Best TV brands Supermarket TVs compared
How do own brands fare against the big TV brands?
Supermarkets and high-street stores are stacked with sometimes unfamiliar brands nestling alongside those from Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and LG – and the temptation to bag a bargain has seemingly never been greater.
Why buy a new Panasonic TV for £600 when one that looks almost the same and has similar specifications can be picked up for half the cost?
Which? is the only product reviewer in the UK that regularly tests TVs from retailer own-brands, and we've tested over 25 own-brand TVs in the last two years.
Moreover, as our tests are blind – we conceal the brand names from the expert testing panels – you can be sure that the results aren’t biased against own-brand models or towards big brands. Read our How we test TVs page for more detail.
What are the retailer own-brand TVs?
Argos
Argos stocks TVs 'cheap brand' TVs from Alba and Bush.
- Alba TVs tend to focus on the smaller and cheaper end of the range, with TVs starting at 16-inches and stopping at 32-inches. No Alba TV costs more than £300.
- Bush TVs range in price and size between 19-inches at £120 to 50-inches and over £1,000. Unlike Alba, whose TVs are exclusively LCD or LED TVs, Bush makes some plasma TVs. Neither range is exclusive to Argos. Some products are stocked in Homebase – both retailers are owned by Home Retail Group.
Asda
Asda's own-brand TVs are called Luxor. Its range starts at 16-inches and increases to 42-inches. The Luxor name is also used for own-brand PVRs and set-top boxes.
Comet
Comet doesn't have a single 'own-brand', instead it sells a large range of 'cheap brand' TVs. Most prominent among them are Goodmans and Ferguson. Others include Orion, Venturer and Kenmark. All exclusively stock LCD TVs.
Currys, Dixons and PC World (Dixons Store Group)
Curry's main own-brand TV range is called Logik. It produces TVs between 19- and 40-inches in size. Other brands include Essentials, for very small TVs, and Digihome.
John Lewis
John Lewis sells a small number of TVs under its own well-known name, though it also stocks the little-known brand Luxor on its shelves.
Marks & Spencer's
Surprisingly, even M&S has entered the cheap-TV fray, selling M&S-branded TVs in a limited size range.
Tesco
Tesco’s own-brand, Technika, covers a wide range of audio visual equipment including TVs, DAB radios and set top boxes. Technika has quite a large range of TVs that starts at 15.4-inches and ends at 42-inches. All its TVs are LCD or LED TVs, and none cost more than £500. Read our Technika TV reviews to find out how they perform.
Sainsbury's
Sainbury's own-brand TVs are called Emotion. Most of its TVs are LCDs, though it does sell LED TVs as well. A key feature of its TVs is USB pause and record, though you can't record and watch TV at the same time. Some Technika TVs also have this feature.
Own-brand and big brand TVs compared
To ensure we test the widest possible range of TVs, we test the most popular own-brand TVs and compare them against each other and TVs from the major brands. Members can see below how the own-brand TVs compare in the table below. To see the results, log-in or try Which? today for just £1.
| How own-brand TVs stack up on average | |
|---|---|
| Type of TV | Average score |
| Best Buy TVs score |  |
| Big-brand TVs average score | |
| Own-brand TVs average score | |
