Best 40-42" Smart TV for Small Bedroom - Page 2

Isn't Insignia an off-brand of LG and Emerson an off-brand of RCA? Seem to have read that somewhere in my travels.

I was thinking Insignia was an off-brand of Samsung. I may very well be wrong, however. One of my adult sons has an Insignia in his bedroom at his house and seems to be satisfied with it. He's never said anything negative other than he likes the PQ on my Samsungs better.

Here is my fairly well informed but still speculative guesses at best on these cheaper brands.

I think Emerson is also a Funai owned brand name, like Sanyo. However Emerson doesnt make large sets, and really only the Sanyo larger sets 42" to 55" are using name brand quality panels from LG S-IPS in 42" and 47" and Ive also seen 46" and 52" Samsung S-PVA panels. So smaller Sanyo and Emerson are to be avoided IMO. Larger Sanyo's have had issues with bad HDMI ports and such.

I dont know who puts Insignia's together, but the vast majority of the larger Insignia's were using LG S-IPS panels until this year, where they are nearly all using AU Optronics MVA 3rd Gen panels which are Vertical Array and behave and have similar charateristics to Samsung's S-PVA panels. This is very good, because these cheaper sets tend to go with the native blacks of the panels without much filtering combined with video processing to work the blacks down. This past years Insignia LCD's over 40" are worthy IMO. They are also designed to service the North American market so that there arent any quirks like TCL has.

TCL seems to be sets that are designed for other markets and haphazardly changed to deal with the North American electric and video standards. The panels are good but the execution of the ports in particular is lacking.

Now TCL manufacturers RCA, but these are designed for the North American market and so there are no quirks. There larger sets are decent, but still spotty on reliability like Sanyo. I favor Sanyo over RCA. I favor Insignia over both.

If I was to guess, Insignia is produced by either LG or Funai, or even Vizio's AmTran. But maybe the Best Buy contracts changed this past year. Could be or not, just speculation. No clue on this one really. Insignia did put out a 32" LG made Plasma panel set the same year that Vizio did....and they were the only 2 to do so.

Im a low end kind of A/V enthusiast. :[
Edited by EscapeVelocity - 11/18/12 at 11:12am

As an aside...

I think I am going to try to get myself a 42" or 47" Vizio XVT**3SV or XVT3D**4SV. After looking about. Wish I would have picked one up last year.

I havent seen the E400i A2 anywhere at a retailer either.

Im not pushing you to get the Vizio. I was looking closely at the E420VSE, but I think I will hunt down a refurb or used Full Array Local Dimming Vizio from the last 2 years, for myself, in the final analysis.

You should look into the 40" Samsung 40EH5300, you might be able to save a few bucks and still stay with the Samsung build and picture quality.....instead of the 6*** series.

A thin bezel (all screen) 40" set is probably the best for your bedroom purposes.


BTW, I agree with Otto. Off board WiFi Internet solutions are the way to go, unless you absolutely have to have it all in the TV. Blu Ray players with Internet Apps and WiFi, Roku, AppleTV, Boxee Box, and so on and so forth.

I have a Sony "Smart" TV with internet apps with a regular (non-wifi) Blu-ray attached and a Samsung "Dumb" TV with a Sony Blu-ray (wi-fi) attached with all of the apps. The Sony Blu-ray seems more responsive for "stuff like that" than the Sony TV does. So, bottom line, I agree with Otto in this case (as I often do).

The main reason why that is a better solution is that it is easy and cheaper to upgrade hardware to keep up with the times, on an offboard device. You just replace the device. With the hardware inside the TV, that is what is is and ever shall be.

So you can get a dumb TV like the Samsung 40EH5000 or a Vizio E420VSE as 2 examples, and then you have your pick of Blu Ray Player from any manufacturer, and you can target what apps they have that you may want amongst the various brands. And if in a few years, the apps become a dinosaur you can upgrade the media player at lessor cost than having to purchase a whole new TV. Of course you can just get a media player and hook it up to your Smart TV, but why pay for that extra in the first place.
Edited by EscapeVelocity - 11/18/12 at 1:40pm

I have a Panasonic BDT-210 (2010 model) blu-ray player which has built-in WiFi and all the current a/v formats. An excellent player which you could probably get for $100 or less (if you can find them). Last year's model was the 220 and from what I've read is just as solid of a performer as the 210.

Back to Insignia, the only reason I think it is an LG off-brand is way back at the digital conversion when the various STB digital converters were being offered, I picked up a couple of Insignia's with the coupon plan and took one apart cause I was curious It had identifiable LG components which I was hoping for. The reason being is that I had an LG STB (LST-4200A) for my HDTV-ready Sony CRT which worked exceptionally well for OTA television. That was one of the reasons why I went for an LG LCD when I finally got hip and purchased a flat panel OTA for us is still dead-on-balls perfect. Anyway, long boring story short, someone said the Insignia's were LG ATSC tuners so that's why I bought a couple for back bedroom/garage analog tv's (and one to "play" with). The haven't disappointed and are still working as well as the full HDTV STB that I had for a few years.

And, to be fair to Vizio, as I have said before, there are lots of folks who have been very satisfied with their Vizio purchases over the years so not everything they make is poor quality all of the time.

Vizio wouldnt continue to be a top selling LCD HDTV brand if they had a bad reputation on reliability. There reliability numbers as reported by Consumer reports are in line with the big boys.

Just read this...

Aggressive marketing (cheaper prices) certainly add to that top selling LCD HDTV title. I agree, ALL tv mfrs have quality/support issues, even the Pioneer Kuros. I do believe that Vizio is starting to step up the build issues on their top-of-the-line sets but....... BTW, Escape Velocity was one of my all time favorite games many years ago! Seeing your name always makes me smile for the good old days when things were so much simpler

Samsung 40EH5000 vs 40EH6000 at Television Info.

I hate to throw another monkey wrench in your deliberations but look up Panel Lottery, which Samsung's smaller sets are afflicted with. The EH6000 thread will clue you in. There is also the Samsung CMR Number Determining Panel Type thread.

At least with the Vizio E420VSE, you know what your getting!

In the end, you just gotta make a leap and trust your eyes. Many sets will be good enough. There is no perfect TV.

Good Luck!
Edited by EscapeVelocity - 11/19/12 at 10:23am

Sony's smaller sets have the Panel lottery issue too. My brother bought a Sony 40EX400 last year and that model had 2 panels, the Samsung/Sony S-PVA and the AU Optronics MVA3. He got the MVA3. I learned a lot about the MVA3 panel from that purchase. It's a good panel, but he and I were expecting the S-PVA. He kept it.

Also, 120 Hz is desireable for more accurate cadence reasons. I also like Frame Interpolation, which is only found on 120Hz and higher sets, which some people dont, but it is useful for sports even if you dont like it on film.

Having said that, the judder is much more noticeable on larger screens, less so on smaller screen sizes....so...


As I said, there is no perfect TV. Good blacks however are priceless.

Good Luck!

I think putting different panels on the same model (and even the same size within model #) TVs is really bad policy.

HH Gregg started on Sunday with Black Friday pricing.

Id stick with the Samsung EH5000 over that Sony EX440....for multiple reasons.
Edited by EscapeVelocity - 11/19/12 at 8:32pm

The one that caught my eye was the Samsung UN40ES6100 Smart TV for $697.99, normally $999.00. My son has one that he's had for about three months and loves it

Schwacker, like all "newbies" you are over analyzing this purchase waaaaaay too much. I think we've all done it in our search for the perfect TV (for our budget), but as I always say, "It's just a frickin' TV." Just use the info you have, quit stressing, buy one, and enjoy (I know, easier said than done). Good luck to you..
Edited by BoilerJim - 11/20/12 at 5:55am

My speculation is that this Sony 42EX440 is using a Red Chinese Chei Lin panel. I have concerns about this panel based on it's operational and structural characteristics, with regards to black level, but I havent seen any testing that confirms my speculative deductions.