Having a Videocon 21 inch Tv which came in as a marriage gift, the movie and video experience on it was far from desirable. Considering that the TV had been serviced once already within 1 year left me with an impression that it might not last longer and therefore needed to be exchanged. I never thought much of Videocon in the TV department anyways.:)
Obviously, the best upgrade to a 21 inch TV in one’s living room is either a 32 inch or 40 inch TV.
Wherever I visited, be it Croma, Vijay Sales, Radhika or Sony, my eyes would automatically be drawn to the LED range available and then to their price tags which ultimately would put me down again.:(
So, I was clear that in my budget lay a good 32 inch LCD TV which would be suitable enough as a good upgrade.
My requirements were fairly simple:
A good branded TV which would offer great after sales service and support
A TV that is durable since my mother watches TV for about 12 hours a day when she visits.:)
A TV that would have great features and offer great audio / video quality along with contrast options.
A TV that could support HDMI HD inputs from an HD player especially for watching downloaded movies.
A TV that had an in built video player would be great though I have a separate hard drive player for the same.
I started looking directly at 3 brands which I zeroed on after some initial research. They were Toshiba(due to the low price and brand name on laptops), SONY(legendary brand in electronics of course) and Samsung(for having a good range of tvs in the right price range and good after sales service rep).
Further research led me to the conclusion that Toshiba TVs weren’t serviceable after having issues initially. The service personnel never turned up for months. So Toshiba was out in spite of having a irresistible price of 19K for an exchange with the existing TV. So, Toshiba eliminated itself out.
SONY LCD range: The SONY LCD range was the toughest to put away due to the brand value and the seemingly good clarity the Bravia range offered. Further research in this area led me to the conclusion that the SONY LCD Panels were getting screwed up in about 19 - 20 months time by which warranty isn’t provided.(warranty is only 1 year for all LCD TVs). People who have complained about the SONY LCD TVS have only complained about the LCD PANEL konking.
The SONY LCD panel if required to be replaced costs around 18000 - 20000 Rs. it seems which is 60% - 70% of the cost of the TV I guess. Deeper research revealed that SONY nowadays doesn’t care for the quality standards on which its reputation is built. It is using cheap LCD Panels made in china and selling the TVS with BIG BIG margins. Who cares if the customer faces issues at the end of the 2nd year right? They pay the price of owning a SONY after all.:) They asked for it.:D
Finally, Samsung had to be chosen though LG was also a contender. There were many positive reviews for the LG range of LCD TVs as well but I wasn’t very sure of going for it. Comparing the Samsung TVS on their site thanks to the compare tool they have provided on their India site, I found that most TVs in the series 4 had similar features barring 1 which had good sound output as well. I was looking at the Series 4 and series 5 LCD TV range primarily.
There was no point in paying a lot for getting 1080 HD ready TVs since there is v little difference it seems. If it can receive 1080 signals using the HDMI port, its good enough for average viewing giving the limited time we have to be entertained. There was no point in getting internet ready TVs as well.
So I chose the series 4 LCD TV(model in title) which had around 800 watts PMPO of sound output. All Samsung TVs had down firing speakers which are effective on a table stand but may not be so if mounted. I have used a table for now and the audio is excellent. None of the other brand LCDs that I compared offer a decent wattage that this TV offers.
It has everything one desires and offers a rich and complete audio and video experience. All said and done, I hope this choice of mine lasts. I trust Samsung for now. For detailed specs, you can refer to them on the Samsung india site.