I asked on Ask Metafilter where I can find a good review site for TVs. Nobody has come up with a great answer yet.
I think this is a real problem with review sites these days. I’m getting fed up with the choice of information they do or don’t provide, and the quality of the information that they offer. For example, nearly every site seems to value the consumer review. Why?
Consumers are a picky lot. I have been a technology advocate for may of my friends. They’ll ask me what hardware I like for a specific function, and I tell them. But I’ve learned to add that tag line on the end: “That’s what I would do, which is not necessarily the best for you.” Often I’ll tell them what would work for them, if I know, which I often don’t because I’m not shopping for them. Likewise, there are two problems with sites that provide only consumer-based reviews.
First, I have no idea of the technical knowledge of the reviewer. If the reviewer is a 70-year-old book author, she might really enjoy her TV, but when it comes down to actual performance, it might really stink.
Second, most consumer reviews are typically “I liked X, I didn’t like Y, you should [not] buy this.” They don’t detail the item itself so I can make my own determinations or search for answers in the review. So if I wanted to know how many HDMI inputs a particular HDTV provided, I’d usually be at a loss with consumer-only review sites. Finding specs for a class of electronics from differenct manufacturers is a pain.
So consumer-only review sites aren’t complete. What else?
I’ve tried out Consumer Reports, CNet, and similar review places. These guys presumably get their hands on a device, run some tests, and post a review. The trick is that for whatever reason, they never give enough technical detail.
For example, there is a glaring missing detail from the Consumer Reports reviews of HDTVs: True resolution. The reviews - neither in the comparison chart or the individual review pages - do not show whether a set supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, or whatever other resoulutions are available. What use is a comparison site that does not provide this basic information?
Another problem with the commercial review sites is that they tend not to review as many products as they might. Consumer Reports only reviewed a handful of HDTV sets, and many of the reviews are a year old. They do not review Sony’s newer SRX set, for example, which I saw at Circuit City over the weekend.
Another class of reviewer is the prosumer review site, like the recommended AVS Forum site.
I’m not sure why web-browsing prosumers get all excited about sites like these. Granted, the information may be there. You’re going to get a lot more information than the other sites from people who know what they are talking about and love to talk about it. However, if you’re a regular consumer trying to become educated enough to make the best buying decision, you will never find what you’re looking for in the dense jungle of technical jargon and clique-speak of sites like these.
The worst part is that in spite of the rest of the web having figured out how to produce well-formatted and organized review sites, these prosumer sites seem to all run forum software that is not designed with the intention of finding that information. If I want to compare set features, how does a forum help? If I want to get specs for a specific set, is there a forum topic for that, or do I search, or do I post a new question?
I don’t know about AVS Forum in particular, but typically these environments are hostile to people that aren’t already part of their group. Asking newbie questions among these people would likely result in a hostile response or no response at all.
In general, I’m unsatisfied with the classification of electronics on every site I’ve tried. The reason is because I’m looking for a “big high-definition TV”. I’m not necessarily looking specifically for a plasma or DLP TV, just a big one. I will weigh the decision using what I know about plasma versus DLP, but it’s not a primary deciding factor — I’m not omitting all DLP screens because I want a plasma, or vice-versa.
Essentially I want a big (like 45″ to 55″) flat screen that can display 1080p at 1080p resolution and has HDMI and composite inputs. I don’t want speakers. I don’t need a cable-card slot.
So where do I get good reviews? Where is the best review site? What the heck?
