Aside from
Panasonic, other brands with low repair rates include Sony,
Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba and JVC in LCDs. For plasma sets,
Panasonic, Pioneer and Samsung also had low repair rates.
Panasonic's 50-inch TH-50PZ700U, plasma model, recently named
Consumer Reports' best flat-panel TV ever tested (see
story), had the lowest repair rate at 2%.
Consumer Reports found little difference between the average
repair rate for LCD and plasma TVs - overall, they both had a 3
percent repair rate. Among LCDs, Dell (which recently stopped
selling its own brand of TVs) and Hitachi were among the less
reliable brands, as were Philips plasma TVs. Aside from
Panasonic, other brands with low repair rates include Sony,
Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba and JVC in LCDs. For plasma sets,
Panasonic, Pioneer and Samsung also had low repair rates.
Repairs averaged $264 on LCD sets and $395 on plasma.
Consumer Reports frequency-of-repair charts cover microdisplay
sets using DLP and LCD rear-projection technologies. Toshiba and
RCA DLP sets stood out as the most repair-prone. Hitachi
LCD-based sets were more repair-prone than Sony and Panasonic
sets of this type.
About one-quarter of repairs involved replacing the bulb, an
issue unique to rear-projection TVs. Many bulb failures occurred
early in a set's life and appeared to have been covered by a
standard warranty. Respondents who paid for any repairs out of
pocket spent $300 on average.
On average, flat-panel sets
are much more reliable than rear-projection sets with
their average 18% repair rate.
