TV Purchase in Hua Hin

[brianks]

House almost completed so moving back early July. Want 40"+ LCD TV & prefer Sony but will consider others. Been to Index, Big Kiang, Home Pro and Tesco. Any other dealers and/or advise on dealers?

Will also need some kind of dish for TV. Had UBC Gold before. Any other good options out there?

[hhfarang]

UBC Platinum is best IMO. Don't buy Samsung TV... google Samsung TV problems...

[barrys]

Makro also have some good offers.

I've bought a couple of LGs from them and have been very happy

[pitsch]

I have also UBC/Truevision.

But this rip-off company supplies not even all channels with the Platinum package. There are 6 packages where you must pay extra:

http://www.truevisionstv.com/photo/prom ... _10_en.jpg

[brianks]

Thanks for the very useful comments. Forgot about Makro and Platinum Package. Big help and will make for some interesting shopping on next visit to Hua Hin this weekend.

Again, appreciate all your useful comments.

[mabubba]

Are TV prices comparable to those in the US or UK? What would a 40" HD LCD go for in LOS?

[PeteC]

Are TV prices comparable to those in the US or UK? What would a 40" HD LCD go for in LOS?

Give this web site a whirl. Hit 'products' then select a manufacturer. Listings will have prices. Numchai can be a bit over priced as compared to smaller operations like in Pantip Plaza, Bangkok, but not by much. Pete

http://www.numchai.com/ecomm/store/index.php

[margaretcarnes]

Are Thai TV stations actually transmitting in HD? Just curious - because even here in the UK we don't yet have full HD coverage - despite HD ready TVs having been sold now for a few years, as part of the whole HD digital ready flat screen thing.
We are also still a year or three away from full digital provision. Not that any of it will make much difference anyway - as the number of old repeats and films cancels out any digital or HD benefit gained from buying a hitec TV.
Brand wise though I've used LG and Toshiba in Thailand with no complaints at all - and have a 3 year old Sharp HD etc now in the UK which is fine. My only problem with it is the frequent close downs and re-programming by the transmitting station, and subsequent need to re-jig the pre-sets. So if it looks good and fits your size/price range there really isn't much in it these days.

[Khundon1975]

The "LG 42LH70" on that site was released in March 2009 so has been superseded several times since.

At £700 (50 baht to £ ) the price is a bit high for 42HD TV but then Thai prices are higher than UK.

Having said that, LG do make good TV's but Full HD in Thailand is no good without a Bluray box to watch decent films.

[PeteC]

The best places to look first are still Tesco, Carrefour and Big C as they always have something on sale, and if lucky it may be a model you want. Each Friday the Thai newspapers run the weekly full page ads for these stores listing their 'electronics specials' for that upcoming week. Geared more towards Thai shoppers though, seldom sales on any set larger than 32". Pete

PS: Can't comment on Makro as the one near me doesn't have TV's

[buksida]

I haven't been impressed at all with True Visions (UBC), we have the Gold+ package @ about 1,800 baht per month and I only really watch it for an hour or two in the evenings. Reasons are as follows:

1) Repeats: you're actually paying for about 25% of what you're getting as everything is run four times a month.

2) Censorship: movie channels are heavily censored even late at night so don't bother with anything remotely violent ... or with people smoking ... or with any product advertising ... or nudity.

3) Channel selection: as mentioned above you still have to pay extra for a lot of channels even with the top packages.

4) Sports: not being able to watch the world cup was a disappointment (well you could if you paid them another chunk and bought another black box). Premiership football, golf, tennis and F1 coverage is pretty good though.

5) Content: movies are all at least 2 years old (they were playing Die Hard 2 the other day), documentaries even older, not sure about the TV series as I don't watch them. News only really consists of BBC and CNN (unless you speak Chinese) which is lame to say the least.

6) Repeats: I'm repeating myself here but after watching the same episode of "5th Gear" a good 12 times you get the picture!

Maybe there are better alternatives for satellite TV nowadays, True Visions is really only for ardent sports fans IMO.

[PeteC]

That is what happens when there is no viable competition, and UBC/True has been abusing that fact since the day they started operation. When a new, good operator starts up I think the stampede will be monumental, at least by farangs and thinking Thais. I don't know what percentage of subscribers those two groups make up though. Pete

[charlesh]

Yeah and not to mention their dodgy analog broadcastings. If you have a problem and attempt to get a response - mai kao jai khap! They must put things on a loop as the same programs come up regularly at ever increasing intervals.
So much for customer service.
A case of take it or leave it

[pitsch]

4) Sports: not being able to watch the world cup was a disappointment (well you could if you paid them another chunk and bought another black box). Premiership football, golf, tennis and F1 coverage is pretty good though.

But you could see the world cup with Thai comments on the free channels? I think, even if you paid for a HD box you didn't get an english comment.
I have the same problems as you with the repeats and the series. They also repeat the same movies each 2 or 3 years again. And now HBO brings more and more series on their movie channel.
As my internet connection is too slow I have really no alternative.

[stgrhe]

Has anyone tried the Malaysian Astro satellite system? I understand JSAT in Bangkok is handling Astro in Malaysia.

What I have heard is you have two alternative ways of getting the signals, one directly from the satellite, which uses Ku-band, thus subject to disturbance from rail, and via internet in combination with the satellite.

Any info on Astro would be appreciated.