Update on Insignia TV

[marine65]

I bought an Insignia 55" 4K TV on February 3 this year. Pretty good set, nice picture and cheap. I paid $429. About 2 weeks ago the external sound output to my sound bar stopped working. Long story short the part is back ordered to 12/31. According to Geek Squad at Best Buy if they cant fix a T.V. with in 30 days you get a new one. I took it back yesterday and got a Samsung 55" 4K for an upcharge of $210 I guess you do get what you pay for.

 

[StevieC]

I think you just got a dud is all. We have 2 insignias at our office that have run 8 hours a day for the last 3 years when they were installed and they are still working fine. That said I'm quite happy with our Samsung 55" 4K we have in the living room. It's about a year old now.

 

[yesthatsteve]

Insignia is re-branded from another manufacturer to Best Buy's specifications. Five or six years ago, I bought an Insignia plasma TV for the kids to game on - the PC's video card recognized the TV as a Samsung. As always, YMMV.

 

[JTK]

That is a bummer! I'm still rockin' a ~42" Dynex brand flat screen from 2007 or so, which is or was a Best Buy brand as well.

 

[Ethan1]

My 55" Samsung 4k lost its motherboard just outside a year. The repair was almost as much as a new one. I recommend an uninterruptible power supply or other power conditioning device to try to help with longevity.

 

[alarmguy]

To me, you just paid $210.00 to have your 9 month old non working TV replaced. I would have insisted on a free replacement but to each his own as you still have a 55 inch TV no matter how you look at it.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: alarmguy

To me, you just paid $210.00 to have your 9 month old non working TV replaced. I would have insisted on a free replacement but to each his own as you still have a 55 inch TV no matter how you look at it.

I'd assume that the OPer paid the upcharge because he wanted something he felt would be more reliable than the Insignia, but I guess that's for him to tell us if he so desires. Why not try asking for a $4000 TV for free to replace the $400 one? Because the seller has no obligation to do that and it would never happen.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Originally Posted By: yesthatsteve

Insignia is re-branded from another manufacturer to Best Buy's specifications. Five or six years ago, I bought an Insignia plasma TV for the kids to game on - the PC's video card recognized the TV as a Samsung. As always, YMMV.

Aside from "Store Brands" (Insignia, etc) there are also name brand TV models that are built the same way (Samsung, LG, etc). By "built the same way" I'm referring to the removal of features that consumers are less likely to notice are gone, at the buying decision point in-store. So, for example, the SONY sold at Costco may have the anti-glare coating on the screen removed, these models almost certainly have fewer HDMI inputs, that kind of thing. The similar, but full-featured models are sold at AV resellers (not Big Box store AV resellers) at a higher MSRP but with all the features included. Various versions of the seemingly identical TVs will have different model numbers, both the full and under-featured versions, and the slightly stripped down versions, sold at a number of resellers, will all have unique model numbers even though they are identical to each other. So the independent AV reseller's 40" Samsung 1080p and the Costco 40" Samsung 1080p will have a different part # (because they are actually different TVs); and those part #'s will be different than the Best Buy 40" Samsung 1080p and that will be different from the Wal-Mart 40" Samsung 1080p. This makes it impossible for consumers to take advantage of price match guarantees as the exact same model is required (which is impossible), and is deliberate. Note as well that the practice is not limited to TVs ... in fact it happens through-out the product catalog, from electronics to kitchen appliances. You need to be a very careful consumer these days.

 

[JustinH]

I have a sub $200 40 inch Insigna TV in my bedroom it has been fine. Great apartment Tv and moved it to the bedroom when we bought a house. Bought a changhong 50 inch LED TV for $300 a few black fridays ago and it has been fine as well. I don't see the point in high dollar TV's they are just something that will end up in the garbage in a few years anyways. I read that Changhong is one of the large brands in China, on par with LG. They just came to the US market a couple years ago. Amazon and Newegg sells them. Before I moved to Texas I gave my mom a 40 inch Olivia TV , now that thing is probably 10 years old and still kicking.

 

[dishdude]

If it makes OP feel better, I had a panel go bad in a Sony around the 9 month mark. They didn't even bother trying to repair it and just bought it back.

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad

Originally Posted By: yesthatsteve

Insignia is re-branded from another manufacturer to Best Buy's specifications. Five or six years ago, I bought an Insignia plasma TV for the kids to game on - the PC's video card recognized the TV as a Samsung. As always, YMMV.

Aside from "Store Brands" (Insignia, etc) there are also name brand TV models that are built the same way (Samsung, LG, etc). ...

Exactly, many people do not realize, most TVs in the lower prices ranges especially, are contracted out and built for companies like LG, Samsung, Sony etc. Samsung, Sony, LG etc do not make all their own lower priced TVs, their has been a significant shift to using contractors to build them. Its all about maintaining profits and market share in this low margin price range and being in the low price tiers for these companies keeps their name in the market place. So far, these companies still make their own TVs in their own factories on their higher end models. In the last few years, they have shifted significant production of their lower priced TVs to 3 party builders, so some of these no name brand TVs are actually made by HUGE 3 party Chinese owned TV manufacturers. I do agree though, it might be more comforting seeing a name brand slapped on the TV because that factory has to answer to the name brand but its no guarantee anymore. (BTW, well said on the second part of your post that I didnt quote) and to dishdude, MANY years ago I bought a large Sony TV, actually was my first, expensive, and only Sony TV I ever bought, every TV I owned lived a long life but the Sony, "color board" or blue driver or whatever, would burn out every 3 years, had it replaced once at 3 years old for over $400 then almost 3 years later it burned out again and I threw the thing away. This was in the day of the old rear projection TVs.

 

[marine65]

Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi

Originally Posted By: alarmguy

To me, you just paid $210.00 to have your 9 month old non working TV replaced. I would have insisted on a free replacement but to each his own as you still have a 55 inch TV no matter how you look at it.

I'd assume that the OPer paid the upcharge because he wanted something he felt would be more reliable than the Insignia, but I guess that's for him to tell us if he so desires. Why not try asking for a $4000 TV for free to replace the $400 one? Because the seller has no obligation to do that and it would never happen.

I could have gotten the same T.V. as a replacement. But buying the Samsung gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling. And it does have a better looking picture. Time will tell.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: marine65

Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi

Originally Posted By: alarmguy

To me, you just paid $210.00 to have your 9 month old non working TV replaced. I would have insisted on a free replacement but to each his own as you still have a 55 inch TV no matter how you look at it.

I'd assume that the OPer paid the upcharge because he wanted something he felt would be more reliable than the Insignia, but I guess that's for him to tell us if he so desires. Why not try asking for a $4000 TV for free to replace the $400 one? Because the seller has no obligation to do that and it would never happen.

I could have gotten the same T.V. as a replacement. But buying the Samsung gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling. And it does have a better looking picture. Time will tell.

FWIW, I have an older (non-4K) Samsung 3D 65" TV and it has been excellent. Gets regular firmware updates from Samsung as well.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL

FWIW, I have an older (non-4K) Samsung 3D 65" TV and it has been excellent. Gets regular firmware updates from Samsung as well.

What model year is it? Ours is a 2009 model, and I am not seeing any firmware updates issued for it, not that I think it needs any. We don't use any of its smart TV features anyway.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL

FWIW, I have an older (non-4K) Samsung 3D 65" TV and it has been excellent. Gets regular firmware updates from Samsung as well.

What model year is it? Ours is a 2009 model, and I am not seeing any firmware updates issued for it, not that I think it needs any. We don't use any of its smart TV features anyway.

The 3D glasses say "2012" on them, can't see the back of the TV well enough to check. Does it say "Up to date" when you go in and check?

 

[PandaBear]

My Polaroid died at around 1 year on the HDTV input. The company went out of business so nothing can be done about it. It was when they had the panel gouging and it was almost $1k, during the HDTV transition. That taught me not to spend big money to have an expectation, they usually don't materialize.

 

[alarmguy]

Originally Posted By: marine65

Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi

Originally Posted By: alarmguy

I would have insisted on a free replacement but to each his own as you still have a 55 inch TV no matter how you look at it.

...

I could have gotten the same T.V. as a replacement. But buying the Samsung gave me that warm and fuzzy feeling. And it does have a better looking picture. Time will tell.

Nothing wrong with that "warm fuzzy feeling" more so after a cheaper model failed. I doubt very much that we would purchase a non brand name for our main viewing TV either and always have for the main picked out a better then average spec TV.. The TVs in the others rooms are all pretty much no name to secondary name TV all have been reliable.

 

[Andrew1972]

I have not gone wrong sticking to Samsung, Sony, LG etc. The 2nd and 3rd tier brands don’t have a reputation to maintain nor customer service established. I have a $800 (yikes) 40” Sony mid tier Bravia HDTV with ton of ports Made in Mexico and flawless since 2010. I mail order from Sony direct at massive discount thru a corporate discount. In life I go for middle tier products or slightly older top tier(Apple) and things go well.

 

[RTexasF]

We have a 35" Insignia TV and it has the worst picture and sound of any TV I've ever seen including my parents 13" Philco from the 50's. I had to buy external speakers to even hear the POS across the room. It was under $200 and you do get what you pay for. In this case pure junk.