New market survey on Plasma TV to help consumers choose
The Consumer Council has completed a new market survey of Plasma TV sets covering 41 models varying in screen size from 32" to 63" and in price from $25,000 to $168,000.
The survey, the second in this year, provides consumers with a comprehensive overview of the market for Plasma TV sets to assist them in their selection. Points of special interest include:
For models with screen size of 37" or below, all have either built-in tuner or include an external tuner as a standard accessory.
For some models of 42" or above, consumers may need either to buy an external tuner or make use of the tuner in a video cassette recorder to view TV broadcast.
Besides the high initial purchase price, consumers will do well to also take into account the annual subscription fees of maintenance schemes which cost several thousand dollars.
If they opt not to subscribe to any maintenance scheme, they should be prepared to fork out considerable expenses for inspection, repairs, parts and transportation (if the set needs to be returned to the maintenance centre).
High maintenance cost of Plasma TV is a major source of consumer dissatisfaction as indicated in the complaints the Consumer Council received on this product - 17 cases last year and 14 cases up to September this year. Besides maintenance cost, other causes include frequent breakdown and faulty pixels (pixels which do not light or constantly light).
Home theatre speakers - Also of interest in this issue of CHOICE is a test report on home theatre speakers and a survey on AV (audio visual) receivers.
On home theatre speakers, a test was conducted on 14 sets, priced from $1,680 to $7,580, to assess their performance and ease of use. Each set contains 6 speakers: 2 frontal, 1 centre, 2 surround speakers and a subwoofer.
The performance was assessed largely by panelists in the listening test. Overall, some samples were judged to be better than others in providing satisfactory surround sound as in a theatre; but all were able to perform well for easy listening such as background music.
On AV receivers, the survey covered 24 models priced under $5,000. As AV receivers are the hubs for all home theatre devices, consumers should make sure that all devices - MD player, VCR, video game console, etc. - could be connected to the receivers. And try listening to the sound of the receivers at the shop.