Author Topic: 55" COBY LED TV with 120Hz and built-in media player for P44K: Yes or no? (Read 8693 times)

Prometheus75 · « **on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 12:13 PM »

I came across this 55" COBY LED TV, model LED5536T, at an Ace Hardware outlet this past weekend. It has a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5ms response time, a built-in media player and is being sold for the astoundingly low price of P49,999. I must admit, that tag price got me a wee bit interested.

According to wikipedia, Coby, aside from manufacturing its own products, also serves as an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) for other brands including Samsung, NEC, Daewoo, and Hyundai. Because of this, I'd personally place Coby here in the country above cd-r king and KTC, which are pretty much just slapped on brands onto otherwise generic sets from China. From what little I know of it from the web, Coby is more or less on the same playing field in the US as Vizio, RCA, and other low-price brands that are usually tied to an exclusive warehouse distributor or two (ex. Costco, Best Buy, etc.). Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this, though.

Am not familiar yet with the local carrier of Coby, so I'm still in the dark as to the after-sales support.

So now guys, what's your take on Coby, as well as the other low-tier flatscreen brands like Changhong, Haier/Sanyo, Hyundai, etc. that are available locally? I know *P50K* is still P50K, but given the screen size and features of the LED5536T, do you think it's a gambit worth taking, at least for a secondary TV (mostly for gaming)?

Carlo777 · « **Reply #1 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 12:25 PM »

I've seen some TVs along with this particular model, looks nice! The specs on paper are also very good! 120Hz for those fast movies and a 5ms pixel response time which is quite fast, major brands like Toshiba struggle beyond 9ms for anything above 40 inches (a little bad for gaming).

The only thing holding me back is the actual "build quality" of Coby...It's a coin tosser now but at 50k? For 55 inches? Tempting indeed.

Oh and do check the actual "input" response time since you'd use it for gaming.

Chimei is a good panel for gaming, we opened one of those "vewlix" type arcade cabinets used for SF4 and Tekken 6, lo and behold a Chimei panel!

Philander · « **Reply #2 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 12:36 PM »

For Php 50K, I'd rather choose Panasonic P50X50 (less than 40K), may sukli pa ako.
Next one is Samsung 51E450 (less than 40K) or better yet the E550 (less than 60K)

Btw, they are all PLASMA

Carlo777 · « **Reply #3 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 12:39 PM »

Quote from: Philander on Oct 10, 2012 at 12:36 PM

For Php 50K, I'd rather choose Panasonic P50X50, may sukli pa ako.
Next one is Samsung 51D450

Btw, they are both PLASMA

Also true...Plasma has virtually no issues with pixel response time kaya ayos sa gaming=)

AC · « **Reply #4 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 12:46 PM »

ito pong tv coby 55.. nakita ko sa basement ng shangrila mall... 43k yata.. parang 6 months to pay..
tinanong ko kung cash.. pareho lang e.

Prometheus75 · « **Reply #5 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 12:55 PM »

Quote from: Philander on Oct 10, 2012 at 12:36 PM

For Php 50K, I'd rather choose Panasonic P50X50 (less than 40K), may sukli pa ako.
Next one is Samsung 51E450 (less than 40K) or better yet the E550 (less than 60K)

Btw, they are all PLASMA

I've read how manufacturers have long since reduced (not eliminated) the image retention problems in plasma sets. But given that we would probably use this for gaming a good 70%-80% of the time, I'd be much comfortable with an LCD/LED still.

Are there other LCD/LED brands going for around the same price at 55"?

anya618 · « **Reply #6 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 01:07 PM »

Quote from: AC on Oct 10, 2012 at 12:46 PM

ito pong tv coby 55.. nakita ko sa basement ng shangrila mall... 43k yata.. parang 6 months to pay..
tinanong ko kung cash.. pareho lang e.

lalong naging tempting

Philander · « **Reply #7 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 01:14 PM »

Quote from: Prometheus75 on Oct 10, 2012 at 12:55 PM

I've read how manufacturers have long since reduced (not eliminated) the image retention problems in plasma sets. But given that we would probably use this for gaming a good 70%-80% of the time, I'd be much comfortable with an LCD/LED still.

Are there other LCD/LED brands going for around the same price at 55"?

The technology today with regard to reducing image retention with Plasma (thanks to pixel orbiter), they already mastered it. Yes it is still visible with prolonged viewing of a still image (or video), you just need to use the build in vertical/horizontal scroll bar function to eliminate the retained image.

anya618 · « **Reply #8 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 01:32 PM »

Quote from: Prometheus75 on Oct 10, 2012 at 01:32 PM

Oo nga. Pag 'yan eh tumapak na ng P40K, diretso Ace Hardware na ako, LOL

kung 6 months to pay lalabas 7167pesos for 6 months

Prometheus75 · « **Reply #9 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 01:39 PM »

^
Bad influence ka, sir!

anya618 · « **Reply #10 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 01:42 PM »

Quote from: Prometheus75 on Oct 10, 2012 at 01:39 PM

^
Bad influence ka, sir!

gatungan ko na rin, me points ka pa sa credit card

AC · « **Reply #11 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 02:30 PM »

paswipe niyo po multiple times.. madami pong free meals yun from mcdo:D hehe

naalala ko na shop name.. its The Electronics Boutique
call them nalang po to check prices
http://www.ebonline.com.ph/
http://www.localdirect.com.ph/localdirect/resource/otheroffice/10026/266

ako pro led parin
yes.. in doubt parin ako sa reliability ng coby dahil hindi pa sikat
pero may 1 year warranty naman.. @43t.. not too bad..
i have seen actual unit.. it doesnt look cheap.. naman.. hindi lang nga kilala ang brandname

anya618 · « **Reply #12 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 02:31 PM »

Quote from: AC on Oct 10, 2012 at 02:30 PM

paswipe niyo po multiple times.. madami pong free meals yun from mcdo:D hehe

naalala ko na shop name.. its The Electronics Boutique
call them nalang po to check prices
http://www.ebonline.com.ph/
http://www.localdirect.com.ph/localdirect/resource/otheroffice/10026/266

ako pro led parin
yes.. in doubt parin ako sa reliability ng coby dahil hindi pa sikat
pero may 1 year warranty naman.. @43t.. not too bad..
i have seen actual unit.. it doesnt look cheap.. naman.. hindi lang nga kilala ang brandname

pwede ba paswipe multiple times if 6 months installment?

AC · « **Reply #13 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 02:35 PM »

hehe honestly.. i dont know:D hehe baka lang mas gumanda pakingan.. madami freebies:D hehe jk

anya618 · « **Reply #14 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 02:37 PM »

Quote from: AC on Oct 10, 2012 at 02:35 PM

hehe honestly.. i dont know:D hehe baka lang mas gumanda pakingan.. madami freebies:D hehe jk

pag metrobank card me free mcdo
pag bpi card me libreng:

Quote

Choice of any Three (3) Lauriats (Orange Chicken, Shanghai Lumpia or Breaded Fish) + Three (3) Chinese Sausage Chow Pao OR
Choice of any Four (4) Chef Bowl (Oriental Beef, Fish Tausi Bowl) + Four (4) Chinese Sausage Chow Pao

https://www.mybpimag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1005&Itemid=1169

Clondalkin · « **Reply #15 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 02:54 PM »

10 You're gonna spend 50K for a TV called COBY?
20 Goto 10

AC · « **Reply #16 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 05:31 PM »

its 55"
imho i was also tempted to buy coby when i saw it on display..

@43k.. its less than half the price of branded led tvs..

i have Mag and AOC televisions... not branded but.. wala naman ako nakikita difference nito sa LG at toshiba namin sa house.. same lang po..

being branded... maaaring asahan natin mas tatagal buhay nito.. but hindi din po maguguaranty na mas mahaba buhay ng generic sa branded..

i have friends na bumili ng samsung plasma 50... madami po nagka problema.. yung isa buti nasira 1 week bago mag 1 year.. kung hindi goodbye nadin siguro yun..
tv now a days are disposable... and mabilis po may bagong model na lalabas na.. unlike noon.. naalala ko sony tv namin when i was 5 years old.. nasa bahay pa namin until when i was 20..

may nagkwento po sakin(nalimot ko na exact amount.. but kwento ko nalang estimates).. bumili siya tv.. i forgot the brand... but
50" daw 1st tv niya parang bili niya was 300t...
then after ilan years nasira... repair daw quoted was sa repair was 80k so he got bnew 50inch uli at 100k
then after ilan years uli.. nasira repair cost was 30k so he got a new tv for 50k
all tvs he bought were branded.. nalimot ko na.. parang may samsung may lg

kaya for me.. if hindi brandconcious.. panalo po coby..

Prometheus75 · « **Reply #17 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 06:15 PM »

If only there were some decent, professional reviews on the net about this model, kaso wala eh

Leap of faith na lang talaga 'pag binili.

mattia · « **Reply #18 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 06:20 PM »

Nope.

Why not try AVISION? I read very good reviews about this brand and it's a lot cheaper. Or Changhong LED 55". I saw this and was impressed. Not sure about the price though. 6 months ago, my friend bought one for about P69K. Baka mas mura ngayon.

But if you're gonna spend P50,000 go for the branded ones like LG, Samsung. I know there are good deals out there.

Prometheus75 · « **Reply #19 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 06:25 PM »

^
Yup, I have heard good things about Avision, even from our trusted resellers here at PDVD. Does it have a 55 incher too? Kasi if I were to base my guesstimate on the fact that the 32" models of Coby and Avision are toe-to-toe in terms of pricing, baka hindi rin nagkakalayo ang presyo ng larger panels nila.

mattia · « **Reply #20 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 06:36 PM »

Quote from: Prometheus75 on Oct 10, 2012 at 06:25 PM

^
Yup, I have heard good things about Avision, even from our trusted resellers here at PDVD. Does it have a 55 incher too? Kasi if I were to base my guesstimate on the fact that the 32" models of Coby and Avision are toe-to-toe in terms of pricing, baka hindi rin nagkakalayo ang presyo ng larger panels nila.

Avision's biggest size LED here is 46" only. Sa China pa lang may available na 50" or bigger.

How about a Panasonic Plasma? Compared to LED, Plasma is better in terms of BD viewing, DVD and cable. If you want a Panasonic Full HD 3D Plasma, then just add P9,000 and you will be able to get a 50" beauty. Kung hindi naman 3D pero full HD na rin na Plasma 50" mga P47,000.

Philander · « **Reply #21 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 06:56 PM »

One major thing to consider is th after sales and service support. Pag nagkaproblem ang unit mo after six months anong habol mo sa kanila? Pag after 1 year, makakasiguro ka ba sa availability ng parts nila.

So say nasira ang panel after a year and panel replacement will cost 30k, are you still willing to take risk?

juanch · « **Reply #22 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 07:18 PM »

Hey guys, my grandmother has this 55" Coby LED bought from Electronics Boutique in the basement of Robinsons Galleria. I haven't spent much time with it since she pretty much watches news and telenovelas and koreanovelas the whole day.

She has had it since February and so far in terms of durability, so good.

Here are my observations of this unit.

(Picture Quality)

Initial impressions is that the colors are way off even after turning off the torch mode. The Reds are just far too strong which introduces an orange tinge on skin tones.
I did try to calibrate the set a bit with some of my calibration DVD's though I'm sure my settings are far from professional standards.

I did test some DVD's and BD's on it.

DVD performance I must say is sub-par. I used my Toshiba HD-A20 HD-DVD player to upscale the picture. Blacks are dull, general picture is noisy and picture is flat.

BD performance using my Ps3 fares much better as expected, but I did notice a little over sharpening of the image on the standard settings and I found posterization which introduces artifacts to the overall image.

(Sound Quality)

Tinny, small, uninspiring. Make sure you pair a good sound system with this screen.

(Likes)
- Runs quite cool
- low power consumption (will check the rating tomorrow)
- Sleek build and modern design
- Bright TV made for Bright rooms.
- Decent BD performance after some calibration

(No Likes)
- dull blacks
- flat DVD image
- posterization
- Very slow remote response

(Conclusion)

My review so far sounds discouraging but do not let this stop you from making your own decision.
The bright LED backlit LCD screen is admirable in bright rooms like the showroom floor. So if you're going to use this in your living room with big windws then I would suggest this set.
My lola is happy because she gets to see her Koreanovelas in glorious 55'' so I am happy for her. Also she feels like it was a bargain so in the end I am happy for her.

For my personal use, I'd skip this one and get one of the Panny Plasmas.

(I will update this post with some pictures tomorrow hopefully)

TAKE NOTE: This is not my TV so I do not have an extended observation of this TV. If it were mine then I could give a more substantial observation. So for now this impression is based on the few times I've viewed this unit.

mattia · « **Reply #23 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 07:45 PM »

You just confirmed what my friend and fellow pdvd member told me, "Pangit ang kulay ng Coby." So there.

Prometheus75 · « **Reply #24 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 09:57 PM »

Saw this earlier at the Electroniques Boutique outlet at Park Square 1. Price is indeed P5K or P6K lower than Ace Hardware's... depending on which one of the two conflicting price tags is the real one, LOL.

Am not dead set yet on buying this one; heck, I wasn't even in the market for a secondary TV, up until i stumbled on the display unit at Ace Hardware and saw the price (and I was just there to buy a replacement bulb. Dammit

).

If and when I do decide to make the purchase - be it this one or some other budget-priced brand/model - the set will be used almost exclusively for gaming in the upstairs bedroom that the household (i.e. me) is thinking of converting into a gaming room later this year. And with 3 tykes prone to playing themselves to sleep in front of the TV up until a grownup walks into the room and turns the appliances off, a plasma, i think, is just as scary a prospect in this setup, what with its image retention problems and all.

Agree with juanch's review as I too found the display washed out and not ideal for movie viewing, though with its intended use for videogaming, the latter's oversaturated, cartoonish colors may be expected to make this flaw less noticeable.

And ugh, the pixelation/artefacts during fast scenes were the pits. To be fair though, our current 47" LG LE7500 (the one relegated for viewing purposes) only fares a little better in this arena, but still not enough for us to keep its TruMotion feature on.

Update: Passed by Ansons-Makati as well on my way to Electronics Boutique, and found a 46" LED from TCL (which, along with Devant, I find to have the better displays among the second-tier brands in the market) going for P40K cash. The sales guy said they'll be coming out with the 50" and 55" varieties come 3rd week of this month. If the price doesn't deviate too much from P50K, I just *might* consider that one instead.

AC · « **Reply #25 on:** Oct 10, 2012 at 10:44 PM »

sir tcl is a worldwide brand.. ang changchong.. hehe
popular po yan sa ibang bansa...

yung devant... generic lang po na labeled.. napansin ko po sa devant bumubula yung action on fast scenes.. parang lumalabo.. pero pinaka mapilit talaga yung ahente ng devant..

tumitingin ako noon ng samsung.. nageentertain pa yun ng mga tumitingin ng ibang brand para dalhin yung tao sa devant side.. hehe....

nung time na yun.. uso yung LG na isang model.. nalimot ko what model.. tapos hinahanap ko yung sales rep ng... LG.. nabwisit nako nung imbis na ituro niya kung nasaan sales rep ng lg... binibida niya parin yung devant..

DonMiguel85 · « **Reply #26 on:** Oct 12, 2012 at 04:18 AM »

I noticed many of these budget brands (Avision, Devant, Changhong, Ganzklar, etc) often seem to use panels rated A-, B or lower. There are often at least one or two dead/stuck pixels, plus poorly applied backlights and substandard polarization filters leading to terrible black levels. I'm guessing they use panels rejected by the likes of Samsung, LG and Sony. Another thing they also have in common with cheap off-brand DVD players is sluggish remote response - you really have to aim the remote directly at the IR receiver and even then menu navigation is often a pain.

pekspert · « **Reply #27 on:** Oct 12, 2012 at 07:51 AM »

as they say "you get what you paid for"

this tv is similar to those horrible cdrking lcd's. Most likely same manufacturer.

klpangan · « **Reply #28 on:** Dec 15, 2012 at 08:33 PM »

up ko lang po... any update??? planning to buy 50-55" lcd or led na nasa 45php below.... meron po ba?

Macmon · « **Reply #29 on:** Dec 15, 2012 at 11:04 PM »

For a 40 to 50T price tag. I would go for a Name brand. Less than 20T, I would consider the not primary brands and still with reservations. But that is on my personal taste.