Television Extended Warranty

Television Extended Warranty


Can you recommend a decent quality, fairly inexpensive television?

I just got a job after being unemployed for a while. =D

I haven't had a television since August when I rented a furnished house, and I'd like to buy one. I decided on an LG television (240Hz) for $800 with an extended warranty. With tax, it's about $1300.

I have decided I can't justify spending that much money on a television just now.

1. Do I need the 5-year warranty? I prefer to have a warranty but didn't on my last television, which was working well at 10 years old.

2. Can you recommend a fairly good model that's around $500? I haven't checked out Consumer Reports, but have been reading online.

3. I have very bad eyesight, so I think a larger screen and the clearer 240Hz image will help. (I'm not legally blind.)

I'll appreciate your suggestions.

Congratulations on getting a job!

Whilst me suggesting TVs to you is difficult, I will give some advice.

LG tvs are very good, along with Toshiba, Panasonic, Samsung. Take a look at some of the video reports from CES 2010 (google for news coverage) to get an idea of the main tv manufacturers, as the main thing at CES this year was 3D tvs so the TV companies got a lot of coverage.

One of the main differences between the cheap and expensive sets I noticed is the contrast ratio. Whereas a buget tv may have a 1:10000 contrast, the expensive one will have a 1:1000000. The difference may be that large. Of course this is irrelevant if it's not too important to you.

The high quality of LG is also reassuring, one of the reasons they can offer a 5 year warranty. But if you look after these TVs they will indeed last for a long time. So I would agree with the other answer re warranty, especially if you know your TV will be safe and looked after!

240Hz refresh rates are even more of a scam, your eye will not tell the difference. Your eye will struggle to tell the difference between 50Hz and 100Hz, all the demonstrations of this working on the screens are somewhat irrelevant. Also, no TV can currently refresh at 240Hz, it cheats and only refreshes part of the image. So true refresh rates are entirely different.

Also when buying a TV remember that you do not usually have the opportunity to see it in a sunlit room, similar to the conditions it may be in at home. So bear the difference in mind when viewing sets at the store.