# Most Reliable HDTVs



## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

*PC World: Sony HDTVs Rated Most Reliable by Readers
**
Sony gets far and away the highest reliability and service scores
in reader survey. LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, and Vizio earn
favorable marks as well.*


> "PC World's annual Reliability and Service survey lets our readers rate leading vendors in several tech-product categories. This year more than 16,000 respondents shared their likes and dislikes about their high-def TVs and the companies that sell them. Participants rated each company and its products relative to competitors by nine measures, such as customer satisfaction, quality of phone service, severity of hardware problems, and ease of use..."


 (Chart below shows five of nine indices.)










Full article @ PCWorld.com


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Fascinating. Thanks, Nick. I wonder how Element and Insignia rank... or did they skip them since not all TVs under those brands are made by the same manufacturers?


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## faiello (Mar 17, 2003)

I love my 2 Panasonic Plasma's never had a problem with either one of them, going on 1 yr for the 58" and 2 yrs for the 37" in the bedroom


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

I've not had a Sony HDTV yet, mainly due to the reliability problems I have had with Sony SD CRTs.

They had great PQ but after only a couple of years, either went out entirely or lost one of the audio channels. This is three different Sonys.

This has made me look in another direction so far when it comes to HDTV.


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

I've had no trouble whatsoever with my two Sonys -- a 32 inch 4:3 CRT HD monitor I got back in 2003 and a 55 inch 16:9 RP LCD I bought in late 2005.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

I'm glad to see Mitsubishi down on the bottom where it belongs. As a sat installer, you deal with hundreds and hundreds of different TVs of all types, ages, and conditions, and Mitsubishis have always been the most difficult to deal with.

I'm surprised to see LG so high on the list, though. I know lots of people who have had problems with them.

I can vouch for the Sony's, though, and so will all of my techs. When you run into a Sony, you know it's going to work, the controls are simple, the remote codes haven't changed in 2 decades, etc. It means your day is going to go a little more smoothly.


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

I have had my Panny 720p plasma for about 2 years and last January a major component (DT board) went "kaplooyee". Couldn't change channels, change volume, or change input. Even though it was just out of warranty, I got Panny to replace the board free of charge (saved me $800). I only had to pay for labor (install of new board - about $65). I found that to be fair.

Otherwise, my Panny does an excellent job. I've only ever compared it to my parent's Samsung 720p plasma. The Samsung has noticeable 4:3 burn in after 2 years.. they must watch lots of SD (4:3) programming since their cable co only has 10 HD channels. Also, since they only have cable, I can't tell if the PQ sucks because of the TV brand or simply because they only have cable. My Panny blows away their Samsung. Their TWC PQ stinks.. they don't know any better, but I certainly notice it when I am at their house.


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## rustynails (Apr 24, 2008)

I for one am really surprised that Sony is at the top. My last Sony which wasn't an lcd gave me big problems. When I researched and bought an hdtv, I ruled out Sony almost immediately. I guess you can get bad televisons with any manufacturer!


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Still waiting for something to go wrong with my 5-year-old 42" Pany plasma. It doesn't even have HDMI, but the picture still looks great.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

I've had Sony's for many, many years without ever having a problem. This would include a dozen of them running 24x7 in our news area. Not a single failure. Probably just been lucky in that regard, but they always seem to have a nice quality picture...you do pay for it however.


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## sportsrlife4 (Dec 23, 2008)

Glad to see Vizio is up there. I've had mine for over a year and no problems at all. Amazing Specs!


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

If there is one thing I DON'T like about my Olevia - it's the bass-ackwards way you have to change from one input to another. I can understand the rating on it.

I would love for it to have been setup so that when you entered numbers / enter - it jumped to the tuner on that channel / subchannel. I'm forever cycling through the inputs over and over, depending on which I want to watch. Or, have buttons to select which input individually instead of just one "source" button on the remote.


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

My 50" Sony LCD projection TV went out after only 3 years.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

arxaw said:


> My 50" Sony LCD projection TV went out after only 3 years.


Went out how? All rear-projectors have a limited life on the bulb, which must be replaced on a fairly regular basis. 3 years is about right.


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## bleedgreenandgold (Jan 5, 2009)

I don't know if it was their XVT series that gave them such a high rating, but Vizio sure deserves it. My XVT made me fall in love with Vizio. Have on in the family room and the bedroom. Great specs.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

bleedgreenandgold said:


> I don't know if it was their XVT series that gave them such a high rating, but Vizio sure deserves it. My XVT made me fall in love with Vizio. Have on in the family room and the bedroom. Great specs.


Welcome to the forums, bleedgreenandgold! :welcome_s

(ignore my current blasphemous avatar, normally it is my family or Packers during the season. Alas, lost a fantasy football bet.)

Peace,
Tom


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## erosroadie (Jan 9, 2007)

IIP said:


> Went out how? All rear-projectors have a limited life on the bulb, which must be replaced on a fairly regular basis. 3 years is about right.


I have had excellent picture quality and reliablity with SONY Trinitron CRT TVs over the last 15 years. However, my 3-year old 50" Samsung DLP has had a "reboot" problem for the last 3 months. Picture either doesn't show on start up, or freezes after 30 seconds and has to "reboot" again. Remote won't work at all during these instances. Usually happens on initial Turn On, but sometimes will pop up after an hour or two. I have to unplug, wait 10-20 seconds, replug and it usually starts up fine.

Samsung technician came out and said he "thought" that replacing a ~$500 board in the back would fix it. Since he wasn't sure, I declined. Guess I get a little exercise watching TV after all.

The Samsung DLP picture is excellent, even for 720P. IMHO, best picture for the real estate dollar spent. I thought about buying a larger unit and moving this one downstairs for the kids' X-Box. However, Mitsubishi and Samsung are the only two majors still making DLP (I believe). The former seems to have a reputation for color accuracy and reliability problems (based on the initial post). Since this episode, WAF for Samsung is zero, so I am not allowed to consider even spending $1 on a Samsung product again.

Please pray for me...


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

I just bought another Panny plasma last Thursday.. this time being the 42" 1080p unit. Moved the 42" 720p upstairs. Very nice unit, although the filter take a little getting used to. Have to crank up the brightness setting a bit.

I actually did have a problem with the DT board on my 'just out of warranty' 720p set last January but got Panny to pay for the repair anyway. Saved me $700. Panny makes some nice plasma TVs.


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## ceyancey (Jan 3, 2008)

I read on the A/V Forum that their is a firmware upgrade for the Samsung some DLP models that should fix the problem. You can find the free upgrade on the Samsung website.


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## erosroadie (Jan 9, 2007)

ceyancey said:


> I read on the A/V Forum that their is a firmware upgrade for the Samsung some DLP models that should fix the problem. You can find the free upgrade on the Samsung website.


Yanceymon:

Are you referring to the problem recently posted for SAMSUNG 720P DLPs?


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## dbconsultant (Sep 13, 2005)

Tom Robertson said:


> Welcome to the forums, bleedgreenandgold! :welcome_s
> 
> (ignore my current blasphemous avatar, normally it is my family or Packers during the season. Alas, lost a fantasy football bet.)
> 
> ...


That's really a sad avatar, Tom! You gotta be more careful with your betting!


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## erosroadie (Jan 9, 2007)

ceyancey said:


> I read on the A/V Forum that their is a firmware upgrade for the Samsung some DLP models that should fix the problem. You can find the free upgrade on the Samsung website.


Thanks. I checked the website, but my model Sammy DLP was not one of the ones with a firmware upgrade option.


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