Warranty info for off brands...

On Dec 21, 2:40 am, "Mark A" wrote:
Excuse me, that's a 5 year 100% parts and labor for $59.99.:-)

Your arguments are mostly flawed. Most of the parts that might need to be
replaced are proprietary or they are on circuit boards that are proprietary
(it is very difficult to replace individual parts and even determine which
ones are defective).

Now if you want to argue that an extended warranty makes up for the problem
of no parts and service, or that most sets are going to be obsolete in 3-5
years anyway, those might be valid arguments.

But I do think that for discerning viewers, there are significant
differences in video quality between the cheap sets and the high end ones.
Most people don't care, and many don't even have HD reception. Most people
cannot tell the difference between a $8 bottle of wine and one that costs
$30. But some people can tell the difference.

In the OP's link - that article has quite a few service tech
rejoinders. Depending on the shop for a POV. The one tech I most
like, a bathtub operation (Tim H.'s comment), appears based in
thoroughness and dedication with a 75% effective rate on returns.
Blue Sky Warranty is another, also among the thread medley. I looked
them up once. They sell the likes of $59 extensions to customers
worried what to do when the factory 1-year disclaimers kick in. Also
mentioned them to Olevia while on the phone (over in the tech section
with repairwork rep). Olevia didn't like that one bit. Gist from
Olevia is 'read the fine print (then read it again)... you're not
going to get substantial extended warranty savings [from Blue Sky's
attractively posed contract, over what Olevia charges to repair an out-
of-warranty set]... don't pay them, send it back to us.' He also
didn't mind admitting or attempt to disguise I'd pay through my nose
[likely in either case]. Hey, cost of doing business in keeping up
with the latest pack of modern marvels.

On Dec 20, 10:59 pm, Wes Newell wrote:

I don't know what makes you think you need a TI 74ls when another brand
74ls will do the same thing. Get over this name brand stuff. There's
nothing in them but generic parts that can be picked about any decent
electronics shop.

I think 74LS's have been pretty much obsolete for quite some time
now. Pretty ancient. Haven't used'm in my designs for some time now
74_newer's have replaced them. In any case, pretty discrete. There
will be a lot
of popcorn parts for sure (passives, trannies, etc mostly) and those
could be
crossbrand replaced, but most of the functionality in current
devices will be highly integrated in chipsets not so easily gotten
or replaced (esp. for BGA's).

One can web order parts for Panasonic stuff very easily though, and
it's stocked
in Kent, Washington. Lot more per part than from Avnet or even
Digikey/Mouser, but still available, including the proprietary ones.
But
for the off-brands it could be tough.