Sony & TCL Merger

[Judge]

Still mind-blowing to hear that it's no rumor any more.

That TCL is negotiating a partnership with Sony regarding their television technology. A merger that would leave TCL as having 51% controlling interest. It's been interesting to see how rapidly TCL has gained in the marketplace with increases in quality and functionality at a reasonable price.

Imagine if such a partnership results in higher quality assurance, superior technology and all at a more reasonable price. Potentially leaving their competition in the dust, short of companies like LG and Samsung willing to lower the retail cost of their products.

Looks like TCL has also surpassed competitor Hisense when it comes to quality assurance right out of the box. Particularly with their higher tier of televisions which still are considerably lower than Sony, Samsung and LG.

How often does something like this happen that actually may benefit consumers ?

Sony Corporation - Sony and TCL Sign Memorandum of Understanding for Strategic Partnership in Home Entertainment Field

 

[cooljethro]

I'd never heard of TCL, until reading this thread.

I have come across a few Hisense electrical products though, and they seem of good quality/reliable/of good value.

I have always thought of Sony as having premium producuts, whether true in reality, or not.

 

[Judge]

I have always thought of Sony as having premium products, whether true in reality, or not.

With widescreen televisions, they are at the top of their game in terms of quality and functionality. However their pricing has always been beyond what many consumers are willing to pay for. If they can adopt TCL's parts and assembly infrastructure they may come to a very happy medium with us consumers.

Either way I see TCL continuing to improve in quality assurance. Beyond that of Hisense.

 

[Outdated]

I'd never heard of TCL, until reading this thread.

Same.

I have come across a few Hisense electrical products though, and they seem of good quality/reliable/of good value.

Very common brand of white goods in Australia but they have a mixed reputation - very good products and very cheap but poor quality control. So if you get a good one then it's really good and will last you for years but there's also a fair chance that you'll get a lemon. Retailers are used to that here though so if you return a product they just replace it without question.

I have always thought of Sony as having premium producuts, whether true in reality, or not.

Sony have a poor reputation in Australia, not because of poor quality products but because of their highly restrictive licensing issues. This especially affects their TVs, they're quite restrictive in what formats and what image sizes they can play etc where as a cheap Chinese no name brand will play anything.

Aussies tend to lump 3 brands in the one basket to be avoided for that reason - Microsoft, Sony and Logitech.

 

[Judge]

In the US, you can't go into a retail store selling televisions that doesn't carry the lower to mid priced televisions like Chinese TCL and Hisense. If there is, I've never seen them.

Conversely Sony has always been around here in the US in terms of audio products, and in terms of CRT monitors and televisions was considered one of the top brands before the advent of flat screen televisions. It too several years, but they are pretty much considered a top brand of television among Korea's LG and Samsung brands as well.

I still have my Sony receiver that runs great since I bought it back in the 80s. But their whole line of flatscreen televisions since the turn of the century IMO have always been way overpriced.

The way I see it, this move strikes me as an admission by Sony that while their products remain technically superior, their marketing strategy is a failure considering how fast TCL has gained in the marketplace, and how fast their products have improved in the last few years. Yielding to TCL who will have controlling interest of Sony's brand name in the US.

Given this economy I'm glad to see at least one area of consumer products trending towards more affordable prices for more than just wealthy customers. Something that hopefully other competitors like LC and Samsung will realize and begin lowering their prices as well.

 

[velociraptor]

Still mind-blowing to hear that it's no rumor any more.

That TCL is negotiating a partnership with Sony regarding their television technology. A merger that would leave TCL as having 51% controlling interest. It's been interesting to see how rapidly TCL has gained in the marketplace with increases in quality and functionality at a reasonable price.

Imagine if such a partnership results in higher quality assurance, superior technology and all at a more reasonable price. Potentially leaving their competition in the dust, short of companies like LG and Samsung willing to lower the retail cost of their products.

Looks like TCL has also surpassed competitor Hisense when it comes to quality assurance right out of the box. Particularly with their higher tier of televisions which still are considerably lower than Sony, Samsung and LG.

How often does something like this happen that actually may benefit consumers ?

Sony Corporation - Sony and TCL Sign Memorandum of Understanding for Strategic Partnership in Home Entertainment Field

We have three TCL televisions. Incredible value. Some interesting network traffic coming out of the TVs, I have no doubt my viewing habits are tracked.

 

[Judge]

Aussies tend to lump 3 brands in the one basket to be avoided for that reason - Microsoft, Sony and Logitech.

Logitech is definitely a name I avoid here when it comes to ridiculously priced keyboards. While the few remaining electronics retailers like Best Buy prominently carry the brand, I buy no-name brand items on Amazon that so far have lasted much longer than Logitech, and I paid $15 for a keyboard that Logitech wants $99 for.

Microsoft as you know has been a brand I have avoided indefinitely. The last Sony items I bought was many years ago and still works great. - A DVD player and a Home Theater audio system. Both reasonably priced. But their TVs are like Apple products. Just too expensive.

Samsung still makes excellent televisions, but they're spoiling their product line with excessive advertisements inside their smart tv technology and seem to rest on their brand name a little too often. I still love my 1080p Samsung tv, but then I use it only as a monitor, instead using Roku to access streaming media.

LG? All their best and top-rated televisions are OLED. A technology I am still wary of, given its exposure to screen burn-in, depending on one's viewing habits. Leaving me more interesting in Mini LED panel technology and the latest televisions that have it.

Our expert takes a technical deep dive on OLED TV's latest rival

 

[Judge]

Looks like market concerns for Sony are even worse than I thought. Which indeed sheds so much light on their willingness to merge with TCL. Sony has always done great with their products, but much like Apple they let corporate greed spoil such success. And with the television market being so competitive, it has come to haunt Sony.

An old story we saw with VCR technology. That it wasn't who made the better mousetrap, but who marketed their mousetrap better than the other guys.

But then considering the rise in the prices of groceries, who wants to pay more than they have to for a tv set these days?

 

[Dagan]

I can personally chime in on this. I had two straight HiSense TV's that went bad after only a year each. They both got horrible shadowing spots on the top edge that just kept bleeding down. When I had no choice (due to warranty) but to replace the last one with a TCL, I have to say it was the happiest of accidents. The build quality is immediately, noticeably better, having a metal housing instead of all plastic, and (knock on all forms of wood) in 4 years, now, I have no shadowing at all. I assure you it was never an issue of dusting / cleaning, either. I'm a neat freak. I clean like a mofo, haha.