Transonic TVs - Quality problems??

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Transonic TVs - Quality problems??

Suchi

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#66749 22-Aug-2010 22:38

Hey everyone,

I am new to this forum - but I have this big problem. My sister's 21st is coming up soon and I want to give her a LCD TV for her room - but my budget is only $500. The only good LCD TV + DVD combo I found was the Transonic ones from the warehouse which is under my budget. Everything else is tooo expensive. But I have heard the quality of Transonic TV is not that great. I am very very confused.. PLEASE HELP... Can you please list any specific disadvantages problems of TRANSONIC TVs and any other LCD TVs that will be cheap but a better quality than TRANSONIC???

Thanks a lot.

Regards,

Suchi =(

1 | 2 | 3

28172 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#371289 22-Aug-2010 23:31

The quality of any of the bottom of the range tvs is not all that when you compare it to the best that are available.

In anycase I would strongly advise against getting a combo unit. DVD players are really cheap, and if you get the combo you will be stuck with a broken dvd player in your working tv in a couple of years time and have to spend $30-50 on a replacement player anyway.

DSE have had some tvs around $500, so do that and get someone else to get the dvd player and you are set, otherwise there was a tv at te warewhare for about 500 when I looked. Dont recall seeing a combo one that wasnt some stupidly small piece of crap tho.

Richard rich.ms

bfginger

1268 posts

Uber Geek

#371297 23-Aug-2010 00:52

I cannot tell you what kind of quality it is but I know the kind of minor brand electronics available at the Warehouse usually aren't going to be quite up there with Sony and Panasonic. The difference in quality probably won't be as noticable with smaller televisions.

The deal I can see on The Warehouse's website is $499 for a 21.6" TV with a DVD player built-in.

As you can buy a Full HD 23.6" Transonic LCD TV from The Warehouse for $349, the TV/DVD combo isn't a great deal. An HDMI DVD player costs less than $150.

DVDs are being rapidly superceded by Blu-rays so a DVD player is no longer a good purchase. You can buy a cheapy Blu-ray/DVD player for as low as $188 and a good brand one for $250.

The other issue is the tuner. The Warehouse website just says "tv tuner" so I presume these models only contain analogue tuners. An LCD television ought to have access to digital broadcasts if possible. The only TV under $500 I can find which has a Freeview|HD tuner built-in is a 22" model from Dick Smith for $397. If she's outside the Freeview|HD reception area or has MySkyHDI, this isn't so relevant. Of course, I'm assuming there's an aerial outlet in her room.

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#371311 23-Aug-2010 06:44

I brought a Transonic TV for our bedroom, the 23.6" one mentioned above. At the time I had a look on consumer and their latest poll put Transonic middle of the road for reliability.
As with any tech from any company you buy, it might still be working fine in 20 years or it might be dead after 2. Incidentally there was a big brand name that was below Transonic on the list.

I agree what a few others have said. Don't get the DVD built in. Get a TV and then just a cheap DVD player (they can be got for as little as $50). That way if it dies the TV is not potentially taken out as well.

Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

cgrew

860 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#371410 23-Aug-2010 11:05

Slighty off topic - but sometime ago I bought some Transonic AA batteries for my digital camera and without a word of lie, within 5 minutes with having the camera on it fully drained the batteries.

My answer Suchi, would be to keep away from Transonic. I'm not entirely sure what cheap factory in China makes Transonic, but I've heard some pretty shocking stories about there products. True fact

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#371422 23-Aug-2010 11:23

cgrew: [snip]
My answer Suchi, would be to keep away from Transonic. I'm not entirely sure what cheap factory in China makes Transonic, but I've heard some pretty shocking stories about there products. True fact

Can I just ask how "shocking stories about there products" is True fact? Now if you pointed at research results performed by a reliable source on failure rates of Transonic compared to other manufactures then yes I would accept that as "fact". Stories however are just that, stories. They could be true but as is often the case with stories they could just be BS too.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#371426 23-Aug-2010 11:30

cgrew: Slighty off topic - but sometime ago I bought some Transonic AA batteries for my digital camera and without a word of lie, within 5 minutes with having the camera on it fully drained the batteries.

Thats why everyone recommends NiMH or better batteries for cameras - theres not many non-rechargeables out there that last very long in digital cameras at all.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

cgrew

860 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#371439 23-Aug-2010 11:51

Nety:
cgrew: [snip]
My answer Suchi, would be to keep away from Transonic. I'm not entirely sure what cheap factory in China makes Transonic, but I've heard some pretty shocking stories about there products. True fact

Can I just ask how "shocking stories about there products" is True fact? Now if you pointed at research results performed by a reliable source on failure rates of Transonic compared to other manufactures then yes I would accept that as "fact". Stories however are just that, stories. They could be true but as is often the case with stories they could just be BS too.

I used to work at the Warehouse in the music department about 5 years ago and the failure rate for Transonic products was huge. An example for this; for every TV sold 1 in 3 would come back with some sort of malfunction. Going by the stores records on this particular brand and the numerous complaints I've heard just in general over the years, and also even more, the poor quality of Transonic has been talked about on such TV shows as fair go, I would classify this as a genuine factorial answer.

The Transonic batteries I bought for my digital camera Gavin, were suppose to be their 'elite long lasting' batteries, I bought them because they were cheap but still, I would of thought they would last abit longer then 5 minutes..?

Tradepub

Free professional, reference and technical white papers (affiliate link).

Nety

2584 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#371451 23-Aug-2010 12:10

Thank you. Listing your experience is much better response then "stories". I hope our TV is not one of the one in three that came back. So far it is OK. It is interesting that you as a ex-employee of the Warehouse have experianced very high returns when consumer have found it to be middle of the road for reliability. I guess maybe not many consumer readers buy TV's from the Warehouse maybe

It does have the most clunky method of changing inputs that I have come across but then that is a functional issue not a reliability issue.

Suchi

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#371455 23-Aug-2010 12:21

Thanks a lot for your replies everyone ! It has really helped me decide on a few things - especially that NOT to buy a TV with a DVD player built in. And yes, I checked the Dick-Smith Website - there are two 22" LCD TVs both with very similar features and prices..

1) KONKA 55cm (22") HD Ready LCD TV KL22CS62Q
2) Dick Smith 55cm (22") LCD High Definition TV

I am confused between these two now .... Has anyone has any experience with any of these brands before??

Thanks in advance....
Regards,

Suchi

cgrew

860 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#371457 23-Aug-2010 12:26

No worries - I guess it just comes down to my laziness really ;)

Yes good point but in saying over the years I would say that overall, Transonic has improved 'slighty' but that is pretty much expected with a budget brand.

And yes the input methods are just shocking for their TVs..

illicit

553 posts

Ultimate Geek

#371464 23-Aug-2010 12:38

I would recommend this Sharp TV @ $399 over the DSE ones

clevedon

1059 posts

Uber Geek

#371472 23-Aug-2010 12:51

Suchi: Thanks a lot for your replies everyone ! It has really helped me decide on a few things - especially that NOT to buy a TV with a DVD player built in. And yes, I checked the Dick-Smith Website - there are two 22" LCD TVs both with very similar features and prices..

1) KONKA 55cm (22") HD Ready LCD TV KL22CS62Q
2) Dick Smith 55cm (22") LCD High Definition TV

I am confused between these two now .... Has anyone has any experience with any of these brands before??

Thanks in advance....
Regards,

Suchi

Last Consumer Magazine reliabilty results of over 26,000 respondents published in the NZ Herald had DSE and Samsung lowest equal rated. Panasonic and Sony the best.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#371481 23-Aug-2010 13:27

Don't Harvey's have a big TV sale on today? Give 'em a call and see if they have the Sharp or any other suitable sets on sale?

Handsomedan

7285 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#371500 23-Aug-2010 14:27

JB HiFi have some good, cheap LCD's and little DVD players.

I have had a CRT TV/DVD combo in my bedroom for a few years...I have had a disc stuck in the dvd player for approx 12 months of those "few years"...

Can't get it out without paying a small fortune to have the whole thing dismantled by a technician (yes - I have removed as much of the body as I could without requiring an electrical engineers' degree and still couldn't get to the disc, which is buried at the back of the dvd unit).

I have now got a $30 DVD player from JB & it works as well as the in-built one did, without the worry of losing discs.

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

bfginger

1268 posts

Uber Geek

#371710 23-Aug-2010 17:59

Perhaps you could combine with someone else to buy a good brand 32" LCD with Freeview|HD built in plus a Blu-ray player for about $850 - $990?

1 | 2 | 3