We're sure that none of our stunningly attractive, gadget-expert readers would ever think about walking into an electronics retailer and asking the opinion of the teenagers in blue shirts and name tags. But, we also know that there are plenty of other folks out there who do, and when they do they're told to buy Samsung HDTVs a whopping 58 percent of the time. There's certainly nothing wrong with Samsung sets, but there are certainly plenty of options out there, too. These numbers come from the always quotable J.D. Power and Associates, which also found that salespeople are becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend. We'd never hope to be able to get inside the head of one of those doing the recommending, but as always
we would recommend reading a few reviews and going to the store to see what you like best -- after you ask to
turn down the lights and
use the right cables, of course.
[Via
PC World]
posted Sep 11th 2009 7:36AM
It's true, I really do hear a lot of people praising Samsung LCDs, and not just salespeople. Are they really that good? I'm a Panasonic Plasma guy, myself, but I'm in the market for a 32-40" LCD, and I'm definitely going to take a good look at the Samsung models out there.
And as an aside, has anyone else noticed how good a job Samsung has done moving their prestige factor up quite a few notches? A decade or two ago, Samsung TVs were mostly bottom-rung stuff.
Samsungs look great to me in general so I don't see why salesman wouldn't say good things about them. Of course some of them will be on commission, but in which case wouldn't other brands also be incentivizing them to see their wares? Wouldn't they make more commission by selling more expensive sets.
Salespeople are stupid...
I remember buying a Samsung Rear-Projection HDTV in late 2001 and the sales guy said Samsung would be finished in the market soon due to sanctions and upcoming trade embargo's on Korea. This was around the time that North Korea was getting more attention for it's nuclear programs.
And now 8 years later, Samsung is one of the most recognized brands in the world from cellphones to televisions.
Though I highly doubt they are asking people to buy plasma over LCD. I still hear the same old plasma-burn in myths being told to potential buyers everytime I cruise the tv aisle. Not to mention that LCD's are set to dynamic and high colors that make plasma's look dull in the store. I still don't understand why televisions are shown under bright light. What happened to the old days when they had a nice dark room set up so you could see how each model looked.
I read a survey which also said that 80-84% of HDTV buyers never change the factory picture settings and so most non enthusiasts are still watching their programs with neon greens, and blinding whites etc...
As for recommending Samsung, have you seen their new 58" 850 series plasma?? Razor thin at like 1.3" and superb blacks and colors.
I work for Best Buy, and the problem is there are a lot of Samsung fanboys in the home theater departments. No one is on commission, but they're easy TVs to sell. I think its the bezels. I would say its form over function, but that's unfair: Samsung makes some pretty great TVs, both in LCD and Plasma.
Personally, I almost always recommend Panasonic Plasmas first, but some customers won't listen to you, even if its the better TV for their uses. They keep going back to a Samsung LCD. At that point, you just shake your head, sell them an overpriced HDMI cable, ring them up and move on to the next one.
Too funny. I was just in a Best Buy Magnolia room yesterday trying to get a package deal (ie. discount) on a Panasonic Plasma (65S1), Panasonic DVD Player, TV Stand and either Denon 2310 or Pioneer Elite VSX-23THX. The guy immediately recognized that I knew way more about HT gear than he did... and at the end, he still tried to push a bunch of $100+ (we all know the brand) cables on me.
I told him... I am in here fishing for a deal and you are trying to sell me a $100 HDMI cable that I can get for like $5 online.
It made me laugh.
It's funny that you mention the bezels...a few months back our bedroom's 19" TV/VCR combo stopped working (thank God) and I was looking to replace it with a 26" - 32" LCD so I picked up a 26" Samsung LN26A330.
The picture was fine, but the glossy bezel that looks so good when the TV is turned off reflected so much damn light that it turned out to be too much of a distraction for me. So I returned it and bought a larger 32" Sony KDL-32L500 with the matte bezel. I am very pleased with its performance and there is no distracting light reflecting off the bezel and it still looks good when turned off.
Anyways, just thought I would offer my opinion on the bezels, and before anyone else points it out, I realize that Samsung is not the only manufacturer that uses glossy bezels.
I personally dislike glossy bezels. They remind me of cheap Rent-A-Center furniture from the '80's. I don't care for Samsung as a company either. I'm pretty sure we have them to thank for all the dynamic contrast ratio spec nonsense.
I think the most surprising part of this article is that someone was able to walk into a Best Buy and actually get assistance from a salesperson.
HAHA seriously! I went into best buy ready to buy a (ironic samsung lcd 32") and stood there for 10 min just to see if anyone would offer to help. No one did so i left and bought it off Amazon. Lesson learned.
I don't have any problem with salespeople recommending Samsung televisions to people. Samsung consistently offers accurate color, highly competitive black levels, decent video processing and aggressive pricing. In a dimmer room, I'd favor a Panasonic plasma recommendation, but in a bright room, I'd likely recommend a Samsung LCD too!
At 58% of the time, it's not as though EVERY recommendation is for a Samsung. And if salespeople really are recommending plasmas as well, then maybe it's exactly along the lines that I'm suggesting: dim room = plasma; bright room = Sammy LCD.
Nothing wrong with that, IMO. At least if they're recommending Samsung, they're recommending a good TV! It's not at all like recommending Bose or Monster Cable, so as far as I'm concerned, this is a good thing, because I'd never walk into a person's house, see a Samsung TV and think, "oh, this guy got screwed!"
This makes complete and perfect sense. If you want to buy a printer, no matter where you go, more people are going to tell you to buy an HP. Why? Because they have shelf presence and have created a monolopy in the conversation taking place at retail stores. It doesn't matter if there's a Canon or Lexmark, or Epson which is better. No one is talking about them because they have less space in stores and people's homes.
Samsung used to be the Vizio of TVs; they're everywhere and while they have some more expensive televisions they are affordable and people feel like they know what they get when they buy one. People think Sony is too expensive, even if it's the same price as a Samsung. People never seem to give Panasonic the credit it deserves especially when it comes to plasma. You almost never see a Toshiba, Sharp, JVC, or Mitsubishi in a store so you never get to hear about those. Ultimately, we all end up perputating this phenomenon.
I'll never forget when I went to Staples and a woman asked me about a netbook (b/c I was looking at them and she wanted my opinion), I told her about the Asus and MSI ones b/c they were great values with performance. Did she buy one? Nope, she paid $100 more for an HP netbook.
Regarding plasma & LCD, no one is going to want to pay $100 - $400 more for a plasma over an LCD without knowing the differences. Lots of people know that plasma TVs have better pictures and are better for movies. As good as LCD HDTVs have gotten, people prefer plasma....usually until they get their first electric bill. :)
You can get a top tier 42" 720p Panasonic plasma for $549 retail. You don't see that for LCDs and until you do, more people are going to keep plasma in production while LCD TVs add more features like internet, 3D, and LED backlighting hoping to erase the dirt off their sullied reputation.
Yeah, this comment is long but don't you all get tired of the 4 word comments which don't add to the conversation?
Chance Stevens,
Editor, http://www.tvlampsnbulbs.com
Yes. Yes I do!
Samsung has a lot to do with this practice.
With the demise of Circuit City, Best Buy now has the clout to steer a huge number of customers towards a particular brand.
Samsung is more than happy to grant them special pricing incentives to make that happen.
Here in NYC I have spoken to salesman at smaller electronic retailers and they tell me that Samsung is really making it difficult to carry their lines because of the special treatment that Best Buy is getting from the factory.
I know a very popular local electronics shop (J&R) has all but given up on carrying the Samsung line.
Now to be fair many other brands put pressure on retailers that effect how the salesman steer their customers.
Last year Sony who is a major line sold at J&R literally killed the sale of high end models (XBR7 & XBR8) due to the fix price policy the instituted.
Yes Samsung does make a nice product but due to limited local dealers being available to sell all major brands equally customers are seeing their choices severely limited.
Samsung has quite the shill network prowling amazon comment threads and the various high-profile audio-video forums. Go ahead, go to these places and complain (legitimately) about a Samsung product you've bought and watch the attackers abuse you.
I have a Sammy DLP I bought 6 years ago and it's still awesome, but the QAM tuner and Bluray player I've bought in the last year are utter garbage. I voiced my opinions on these legitimate issues and end up getting attacked by people questioning my IQ and motives. Oddly, I noticed a pattern in the writing style of several of the many posts attacking my opinions and mentioned it in the same threads. These attacker mysteriously disappeared without ever saying another word.
Sounds like fodder for a nice story by one of the technology sites out there...
I like Samsungs and probably would have just had my parents buy one except for the nice package deal that Best Buy just had on an XBR9, BluRay and (probably not great) HTIB system (XBR9 + BD was cheaper than Samsung + any BD) so can understand, however, it nearly killed me hearing a sales person telling another customer that everybody loves Samsung because of how great the glossy screens look -- thats the biggest disadvantage in my mind of their units and what prevented me from buying one a few years back for my room where the screen gets direct sunlight.
Samsung's marketing over the last year or so has been intense and pervasive.
I couldn't switch on my TV or surf the internet (especially Cnet!) without seeing the Samsung LED ad with the hummingbird (as pictured above).
Couple that with the ultra thin LED "wow/cool" factor, you can see why Samsung has surged ahead in the TV marketplace.
Samsung does an INCREDIBLE job of marketing their TVs. When was the last time you saw a VIERA commercial? I can't think of a single time and yet they're the best TVs out there. It's too bad, but sometimes the best products finish last due to poor marketing, ignorance and misinformation. It's all in the marketing, I wish Panasonic would get their act together and forge a deal with the NFL so they can become the "official HDTV of the NFL". *rolls eyes*
I personally don't like Samsung as a company as they take advantage of the ignorance of most consumers and market their TVs based purely on marketing speak. They push their useless tech specs and irrelevant numbers going on the notion that most people just think that a bigger number is better. 120Hz, LED TV, etc. etc. It's all a bunch of bull. LED TVs are just LCD TVs with LED backlighting people!!!!!! I hate seeing commercials for LED TVs. They're NOT LED TVs!!! The only LED displays I've ever seen are in sports stadiums and billboards, not in someone's living room.
Everyone makes a good/better/best, and a great plasma will beat a great lcd or led lit lcd. Those are facts.
Customers also come in, wanting to buy Samsung TVs, and whether it is a good model, better model, or best model, they have a Samsung. Would you spend twice the time with them, talking them into a better or different tv, possibly making them mad and losing the sale (as well as the chance to sell to other customers who you missed while you wasted your time talking them out of a decent tv) or spend less time, letting them leave with the TV they wanted coming in?
Advertising works. LED ads drive business. When was the last time you thought about a Toshiba TV? People come in every day now, asking for Toshibas because they have flooded the radio with ads for their REGZA line. Should I talk them out of it? Would you?
The Samsung hdtv's are the most beautiful ones from the outside, they just look stunning.
Hoewever picturequality is always two steps behind of a Panasonic of Pioneer plasma, but consumers are strange people.
They buy a hdtv almost always without testing an when I say testing I don't mean watching blu-rays or demo's with the arms crossed!
People don't touch the tv, don't change picturesetting and don't take there own dvd's or xbox360/ps3 with them.
I did that when I wanted to buy a hdtv, because I wasn't content with my 30 inch Iiyama lcd.
I absolutely wanted a full hd lcd from Samsung and was ready to buy it, but I went to 2 stores taking my xbox360, some games and dvd's with me.
An anoying person on forums was só pro-plasma that I tested a hdready Panasonic after I tested the full hd lcd Samsung, only so I good make fun of him on the forums. I was blown away from the picturequality! What the hell???? How can a hdready (!!) plasma give a much much more beautiful and sharper picture-image than a full hd lcd?
I tried everything I could to make the picture of the Samsung just as good as the plasma, because I had my mind set for a Samsung lcd, but it didn't even came close!
I have the Panasonic for 2 years now in my home and every day I'm dazzled by the beautiful image.
The full hd lcd's from friends are a joke compared to this plasma and they all say that themselve too.
But consumers do not test and the Samsungs look fantastic from the outside. Also, they just cannot see the difference with better hdtv's. How often you come to somebody's home to see that the picturesettings are still like out of the box!!
The smartest thing Samsung did is working with Microsoft when the xbox360 got launched and in every gamestore was a xbox360 demo with a Samsung lcd. For most people this was the first engagement with hd and when you come from a sd crt, you're blown away.
I live in Europe and I follow a lot of forums about hdtv's. Because I wanted a Samsung, I followed that forum for more than 2 years, just like the Panasonic plasma forums and what a difference that is! In the Samsung lcd forum a lot of people have picturequality problems (disapointing blacks, viewing angle, judder etc etc) and in the Panasonic plasma forum only very very happy people.