Buying an unbranded cheap Television will cost you more.
Before you buy a Television or other consumer electronics product you should bear in mind not only the purchase price of the product but also the probability of it going faulty, the features and the performance, and the life expectancy of the product.
Cheap unbranded LCD televisions and cheap unbranded plasma TVs that are manufactured by unknown factories may seem to be excellent value for money. As a rule they are sold at lower prices than the equivalent sized models from dependable known brands such as Hitachi, JVC, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba and Sharp. The specification that they offer may look comparable to the main brands of TVs and often the styling isnt dissimilar.
Why are non-branded televisions so cheap?
Obviously when you purchase a known brand of Television you are paying a premium for the brand, which you dont do on the unknown brand cheaper televisions. However is this the only difference?
One obvious reason for the recognized brands being more expensive is that they have UK offices, warehouses and staff unlike the cheaper brand televisions that are imported straight into the UK by importers from in China and Eastern Europe and are delivered directly to the retailer.
The manufacturers of Cheap TVs dont need to invest in their brand reliability, as known brands do. This is for the reason that you dont know which factory manufactured the Television so you wont be able to avoid it in the future if you purchase another unbranded TV. So they dont have the same incentive to protect their brand from poor performing unreliable products.
The probability of unbranded Cheap TVs becoming faulty at some point in the first year or after is greater than for branded TVs since they dont boast the same stringent quality control systems.
Main brand manufacturers of TVs produce better designed internal circuits with higher quality components to improve the reliability of the Television. Cheaper TVs from unfamiliar brands dont need to do this. Surveys that have been done by the magazine Which have found that this is the case and main brands of TVs like Panasonic and Sony regularly out perform the cheap televisions from unfamiliar brands.
It is more difficult to repair cheap TVs from unknown brands
It is also more difficult get hold of parts for inferior brand cheap televisions. This is because the unbranded TVs manufacturers dont store the parts in the UK unlike the major TV brand manufacturers.
On a cheap unbranded televisions if it has a fault that is difficult to repair there isnt any, or the equivalent level of technical knowledge to assist the repair as the major Brands of TVs. In the extreme it is much more likely that cheaper Television will not be repairable at all. If the dealer that sold the product is still trading it follows that obviously they are obliged to either repair the product or replace it during the warranty period. However if the dealer isnt trading anymore then your warranty is probably useless as you cant revert back to the manufacturer like you can with the main TV brands.
I have seen instances on branded televisions where the product has failed 2 years after being purchased, and even though it came with a 12 month warranty, the manufacturer has replaced the product or subsidised the cost of the repair to protect their brand image. This doesnt take place on cheap unheard of brands of televisions. On the unknown brand cheaper Television when the warranty has expired if it cant be repaired then it will mean extra expense replacing it.
Superior performance on known brand TVs
An additional reason for the difference in the price between unknown brands and known main brands is that the major manufacturers invest in research and development to find ways of advancing current technology to improve the performance compared to unheard of brands. Quite often the technology and specification of cheaper LCD TVs and cheaper Plasma TVs from unfamiliar brands is at least a year or more behind the technology in the equivalent main brand LCD televisions 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 recognized brands of TVs.
Conclusion
Cheaper brands of televisions suffer poorer reliability and dont have the features and performance of the more pricey main brand Television manufacturers. Taking into account that you often purchase a TV to last for 5 years or more, when you divide the cost differential by the number of years that you expect to keep the television for, it is worth paying the extra amount for a branded TV. More often than not the cheaper unbranded Television will prove to be more expensive because of poor reliability and the probability that it will have to be replaced earlier. This is forgetting about the better performance of the major brand televisions. So the unbranded cheap televisions characterize poor value compared to televisions from Sony, Philips, Pioneer, Toshiba, Panasonic, LG, JVC etc.
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