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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Panasonic restructuring, will continue in TV business

Despite rumors that they might walk away from the television business, Panasonic has restructured and will continue making their excellent plasma televisions for now.

From our experience, Panasonic has always been very customer satisfaction focused, and my personal experience with the products has been excellent.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/panasonics-restructuring-plan-will-let-it-keep-making-tvs-for/

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 11:43 AM
Categories: Panasonic, Televisions
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Monday, February 04, 2013

New thinner TVs may have uneven lighting.

This problem is inconsistent from TV to TV tested, so it’s a good idea to try a few dark scenes on your new TV to see if it bothers you enough to want to exchange it.

Generally your average viewer may not notice these irregularities unless they are pronounced.

Read more below.

http://feedly.com/k/Yz6J1Q

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 10:31 PM
Categories: Televisions
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Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Mitsubishi discontinues production of DLP televisions

With Mitsubishi's announcement that it will discontinue production of DLP projection televisions, Mitsubishi is effectively pulling out of the consumer television market. This is the end of the projection screen television era, as Mitsubishi was the last manufacturer of this once dominant television.

They will continue to make in-home projector systems for home theatres.

Mitsubishi says that although they will discontinue production of DLP televisions and LaserVue televisions, they will continue to provide parts and support to owners of these products.

http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2012/12/mitsubishi-pulls-the-plug-on-rear-projection-televisions.html 

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 9:19 AM
Categories: DLP, Mitsubishi, Televisions
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Friday, November 09, 2012

Hitachi reveals full fall line of HDTV and 3D products

It looks like, according to the writer, that Hitachi is trying hard to impress with their new Television line, and might be doing a darn good job of it.

The new TVs look feature rich and ready to excite buyers, but you're the best judge of whether it does it for you. I still don't care about 3D, but some people think it's great stuff.

To each his own, but check it out:

http://www.slashgear.com/hitachi-reveals-full-fall-3d-smart-tv-and-hdtv-lineup-08256186/ 

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 9:55 AM
Categories: 3D, HDTV, Hitachi, Televisions
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Walmart Black Friday deals will start on... Thursday?

Walmart is going to open their Black Friday deals on Thanksgiving day at 8 pm.

Eventually, it's going to be like Christmas, with Black Friday deals starting in late August.

Be advised, it looks like most of the deals this year (at ALL retailers) will be secondary brands you're not familiar with, with unfamiliar warranty terms.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2012/11/08/walmart-to-start-black-friday-deals-earlier-than-ever/ 

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 9:51 AM
Categories: Electronics, Sales, Televisions, Walmart
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New leadership at Panasonic looks bold, tough, and just what might be needed.

Kazuhiro Tsuga, Panasonic's relatively new company president, is talking tough about the future of Panasonic, and it looks like he's not afraid to make the kind of tough decisions needed to restore prosperity despite a troubled forecast in the economy.

Cutting bonuses and expenses, and focusing on building products that people want and (crazy as it might seems) not selling them at a loss... sounds like smart thinking to us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/technology/09iht-panasonic09.html?pagewanted=all 

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 9:45 AM
Categories: Electronics, Panasonic, Televisions
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Monday, June 04, 2012

Is the rumored Apple HDTV really the next big thing, or is it something else?

This AllThingsD article contends that the next big Apple innovation might not be coming at all... it may already be here.

Read more about this article about Apple's TV initiatives at the link below. I found this to be a very interesting article about the future of Apple innovation, and it makes a lot of sense:

http://allthingsd.com/20120604/apple-television-airplay-and-why-the-ipad-is-the-new-tv-apps-platform/

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 6:22 PM
Categories: Apple, Televisions
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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Toshiba to halt domestic television production, as has Hitachi

In light of falling prices (and falling profits), electronics giant Toshiba has halted domestic production of televisions and will focus on more profitable ventures with an eye to double their operating profit by 2014-2015.

Together, Toshiba and Samsung dominate the world market for NAND Flash chips, many of which are used in Apple iPhones.

Read the entire article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/us-toshiba-idUSBRE84G09Z20120517

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 5:47 PM
Categories: Apple, LCD, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Televisions, Toshiba
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Sony and Panasonic might team up to make OLEDs, and prices may fall quicker

This is just in the discussion phase, but these two long-time rivals might be considering this desperate measure to combat Korea's dominance in the television market, and to prevent them from being left behind in the burgeoning OLED market.

Hopefully this won't lead to more losses due to underpriced products, but the consumer will win either way (at least in the short term).

Read more here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/unexpected-sony-and-panasonic-partnership-could-see-the-price-of-oled-tvs-quickly-fall/

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 5:28 PM
Categories: LED TV, LG, OLED, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Televisions
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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Hilarious article title includes "Asian giants wrestle"

I would post this article because of the content about televisions and the new OLED, and also because of the references to several brands that we service like LG, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba and Sharp.

But it's the title of the article that I keep enjoying:

"Analysis: As technology shifts, Asian giants wrestle for TV control"

For someone with my imagination, I am picturing giant asians wrestling over a huge remote control, and hopefully now you are, too.

P.S. It's a very informative article on the subject.

Enjoy: Analysis: As technology shifts, Asian giants wrestle for TV control

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 4:23 PM
Categories: LCD, LG, OLED, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Televisions, Toshiba
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Samsung OLED HDTVs on the way this year

Per Samsung Electronics, they will begin to sell OLED HDTVs in the latter half of the year... first in South Korea then expanding to the world.

They will cost twice what an LCD costs, be a lot thinner and lighter, and have a sharper picture.

If you need thin and high end, then this is the way to go right now.

Read the article: http://www.dealerscope.com/article/samsung-oled-tvs-on-way/1

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 10:42 AM
Categories: OLED, Samsung, Televisions
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LG accounces plan to sell new OLED TVs for $9000

These are going to be much thinner than current LCDs as they do not require a backlight, and they have sharper images than LCD televisions.

It's a higher price than expected, but every TV manufacturer is finally coming to the stark realization that competition and low pricing has lead to record losses for the industry. (That and the fact that production costs for these TVs are much higher).

Frankly, I would rather buy a television that will last, can be repaired, and will have reasonably priced parts from the manufacturer, but that's just me.

Read the article: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-11/lg-said-to-plan-selling-oled-tvs-for-more-than-9-000-in-u-dot-s-dot

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 10:19 AM
Categories: LG, OLED, Televisions
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Friday, May 04, 2012

Apple Television delayed, or is this just hype?

We linked to an article on the Service Care Facebook account that looks like half advertisement, and half analysis. It's hard to tell, but it looks like Apple Television is either going to be delayed until 2014, or they're just stirring up excitement.

We'll see what happens...

Go to our Facebook page to follow the link: http://www.facebook.com/Service.Care/posts/169714353154718

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 10:14 AM
Categories: Apple, Google TV, Televisions
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Friday, April 20, 2012

Child safety: Be careful where you put a television.

It's been brought to our attention that each year, a number of children are injured or even die from improperly installed television sets. Of particular concern are situations where the older and heavier tube-style television is placed in the child's room when the family gets a larger television, and often installed on top of a dresser or something else not really designed to hold a TV.

Let's face it, kids get excited, and they could easily pull or push that TV in their efforts to get to the controls or to what they are perceiving on the screen.

It's not just the older TVs that can be dangerous. Larger flat-screen TVs that are improperly installed can be a danger as well.

It's just something to think about. We are in the business of fixing televisions, but we're also people with families who worry about the little ones. Just be careful out there.

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 10:49 AM
Categories: Miscellaneous, Safety, Televisions
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Monday, April 16, 2012

Flat screen TVs are *not* disposable!

I just ran the numbers on our historical records for out-of-warranty TV repairs, and got some surprising results.

It turns out that we are fixing half a percent *more* of flat screens than we are older tube-type televisions (including DLP projection units). (These numbers are a percentage of repaired units out of the total of units upon which a repair is attempted, versus those that were not repaired).

By that I mean, we're able to repair an almost identical percentage of the newer flat screens as all other TVs and even compared to all other electronics (not including microwaves).

What does that mean? It means do not throw away your flat screen because someone tells you it's not worth fixing, unless they are with a certified television repair service. You may be throwing away money, and adding even more volume to our overflowing landfills.

Hey, it's worth asking a servicer right?

(Of course, if your plasma, lcd, or led screen is physically damaged, the rate of successful repair drops dramatically due to the high cost of the parts).

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 11:14 AM
Edited on: Monday, April 16, 2012 3:27 PM
Categories: LCD, OLED, Plasma TV, Televisions
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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

New study: 38% of U.S. household TVs connected to the internet

Whether it's through a game system, Blu-ray disc player, or other device, a lot of more of U.S. households are operating TVs that access the internet in some way or another.

Largely, that's due to Netflix subscriptions, but the new "Smart" TVs also allow access to web-based services and apps.

It's the future: read more here

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 3:28 PM
Categories: Internet, Televisions
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Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Samsung gains serious lead in LCD TV sales competition

The top 5 sales leaders for fourth quarter 2011 were (in order from highest to lowest):

Samsung - 23.6%

Vizio - 15.4%

LG - 12.4%

Sony - 8%

Toshiba - 7.8%

Of course, it should be kept in mind that in a previous post we listed how LCD sales are flattening in the U.S., so this is sales shares of a shrinking market.

Read more about the LCD sales leaders here: click to read article on DealerScope

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 10:42 AM
Categories: LCD, LG, Samsung, Sony, Televisions, Toshiba, Vizio
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Flat-screen TV sales projected to fall, and keep falling through 2015

Looks like the buying frenzy is over, and the manufacturers have realized they can't discount TVs any further. Plus, every room in the house is filled with TVs...

The romance and excitement are over for flat-screens, c'est la vie:

http://allthingsd.com/20120327/flat-panel-tv-sales-flatten-in-u-s/

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 9:44 AM
Edited on: Thursday, March 29, 2012 9:47 AM
Categories: Televisions
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Panasonic rolls out their 2012 TV and Home Entertainment offerings

Panasonic appears to be putting out more TVs than ever, with over 30 new TVs, many of them having 3D features.

Connectivity and content streaming are priority features as well.

Read more about the new lineup of Panasonic TVs and other electronics equipment at this link: Read full article

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 11:30 AM
Edited on: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 11:40 AM
Categories: Electronics, Panasonic, Televisions
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

LG's 55 inch OLED to launch in May for just under $8,000

That's a lot of TV, for quite a few coins. Apparently, it's worth it, if you're the kind of person that must have the biggest, newest, etc. Reviews have given this TV high marks.

Read more here: http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/27/2905491/lg-55-inch-oled-tv-price-release-date

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Service Care TV & Appliance Repair's Vice President, Toxey McDavid
Posted by Toxey McDavid at 5:15 PM
Categories: LG, OLED, Televisions
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