Purchasing an unbranded cheap TV will cost you more.

When you purchase a Television or any consumer electronic item you should bear in mind more than just the purchase price, you should also think about the future repair costs and the life expectancy of the TV.

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

How do the major brands of televisions justify the premium?

Evidently when you buy a known brand of TV you are paying a premium for the brand, which you dont do on the unknown brand cheaper televisions. However is this the only difference?

Often the cheaper LCD TVs and the cheaper Plasma televisions are imported into the United Kingdom from factories in Eastern Europe and China and are distributed by unknown importers that dont have the infrastructure in the UK that the main TV brands have. This might seem like a good thing since it keeps the costs down.

The manufacturers of Cheap televisions dont have to invest in their brand reliability, as known brands do. This is because you dont know which factory manufactured the TV so you wont be able to avoid it in the future if you buy another unbranded Television. So they dont have the same incentive to protect their brand from poor performing unreliable products.

The chances of cheap TVs from unknown manufacturers going faulty are greater because they dont operate the same stringent levels of quality control that the top brands do. Therefore the probability that the unbranded cheap Television will go faulty from new, either straight 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 televisions.

Major brand manufacturers of TVs create better designed internal circuits with higher quality components to improve the reliability of the Television. Cheaper televisions from unknown brands dont need to do this. Surveys that have been done by the magazine Which have establish that this is the case and main brands of TVs like Sony and Panasonic repeatedly out perform the cheap televisions from unfamiliar brands.

Less likely to be repaired

The major brand manufacturers of TVs stock spare parts to accelerate repairs this doesnt happen for the unknown cheaper TV brands. Often it is very difficult to obtain replacement parts for the unbranded cheap televisions .

What’s more it is more difficult to repair unknown cheaper brand televisions because they havent got the technical support in the UK that the main brands do. Therefore 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. For the duration of the first 12 months this isnt a problem because the dealer that sold you the cheap TV will have to repair it or replace it. However after this period it means that it is more likely that you will have toreplace the cheaper unknown brand TV earlier than a main brand Television.

I have seen instances on branded TVs where the product has failed 2 years after being purchased, and despite the fact that it came with a 12 month guarantee, the manufacturer has replaced the product or subsidised the cost of the repair to protect their brand image. This doesnt happen on cheap unknown brands of TVs. On the unknown brand cheaper Television when the warranty has expired if it cant be repaired then it will mean additional expense replacing it.

How does the performance of cheaper unknown TV brands compare to known Television Brands?

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

Conclusion

The cheaper brands of TVs arent as reliable and dont have the same specification and performance as known brands such as Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Hitachi, JVC, Philip, LG, Pioneer etc. For the small premium that major brand televisions sell for over cheaper unheard of and poorly supported cheap Television brands, it isnt worth purchasing the cheaper ones as you will almost certainly pay more in the long run – Especially if you divide the price difference over the life of the Television. In fact in all probability the cheaper televisions are more costly when all factors are considered. So buy a known major brand of television and save money in the long run.

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 low prices. For your convenience you may also find these links useful cheap tv’s and cheap 42 plasma tv