Is INSIGNIA a bad brand for HDTVs?

Question

They are pretty cheap but are they pretty bad?

Answer 1

I work at Best Buy, and while Insignia televisions have a great price points you probably should invest your money into another set.  Insignia is manufactured by LG using last year's parts and technology.  Often times they will not come with a remote or even a power cord, requiring you to take it back to best buy and exchange for a new one.  Just compare the color of a name brand like Sony, Samsung, or LG to an Insignia model, and you will see the quality difference.

Answer 2

That is the Best Buy "house brand".  I've read online that they're considered a third tier brand.  Which basically means you get what u pay for.

I've been researching HDTVs and seems like the ones with the best reviews have been, Panasonic, Sony, Pioneer and Samsung.

Answer 3

They are definitely cheap but whether they are bad or not depends what model of HDTV it is.  Look like although a bigger one may have issues, a smaller one may be OK.  cnet.com does excellent and reputable reviews of consumer electronics.  Here's what they have to say about an Insignia 32" HDTV, and Insignia in general.

"The Best Buy house brand Insignia can be found on some of the cheapest, er, least-expensive HDTVs available anywhere, and judging from the company's terrible NS-PDP42 plasma, you might be tempted to write these sets off entirely. Not so fast, bargain hunter. The 32-inch NS-LCD32 LCD TV fared a lot better in our tests, owing to fine performance for the price and more inputs than anybody expected. If you're looking to save cash on a smaller HDTV, there's no reason not to audition this li'l bargain."

My advice would be to find a model that you are interested and research that one in particular since evidently all Inignia' are made equal.