Cost is an important consideration in the purchase of a product, and that is perhaps never truer than when that product is a TV set. Upon arriving at the home electronics store, the consumer might be inclined to purchase the cheapest TV on the sales floor if the others seem too expensive. But that can be a significant error, for some of the most expensive televisions in the long run were bought because the buyer thought the sets were cheap TVs.

Sony, Panasonic, and other brands are so well known on account of the quality their products. Such brands may not offer the cheapest televisions for sale, but their sets are less likely to need replacing too soon after purchase because of years of investing in the production of an excellent product. This saves the consumer money in the long run.

A television that has to be replaced soon after purchase is precisely what the buyer might encounter if he or she buys a television from a lesser-known manufacturer rather than a more costly name brand. But how affordable are such unreliable, inexpensive televisions, be they cheap LCD TVs, cheap plasma TVs, or cheap standard TVs?