Mar 10, 2006 7:37 pm US/Eastern
Consumer Reports Tests Discount LCD TVs
by Sara Underwood
(CBS4)
Consumer Reports latest tests on LCD TV's include lots of low-priced sets from names you've probably never heard of, like Kreisen, Insignia, Viewsonic, Vizio, Olevia, Ben-Q and Maxtent.
Warehouse stores like Costco and Sam's Club sell them, as well as Target and Best Buy and other big retailers.
Most of these 30 to 32 inch sets cost less than 13 hundred dollars. But often the picture is not the best.
Charlie Davidman uses this test pattern to see whether a TV can pick up subtle variations in white and black.
"On a good set you can differentiate the individual bars, whereas on a poorer set, the individual bars tend to merge together in the bright areas," he said.
And assessments of picture quality show some of the LCD'S, including this Kreisen don't do well with high definition programs. You can't spot individual faces in this crowd.
But, not all the low priced LCD's have problems. This 32 inch Maxent for 11 hundred dollars is quite good.
"In the crowd you can see the fine detail. You can actually pick out people, and you'll recognize someone if they were your friend," said Davidman.
It's the Maxtent MX32X3.
If you'd rather buy a more familiar brand, you should expect to pay more.
Consumer Reports top rated this Sharp 32 inch set. It's model number lC-32DA5U. It costs 16 hundred dollars.
Consumer Reports doesn't have any reliability data yet on the new brands, because they are so new. But the first reliability information available on established brands show they are quite reliable in their first year.
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