Have you bought a TV lately? Well, according to my old English teacher, you don't buy a TV, you buy a TV set. He's an English purist. It's always TV set to him, non-negotiable. So have you bought a TV set lately? Ha ha. Imagine walking into a Harvey Norman or Best Denki and telling the Sabahan in uniform that "I'm looking for a TV set." He'd immediately whip out a set of three latest Samsungs (32, 40 and 50 inches) and offer you a basement price for the set of three if you buy today (tomorrow different price, he'd warn you). Don't blame him. He's a TV salesman, not an English purist. Now that we have TV in LED, HD and 3D, you can be more specific and helpful by asking for a HD3DLEDTV set. He'd gladly show you another set of four or six.I was out looking for a flatscreen last week and had a brain seizure. Problem is, I'm retired, and time is firmly on my side. I've all the time and space for about anything. So whenever I decide to splurge, it's a major project. I'd search, research, analyse, paralyse, compare, run a DCF, anything to make myself half-clear. There's no democracy deeper than consumer electronics in this country. You'll enjoy the unfettered freedom of choice and expression. There's even a 'TV strip' in Taipan USJ, a row of five fiercely competing outlets with bright lights and loud music, all pitching Samsung. Even with plenty of restraint that came with the holy month, I still managed to prepare myself by learning a litany of audio-visual standards and specifications, dummies-level solid state engineering, Japanese branding strategies and Korean ancient history. As a bonus, I picked up a smattering of show-off parlance like ghosting, passive glasses and crosstalk. Call me if you're interested.
If you want to buy a flatscreen today, and budget isn't an issue, you'd have exactly 420 choices. But since budget is always a constraint (I'm retired, remember), I can cut through the chaos and winnow my options down to roughly 210. Fewer but still frightening. Even with a paltry budget of Rm 2000, you can already choose among four sizes, five technologies (plasma, LCD, LED, 3D, 2D), ten brands and two brains (Smart and less-than-Smart). The dynamics will double instantly if the salesman throws in the clever purchase-with-purchase ploys. A word of caution: if you fall for a PWP, you'll be lugging home a Smart flatscreen and a dumber blender. There's an upside though. You can restart your love life by showing your wife the blender and tell her softly that all along you've been thinking about her, and the flatscreen actually comes with the blender. Buying a new HDTV can be as complicated as buying a recond MPV.
But I did make my decision finally. How? I ruled out Sony. Sony is Samsung in disguise. I'm ready for lawsuits, but just trust me. I always have this nagging suspicion that most Japanese brands are just that: brands. It's all marketing and image and perception that, sadly, leads to higher price. TV technology has reached a point where one brand is intrinsically no worse than another. But it's OK to be more vigilant with unimaginative names like Toba or Tony because they could well be products genuinely made in Balakong or nearby Universiti Putra Malaysia. Stay clear. How about 3D? Out of question for now. My two girls and me putting on those monstrous, battery-hungry goggles to watch Pirates of the Carribean? We'd look like pirates ourselves in no time. With Sony and 3D out of the way, I was down to 40 or so options. It's easier now. No, I won't say flat out here which brand or model I bought. This is a carbon-free and commercial-free blog. Ah, watching Kun Aguero in HD, life's so good.
