Okay.
I took the Sinotec back today.
Struggled to see the Boks pummel the AB because of motion blur and also bad color and contrast. So I took it back to Makro and they wanted to swop it out for me.
Took some time and talked to 3 different salesmen. 2 of them confirmed that they had the most returns on the Sinotec brand.
Also the guy at returns asked rather amused: "Another one?" when he heard it was a Sinotec being returned.
So I decide to get the Samsung instead. Paid in a R1000 difference and took home a 42" Samsung Plasma. Makro's price was R9500 but they gave it to me for R8999. Same price as Game.
Extremely happy with the swop. Color looks better, contrast is better. No motion blur. And according to the fiancee it looks better in our home. She loves the swivel stand
It also starts up 10 times faster than the Sinotec. With the Sinotec it first gives you a black screen and then for about 5 seconds a "Please Wait" screen. Only then does it search for a signal and shows the picture. With the Samsung it is almost instant picture and sound.
I'm not saying all the Sinotec's are gonna be like this but what if it happened again after I swopped it for another Sinotec? If it was after 14 days I would have been without a TV for days.
As for the 5 year warrantee? Well done Sinotec, nobody can beat that.
Hi guys, new member to the forums.
I found this thread last week, as I was trying to decide between LCD and Plasma, as well as brand name. Also, I didn't want to pay anything more than R10K for a set. The TV would mainly be used for sport (rugby, soccer, cricket mostly), and then also movies and tv series. At the moment, I only have the SABC channels and ETV set up at home, and will switch DSTV back on once the British football resumes in 2 weeks time(!). My set-up is the normal DSTV, not the HD PVR.
Anyway, after looking around a bit, I found the Sinotec MP-42HC56 full HD LCD at Makro Ottery for R7999. Was the best price I'd found for a full HD LCD so far, so I bought it yesterday. Tested it in-store next to the Sony Bravias, and although you could clearly see the quality wasn't as good, the R4000 difference in price was just too great to ignore. I've also only read good reviews of Sinotec after-sales service, so that was a big factor too.
I have to admit that i was not too impressed with how some of the sports showed up on the tv. Very blurry when it panned to long shots of the players especially. Now admittedly, I've only watched it at home on the free-to-air channels, but from what I hear, it would look pretty much the same on DSTV SD. The other thing was the really ugly remote control - simply awful, to be honest. With such high prices for decent universal remote controls nowadays, this is a big determining factor in the purchase for me.
This was for sports - I have to say that movie DVD's were incredibly good on the screen. Excellent detail, very good colour.
Not too fussed though, because I planned on returning it if I wasn't satisfied with the quality, but now the problem is in choosing another TV.
APoc84, please let me know how that Samsung plasma works out for you, as it sounds like you are also looking at using it primarily to watch sports.
I'm looking at going the plasma route now, but my other choices would be either the Sony 37-inch HD ready LCD, or the Sony 40-inch Full HD LCD (which is a bit pricier at R12K). A friend of mine has this very same 40-inch Sony LCD, and I watched the SA/All Blacks game on Saturday on it in full HD - truly amazing! No motion blur or any of those types of problems. I think his is 120Hz or somewhere around there.
So, apologies for the long post, but it's great to have forums like these to help with purchasing these pricier items. If you guys have any suggestions on which way I should go, please feel free to let me know. Cheers.
