Using a consumer digest to guide your LCD purchase? Not so fast! Not all consumer reviews and buyer reports and evaluations are valid. I know this because I recently picked up a leading consumer magazine and was appalled to find the leading netbook was not even included in their ’substantial” overview of the entire product offering industrywide.
The competing publication, Laptop Magazine, had a comprehensive report on all the notebook brands including MSI. The rationale for the product ratings for different categories and subjects and consumer response across many categories was explained in detail. But consumers and readers reviewing the consumer magazine would have missed that fact.
With the television consumer product market the largest and most profitable big box universe going, the retail world depends on reviews and consumer ratings to drive demand and sales. But consumers need to know which units of LCD TV will mount on brackets, be flexible to swivel mounts, and work well wirelessly when elevated above the midlevel of a room.
Online ratings and test drives of technical devices should be reported by intelligent writers capable of knowing much more than the product range or likely uses of the device. Sadly, many online ratings writers and device analysis reviewers have very little experience simply producing an adequate review result. But readers may not know that, and readers who expect expert opinions and qualified judgements to guide their buying decisions assume a larger ability to judge technical merit than just “the man on the street”.
Someone experienced in installing bracket mounts and home theaters is the right person to judge a LCD TV unit’s fitness to be a functional part of the home entertainment area. They know which connectors and formats should be included, and when the placements of outlets and wiring housings is awkward.They can tell if the thinness of the device is vended with halts to visual quality, audio spectrum, and tuning performance.
As home theater troubleshooters, they know when subwoofers are hitting the floor more than the ceiling, when modal density is weak, and when basses are tinny and inconsequential. but the best person to write the LCD TV or accessory review may not work for a consumer magazine. Accessory components should be tested with the LCD TV model, even earphones.
Publishing, especially magazine publishing, operates under rules of its own. Print deadlines require less flexibility than online reporting. When a summary of opinions is slapped together to meet a deadline or make a cover story complete, the quality of the writing and the data is sacrificed.
But the masthead of a consumer or industry publication creates an aura of authority that underscores the written account regardless of its veracity. For advertising revenues and the magazine business model, this happens more often than readers might believe.
Publications compose LCD review features for press deadlines, not from expert judgement panels. The consumer reviews of the LCD market is much the same. Many of the consumer reviewers may be looking at “small” or “midsize” LCD television options when their reviewers want to write sexy text blocks about stadium sized LCD units like the new HDTV and 3DTV products, the Jumbotrons of the American living room.
These writers may know (or consider) the needs of the American reduced footprint green smart house, or the thrifty LCD buying habits of the retired senior citizen. With the reduced size of the high definition and LCD televisions now available, consumers have new choices about the new high quality LCD television they bring into the home. Online feedback, consumer based reviews, and YouTubes are all good legitimate LCD TV review sources.
From a previous post.
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