Technology snob vrs. Taiwan brand and similar electronics

Life Technology
1

Everytime I am shopping around for a Flat panel Monitor, TV Set, mp3 player, etc.
The dealer pushes me towards brands that I never heard of ( Mostly Taiwan brands Chimeia?? BenQ, some others)
the price seems very affordable compared to the well known brands.

But I never bite, I stick with the names I am familiar with.

Educate me, please:
If you were to put these less known brands on a tier of awesome to total shitstain what local brands would they be?
Local as in asian market not actively advertised/pushed in the West.

For ex. I came across a really beautiful 34" flat HD 1080p TV by BENQ. Based on the simple regular tv channel was being played. Almost bought it on the spot. Shopped around saw the same one, dealer puts a DVD in to show off the HD… and it looked like seasick, delayed, pixel dancing turdfest. Glad I didn’t buy.

2

I’ll take this opportunity to sing the praise of LG. I have a large 50" LCD type (I think it is anyway) bought 2 1/2 years back, and last week wouldn’t turn on, or only for a couple of seconds and would switch off. After googling, seems this is not such an uncommon problem, so called up LG expecting our warranty had expired, but no apparently its 3 years.

Guys came round the next day with a replacement power board, opened it up and replaced the faulty board and put it back together in about 10 minutes and is working perfectly. Terrific service, I wonder if any Taiwanese brands offer 3 year warranty and absolutely no hassle servicing?
3

I have a Benq laptop, still going after 6 years. Have had a couple of issues due to age but service center was top notch and engineer fixed everything pretty quickly. Benq specialise in monitors and projectors for many years, they would be a good bet as far as local brands go.

Heran would be fairly dodgy, I have a Heran and don’t have cause to complain so far but it is a completely localised product, its cheap though.

Chimei produce the screens themselves and from what I have observed would be a step above Heran. I would rate Chimei at the top as local TV makers go.

Taiwanese brand laptops like Acer and Asus are pretty good in general, sometimes have bloatware on them that’s all.

Never buy a Taiwanese brand air conditioner or refrigerator or something that you want to be using 5-10 years from now. Go with the Japanese brands, the locals do!

4

Did you ask him to try another DVD player?
The problem may not be in the display device, but rather the reading/rendering device.

I’d also agree about LG, but a half dozen of the other major producers offer door to door service as well.

5

purchased a Benq VH3243 after a limited demo at a used furniture store for $5800NT,
really cannot complain it has all the features I want.

Found this on the internet:

since I rent :wink: movies playing them from my laptop was easy hookup. No cable bill for now. I was hoping I would be able to capture HD transmissions floating around for free ( was able to do this in the US - 7 free channels, weather reports.) , but so far all I get is static.

6

I bought a Ranso LCD TV about three years ago, and it’s been fine. Ranso is made by Heran - it’s their bottom-end line. I don’t know why they created a new division for marketing cheap TVs, but they did. When I bought it, I asked the sales people what the difference was, and they said it had some to do with the specs. Comparing the two side-by-side, I could barely make out a discernible difference in the colors, but not enough difference to persuade me it was worth paying 50% more for the Heran label.

I own two laptop computers, both made by ASUS. My router is also ASUS. No complaints about quality so far.

My refrigerator is Panasonic, much quieter than the Taiwanese fridge it replaced.

I have bad things to say about the Tatung oven we bought. Falling apart fast - repaired twice in the first year and currently very noisy (like a lawnmower!). But the previous Taiwanese oven we owned, Supentown, was excellent - lasted 15 years without a hick-up. In fact, still works, but we retired it because it was getting rusty. We may junk the Tatung and get another Supentown.

cheers,
DB

7

I really like ASUS. Their design has improved a lot.
MSI is a disgrace. Terrible products, horrid service. I took my laptop in and had the internet card replaced four times in several months, but I gave up and bought an ASUS. I had to fight tooth and nail with MSI for them to even find my laptop when I took it in the third time.

We have Tatung products that are a generation old (steamer, water machine from when my MIL was young) and still working well, but the newer versions have been a disappointment. When I took our coffee machine in to be repaired for the second time, the sales rep told me that Tatung now outsources a lot of production so it’s not really a Tatung product, it just has the Tatung sticker on it.

8

I think I prefer the major brands when it comes to quality. All except my Taitung (this board is changing the spelling of my ricemaker’s brand name) Ricemaker. It’s been running for over ten years. My inlaws has been running for more than fifteen. My Taitung and even local Panasonic TV’s seem start malfunctioning after four or five years.

When it comes to DVD players you should go with the lesser brand name. They are “unlocked” and play DVD’s from all over the world. Also, go with a lesser brand name video recorder. Why?
They will ignore the “broadcast” flag and Macrovision flag that just basically politely asks your recorder not to record the show. There is nothing there to actually distort or make the signal unrecordable.
The equipment won’t last long but it will work well for a year or two.

9

Sales Staff (3C) play with local Incentives to promote TW brands. I had a Teco, Chimei, B&Q, Westinghouse TV (4 in 5 years and were crap)

Now, after doing extensive research on plenty of global sites decided to go for LG LED TV. Best ever. Plays well on TV - HD - 3D - DVD and you don’t have to turn contrast higher than 50% having a splendid image. Go LG. CNet Asia can guide you in their accurate testing reviews.

10

[quote=“downtownandrew”

since I rent :wink: movies playing them from my laptop was easy hookup. No cable bill for now. I was hoping I would be able to capture HD transmissions floating around for free ( was able to do this in the US - 7 free channels, weather reports.) , but so far all I get is static.[/quote]

You are only getting static? It worked in the US? I think you are trying to use the US card in Taiwan. Though the analog broadcast standard were exactly the same, the digital TV systems differ. You will not receive anything. North America uses ATSC-Terrestrial Taiwan uses DVB-T.

If you visit the Sunfair Stores, you can see a number of inexpensive USB TV tuners that can do the trick for you.

11

[quote=“ceevee369”]Sales Staff (3C) play with local Incentives to promote TW brands. I had a Teco, Chimei, B&Q, Westinghouse TV (4 in 5 years and were crap)

Now, after doing extensive research on plenty of global sites decided to go for LG LED TV. Best ever. Plays well on TV - HD - 3D - DVD and you don’t have to turn contrast higher than 50% having a splendid image. Go LG. CNet Asia can guide you in their accurate testing reviews.[/quote]

I would say LG is my favorite TV brand as well…good build quality, good picture, reasonable price, solid overall productline. Samsung is the best at picture quality (I have both Samsung and LG TVs), but for me LG would be the brand I’d be most loyal to, based on everything I’ve seen.

I think Panasonics seem pretty solid too in the mid-range market along with LG…I’d stick with those brands for quality consistency and price.

12

[quote=“downtownandrew”]Everytime I am shopping around for a Flat panel Monitor, TV Set, mp3 player, etc.
The dealer pushes me towards brands that I never heard of ( Mostly Taiwan brands Chimeia?? BenQ, some others)
the price seems very affordable compared to the well known brands.

But I never bite, I stick with the names I am familiar with. [/quote]

Ha ha ha. :laughing:

I work for a major Taiwanese OEM company – a technology manufacturer who makes a wide variety of tech products for companies such as HP, Dell, Apple, Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Motorola, Kodak, Lexmark, Alpine, etc. You may have never heard of our company, although we’re publicly listed and sell several billion USD of products per year, because our brand doesn’t go on the products. Those other companies, our customers, their names go on the products. So, while you may have never heard of our company, I’m almost certain that you own at least one, or perhaps several products made by us.

And we’re just one OEM company. That’s how the technology business works. All of the big names have their products manufactured, and often designed, by Taiwanese and Chinese companies that the world never heard of. So, while you might get better warranty service from HP or Dell – or maybe not – their products are no less Taiwanese than Asus, Acer and BenQ. To a certain extent it’s all the same inside; it’s just a matter of paying extra for the recognizable brand.

I admit that may not be 100% true, but pretty much.

13

[quote=“Mother Theresa”] To a certain extent it’s all the same inside; it’s just a matter of paying extra for the recognizable brand.
I admit that may not be 100% true, but pretty much.[/quote]

Of course you are right. Otherwise the glide-in digital tuner being delivered separately with a TV 3 years ago wouldn’t be coming from 1 manufacturer and being sold to 3-4 local TV brands :wink:
The Apple items would have no life neither being called Pegatron or Foxconn. OEM/ODM for mass brands you referred to by TW companies exists for 20-30 -40 ? years.
Though I guess you guys are doing the R&D and PCB washing while manufacturing (putting the brand label on it) happens on the mainland no?
As for TV’s - I was told the main difference per brand is still the quality of the screen (pixel failure etc) aside some “innovation” for which brand A can ask more than brand B

I was a Bang & Olufsen Sales man in the old days. The main HF board and cathode tube of a TV was the same as the 70% cheaper Philips next door. The first VHS vide they sold inside were Hitachi.The betamax was a 100% sony / philips - simply oversprayed with other paint and a “prestige” Remote control. The speakers used in their first Beolabs were Wharfadele…Damn I made money on sales commissions those days :thumbsup:

14

[quote=“Mother Theresa”]
Ha ha ha. :laughing:

I work for a major Taiwanese OEM company – a technology manufacturer who makes a wide variety of tech products for companies such as HP, Dell, Apple, Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Motorola, Kodak, Lexmark, Alpine, etc. You may have never heard of our company, although we’re publicly listed and sell several billion USD of products per year, because our brand doesn’t go on the products. Those other companies, our customers, their names go on the products. So, while you may have never heard of our company, I’m almost certain that you own at least one, or perhaps several products made by us.

And we’re just one OEM company. That’s how the technology business works. All of the big names have their products manufactured, and often designed, by Taiwanese and Chinese companies that the world never heard of. So, while you might get better warranty service from HP or Dell – or maybe not – their products are no less Taiwanese than Asus, Acer and BenQ. To a certain extent it’s all the same inside; it’s just a matter of paying extra for the recognizable brand.

I admit that may not be 100% true, but pretty much.[/quote]

Ahh an insider! Here’s a question…

I’ve noticed that electronics just don’t last so long here. When I first came here, I noticed my future wife’s family had a grave yard of Boom Boxes. They’d last one year then “Poof!” I certainly remember keeping similar products in the states for at least five years or more. This observation included brand names too.

We were led to believe that Taiwan doesn’t get first class product. Also, out of the less then first class product stores like Carrefour that sell products at discount prices get “special” cheaper versions of the same product.

Is there any truth to this? Or is it just the humidity killing my electronics?