Ordinary Gweilo

I notice that E@L has acquired a bargain price Philips Plasma TV, whilst Shaky has already replaced his with something new and shiny from Pioneer.  I still remember the first time I saw a plasma TV on sale in Hong Kong, and I think the price was HK$100k (US$12,800).  Now they start at around one-tenth of that price and Fortress and friends fill their stores with them. 

Which is where things start to get a bit tricky.

Time was when all you had to decide was the screen size and whether you wanted to pay extra for a big name brand.  All TVs were pretty much the same, with minor variations such as Nicam and flatter squarer tubes to make it mildly interesting.

Now you have to choose between old-style CRT, LCD and Plasma, and between HD and a variety of other standards, with a huge range of prices.  Yet when you go into the average shop it is almost impossible to see the difference in quality between the cheapest and most expensive.  I’ve looked at cheap sets that appear to have very good sharp pictures, and sets that cost a small fortune and yet have murky pictures.

I suppose there are a couple of explanations for this.  The first is that the average electrical store offers far-from-ideal viewing conditions, and the second is that the best sets are designed for high-definition TV and the next generation of DVD technology (Blu-Ray etc.), neither of which are yet available.  Plus, the idiots use large-screen TVs to advertise other products and special offers, usually with VCD-quality pictures.         

Or perhaps it’s the fact the people who run Fortress, Broadway and the rest are happy to treat us like idiots who know nothing about the products but love special offers.  Fortunately there are some specialist stores that do nothing but sell plasma and LCD TVs.  They turn down the lighting to create an environment that is more relaxing and closer to the conditions where you would watch TV at home, and they even appear to have used some care in deciding what to show on the screens.  Yes, that is The Incredibles you are watching.  We have Toy Story and Finding Nemo if you’d prefer.  Pixar plays very well on a plasma screen, in case you hadn’t noticed.

Maybe they can even explain the differences between a set costing little more than US$1,000 and one for US$8,000.  There’s always my theory that it’s all a scam and the expensive ones are just there to make the US$2,000 sets look cheap.  Answers on a postcard please…