Sam…wha?

Posted by terri | Filed under digital life, home, shiny

As I had reported earlier, I finally purchased a new TV for my living room. I have to say that I am quite surprised that I went with a Samsung. For as long as I can remember, my household has always been a Sony one whether it be a TV, VCR, or stereo system. And if we didn’t get Sony, we would get Toshiba or Panasonic. If someone had told me years ago that a Samsung TV would be the centerpiece of my living room, I would have thought they were crazy!

They're here!

I can be the first to admit that I never thought highly of Korean products. This was not due to my own personal experience, but I guess in the generation that I grew up, it was always about the Japanese electronics. And then, I dated a guy who, as an American, lived in Korea but had very few nice things to say about Korean made products.  And on top of that, my mom was born in Japan right before World War II, so you can imagine her attitudes toward anything Korean might have very well rubbed off on me.  To make a long story short, I steered clear of Korean-made products despite seeing its growing popularity in the marketplace.

Upon looking for a new TV, I realized Korean and Chinese brands would come up in my search.  That was when I had to remind myself that there was once a time when Japanese products were considered inferior.  I remember this coming to my attention when I saw a sequel of Back to the Future where Doc thought a circuit was faulty because it was made in Japan to which Marty reponds, “What are you talking about? All the best stuff is made in Japan.” It seems that we have to expect that any country can make huge strides over the course of several years, just like those before it.

After checking out all sorts of reviews and specs and then finally checking things out for myself in person, it became a toss up between a Samsung and a Sony Bravia model. I went with the Samsung because it seemed to have more value for the money, and I was namely impressed with its ability to scale standard definition TV. I bought it at the Aiea Best Buy, a place that Hunny and I normally complain about because of their high prices, but I figured since they were selling the Samsung LN40A530 at the retail price and offered a good protection plan for it, they seemed to be the way to go. They also had a deal where I could get a $100 off a Blu-Ray player, so I dove in and got that too. I really got it as a upscaling DVD player especially since Blu-Ray discs are so expensive. Yet of course, out of curiosity, I treated myself to one: Iron Man is indeed a very cool movie!


Iron Man on Blu-Ray

So far, it’s been pretty awesome. I think that ‘housewarming party’ I’ve been itching for might actually be a reality sometime soon. Stay tuned!

Permalink | Comments (1) | Oct 20, 2008

One Response to “Sam…wha?”

  1. kushibo Says:
    November 12th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    Aloha…

    This will sound incredibly lame but I actually dropped by here when I saw your Mii on Loopt. It looked an awful lot like the Mii of someone I knew, though it couldn’t possibly have been the same person. I guess there are a limited number of combos for Miis on Wii.

    Um, anyway. So I dropped by and then I saw the Samsung article. Like your ex who is an American who lived in Korea a long time, I’m a long-time Seoul resident (hence the Korean blog) who bought mostly Korean products. Not all of them are great, but mostly they rock or at least are pretty good. I’ve been driving a Kia for years.

    Um, anyway, enjoy the TV.

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