The left part of the screen of my parent’s Samsung TV have seriously blackened recently, so they are thinking of buying a new TV. We probably bought this like 6 years ago maybe, but I absolutely do NOT want to buy a Samsung again (6 years is just planned obsolescence reliability + their OS didn’t let me remove the bloatware in any way or shape of form)
Which brand has been the most reliable for you, and also have you been able to remove the bloatware from your TV via dev mode or with a different method?
When it comes to electronics, reliability is determined by the quality of the electrolytic capacitors used as they are typically the first to fail in an electronic circuit. There are other considerations of course, but in general the better the capacitor used in construction the longer the item will last.
Electronics that have cheap capacitors will have about a 10 year life. Those that use higher end capacitors will last 30 years or more. I have two McIntosh amplifiers that were built in 1992 and are still working great on the original caps. They have McIntosh branded capacitors and are top tier, although I don’t now who specifically makes them for McIntosh. I also have 2 Carver amps from about the same era and I’ve had to recap them already. Carver has great sound, but lousy build quality. Also have a Marantz receiver that was built in 2000 with Marantz branded caps that came to me with a dead amplifier, which just turned out to be a dry solder joint on a PC board. Two hours of resoldering several PCBs in it and it’s working very well.
HERE is a good list of top tier capacitor manufacturers, just scroll down a bit to find it of top tier capacitor manufacturers. You’ll have to do some research to find out what TV manufacturer is using what capacitor in their designs.
With that said, there is one listed there that also makes televisions and they, fortunately, have come back to the US market. That is Panasonic. I have a Panasonic Plasma that I bought in 2010 and it is still going strong. It is still my family’s main television. It got hit by lightning in 2012 and I had to replace the power supply and main board in it, which was not the TV’s fault. It has all Panasonic capacitors in it.
I also have a Panasonic Microwave, and cordless phone. Both of which have far far outlived their predecessors. The cordless phone will be 20 years old next April and the microwave is coming up on 13 years.
I will not say that Panasonic has the best picture, best sound, or uses unicorn farts to make the best what ever… Honestly, I don’t give a damn about any of that. What I will say that in my experience if you want an electronic device that lasts a long time, buy a Panasonic.