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Buying TVs locally

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shake d livin wake d dead
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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby shake d livin wake d dead » November 26th, 2021, 5:20 am

Phone Surgeon wrote:courts is the best because of their extended super shield warranty
well worth the extra $$

there are persons who repair tvs all over Trinidad if need be


Ditto on courts.

As per repairs, there is a dude on my side who flew all the way from Pakistan to set up shop here! He does house calls as well as most of the work associated to our appliance stores. Very reasonable too

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby death365 » November 26th, 2021, 7:49 am

Time questions are


What size do u need, a huge TV in a small room kills the decor and flow

Smart or not ... if u have a andriod box or firestick there's no need for a natively smart TV

HD vs 4k ... only gamers need 4k plus all the providers upscale alot of channels to HD so 4k to watch TV isn't the best idea

Same with dobly digital sound ... most cable providers use stereo over hdmi


Sound quality ... if u lil deaf u may need to go to price smart or courts and listen to the TV to see how loud it is. Unless u have a sound bar.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby DMan7 » November 26th, 2021, 7:50 am

Rel rich ppl in here boi

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby hover11 » November 26th, 2021, 7:59 am

I understand why men buy 4k However why the firetruck would you buy an 8k TV when nothing could tap into that tv full potential

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby MG Man » November 26th, 2021, 8:25 am

Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:
xtech wrote:I recently Brought 2 65inch and a 55inch commercial grade Samsung TVs. Commercial grade TV use better electronics and are built to run 24/7.

My favorite feature is they has touch screen

A 65" touchscreen?
Model number pls


yuh nipples could cut glass when yuh read that eh :lol:
Bought a 55" JVC from Price Smart yesterday
Went from a CRT 3 years ago to a big pc monitor, so this is my first of what the kids call a 'real tv' :lol: :lol: :lol:
All the countries listed in the setup are spanish-speaking LatAm and S/American' so I selected 'Other', which was why after a good hour of head-scratching and remote poking I realized the Netflix app wasn't working :oops:

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby shake d livin wake d dead » November 26th, 2021, 8:57 am

See if the model # of that JVC coming up anywhere. Also look into the manufacture history
Last edited by shake d livin wake d dead on November 26th, 2021, 9:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby pugboy » November 26th, 2021, 9:02 am

ppl does still debate which tv they buying and how much inches, “p” and “k” it have ?

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby j.o.e » November 26th, 2021, 9:34 am

pugboy wrote:ppl does still debate which tv they buying and how much inches, “p” and “k” it have ?


Think people discuss and advise haven’t seen much debating. Always good to get a view from a real life long term user for something that you would hope to use for at least 5 years

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby MG Man » November 26th, 2021, 10:17 am

shake d livin wake d dead wrote:See if the model # of that JVC coming up anywhere. Also look into the manufacture history


will check it later and post what I find

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby shake d livin wake d dead » November 26th, 2021, 11:43 am

MG Man wrote:
shake d livin wake d dead wrote:See if the model # of that JVC coming up anywhere. Also look into the manufacture history


will check it later and post what I find


In 2019 there was a batch of JVCs that could not be found online. No birthpapers...no nothing...plenty were sold locally

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby Dave » November 26th, 2021, 12:05 pm

Lots of those brands are meant for Latin America so information on them won't be forthcoming easily.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby hover11 » November 26th, 2021, 12:06 pm

Dave wrote:Lots of those brands are meant for Latin America so information on them won't be forthcoming easily.
I don't know if is just me but if it isn't Sony, Samsung or LG I don't want it

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby Chimera » November 26th, 2021, 12:21 pm

Kenjo wrote:
Phone Surgeon wrote:courts is the best because of their extended super shield warranty
well worth the extra $$

there are persons who repair tvs all over Trinidad if need be

Seems now also it’s a few components that are just to swap out but I guess the time to obtain the part is the issue for repairing TVs that aren’t widespread



plenty of servitech technicians were indians/pakis

if allyuh want a bess technician theres one in Debe not far from MS superstore on the mainroad
he does make you send him a pic/video of the problem and give you a price and tell you if he have the part
sometimes he fixing it same day

and yea plenty times they using parts from other TVS to fix yours so sometimes they does give you a new remote or sell you a new universal remote


courts is still the best though, the amount of TV i get changed by them under warranty

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby MG Man » November 26th, 2021, 2:01 pm

Dave wrote:Lots of those brands are meant for Latin America so information on them won't be forthcoming easily.


Yeah that one I bought is definitely a LatAm market-only tv

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby Dizzy28 » November 26th, 2021, 2:40 pm

^ Last year I bought a Samsung in PM and the code's starting letters and numbers (UN43TU) indicated it was a North American 2020 model.

I was surprised b/c I know ppl say they only carry Latam models. This model was sold on Amazon and B&H as well.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby Duane 3NE 2NR » November 26th, 2021, 8:43 pm

Ok so my sis-in-law bought the Hisense 50" Android TV from PriceSmart and I checked it out.
Picture quality is the biggest issue for me - looks faded and the blacks are not very black - there is a lot of light bleed.
I guess for TT$3900 can't really expect too much.
Otherwise it seems to be a solid TV with OK Google and the Play Store already preinstalled.
The interface is fast and responsive and switching between apps like Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc on the remote is also super quick.
The picture quality can be improved as there are quite a bit of granular controls for brightness, colour, sharpness etc. I had it on Auto.
One thing I noticed is that adjusting the picture does not happen in real-time, so you have to adjust and then go watch a video. The settings only seemed to affect playing video and not the interface. Not sure if I was doing something wrong as this was the first time using the TV.
6 or maybe 7/10

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby Kenjo » November 26th, 2021, 8:56 pm

Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:Ok so my sis-in-law bought the Hisense 50" Android TV from PriceSmart and I checked it out.
Picture quality is the biggest issue for me - looks faded and the blacks are not very black - there is a lot of light bleed.
I guess for TT$3900 can't really expect too much.
Otherwise it seems to be a solid TV with OK Google and the Play Store already preinstalled.
The interface is fast and responsive and switching between apps like Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc on the remote is also super quick.
The picture quality can be improved as there are quite a bit of granular controls for brightness, colour, sharpness etc. I had it on Auto.
One thing I noticed is that adjusting the picture does not happen in real-time, so you have to adjust and then go watch a video. The settings only seemed to affect playing video and not the interface. Not sure if I was doing something wrong as this was the first time using the TV.
6 or maybe 7/10

Lol this sounds like all my built in Alexa amazon tv. Bought about 5 in total between home and for my aunt and uncle . Luckily no one is a video aficionado so the alright quality works . One 32 inch insignia was pure sheit and died in a few months with a white screen but I had no time to bother with it and this last 55 inch from 2017 just died but that was a decent go for being on sale . So about $100US per year of quality I’ve gotten.
But picture quality is the main thing you have to accept if you want those TVs . Plan to get a ps5 next year if they are ever available and then I’ll see if high quality images really matter

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Buying TVs locally

Postby agent007 » November 30th, 2021, 8:56 pm

Alright guys, we are tv shopping again (oh joy). I particularly don’t care much for tv’s as of late because I just don’t have much time for it anymore and I don’t have “cable” since 2012 and never missed it.

That said, we do have a common entertainment room that is empty and thus filing it with a smart tv makes sense mostly for YouTube and those fitness videos etc.

I’ve practically visited every major retailer in this country (either online and in person), such as Pricesmart, Courts, Standards, American Stores, Furniture Plus, DetourTech, Circuit Zone and The Wizz etc and these are the following brands on shelves:

Vizio, Insignia, Kodak, Sony, JVC, Aiwa, Samsung, LG, TCL, Hisense, Skyworth, Mastertech, Viewmax, Magnum, Westinghouse and Maxsonic.

Absent were:
Sharp, Sanyo, Hitachi, Panasonic, Toshiba, RCA, Philips, Haier and Huawei

The following brands are what I am programmed to look at as a result of a tradition in quality:

Sharp, Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic, Hitachi, JVC, Toshiba and Philips, however, we all know that these brand name tv’s (like the entire brand slate) manufactures their tv’s in China. In fact, some even contracted Chinese factories to make the tv and then slap their brand name on it and then collect royalties on sales.

So it is in this regard, I ask my questions:

Is the brand snobbery worth it here so to speak?

Is this a similar scenario to AC units ie. All of them built in similar factories with minor differences but essentially utilizes the same supply chain of parts and materials under varying branding?

Remember the golden days of Sharp?..Are those days history?

Simply purchase the Hisense or Mastertech and save thousands upfront cause all of them disposable the same way?

What are your thoughts?

**edited**
Last edited by agent007 on November 30th, 2021, 8:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby widdyphuck » November 30th, 2021, 9:09 pm

agent007 wrote:Alright guys, we are tv shopping again (oh joy). I particularly don’t care much for tv’s as of late because I just don’t have much time for it anymore and I don’t have “cable” since 2012 and never missed it.

That said, we do have a common entertainment room that is empty and thus filing it with a smart tv makes sense mostly for YouTube and those fitness videos etc.

I’ve practically visited every major retailer in this country (either online and in person), such as Pricesmart, Courts, Standards, American Stores, Furniture Plus, DetourTech, Circuit Zone and The Wizz etc and these are the following brands on shelves:

Vizio, Insignia, Kodak, Sony, JVC, Aiwa, Samsung, LG, TCL, Hisense, Skyworth, Mastertech, Viewmax, Magnum, Westinghouse and Maxsonic.

Absent were:
Sharp, Hitachi, Panasonic, Toshiba, RCA, Philips, Haier and Huawei

The following brands are what I am programmed to look at:

Sharp, Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, JVC, Toshiba and Philips, however, we all know that these brand name tv’s (like the entire brand slate) manufactures their tv’s in China. In fact, some even contracted Chinese factories to make the tv and then slap their brand name on it.

So it is in this regard, I ask my questions:

Is the brand snobbery worth it here so to speak?

Remember the golden days of Sharp?..Are those days history?

Simply purchase the Hisense or Mastertech and save thousands upfront cause all of them disposable the same way?

What are your thoughts?
Your price range?

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby S_2NR » November 30th, 2021, 9:18 pm

Get a Samsung QLED or OLED with a good warranty.
Not pricesmart even though their prices are competitive. They are a headache to honor warranty.
Ive had good experiences with Courts and Furniture Plus. Standards is rip off.

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Buying TVs locally

Postby agent007 » November 30th, 2021, 9:34 pm

Sony, Samsung and LG are like the most expensive in the market right now. Real shotta brands lol…I would say my cut off is $9k and that’s pushing it. Preferably a 40” to 65” range would do me fine and I don’t care about 4K and all them fancy terminology.

My 6 criteria is:

1. Must be wall mountable (which most are)
2. Must be LED back-lit to reduce energy costs (which all are now anyway)
3. Must be smart (this is like standard stuff now)
4. Must have USB port (I think even the cheapest tv has this)
5. Must have TOSLINK port (well I only want this because of another item I have which may plug into it but small ting if it is absent)
6. Have have a remote control (lol)

Thus far the only one that is cheap and under a decent brand is JVC. I have a 19.5 year old JVC VCR that still works and I’ll never get rid of it as well as a 9 year old JVC headset that refuses to quit. Outlasted my stupendously expensive Beats Solo 2 which I threw away last year after 5 years ownership.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby shogun » November 30th, 2021, 9:45 pm

Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:Anyone bought that Hisense 4K 50" Android tv from Pricesmart?
It's currently $3900
Interested in getting a review from a local owner


Believe my moms recently got this. Not sure if it's the 50" either.

Just got a couple glimpses but the picture quality looked damn good, but know nothing about the brand. Was about to ask about the brand right here.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby carluva » November 30th, 2021, 10:24 pm

Agent

Your requirements are very easily met with many TVs.

I too will recommend Samsung and LG having personal experiences with each.

A QLED Samsung is a good buy.

You are not being a brand snob as this is a quality many, including myself have. This has come about due to our good life experiences with many top brands which are synonymous with quality and value for money 15-20+ years ago. It's almost engrained in our nature... Tyres - Michelin, Pirelli, Toyo, Goodyear, Dunlop for me. Appliances - GE, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Electrolux for me. AC units - Panasonic, Lennox, Carrier for me. Vehicles - Japanese for me. Full stop.



But I digress.

I would say if you are not that into TVs, don't spend unnecessarily. Consider the size of he room. If small, a 4k TV would be great. If a larger room the difference between 4K and HD is not discernible beyond certain viewing distances. So if you can get a large enough TV in HD (1080p) go for it and save some money. Not sure if you will as most large screens are 4k.

Speaking from experience as we have a 50" 4k in bedroom and a 55" QLED in the main TV room. The 50" will play 4k but at a viewing distance of about 12 feet, it looks like plain old 1080. But at a viewing distance of around 8 feet, that QLED Samsung shows 4k in all its glory and it is noticeable.

I say bite the bullet and buy a TV from Courts with their extended warranty. You'll get a high quality TV. For example a Samsung from Courts is backed by warranty and if anything fails under warranty Courts will deal with the issue with Samsung directly. Not sure if this is the case with Pricesmart.

JVC TVs are from Panama iirc. And they are not the quality of others or other JVC products. Will definitely avoid JVC for a main room.

I've heard good reviews of TCL TVs but then this is a brand you've snobbed. When I travelled to the US a couple years ago, our rental flat had a TCL and it did show quite good. I was impressed and iirc, that was a 1080 not 4k.

I think Samsung is worth it.

.
agent007 wrote:Sony, Samsung and LG are like the most expensive in the market right now. Real shotta brands lol…I would say my cut off is $9k and that’s pushing it. Preferably a 40” to 65” range would do me fine and I don’t care about 4K and all them fancy terminology.

My 6 criteria is:

1. Must be wall mountable (which most are)
2. Must be LED back-lit to reduce energy costs (which all are now anyway)
3. Must be smart (this is like standard stuff now)
4. Must have USB port (I think even the cheapest tv has this)
5. Must have TOSLINK port (well I only want this because of another item I have which may plug into it but small ting if it is absent)
6. Have have a remote control (lol)

Thus far the only one that is cheap and under a decent brand is JVC. I have a 19.5 year old JVC VCR that still works and I’ll never get rid of it as well as a 9 year old JVC headset that refuses to quit. Outlasted my stupendously expensive Beats Solo 2 which I threw away last year after 5 years ownership.
Last edited by carluva on November 30th, 2021, 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby shaneelal » November 30th, 2021, 10:33 pm

^ JVC now is that the Japanese made products from 10-20yrs ago.

The JVC TV brand was licensed to the Taiwan manufacturer AmTran until 2018, when that license was acquired by Shenzhen MTC, a Chinese TV company. The TVs are marketed here in the U.S. by JMC, a company based in Irvine, Calif. JVC is among the brands that sell smart TVs using the Roku TV platform.

https://www.consumerreports.org/tvs/tv- ... 006320983/

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby S_2NR » November 30th, 2021, 10:48 pm

agent007 wrote:Sony, Samsung and LG are like the most expensive in the market right now. Real shotta brands lol…I would say my cut off is $9k and that’s pushing it. Preferably a 40” to 65” range would do me fine and I don’t care about 4K and all them fancy terminology.

My 6 criteria is:

1. Must be wall mountable (which most are)
2. Must be LED back-lit to reduce energy costs (which all are now anyway)
3. Must be smart (this is like standard stuff now)
4. Must have USB port (I think even the cheapest tv has this)
5. Must have TOSLINK port (well I only want this because of another item I have which may plug into it but small ting if it is absent)
6. Have have a remote control (lol)

Thus far the only one that is cheap and under a decent brand is JVC. I have a 19.5 year old JVC VCR that still works and I’ll never get rid of it as well as a 9 year old JVC headset that refuses to quit. Outlasted my stupendously expensive Beats Solo 2 which I threw away last year after 5 years ownership.

You could get a rel good tv for under 9k.
I wouldn't put any real emphasis on a TV being "smart". The performance is sub par with the built in smart features and you'll have a much better experience with a dedicated streaming box like Apple tv 4k or fire stick 4k.

Since it doesn't seem like having the best of the best is important. Just grab an entry level Samsung 4k for 4-5k and done. 4k is the standard now. 1080p is old news. Anybody who says they can't see a difference need to check their eyes or the quality of their video source.

Get the model number before you buy and look up specs online to compare. Sometimes older models have more ports etc. Witnessed this personally with a 2019 vs 2020 Samsung I bought last yr.

I've yet to see a TV that doesn't have a USB or Optical so I think that's a non issue. Same with led back lit. Pretty standard with the "shotta brands".

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby Duane 3NE 2NR » November 30th, 2021, 10:55 pm

TOSLINK is old tech also.
The bitrate on TOSLINK is max 125 Mbit/s vs HDMI audio which is 4.9Gbps.
HDMI has the bandwidth to handle the new movie audio formats like Dolby DTS, Dolby Atmos etc that are available on online streaming services and bluray

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby carluva » November 30th, 2021, 10:56 pm

S_2NR

My eyes are perfect. There is a great difference in quality based on viewing distance. 4k is more suited for closer viewing as your eyes don't see the pixels as much as they would on a 1080 at the same viewing distance.

However, size and distance plays a huge part in image quality and that is a fact. Let me clarify my comment. The 50" shows 4k and looks good say about 5-6 feet away. But beyond that and at our normal viewing distance of about 12 feet, the 4k quality is lost and looks like our old 1080 TV.

If I look at the 55" from about 15 feet away, the quality is nowhere as good as the normal viewing distance of 6-8 feet.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby carluva » November 30th, 2021, 10:58 pm

But Duane, decoding through a TV and playing the new format audio through a TV speaker will never sound good or as good as through a dedicated HT setup. That is just a gimmick some of the TV manufacturers use to make a buyer feel their TV is best in class

.
Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:TOSLINK is old tech also.
The bitrate on TOSLINK is max 125 Mbit/s vs HDMI audio which is 4.9Gbps.
HDMI has the bandwidth to handle the new movie audio formats like Dolby DTS, Dolby Atmos etc that are available on online streaming services and bluray

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby S_2NR » November 30th, 2021, 11:03 pm

Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:TOSLINK is old tech also.
The bitrate on TOSLINK is max 125 Mbit/s vs HDMI audio which is 4.9Gbps.
HDMI has the bandwidth to handle the new movie audio formats like Dolby DTS, Dolby Atmos etc that are available on online streaming services and bluray

Agreed.
I prefer ARC and eARC for sound output. Better sound and allows for HDMI CEC.

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Re: Buying TVs locally

Postby Duane 3NE 2NR » November 30th, 2021, 11:55 pm

carluva wrote:But Duane, decoding through a TV and playing the new format audio through a TV speaker will never sound good or as good as through a dedicated HT setup. That is just a gimmick some of the TV manufacturers use to make a buyer feel their TV is best in class

.
Duane 3NE 2NR wrote:TOSLINK is old tech also.
The bitrate on TOSLINK is max 125 Mbit/s vs HDMI audio which is 4.9Gbps.
HDMI has the bandwidth to handle the new movie audio formats like Dolby DTS, Dolby Atmos etc that are available on online streaming services and bluray

No lets say you have a smart TV and connect it via HMDI to a sound bar - you will get your Dolby DTS and Atmos encoding streamed straight to the sound bar or surround system from the streaming app (Netflix, Disney+ HBOMAX etc) from the TV.

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