Good 40" class HDTV under $250?

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Bought my mother a sceptre from walmart for christmas it went totally black in 4 days. I had a hard time taking it back because i bought it online and they didnt carry it in store. The remote was [censored] and she didnt really like it much anyways.

I bought her a sanyo instead and even though sanyo doesnt get the great reviews it has a great picture and a good remote. I have a few family members that also have sanyos and to be honest i really like the picture on them. I am a samsung guy myself but will probably buy a sanyo next time.
 
Originally Posted By: horse123
Stay far away from cheap TVs. Even mediocre well known brands like toshiba and sharp are [censored].

The only brands you're going to want to buy a TV from are Samsung, LG, and if you're desperate Vizio. LG and Samsung manufacture their own panels so they toss all the [censored] that doesn't pass their strictest quality control test to the knock off brands like TCL/element/etc. and I'm guessing a similar thing happens with the "just OK" brands too, because they look like [censored].


Pretty accurate advice. But you can also get good picture quality from Panasonic and Sony, they most likely have the panels made to their own specifications by one of the major manufacturers.
 
Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: horse123
Stay far away from cheap TVs. Even mediocre well known brands like toshiba and sharp are [censored].

The only brands you're going to want to buy a TV from are Samsung, LG, and if you're desperate Vizio. LG and Samsung manufacture their own panels so they toss all the [censored] that doesn't pass their strictest quality control test to the knock off brands like TCL/element/etc. and I'm guessing a similar thing happens with the "just OK" brands too, because they look like [censored].


Pretty accurate advice. But you can also get good picture quality from Panasonic and Sony, they most likely have the panels made to their own specifications by one of the major manufacturers.


Are Sony televisions still any good?

I saw the TCL unit on Amazon for dumb cheap. It may not be a good TV but it sure is inexpensive.

What about Funai, Insignia, or whatever the Walmart special of the day is. ? But I am most curious if Sony is still a quality set, or if it has degenerated to a re-branding of whomever makes the panel (as stated) and farms it out, much like HTC makes everyone's phone, you just don't know it (until they started selling their own branded phones.)

Sony used to be the be-all end-all of TVs, Technically with Trinitron XBR but that appeared short-lived with minimal improvement over Trinitron. But Trinitron was a name brand that revolutionized things. Like Walkman. It was a TV, but there was a price to be paid for the Sony, and a reason for that.
 
Originally Posted By: InfmousCornholio
Are Sony televisions still any good?

I saw the TCL unit on Amazon for dumb cheap. It may not be a good TV but it sure is inexpensive.

What about Funai, Insignia, or whatever the Walmart special of the day is. ? But I am most curious if Sony is still a quality set, or if it has degenerated to a re-branding of whomever makes the panel (as stated) and farms it out, much like HTC makes everyone's phone, you just don't know it (until they started selling their own branded phones.)

Sony used to be the be-all end-all of TVs, Technically with Trinitron XBR but that appeared short-lived with minimal improvement over Trinitron. But Trinitron was a name brand that revolutionized things. Like Walkman. It was a TV, but there was a price to be paid for the Sony, and a reason for that.


Yep,back in the 70s-80s I remember Sony tv's were THEE tv's to own. The had the best picture and lasted forever. RCA seemed to come in a close second. Actually,all Sony electronics were the best of the best it was reputed.

We were in Walmart recently and the Sony tv's definitely had the best picture. If we were to buy a tv today,it'd be a Sony.

Anyone remember Cutis Mathes? I remember they had their own branded store. They made console stereos too. Was their stuff any good? I remember their line on all their commercials was always "Curtis Mathes,made in the USA".
 
UPDATE:

Yesterday we went to Walmart and picked up a Vizio 43" non-smart (D model) tv for $348 plus a $39 service plan to cover infant mortality issues i.e. in case it dies early or something. Had asked the Wal Mart guy which brands they get the fewest returns on and he said Samsung, LG, and Vizio. They had a few of the Sanyo's mentioned earlier in this thread but they were the same money and pictures looked like [censored] compared to the Vizio's. The Vizio actually seemed to have a slightly sharper picture in-store than a neighboring Samsung of the same screen size and resolution.

The picture quality it has in her home from her cable feed is remarkable, but not at first. Not until I turned off a setting called auto brightness control which seemed to be keeping the picture too dim. Once I turned off most of the other so called enhancements like Black Detail, Picture Noise Control, and etc, and dialed in contrast and brightness manually, the picture is really looking top shelf. Contrast @ 48 and Brightness 55... nothing extreme.

Massive improvement over the circa 2005 40" Sony DLP set it replaced.
 
I bought a Samsung 40 inch not smart TV from Walmart a couple weeks ago for $298 before tax. It's currently $328 online price. The store price is $348.

Samsung starting selling this TV as a 2014 model, but apparently they are making them again because my TV was made July 2015. I think they have just changed the revision number, and kept the model number the same.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Samsung-40-1080p-60Hz-LED-HDTV-UN40H5003AFXZA/39405700
 
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If you are looking at Sharp TV's, they are not made by Sharp any more. Hisense just recently bought the Sharp north american market. Whether any of this matters on quality or not I don't know. It's just a FYI.
 
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