What should you look for when buying a flat screen TV?

What To Look For

I'm not trying to be flippant, but you need to look for the best extended warranty service plan you can get for the money. WHY? Today's televisions are very expensive to repair and depending on what television you purchase, individual replacement parts can easily run into the thousand dollar range, plus the service call. (Trust me on this, I'm an experienced TV technician.)

Other than that, find out as much as you can on the internet about your TV. I'm not talking about the manufacturer's website or store sites, because they'll all say their products are the best. Look for blogs and discussion forums where you'll hear the real stories from real people who own the TV you're considering.

Best way to do that is use Google as your search engine, and then in parenthesis, just type the brand name of the TV you're interested in. After that, choose the forum that looks promising.

One thing we all know is that people will most certainly complain about something before they'll praise it, but it will give you an idea of the problams and expenses involved.

As a technician, I personally don't think much of today's TV's, and when my little 27" hitachi bites the dust (14 yrs old and still goin' strong) I'm really going to be hard pressed finding anything I feel I can trust to last more than three years or so. (How's that for an honest answer?)

First answer by Cubby. Last edit by Cubby. Contributor trust: 330 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 12 [recommend question]