Flat screen manufacturers

InsideInsurance

50Twuncle wrote: »

So there could be some truth to my original point that Samsung, Logic and Alba may have shared components ?

Depends on how far you want to stretch the term "component" and how specific you want to be.

You can buy a £300 computer and a £2,000 computer and both are highly likely to have an Intel processor inside. So do these have shared components by your standards? Likwise the RAM chips could be identical but just more in the higher priced computer and having their speed limited in the budget machine.

There is a finite number of manufactures of things like chips and lcd screens. You will therefore find that Samsung actually make the chips and originally the screen for the iPhone but both are made to Apple's specification using a combination of bespoke and off the shelf elements. Again the processor uses a customised ARM design but manufactured by Samsung.



You will find TVs are the same, some things are off the shelf and are simply graded. Big brands only take the top grades, budget brands will take the lower grades. Depending on exactly what it is you may find that a large proportion of the budget brands stock ends up being higher graded items because the manufacturing process is reliable, for other more difficult things it may be all of their stock is lower grade.

With some of the above, the budget brands will have their supplies intentionally degraded, eg with processors or RAM a maximum clock speed is applied that may be a safe limit if its low grade or may be an artificial limit if its higher grade but they've surplus higher grade. Of cause you nor the buyer knows which it is. Its unlikely they intentionally damage screens to create dead pixels etc.

Some elements will be bespoke or customised but may well still be made by a third party. Despite making the chips for Apple Samsung use a different design also based on ARM for their own Galaxy phones.

Some elements may be bespoke and made by the company that ultimately puts their badge on the front.

License costs for chip designs etc go down as new models are released. Budget providers therefore will use these older designs, even big brands will sometimes sell licenses to their old electronics when it no longer fits their target market as a way to recoup their R&D costs.


At the end of the day you can use sophisticated electronics to measure screens and come up with which is technically most accurate ("the best") but in practice there is always going to be an element of personal preference, eyesight and priorities.

If you cannot see the difference between a £300 and £900 TV and the more expensive one has no feature you want then there's no point paying the extra.

[Deleted User]

InsideInsurance wrote: »

If you cannot see the difference between a £300 and £900 TV and the more expensive one has no feature you want then there's no point paying the extra.

I concur, but it's also much more likely that the cheaper set will fail much earlier than the dearer set and that after-sales service will be practically non-existent for the budget brand.

almillar

Your £150 Logik TV will be lower quality than a £300 Panasonic. It's not just about the panel. The panel might be years older (poorer contrast, energy usage, thicker, worse colour, viewing angles). But also consider that the frame may be bigger, there may be fewer connections, the speakers could be worse, the remote could be worse, the returns policy or warranty may be worse, and the parts service will most definitely be worse.
I'm not saying don't buy a cheap TV, just don't kid yourself that you're getting the same panel. You aren't.

yangptangkipperbang

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

I concur, but it's also much more likely that the cheaper set will fail much earlier than the dearer set and that after-sales service will be practically non-existent for the budget brand.

That point is well proven by the many adverse comments about the after sales "service" from the likes of Tesco & Dixons set against John Lewis and Richer Sounds.

anotheruser

In essence yes.

An easy easy to look at it is Cornflakes. There are:

Tesco Smart Price
Asda Smart Price
Morissons Smart Price
Sainsbury's Smart Price
Tesco Own Brand
Asda Own Brand
Morissons Own Brand
Sainsbury's Own Brand
Kelloggs

You can't tell me there are nine different factories all making Corkflakes? And that's just the ones I can think of.
No, there are only a few, who will make the same for all companies, with a slightly different recipe.

Same with TV screens. The components making them are from the same factory, hence a few years ago with the floods in Asia, the price of hard drives went up to double - because only a handful of factories made them for all companies.

Sort of anyway.

InsideInsurance

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

I concur, but it's also much more likely that the cheaper set will fail much earlier than the dearer set and that after-sales service will be practically non-existent for the budget brand.

After care really depends more on who you buy it from than the brand you buy as all your rights remain with the merchant.

As to failing? I guess it depends, arguably I would say the middle of the road models are probably the most robust. Compare budget and flagship and you are comparing cut price old/tested components with cutting edge new/lightly tested components. Both have a propensity to fail but for different reasons.