To be fair, if people want a low-end model, Vizio and TCL actually do have better offerings than the reputable brands like Sony/LG. The Sony X80J (their entry-level model) isn't comparatively good when you look at it in person. It's only when you go after their high-end that Sony puts considerable effort into their product. But most casuals will see Sony's OLED TV costing 3X as much and walk away. People only care if it's "good enough" and if it's large. Hey, that sounds like the casuals looking for headphones, too! If it's cheap and produces good bass, that's good enough for the casuals!
I’m not sure I agree. I mean, Vizio and TCL offer more features and better specs at those price points, but that’s sort of my point. Their specs are deceptive because the TVs are built like crap.
I haven’t been in the entry-level market, so I can’t comment on that, but I did shop for and buy a mid-range TV a couple years ago. I remember seeing the rave reviews from sites like RTings about the Vizio P-Series. It had nice picture quality, far more local dimming zones than an equivalently priced Sony, tons of features and I/O ports, high contrast ratios, deep blacks, a good white balance, and so on. I bought the TV and it turned out to be a piece of junk.
It had flickering problems, ‘jailbar’ effects and other artifacts, uneven backlighting, horrifically slow software, the built-in speakers were virtually unlistenable (even by TV standards), the build quality felt cheap, and there were even some defective HDMI outputs.
At first I chalked that up to bad luck. Every manufacturer has duds. That’s part of the game when you’re in the business of building complex tech products. But the more research I did, the more I realized that these problems were incredibly common. This was not just bad luck and this was not just a vocal minority - this was a product that was genuinely built like crap. I even spoke to various store clerks who quietly said that Vizio TVs had astronomically high return rates compared to the big brands.
That’s why the TVs are able to be so cheap. The reason they’re able to offer high end features and technologies at mid to low end prices is because they cut every corner to get there. Offering hundreds of FALD (full-array local dimming) zones seems impressive until you see that the backlight flickers like crazy and constantly creates all sorts of awful looking results, no matter how much you try to adjust the settings and software.
That’s my point here. If you’re on a medium to low budget, you can absolutely get a Vizio or TCL with better picture quality than a Sony or LG or Samsung at the same price point. But when you actually take home that Vizio or TCL, you’ll start to encounter its many problems, and chances are that you’ll end up being a lot less happy with it than you would have been with an equivalent Sony that perhaps isn’t as bright or doesn’t offer as deep blacks. When buying a brand like Vizio, you think you’re cheating the system. The thought process is “I would have had to spend hundreds more to get these specs on a Sony!” but in reality, it’s a mirage. You’re not cheating the system; you’re just trading away overall product quality so that you can get slightly better metrics and specs.
Specs are important but quality-of-life factors are more important, and those aren’t given nearly enough emphasis by review sites like RTings.
