TV Purchase in Hua Hin

[margaretcarnes]

I haven't been impressed at all with True Visions (UBC), we have the Gold+ package @ about 1,800 baht per month and I only really watch it for an hour or two in the evenings. Reasons are as follows:

1) Repeats: you're actually paying for about 25% of what you're getting as everything is run four times a month.

2) Censorship: movie channels are heavily censored even late at night so don't bother with anything remotely violent ... or with people smoking ... or with any product advertising ... or nudity.

3) Channel selection: as mentioned above you still have to pay extra for a lot of channels even with the top packages.

4) Sports: not being able to watch the world cup was a disappointment (well you could if you paid them another chunk and bought another black box). Premiership football, golf, tennis and F1 coverage is pretty good though.

5) Content: movies are all at least 2 years old (they were playing Die Hard 2 the other day), documentaries even older, not sure about the TV series as I don't watch them. News only really consists of BBC and CNN (unless you speak Chinese) which is lame to say the least.

6) Repeats: I'm repeating myself here but after watching the same episode of "5th Gear" a good 12 times you get the picture!

Maybe there are better alternatives for satellite TV nowadays, True Visions is really only for ardent sports fans IMO.

That is a bit pricey for what you describe Buksi - but the 'repeat rate' is nothing like as bad as we have here in my UK region on terrestrial TV.
I won't get satellite though as it's not worth it for me personally - the only advantage would seem to be better sports coverage really. But with the TV licence at almost £150 a year now, we have about 50 channels released on terrestrial - many of which are garbage. Unless of course you are into QVC shopping, jewellery shopping, Create and Craft, poker/bingo, or the date things.
Al Jazeera has just been added to the package - but - like CNN and Beeb World - isn't broadcast 24/7.
On other channels such as ITV3 and Dave it is constant - and I mean constant - repeats. Not just 3 or 4 times a month. More like 5 or 6 times a week or more. Which is fine for people who love Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, and Upstairs Downstairs. Actually the list goes on - repeats of Frost, Taggart, Cracker, even On The Buses for gawds sake!
Movies are almost always old as well, with treats like The Railway Children and Babe cropping up regularly.
So it seems this programming quality could be a world wide problem. We are offered more channels - with very little new content. Sometimes I'd rather go back to the days of 5 channels which can afford to produce more variety. Quantity doesn't equal quality IMO.

[T.I.G.R.]

I agree that UBC sucks in many ways........HOWEVER, no matter what we're getting it's 100% more than I thought I would get when we moved here four years ago, so keep that in mind. I get a million more times the shows I thought I would get, and Pro Football and the Golf Channel to boot! So even though their service and interface are the worst in history probably it isn't all bad when you look at what we could be getting......or not getting.

As regard to one of the earlier posts about Samsung, I've had nothing but good quality and service on my three Samsung I've had for 3 or 4 years each (46", 40" and 30")....also we had a Samsung DVD recorder go bad and they actually reimbursed us for about 1/2 the cost......as opposed to Phillips where I bought a really crappy DVR for nearly a thousand dollars, and they gave me zip when I took it in broken after very limited use......in fact, DVD players here tend to last about five minutes.....I've had four go bad on me. Bought a nice little LG though about six months ago and it's one of the best we've had.......................

[STEVE G]

I agree that UBC sucks in many ways........HOWEVER, no matter what we're getting it's 100% more than I thought I would get when we moved here four years ago, so keep that in mind. I get a million more times the shows I thought I would get, and Pro Football and the Golf Channel to boot! So even though their service and interface are the worst in history probably it isn't all bad when you look at what we could be getting......or not getting.

Yes, I'm staying in a hotel in Luxembourg with 36 TV channels, the only one of which I understand is CNN, the rest are in Luxembourgish, German, French, Dutch and Portugese!

[hhfarang]

As regard to one of the earlier posts about Samsung, I've had nothing but good quality and service on my three Samsung I've had for 3 or 4 years each (46", 40" and 30")....also we had a Samsung DVD recorder go bad and they actually reimbursed us for about 1/2 the cost

I bought three TVs when I moved into my house, a Samsung 61" (150,000 baht), a Samsung 36" (33,000 baht), and a Sony (smaller 17 or 21") that came free with another purchase of more expensive appliances.

Both Samsungs have failed many times and I have repaired the larger one myself because of the cost of repair. Now, both have failed again and they (Samsung service) say they cannot fix the 36" one and have had the 61" one for over a month and still have not returned it. I am reduced to watching the small Sony one that still has a perfect picture after 6 years. As I said before, google "Samsung TV problems". I will never buy anything from that company again. Both the products and the service sucks!

[T.I.G.R.]

Ouch! That really is nasty............sorry to hear you've had such a bad time.

[MURF]

Forget Lg,having bought many for a bar had nothing but trouble,25k for the tv 17k to repair it 3 months later,the best brand tv i've bought here is samsung worked in ship bar all day 6 years and my bedroom the last 4 years,never been sick.Of the flat screens phillips-I bought an ex-demo from tesco 4 years ago for 45,000,it is still the main tv with the best picture of 8 in the bar,it has never been sick also.

[caller]

I will never buy anything from that company again. Both the products and the service sucks!

Odd, isn't it? Here in the UK I buy Samsung by choice - phone, TV et al, all are excellent and reliable. Maybe its the differing markets they are catering for (and before all the smart-asses kick in, this was before they sponsored God's only football team)!

Do they make cars yet?

[Big Boy]

Is it the product that is different, or the quality of the after sales service? From what I'm reading, it is the latter.

[margaretcarnes]

Forget Lg,having bought many for a bar had nothing but trouble,25k for the tv 17k to repair it 3 months later,the best brand tv i've bought here is samsung worked in ship bar all day 6 years and my bedroom the last 4 years,never been sick.Of the flat screens phillips-I bought an ex-demo from tesco 4 years ago for 45,000,it is still the main tv with the best picture of 8 in the bar,it has never been sick also.

A flat screen Phillips for 45,000? Ouch! That really is expensive. I bought a 28 inch FS/HD and digital ready Sharp in the UK 3 years ago at about £400. Still going strong touch wood, and so they should really. Your ex-demo Phillips must be a much bigger screen.
But there shouldn't be much difference in quality between any of the brands these days. (I was warned against Wharfedale by my dealer, as they are now being manufactured under licence by another company and aren't considered to be the same quality as before.) But apart from that - why all the apparent problems with sets in LOS?
Poor after sales service is one thing - but new TVs shouldn't be NEEDING after sales service in such apparent volumes in the first place. Are we back to the same old same old issue of dodgy electricity supply?

[stgrhe]

But there shouldn't be much difference in quality between any of the brands these days.

The difference in technology used is actually quite large, which to some degree explains the difference in prices between models that at first appear to be identical.

If you take the Panasonic plasma TVs as an example, the best brand there is for plasmas, the prices here in Thailand varies for 50" from 30,990 (C-series) to 69,990 baht (V-series) not counting the special Z-series model that sells for 184,990 and that is virtually a computer too.

The V-series uses the patented Pioneer technology which is by far superior to any other used by any brand on the market. When Pioneer pulled out of the TV market two years ago Panasonic acquired the license to use this technology.

If anyone is interested to know more about the Panasonic V-series there are some technical information here: http://panasonic.net/avc/viera/asia2010 ... _spec.html

Also in the various LED/LCD TV models there are difference explaining the price differences.

[Big Boy]

Poor after sales service is one thing - but new TVs shouldn't be NEEDING after sales service in such apparent volumes in the first place. Are we back to the same old same old issue of dodgy electricity supply?

As always, what we are hearing about are the few TVs that go faulty early on. people rarely report the hundreds of sets that have been purchased with no problems whatsoever. Good news never makes such impessive reading.

I'm not so sure about the electricity supply. I accept that some sets may have been affected in this way, but how have some of the 'long term' sets avoided the electrical surges for so long?

[stgrhe]

As always, what we are hearing about are the few TVs that go faulty early on. people rarely report the hundreds of sets that have been purchased with no problems whatsoever.

This is just the nature of electronics components. The poor ones that pass the initial tests usually fail during the first year under the burn-in time. Once that period is passed electronics components are extremely reliable and seldom fail, hence the need for a one year warranty.

The most critical components over time are electrolytic capacitors that tend to try of if too hot.

The golden rule with electronics, if it works, don't mess with it because you are likely to cause a fault somewhere.

[chopsticks]

As always, what we are hearing about are the few TVs that go faulty early on. people rarely report the hundreds of sets that have been purchased with no problems whatsoever.

This is just the nature of electronics components. The poor ones that pass the initial tests usually fail during the first year under the burn-in time. Once that period is passed electronics components are extremely reliable and seldom fail, hence the need for a one year warranty.

The most critical components over time are electrolytic capacitors that tend to try of if too hot.

The golden rule with electronics, if it works, don't mess with it because you are likely to cause a fault somewhere.

It's correct that dodgy electrolytic caps are responsible for many failures (especially in the switch mode power supplies used commonly) in consumer electronics these days.
If you have the time/skill/patience could be worthwhile swapping them out if the appliance starts doing strange things or is completely dead.

[charlesh]

Dry solder joints and dust could also be an issue. Can't rule out the AC cycling either!
Pity about the Samsung I have 1 in Oz (flatscreen) - never missed a beat in 4 years and great picture too. Reviews suggest that Sony Bravia and Samsung are in LCD category of their own - but who writes the reviews?

[brianks]

Whats the story on the Dream Box that has been mentioned as a replacement for UBC and has same channels for less than 400 baht/month? Sounds quite interesting to me as quite a savings.