Vizio Beats Samsung, Sony as Top LCD TV Seller

[Guest]

I bought a Vizio 20" LCD at Costco a year ago and it doesn't work now. That's $400 lost because it doesn't work now and repairing it (outside of warranty now) would cost $200. I will never buy Vizio again.

 

[starryman]

You can rag on Vizio all you want but until you have some history of buying several Sony, Samsung, and other major branded products... there's no true correlation that they are more reliable. I bought a 32" Sony Vega w/ FD Trinitron a few years back for $900. Died in 14 mos with little use. Did it again with a 24" Sony Vega and it dies 3 mos after the warranty expired. My Dad bought a surround system from Samsung and the left rear channel went out 2nd week. Returned it and worked great for 1 year then the front left channel went out. My brother bought a JVC HD video camera for $1400 and crapped out after less than 10 mos of light use.

On the flip side, I have some funny branded (funai, daewoo, maxent)stuff stashed around the house that won't die. I used to be brand oriented but now I buy what's right and with an extended warranty where possible.

If Costco carries Vizio - I'm sure Vizio is great. You may see them being returned more often probably because more people are buying them.

 

[techguy911]

Not at my store panasonic are returned tice as much as vizio and have twice the failure rate on panels after 1 year we do service.

 

[stormcrow2121]

Being a certified HDTV calibrator that has done hundreds of tvs, everything from visios and panasonics to $100k plus Runco's, the best image quality bang for the buck comes in at Samsung. This is after a few basic out of box menu tweaks that anyone can do with a $20 DVD/Bluray showing you how. If you have a little more money and you don't care about getting the best deal, then Pioneer is definitely what you want - reliable and beautiful.

As far as service history goes, I've personally seen the rate of about 1 out of 30 samsungs with technical issues come back for repair, and usually these are problems occuring out of box or within the first month, not 2 years down the line whre there are warranty problems. Generally the bottom and top shelf manufacturers have the worst rate of return and defect in electronics (Vizio, Runco, etc.). The bottom shelf products use cheap manufacturing and second rate components, while the top shelf products have components far too narrow tolerances on acceptable voltages, timings, etc. to drive quality upward, and too buggy software as heaps of processings and features are strewn everywhere to get more catch phrases on the marketing sheet.

 

[Upendra09]

I Bought a 52 inch Sony XBR4 and i love it. I was going to buy a similar Samsung for 400$ less, which had better contrast but the screen wouldn't work with the room, being glossy and glarey, so i went for the Sony. But the samsung would have been the best choice in a different room, besides Samsung makes the "Engine" for Sony so they are pretty much the same.

I still Love my XBR4 but the Samsung was better. And besides sometimes Sony can be overrated they just hike their prices up for the name, even though they do make good stuff.

 

[waikano]

ViZio owned by Wal-Mart and not Servicable since parts are not easily available. GL with one of those if you decide to buy one.

 

[dark_lord69]

If there is one thing corporatations never seem to learn it's that americans love a low price. Visio has low prices. enough said.

 

[slv335i]

The problem is getting a Vizio serviced. If something goes wrong good luck getting your LCD back fast. I work at a large retail store in Chicago and that was the main problem with the lowend brand names. Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Sharp, and Toshiba don't have that problem. We could get parts for them in a few days. The lowend brands would sometimes take more than a month. Try telling a customer that it will take over a month to fix his or her TV. That's why we got rid of all the lowend brands.

 

[bustapr]

I got a sony with those configurations for $850 in january at sears. So thers no real reason for vizio to be selling more. Inless that 40 inch sony is already out of market, I dont know, but its really good.KDL-40SL140.

 

[tayb]

I really don't understand why anyone, literally ANYONE, is surprised that Vizio has taken the lead in North America. They make the cheapest televisions. They make the cheapest televisions. They make the cheapest televisions.

 

[theangrygimp]

Had a Vizio 32 inch LCD for almost a year now, and have not had any problems so far. Great PC support, and I love playing games on it at 1080P. The picture quality is fine for what I use it for, and was the best for the price range when I got it. Not top of the line, but it does the job and was worth the money I saved.

 

[pender21]

On the XBR4 vs the Samsung LNT52F comment, they use the same LCD panel fabrication but each company makes a different processing engine.

There is a pretty unbiased review by Robert Heron of Ziff Davis. He actually measures the picture accuracy, color saturation etc with actual equipment. If people have actually seen a Vizio TV side by side, they'd realize sometimes it is not worth the extra $200-$500 for a similar performing TV (with extraneous features) if they are on a tight budget. I will admit that picture quality on the Vizio is not on the same level as the Samsung tier, but Vizio and the consumers know that going in.

According to Heron, Vizio is quite acceptable for budget line, and Samsung is next up for mid range (Sony if you don't want glossy). The best HDTV is still a Pioneer Kuro plasma, and for those who think plasmas still burn-in after 10 seconds, they no longer do. They just use much more power than LCDs. For Film, TV (sports) and gaming, the plasmas are still the best money can buy.

Vizio is a Californian product and is not prepared solely for any specific retailer (but is targeted for the American Market). You can find Vizio at many retailers. If it were not for Vizio, every other TV, Samsung and Sony, would be priced probably 20% more, so b*tch all you want, and buy what TV you want, but you owe some of its reduced price to Vizio.

So for people on a budget, instead of buying an off brand Walmart HDTV like Westinghouse or whatever, Vizio is a better TV.

 

[captaincharisma]

this is just a sign of the bad economy. people do not have much money these days so they can't buy quality products now.

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]Pei-chen[/nom]Go for Toshiba, SONY, Panasonic and MITSUBISHI if you want quality, LG and Samsung if you want the same features but hushed design. Any other brand is pure trash.[/citation]


the words of a rich brat ...no i'll stick to shoping for a budget brand, as for vizio sure they probably get more bad units out than the others do , but that is what store return polocies are for , you take it backa dn trade it in for a diferent one , and it is dobutrful every vizio on the shelf is gonna crap out on you
jsut liek not all sony's are gonna work perfectly. the key thing youw ant to look for in a lcd is image quality , and vizio has great iamge quality if you ask me. sure if you got teh moeny go LG or one of thsoe otehr brands you mentioned. but unfortunately not all of us were born with a silvie fork up our ass like you were , mate ... so again i'l stick to shopign for budget brands that look good

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]thundercleese[/nom]Walmart sells Vizio, but it's not "their" brand.[/citation]
actually vizio IS NOT a walmart brand , theye carry them at many retailers such as target and kmart as well ,wal maort has never ahd a product itmakes sold atit's competitor's stores

 

[bustapr]

[citation][nom]Cletus_slackjawd[/nom]I hear nothing but positives from friend who own Vizio HDTV. Samsung is really good now maybe but I bought a very early version Samsung 1080i CRT 32" with DVI interface and it kinda sucks. I am typing this on a Samsung SyncMaster 2253bw and I really like it. Point: Brand is not everything. I remember when Toyotas were considered bottom line trash.[/citation]
Have you even seen the new Samsung LED tvs. Alot has happened since crts left the market. HDTVs are now in progresive scan and can reach 120/240 htz. they now have many HDMI that can carry sound instead of dvi. the thing is that Samsung is ahead from everybody else in terms of throwing the first good LED tvs before everybody else, giving them a better known place in the market. The only reason that Samsung is behind only Vizio is because they cost alot cheaper. Samsung beats even Sony when its about quality and value.

 

[antilycus]

samsung has spent more money Researching and Developing HD technology then ANY of the other companies. For that, i'll pay for.

 

[Parrdacc]

Is this really a surprise. I mean the digital conversion happens this year, and many probably have saving for this. So TV sales in general are going to rise on that fact alone. It is an excuse for those who still have old crt TV's to get new ones wether they need to or not. Some of those who would need the converter boxes will opt instead to get cable or sat and a new TV, and all of them are not going to pay a whole lot so brands like Vizio are going to make money.

 

[ajcroteau]

I've seen the Vizio LCD TV's and I think the quality is very good. Also, they are very affordable.

All i have to say is it's about time one of these TV manufacturers finally get's it right...

 

[Guest]

Vizio is probably one of the worst LCD displays i have ever seen...do yourself a favor when buying a TV....go to walmart and look at the "best" vizio they sell... then stroll over to Best Buy or your nearest electronics retailer and look at any size "530" series samsung(the lowest model samsung sells in LCD) and the difference is night and day. The 60Hz processor in the 530 will blow that 120hz vizio processor out of the water, as well as contrast and black levels. By the way Plasma's are better than LCD... and cheaper.