BUDGET BRAND TVS

A QUICK WALK AROUND ANY OF AUSTRALIA’S LARGE TV SHOWROOMS WILL QUICKLY DEMONSTRATE THAT ONCE YOU START LOOKING AT SUB-40-INCH TVS, THINGS CHANGE CONSIDERABLY AND BRAND NAMES GET WEIRD.

You’ll see stalwart brands like Sony and Samsung intermingling with the likes of Palsonic, SONIQ, and Linden (and Kogan online) along with major international players (with limited Australian footprints) like Philips and Hitachi.

Quality differences are laid bare in showrooms where vast differences in quality become obvious: poor performers with dim, washed-out screens (sometimes with horrendous ghosting issues) will be sat next to bright, vibrant models at sometimes-similar prices. It’s also worth checking audio in store as cheap TVs (whose sound can’t easily be improved) have speakers that range from impressive through acceptable to appalling.

Over the years we’ve found TV salespeople refreshingly honest and well-informed when it comes to advice about TV-buying realities so it’s always worth asking. One JB HIFI employee told us to avoid the company’s own SONIQ brand if we wanted our TV to work out of the box (ouch!) while a Good Guys salesperson (and he wasn’t the first) lamented the reliability of recent Hisense TVs, which are costing him a fortune through returns (double ouch!).

Meanwhile, at 32-inches (for example) you’ll frequently find prices ranging from under $200 to $700-plus. In these instances you’re not just paying for brand but HD versus Full HD. Full HD is less of an issue on this screen size and plumping for a quality brand makes more sense. After all, many cheap brands switch factories when cheaper components become available to construct models with the same name. As such componentry, quality, performance and reliability vary considerably and it’s common to find people raving about the value of one model while the next person swears about its reliability or niggles. Be sure to check the warranty when buying as returns for these brands are common. Unlike top-end TVs you’re not paying extra for the brand but paying less for not having one.