Thoughts on buying expensive TV.
I have had a Sony 26" LED TV since 2011. It is now 14-year-old,
and still absolutely functional. At the time, I bought it in 2011, the most
popular TV technology was LCD. Very few new expensive ones were either LED
(mine) or Plasma TVs. Me, being a tech enthusiast, bought the smallest size of
the than-premium range 26EX420. It even has LAN port built in and an inbuilt
YouTube App. YouTube discontinued support for that App more than 5 years ago. This
was even before Android TV was born. Last few years, it was being used along
with Amazon Fire TV Stick. It needed a paid service repair only once (INR 3500,
aftermarket motherboard replacement) and the panel and sound are still as good
as new.
Fast forward 10 years, LED is commodity. Even the cheapest
of the TVs are LED. 32" is increasingly the minimum size of the TV. As for
Technology, OLED is supposed to be best of them all, followed closely by QLED.
Notice the marketing gimmicks of "Q" vs "O". They look and
sound the same, but are entirely different thing. QLED is more of an
enhancement of old-fashioned LED. The primary strength of OLED is individual
pixel's capability of independently switching ON/OFF. Though, OLED can achieve
only ~60% of peak brightness of QLED.
I have been planning, no wanting, to upgrade the
contemporary TV for 2 years already. Choosing between, LED,
Full-Array-Local-Dimming LED, Micro-LED (not available commercially yet), OLED,
and QLED, I decided OLED is the best of them. Seeing the decade+ life of
existing TV, going with Sony was a no brainer. Sony being among the best known
for excellent picture quality and offering Android Capability, it is a no
brainer I choose to go again with Sony. However, there is one hitch, Sony OLED
range Bravia 8 are really expensive. In 2023, costing around >200k for now
commonplace size of 55". Beyond what I could justify spending with my take
home salary. It remained in my Amazon Wishlist. OLED being new, I expect the
prices to fall down quickly as the production ramped up. Every Amazon Sale, I
kept checking the wish list, alas, QLED has already won the marketing war. Apparently,
OLED TVs stopped getting cheaper. From, my constant tracking, I observed that
prices decrease 10k every 2 months in this price range. So, I never bought one.
2025, Sony upgraded it to Bravia 8 Mark II. Worst of all, the price increased
by ~40k. Oops. Once something newer is available, I can't digest buying older
generation stuff. So back to waiting and waiting and waiting....
Suddenly out of no-where Indian government decided to lower
the GST rate on >32" TVs from 28% to 18%. Just before the Navratra 2025
sale. That's 20k Price reduction in 2 weeks! The Ex-salesperson of the Chroma
store (now working for Reliance Digital) I have been interacting with, called
me personally to inform of the price reduction. As part of Navratra offer, SBI
Credit Card offered another 10k discount! So, I bite the bullet. Even though
people in my family considered it expensive, I bought Bravia8ii from local
chroma store.
It was installed on 27th September 2025. The colors are
awesome. 4k HDR video on You-Tube are surreal. I am loving this new shiny
expensive toy of mine. However, here is this reality kicking in. Has it made me
happier in life? Somewhat. Have I started watching more Television? Not at all.
Kids still get the highest time-slice of TV per day. Am I looking forward to
watching this beautiful TV? Not much. It seems the only good impact on me is
that I have no regret or any sense of compromise, Technology wise. Had I bought
QLED, there would have been a persistent back of mind feeling of not getting
"the-best-one-out-there". That's it. It is quickly becoming "new
normal". Without changing any day-to-day lifestyle.
Actually, I am already missing the "journey", now
that I have reached the destination.
This is making me think hard about my other fantasy
tech-toys. Hint: There are 20+ of them in the "Ram Gadgets" wish
list. Perhaps happiness has nothing to do with physical possessions. One
"lecture" I keep giving to my wife is that the only persistent
happiness in life is "sense of creation and achievement". Art,
Body/Health, Family, Business, Software.... Anything creative is lasting
happiness. Buying TV is definitely not one of them. Buying Jewelry? Ask your
better-half! Apparently buying anything physical, has very short half-life of
happiness. Unless, it has a daily "can't-do-without" level of
utility. This is the feeling I wanted to document in this blog.
My dream PC build, you got to wait a lot longer now!
It is better that I focus on my creative project Mission Vishwakarma 2035. Have more time with Kids and Family. At the end of the day, these physical things are just another "possession". Words for my future self, before these emotional states dissolves itself. Last but not the least, do not fall for the online sale!
-Ram Shanker, 30th September 2025.
