If anyone could advise, I would be very grateful.

I recently bought a Toshiba 40LV 40" HDR 1080p LCD TV with built in Freeview

I got it from Tesco Direct (online), the exact model no. & description from Tesco Direct is in italics above, if this helps someone who knows about TVs identify it.

Price - £499

I am asking because I always thought Toshiba was a good make but have recently read on this forum quite a few mentions of Toshiba buying cheap TVs that are really 'Vestel' brand but rebadged by Toshiba, I guess I am a bit concerned about this, hence my asking.

At one time all sets below 32 were Vestel or Beko, above 32 were Toshiba - 32's were possibly either. According to reports on here Toshiba have now reverted to making more of their own sets, but I can't confirm that - like much of the trade we stopped taking Toshiba TV's as we lost all confidence in them.

Don't worry the 40LV comes from the Toshiba production lines, it their entry level 1080p range, stripped of a few connections, resolution plus, and FreeviewHD tuner. worry not.

thank you very much Yam, your reply is much appreciated, I'm glad to hear this as I really dont want some God awful cheap unknown brand simply re-badged.

Could anyone advise on this model?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-37RV.../dp/B001TUYQ50

I am very happy with it, even if it is a Vestel, I find the picture quality through HDMI to be excellent and don't really use the Freeview aspect very much.

Don't worry it's a proper Tosh, at launch (April'ish) it was more or less a Tesco exclusive model, but now it's available from all Toshiba main dealers.

hi, are toshibas still rebadging vestels in 2013? i'd like to know about this model "Toshiba 39L4353DB LED HD 1080p Smart TV, WiDi, 39" with Freeview HD" (john lewis)... spec is here:

http://www.toshiba.co.uk/television/...h-freeview-hd/

thanks.

They are still selling small Vestel sets, no idea on larger sets - we stopped selling Toshiba years ago when they started selling mostly cheap badged gear and their service quality plummeted.

The smaller sets are still Vestel, yes. One of my neighbours bought a 32inch Toshiba last month for their bedroom, and the menus and EPG are decidedly Vestel, with some minor changes.

But they also bought a 47inch Toshiba for their livingroom, and that doesn't appear to be Vestel. It is vastly superior in picture quality, the menu system is completely different and the EPG is Toshiba's rather messy one that squeezes too many channels into the guide.

Not sure about the 39inch model though, as it's probably right in the middle of where they change over. Can you download the manual?. That might give you an idea if it has diagrams of the EPG.

i found the manual online here:

http://www.toshiba-om.net/LCD/PDF/En...h-Specific.pdf

not sure what to look for though? (picture of EPG on page 67, is it "vestelly"?).

No it's not Vestel, but this is:
http://mos.techradar.com/art/televis...EPG-420-90.jpg

That's the EPG Toshiba developed themselves (although it is quite heavily cluttered).

I wouldn't worry about it. My parents have a 27" Wharfedale TV that is supposedly a rebadged Vestel, yet the picture quality astounds me every time I see it. The natural colour and clarity is something I can't possibly match on my Toshiba Regza. You would honestly think that even the regular BBC programmes are in HD and you can even see the screen at an acute angle.

I hate to say this, but I have it under good authority that the model you describe is actually a rebadged Dixons "Saisho" model from the 1980s.

I hope this doesn't spoil your enjoyment too much.

I remember that they were sued for claiming that Saisho was Japanese. A bit like inferring Sandstrom is German.

Same with Matsui and Logik

Saisho etc. aren't any nationality (or if anything, British) as they are purely badges, not any kind of manufacturer.

I've been trying to remember who made the set in the picture, but I'm damned if I can remember

From what I can remember they weren't bad sets though, no matter what the badge on the front - and I repaired a lot of different named identical sets.

I'm just wondering if those were made by Hinari?, or was that a different set?.

Apparently it was the Matsui (*) brand that got them into trouble in the late 80s, and that was partly because the slogan *explicitly* associated it with Japan ("Japanese Technology Made Perfect").

As for Sandstrom, the name's apparently Swedish and the link above states that Dixons claim it's "Inspired by Scandinavian design [and] designed to combine aesthetics with performance".

You'll note they don't actually *say* the products are Swedish (I'm assuming they're mass produced in China or South East Asia like everything else) nor even that they're actually *designed* in Scandinavia. What they say- using the adman's current favourite weasel phrase- is that it's "inspired by Scandinavian design".


I bought a £99 "hifi" from Dixons' sister Matsui brand (exactly like this one) in the late 80s, and used it regularly for almost 12 years. Still worked reasonably when I gave it away circa 2005.

Yeah, it was a cheapass music system, and never remotely audiophile (nor realistically "Hi-Fi"!), but by the standards of the price point at the time, it was acceptable, so I can't criticise Matsui on that count.

Despite the cod-Japanese name, though, it was actually made in Turkey.

(*) Matsui was originally meant to be Currys' own-brand, and Saisho was Dixons', though both stores shared the same parent and Matsui ended up as both stores' brand.

As it's just a badge it could be any make, and made anywhere, with no two products made by the same company.


We never distinguished between them, as far as the trade were concerned they were the same company

Has anyone come up with a Chinese sounding brand... for stuff made in the UK?

To disguise it's origin of course.

/cynical

------------
I wonder if they have £1 shops in China full of British made tat? Not £1 shops of course, it would have to be ¥150 shops... full of British made tat.

Like ASDA Basics curry, or ALDI Liquiroice Allsorts or DVDs of Steve Coogan Live!

Yes, I'm well aware of that. Pretty much the same applies to (e.g.) Tesco's "Technika" brand today, for example.

The fact remains that Dixons clearly chose the name to give the *impression* that Matsui's products were Japanese... and, er... this wasn't. To be fair, I don't personally recall thinking it *was* Japanese when I bought it, nor caring where it was made at all.

Interestingly, when I later noticed (that it was made in Turkey) I considered this quite unusual. Turkey wasn't a country- or even in a part of the world- I'd have associated with electronics back then.

Nowadays, of course, Turkey is a major manufacturer of consumer electronics and white goods, and it's been a massive economic success for them.

It's still nowhere near Japan, though.

Interestingly, one of Dixon's earlier pseudo-brands, the European-sounding "Prinz" was apparently used on cameras that *were* built in Japan! That was back in the 1950s when Japanese goods were still perceived as cheap and low-quality, though.


I don't even think it was that big a secret; even as a 13-year-old buying that cheap music system I knew this.

I even vaguely remember Dixons had a Saisho system that- apart from the cosmetic difference of a different printed design on the fascia- was clearly related if not identical to the Matsui one I ended up buying.

The 80s was famous for the Polly Peck scandal. This conglomerate collapsed in a corporate scandal in 1991 with founder Asil Nadir fleeing to Northern Cyprus. At the time of its collapse it owned the Sansui brand name, Russell Hobbs and also a thriving Turkish electronics manufacturer; Vestel.
Nadir returned to the UK three years ago and was jailed last year.

I don't think China has those tat shops yet and I'm sure ALDI is German. But it does have its own Tower Bridge!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-landmark.html

There is plenty of tat on sale in China, but it is all their own tat.¥150 by the way is over £15!!

Apparently Vestel started in 1984, so they hadn't been going long at that point. And my comment was as much about perception- even if Turkey was up-and-running by then, it wasn't really well known in Britain as an electricals manufacturer.

Even today, I wonder if the man on the street realises how big Turkey is in electronics and white goods.

Would not have thought so - I think they would expect everything to come from China except expensive electronics that they would think are Japanese.