Which TV brand is the most reliable in your experience?
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The left part of the screen of my parent's Samsung TV have seriously blackened recently, so they are thinking of buying a new TV. We probably bought this like 6 years ago maybe, but I absolutely do NOT want to buy a Samsung again (6 years is just planned obsolescence reliability + their OS didn't let me remove the bloatware in any way or shape of form)
Which brand has been the most reliable for you, and also have you been able to remove the bloatware from your TV via dev mode or with a different method?
I just buy the cheapest piece of garbage possible and expect to replace it every couple of years. I hate the implications for the environment, but in many product categories it is a fools errand to try to buy quality.
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I'm a fan of both Sony and LG. LG makes TVs that have the deepest blacks which is really nice for movies. Sony doesn't quite have the same darkness to their blacks, but the displays are very nice and the comparable Sony's tend to be a little bit cheaper than LG's. In my house I have a Sony and an LG as the main TV. I also have a Hisense if you want something that's really nice and fairly cheap go for high sense.
Sony has OLED TVs now, likely using the exact same panels in the equivalent LG TV. One huge plus of Sony TVs is they run Android and so installing custom patched apps is pretty easy.
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Have you had messy experiences with the other brands?
Personally not, I primarily use Samsung but hear from colleagues that they had issues with other brands.
The other thing is that there are only 2 brands that make screens, Samsung and LG. Those screens are used by all the other brands as well. -
I have a sceptre. Dumb as fuck, enough plugs of various types to get whatever I want on the screen. Has been working well for ~6 years now, though it's not a daily use item. I've used it as a second monitor for ~3 of those 6 years, and never noticed issues with the quality.
Sceptre monitors are good. Have a 55" we've been using as our main television for 8 years without issues. Have a 32" as my computer monitor as well, about 6 years so far. They just work, no bullshit smart features.
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The left part of the screen of my parent's Samsung TV have seriously blackened recently, so they are thinking of buying a new TV. We probably bought this like 6 years ago maybe, but I absolutely do NOT want to buy a Samsung again (6 years is just planned obsolescence reliability + their OS didn't let me remove the bloatware in any way or shape of form)
Which brand has been the most reliable for you, and also have you been able to remove the bloatware from your TV via dev mode or with a different method?
I've never had a TV stop working in my life
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The left part of the screen of my parent's Samsung TV have seriously blackened recently, so they are thinking of buying a new TV. We probably bought this like 6 years ago maybe, but I absolutely do NOT want to buy a Samsung again (6 years is just planned obsolescence reliability + their OS didn't let me remove the bloatware in any way or shape of form)
Which brand has been the most reliable for you, and also have you been able to remove the bloatware from your TV via dev mode or with a different method?
Instead of a specific brand, I looked at what open box / display models the local places had available. I ended up with a Samsung model that was marked 70% off MSRP.
The operating system is probably not great but it's connected to a Nvidia Shield so I've never interacted with the OS beyond the initial setup.
I'd say this kind of decision has more to do with the user interface being easily navigable for your parents and what their technical proficiency is rather than trying to pick a television that might last a decade or more.
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I have a sceptre. Dumb as fuck, enough plugs of various types to get whatever I want on the screen. Has been working well for ~6 years now, though it's not a daily use item. I've used it as a second monitor for ~3 of those 6 years, and never noticed issues with the quality.
I can second Sceptre for both TV and regular monitors! They're definitely not the best quality (not bad, not astounding), but they're dumb and do the job
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Instead of a specific brand, I looked at what open box / display models the local places had available. I ended up with a Samsung model that was marked 70% off MSRP.
The operating system is probably not great but it's connected to a Nvidia Shield so I've never interacted with the OS beyond the initial setup.
I'd say this kind of decision has more to do with the user interface being easily navigable for your parents and what their technical proficiency is rather than trying to pick a television that might last a decade or more.
Oh that's a great tactic. How easy do you find open box TVs in local shops?
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Personally not, I primarily use Samsung but hear from colleagues that they had issues with other brands.
The other thing is that there are only 2 brands that make screens, Samsung and LG. Those screens are used by all the other brands as well.Apparently TCL or some chinese brand also self manufactures, idk which one specifically
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Just don't buy OLED and it won't darken, if you buy OLED get ready to replace the extensive TV every 5 years no matter what brand you buy.
As for removing bloatware I have no idea since my TV is from around 2010 and I only use it connected to the computer, but you can always just get a raspberry pi and install kodi on it and use the TV as a normal dumb TV. It's also good for your privacy.
Sounds like the OP has a backlight failure though? That's a non oled failure.
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The left part of the screen of my parent's Samsung TV have seriously blackened recently, so they are thinking of buying a new TV. We probably bought this like 6 years ago maybe, but I absolutely do NOT want to buy a Samsung again (6 years is just planned obsolescence reliability + their OS didn't let me remove the bloatware in any way or shape of form)
Which brand has been the most reliable for you, and also have you been able to remove the bloatware from your TV via dev mode or with a different method?
LG, my grandma's LG Flatscreen CRT is older than me, it is about 23 years old, works like a charm, very loud stereo speakers, ports and all important buttons in the front easily accessible, usable even without the remote thanks to the front buttons all clearly labelled
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The left part of the screen of my parent's Samsung TV have seriously blackened recently, so they are thinking of buying a new TV. We probably bought this like 6 years ago maybe, but I absolutely do NOT want to buy a Samsung again (6 years is just planned obsolescence reliability + their OS didn't let me remove the bloatware in any way or shape of form)
Which brand has been the most reliable for you, and also have you been able to remove the bloatware from your TV via dev mode or with a different method?
wrote last edited by [email protected]When it comes to electronics, reliability is determined by the quality of the electrolytic capacitors used as they are typically the first to fail in an electronic circuit. There are other considerations of course, but in general the better the capacitor used in construction the longer the item will last.
Electronics that have cheap capacitors will have about a 10 year life. Those that use higher end capacitors will last 30 years or more. I have two McIntosh amplifiers that were built in 1992 and are still working great on the original caps. They have McIntosh branded capacitors and are top tier, although I don't now who specifically makes them for McIntosh. I also have 2 Carver amps from about the same era and I've had to recap them already. Carver has great sound, but lousy build quality. Also have a Marantz receiver that was built in 2000 with Marantz branded caps that came to me with a dead amplifier, which just turned out to be a dry solder joint on a PC board. Two hours of resoldering several PCBs in it and it's working very well.
HERE is a good list of top tier capacitor manufacturers, just scroll down a bit to find it of top tier capacitor manufacturers. You'll have to do some research to find out what TV manufacturer is using what capacitor in their designs.
With that said, there is one listed there that also makes televisions and they, fortunately, have come back to the US market. That is Panasonic. I have a Panasonic Plasma that I bought in 2010 and it is still going strong. It is still my family's main television. It got hit by lightning in 2012 and I had to replace the power supply and main board in it, which was not the TV's fault. It has all Panasonic capacitors in it.
I also have a Panasonic Microwave, and cordless phone. Both of which have far far outlived their predecessors. The cordless phone will be 20 years old next April and the microwave is coming up on 13 years.
I will not say that Panasonic has the best picture, best sound, or uses unicorn farts to make the best what ever... Honestly, I don't give a damn about any of that. What I will say that in my experience if you want an electronic device that lasts a long time, buy a Panasonic.
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Oh that's a great tactic. How easy do you find open box TVs in local shops?
A few of the larger electronics retailers here have open box sections on their websites. I called several smaller ones, but due to their size they either didn't have model units at all or only had one or two. One place I went to found they had some returned televisions in the back that they'd never put back on the sales floor, but being effectively brand new they only offered a ten percent reduction.
The website listings were ideal because as made it less arduous to compare specifications. In my case I was rather particular about certain technical details, so it might be simpler for someone that cares less about colour uniformity or input lag for example.
That said, I've now remembered that once I'd narrowed it down from a couple dozen options to three televisions, the deciding factor was nothing technical but instead it was the only user interface factor that I do see: it turns on and off with an animation reminiscent of old tube television. I'm not looking forward to replacing it because I find this power on visual so funny with a modern screen.
It might be handy for you to check out rtings accelerated longevity tests and see if you can find those models at a discount. I make use of their tests pretty often.
