curls

Has anyone seen any published stats on the failure rates of major electronics (specifically, plasma tv's) in relation to time?

I'm debating the extended warranty for $124 CAD on my plasma. The first year will be through the manufacturer anyhow, and years 2 and 3 would be what the $124 is covering. I'd like to know if electronics truly follow the "bathtub curve", where failure is high at the start (1st year or less), very very low from year 2 - ???, and then high again at the expected failure time (say 100,000 hours or whatever).

Thanks.
Eric

SiGGy

I haven't seen any...

Can you post some stats? Or a link to anything you have found?

It wouldn't surprise me that plasmas have high failure rates on the low end models. I'd just like to look at some numbers and see if I can make any additional sense out of them.

I know in most cases it's almost cheaper to get a new low end plasma than fix a busted power supply on a broken low end model.

Also make sure your stats include time to 50% light output from full brightness. A lot of the "specifications" they show are total BS. Like for example some TVs claim to be able to last 100k hours. But they leave out the part where the screen must be set at 20-30% brightness to achieve those numbers. Not a setting anyone would use in the real world.

SiGGy

So I spent a small amount of time during my lunch break ...

What's fascinating is some of the numbers I came up with...

I found a lot of folks who complained their plasmas looks washed out or faded after about 3 years of use... And even the charts I found showed that if you use your plasma for 8 hours a day it'll only last 3-4 years.

LG is in a lawsuit for a predicted 95% failure rate after 4 years on their plasmas. Not sure on the specifics for that data.

I would spend the extra and get a Pioneer or a Samsung plasma. With any product you roll the dice; but the odds of hitting on the Pioneer/Samsung seem to be much lower.

bz268

One of my friends fixes TV for living. He told me that flat panel TV last for 2-3 years only. He has packs and packs of broken flat panel TVs in his house. They cost too much to fix. People just left/dump the TVs over there in his house.

So... get the warranty in all cost!

yunginTL

i've seen more samsung plasmas come back from being repaired than any other plasma at work...pioneer and panasonic on the other hand seem to be the most reliable as far as plasmas go at the consumer level

curls

I have a Panasonic en-route... I was told by the good folks at avsforums.com that they are among the best in terms of reliability.

But I think I've found an even better deal on a Mack warranty. $109 CAD. For that price it's almost a no-brainer completely.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Sammy plasma here. About a year and a half old.. no problems, color still seems as vivid as day one. One thing to keep in mind is to turn the contrast down. If you have it too high the picture will start fade quicker....

SiGGy

Huh, ya there wasn't anyone really complaining about the Samsungs that I saw. It would be nice if manufacturers posted data like this. But it'll never happen as it could hurt sales...

Doom878

I'm reading this and the other day I'm reading how plasmas are superior to LCD's. Then I'm reading how DLP's are the best.

stogie1020

FYI - If you purchase an item with an AMEX card, AMEX doubles the manufacturer's warranty up to one year.


https://www124.americanexpress.com/c...tBenefitDetail

curls

Yeah my MBNA Platinum mastercard has that too (most platinum cards do). But, since my TV was purchased in the USA and the warranty isn't valid in Canada where I live and where my mastercard is based, there is no warranty to double.

I've decided to get a $109 Mack warranty which covers me for 3 years for everything (and then some) that the manufacturers' warranty would have. Cheapest price I found, and definitely a great bit of piece of mind.

yunginTL

anyone actually have to use that? What is the actual process involved? do you ship the tv or what?