop I work at. We have 50 retail stores, in our chain, and LCD/Plasma/DLP repairs are the repairs we do most out of all electronics.
I can go walk in our warehouse and see racks and racks of flat-screen tv's in for repair...
I can go walk in our warehouse and see racks and racks of flat-screen tv's in for repair...
Thats more due to the fact they are big ticket items that people repair instead of tossing and simply buying a new one.
voidrunner
Limp Gawd
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No, it's due to the fact that Consumer Reports is full of shit. Load of bollocks. Their reports are so full of factual errors and outright lying, it's ridiculous.
stop!theradio
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I have a couple things to say:
1.) No LCD monitor/television I've owned has ever broke-down on me.
2.) To replace the bulb in a rear-projection set will likely cost you around $300; it aint cheap.
1.) No LCD monitor/television I've owned has ever broke-down on me.
2.) To replace the bulb in a rear-projection set will likely cost you around $300; it aint cheap.
voidrunner
Limp Gawd
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Which of course means that these kinds of TVs never break...
Except most bulbs start around 150, depending on your tv and can be replaced in 5 minutes by most anybody that knows which end of the screwdriver goes where. Their lifespans are also typically between 5-6000 hours for a quality bulb. I.E. not a no-name cheap "compatible" bulb bought from Billy Joe Bob's Internet Discount Emporium.
Ok, so which HDTV that was purchased 1-2 years ago would fall into the "it's broken, so I'll toss it" category? It'd have to be a pretty small or crappy set (regardless of technology) to toss, because anything that was a decent sized set cost over 2 grand, and most people don't toss out things they spent 2Gs on a year or so earlier.
stop!theradio
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Which of course means that these kinds of TVs never break...
I'm not saying that LCD's "never break". I'm just speaking out of my experience...
...as I've owned every kind of consumer display type over the past 8 years.
Guess what? I still have my very first LCD display. It has outlasted a JVC LCoS, a Samsung DLP, and a Pioneer Plasma TV. Of course, we have yet to see if it'll outlast any of my trusty 'ol CRT's.
LCD's are insanely reliable.
stop!theradio
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My thing is this:
If you want a display that TYPICALLY lasts much longer than any rear projection or most Plasma display types, then get an LCD. They have a much longer lifespan and are generally more versatile and take up less space.
If you want a display that TYPICALLY lasts much longer than any rear projection or most Plasma display types, then get an LCD. They have a much longer lifespan and are generally more versatile and take up less space.