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Which TV Brand Lasts the Longest? Best Brands to Buy

Is it time to upgrade or replace your old TV? Shopping for a TV can be an overwhelming experience. Try and walk into any store, and you will discover how all the brands promise you the best resolution, sound, and design, all at unbeatable prices. How about longevity? Are you concerned about the durability of a TV before spending several hundreds of your well-earned bucks? For this reason, this article shares which TV brand lasts the longest. You will also understand what makes these brands last longer and how to get the most out of your TV.

What Makes a TV Durable?

Before looking into TV brands that last longer, it is best to understand what qualifies longevity in a TV. Most, if not all, TVs in the market currently are based around LCD technology. LCD TVs don’t produce their own light. They use Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels that control where the light displays on your screen. There are two competing LCD technologies that you will come across in your purchase as you determine your choice – OLED and QLED technologies. It is the lifespan of this light source that ultimately determines a TV’s longevity. Consequently, the average life expectancy of an LCD TV is between 30,000 – 60,000 hours or 5-7 years.

Which TV Brand Lasts the Longest?

When it comes to durability and reliability, these four brands lead the pack: Samsung, Sony, LG, and Panasonic. Let’s take a closer look at why these TVs will serve you for a longer time than others.

Samsung tv showing landscape in the dessert

Samsung

This South Korean brand is the de facto market leader in the TV manufacturing space. Samsung TVs come highly rated and boast bright and vibrant color and contrast thanks to its QLED technology. 

QLED is a type of LCD panel technology that enhances a TV’s performance by providing brighter, vivid, and high-impact TV images. The Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode (QLED) uses quantum dots to produce purer light than you can get from LED TVs. Quantum dots are tiny nano-particles that emit a TV’s color and brightness. 

The Samsung QLED technology is affordably built into large displays. So you will find most of these TVs have a minimum 4K and 8K resolution. Additionally, you will enjoy excellent upscaling abilities thanks to this technology, making lower resolution content look like 4k images. Samsung also offers regular updates to their high-end technology, which keeps everything running seamlessly.

Sony

Sony TV showing an landscape image of the forest and mountain

A TV manufacturing giant in its own right, Sony produces some of the best TVs that promise to serve you for a good number of years. Unlike the Samsung QLED technology, Sony uses the OLED panel technology, which some industry experts argue produces sharper and more natural color in the image, unlike the QLED TVs. The reason is that OLED displays are self-emitting.

Each pixel emits its own light, which allows for precise light control across the screen. Blacks really pop, and the bright sections don’t bleed onto the screen’s surrounding areas. This gives Sony TVs phenomenal picture quality. Sony also offers great upscaling features that allow low-quality images to display more clearly. 

LG

LG tv showing a landscape and beautiful sunset highlighting a path

LG manufactures some of the top-tier premium TVs in the market. Built using the Organic LED (OLED) technology, they offer superb picture quality and clarity. The individually lit pixels allow the TV to display perfect blacks and an amazing contrast ratio. Additionally, LG TVs don’t experience a lag and have a faster response rate than other TVs. The near-instantaneous pixel response rate mitigates motion blurring in the picture. Gamers absolutely love this brand as a result. 

Panasonic

Panasonic TV showing an image of a city

Panasonic has been in the TV manufacturing industry since the era of CRT TVs. You can be sure they produce durable and reliable sets. They also offer some of the most energy-efficient TVs in the market. Moreover, Panasonic TVs boast of an expanded color pallet that is a favorite among professional Hollywood colorists. Its incredible high contrast output and custom OLED panel allow Panasonic to display cinematic picture quality. 

Other brands catching up fast to these market leaders include; Vizio, HiSense, and TCL. They also offer great picture quality, come in amazing design features and functionality at budget-friendly prices. 

How To Increase Your LCD TV’s Lifespan

TV’s especially the bigger sizes will cost you several hundreds of bucks. Thus, you want to make sure that you get the most out of your set. In most cases, if your screen is fine, the other factor that will show your TV is aging is its brightness and picture quality. TVs fade over time, but there are some measures you can take to lengthen their lifespan.

  • Turn the backlight down. Set your TV to Standard or Energy Saving Mode. The picture will not be as clear as the Vivid or Dynamic mode, but it won’t wear out the LEDs in your TV. This could give you 10 years of service. 
  • Adjust the brightness level of your TV. If the picture begins to dim, the picture quality will be affected, eventually dimming it. This will shorten your TV’s lifespan drastically. Set your TV to “Film” or “Home” settings.
  • Avoid leaving your TV on or on standby mode when you are not watching.
  • Don’t place your TV near a window. The sun could damage the TV components if set near a window.
  • Don’t set up your TV near a woodstove. The ash, heat, and wood dust can drastically shorten the lifespan of your set. 
  • Ensure your TV is not too close to the floor to avoid gathering dust. It is best to mount it on a wall for longevity and safety.
  • Use a voltage regulator to protect your TV from power surges or dips. 
  • Keep your TV well ventilated.
  • When no one is watching, switch off your TV and unplug it to save on your energy bills. 

Verdict

The longevity of your TV is dependent on its usage and maintenance. Quality hardware components used by the top brands listed here also play a crucial role in how long a TV can last. But even with the other brands, you can still achieve durability if you follow the tips listed here. 

6 Comments

  1. I have an older LG LED TV. When watching Tv shows at times it breaks up like a Jigsaw puzzle & freezes for a few seconds before returning to normal. Just wondering if this means that it’s time to replace as it is probably 8 years old now.

  2. I have a Vizio I bought at least 8 years ago that still works perfectly. To tell the truth, considering the crap on TV, it’s more than adequate, or I wouldn’t really notice the difference if it was 4k or high tech.

  3. We have had to buy or turn in a insurance claim on A TV twice in two years! First we bought a LG for over 900$ it last less than 2 years & the screen went Black. Bought a Samsung 6900 serious 13 months ago literally thank goodness this time I bought the extended warranty! Cuz the exact same thing happened turn it off went to bed for the night got up the next day & the Screen was Black! However we did buy a Panasonic 10 years ago that my daughter is using now we had it for about 6 years the week bought a new one & have our old one to her! She has said it’s starting to have some problems but hell it’s 10 years old! Go figure!!

  4. Please remove Panasonic from this list. We bought a Panasonic TV last year that cost us $600 and its panel failed a few days ago. It lasted for 1.3 years. The panel replacement costs $300. So sad 🙁 Poor durability, panel.

  5. I have a Sony 55” tv for about 6years now. When I turn it on it’s a pinkish color with no sound. Direct tv doesn’t know what the problem is nor does Xfinity. We turn the direct tv box off then turn it back on and wait for green signal and the tv works fine. Is this common of a Sony TV.

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