Quote:
Originally Posted by KidHorn /forum/post/16919142
TVs, like most consumer electronics, follow what's called a bath tub curve with regards to reliability. They tend to fail right away and after many many years. Early failures are due to defects while later failures are due to fatigue.
If the TV is defective and you discover the defect within a reasonable time frame, I think 30 days for Best Buy, you can return it and get a new one or a refund. Manufacturers are required to have minimum warranty periods also.
If you get past the defect stage, you will most likely go several years without incident. That's why most extended warranty periods are like 4 years. Defects are covered regardless of the extended warranty and the TV, unless abused, will go 4 years without problems 90+% of the time.
If I liked the 500m much more than the Panasonic, I might take a risk on it. Don't let the previous posters scare you. You could get stuck with the few that fail after 30 days and prior to a couple of years, but the odds are greatly against it. Probably on par with the odds of the warranty not being covered for some reason or another in the event of failure.