No, mine is an LCD46XBR2 ($3000.00) and it is 8 years old and still looks great although I did have to make some adjustments to keep it 100%.
JJK

All I can tell you is that Consumer Reports thinks extended warranties are a great idea--for the vendor. I can back that up from my days as an Apple sales exec to the Fortune 1000. "AppleCare" was a cash cow for the company; I figured that for every $1 in premium, Apple paid out about $0.25.

Still, some people like the insurance.

Thanks everyone of you. I'm always inclined to decline the offer but in buying my first LED TV I though "maybe, I should". My last big screen Toshiba lasted 20+ years. Maybe I'll get lucky with this Sony KDL60R550A.

on my 3rd bravia - never had a problem with any of them - well, other than them being GREATLY superseded in 3 year cycle.

a. extended warranties are great for the vendor

b. if there's going to be a problem it should show up in the first year usually

c. i always buy the discounted last years model - usually (with shopping around) about half price, or max 3/4.

my latest is wifi and smarter than me - which isn't saying a great deal ;-)*

that said, it still show's the same boring, mundane broadcast junk the last one did, and i think it's EXACTLY the same junk....

". If you paid $1500 for a television would you spend another $240 for a complete 5 year extension warranty covering every thing including the need for replacement If the worst should happen"

Was never a big believer in extended warranties. I don't buy them and have yet to be disappointing that I didn't. That being said, I have a 60" Sony bravia 3D tv and for the money I paid for it, it SHOULD be able to keep proper time without it resetting itself at every fleeting moment.

I used to like Sony electronics. Not sure about that anymore.

I would not spend $240 for a extended warranty. If I needed a TV I would check out Costco and here's why.
All TVs at Costco come with a two year warranty at no extra cost.

TVs costing Over $1,000 you can add an extra 3 Years for $89.99

Costco gives two years at no charge Plus 3 Years Extended Protection by SquareTrade = 5 Years Total
all for $89.99 extra. Item #575686

http://www.costco.com/3-Years-(For-TVs-Over-%241%2c000).product.11680336.html

Plus Costco has a 90 day return policy no questions asked.

Jerry K

I have a Sony Bravia XBR KDL-52XBR4 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
that I purchased in January of 2008 from Amazon for $3200. I rolled the dice and didn't purchase the extended warranty. So far so good as I've had no issues and the TV is still performance beautifully. Although the superb black levels of the new local dimming models are tempting...

my latest is wifi and smarter than me - which isn't saying a great deal ;-)*

Yeah, I've got one of those, but I am gradually creeping up on it, I plan to launch a full takeover later this year.

Yours is probably like mine in that it has the ability for automatically downloading new firmware. Wish it would though, I lodged a complaint about the fact that you have to switch through all the channels in order to populate the program guide. I have two other Panasonics in the house that do not need to do this.

Rob Franks, mine is also a 60" 3D set, and was totally screwed up on its time zone, but a firmware fix finally got it right.

>that said, it still show's the same boring, mundane broadcast junk the last one did, and i think it's EXACTLY the same junk....

I put a Chromecast in one of the HDMI ports of mine. Since then, the content has markedly improved.

Your TV has a program guide?

mine, yes - though some commercial channels don't always update their pages on time, or simple show 'no info available'.

My LG Plasma TV developed a spurious vertical line after about 4 1/2 years. By 5 years it had developed to 8 lines. A five year warrantee would have just saved me, but I don't believe extended warrantees are normally good value. I didn't get one with my new TV, a Sony.

"you have to switch through all the channels in order to populate the program guide"

I just turned on my Sony TV and pressed the Guide button straight away. It told me to "Please Wait". After several seconds, it responded with the fully populated guide.

My LG Recorder/BD player combo usually responds initially by only showing the guide for the selected channel. If you step to another channel and select it, that channel soon gets populated. Eventually all channels do as well.

My Sony set will sit there saying 'No Information Available' on all 18 or so channels (I have edited the list to clear out the shopping channels and other rubbish) until you actually tune each channel, then you get the guide for that channel. The set is less than 6 months old.

I also have a Panasonic 32" set and a Panasonic DVD/Bluray/PVR, only bought a couple of weeks ago, and it automatically populates the guide without any action required on my part.

"Rob Franks, mine is also a 60" 3D set, and was totally screwed up on its time zone, but a firmware fix finally got it right."

It's not really that important to me. We use the Sony Bravia pretty much as a monitor anyway. We don't really use any of the "smart" features. The silly thing even has face recognition, which I have found a pain and turned off.

All of our HDMI switching is done through our home theater receiver. All of the youtube, flicker, and other internet related stuff is done through our media streamers (Mede8er and boxee box). All of our tv channels are coming through the cable box... etc

IMO, these "smart" tv's are actually pretty dumb and restrictive when compared to the more specific devices designed for the job. The media streamers play ANY file type thrown at them (avi, m2ts, mov, mkv, iso, (BD and DVD)... etc). It automatically downloads movie and cover info as well. It also connects all hard drives on the LAN to the tv. The home video receiver handles ANY audio thrown at it without downmixing (and that includes such things as dts hd ma). The cable box includes a pretty detailed TV guide, along with a PVR feature. All the remotes are programmed down into one (the logitech harmony)

What I would deem a "smart" TV these days is a large, simple monitor style panel with a single hdmi connect on the back. "Smart" because the price would be cheaper and would not include a bunch of stuff that never gets used.

Oh... and my expensive "smart" Sony Bravia for whatever reason refuses to update via internet too.

I wouldn't waste the money on an extended warranty. One certainly wouldn't cover the problem I have with my Bravia which all down to buggy software that Sony won't update...

- My set was advertised as being Freeview HD compatible, but does not fully support the specification.

- After turning on and tuning in to a channel for the first time, it takes at least 30 seconds before I can use any other function.

- Random restarts that seem to be related to changing channels.

If an extended warranty would cover those things, then I might have considered it.

If you must have a sony tv then you must get the extended warranty.

Personally, it would have to be absolute zero in hell before I bought another sony tv. Even then I would get a better tv for cheaper and not have to worry about extended warranties or having to dispose of their junk. Disposal that would be far too soon than should be necessary.

Just to make life a bit more complicated for the OP, I visited Costco during lunch today with a friend who was looking at a Samsung 50" TV. The Costco TV guy said the LG was a steal at $799 or the bigger brother (55") for $899. These are LCD sets with LED lighting.

He also said the LG had very few returns and came with a real internet browser, so you could surf the web and retrieve email, not just play Netflix and such. I don't have a smart TV so I may have misunderstood some of what he said, but I gathered that smart TVs are not all equally smart.

I haven't had good experience with LG. My plasma TV developed vertical lines much sooner than I expected. I recently took my recorder/BD player combo back for repairs under warrantee (they replaced the main circuit board). I hope it stays fixed: only time will tell.

Your TV has a program guide?

Over the air digital TV *does* have program info included in the stream. At home we have cable, but when camping our little 14" LED HD TV (using an antenna) shows the name of the current show, a description of the current show, and a line up of other shows coming on later on that channel.

Extended warranties must be priced to make a profit for the manufacturer. They carefully price them based on their expected MTBF.

One way to judge comparative reliability between brands and models is to compare their prices for the extended warranty. The lower the price, the higher the manufacturer thinks the reliability is.

So, find a model you like with the lowest cost extended warranty and buy that, but not the warranty. Sometimes you will lose but on the average you will win.

This is based on my 30 years experience in hardware engineering and being part of the warranty pricing calculations.

rocky

Typically, extended warranties have nothing to do with the manufacturer and they don't see a dime, it is a third-party insurance company that is selling the coverage.