We see the THX logo appearing less and less on products in recent years, but for many consumers the THX certificate is still an important part of the purchasing decision. After all, it says something to many about the quality of a product. THX has now launched a new rating system to give consumers an even better idea of products that offer the best value for money. However, this rating system seems rather controversial.
THX Standard
THX has been assessing products for years on various components and has developed specific THX certificates for different product groups. This year, the company is launching a new certificate called THX Standard. With this standard, popular products in the field of audio and video are judged on the basis of a large number of tests to give consumers impartial advice.
That sounds like a nice initiative, of course, but the first results make it more controversial. certificate. On the website of the company we see the first certificates back, which for now are only distributed to 2017 televisions. Now we can still get there because THX Standard has just been launched, but when we look at the scores that specific products get we start to doubt the value of the certificate.
For example, the Sony KD-55XE9005 has the highest score got 73 points, while the LG OLED55B7 oled tv scores 70 points lower. And that while oled really has a more advanced pixel control. Now both TVs are of course models that offer great value for money, but it is striking that this Sony LCD TV scores higher than the OL OLED TV, especially since THX indicates the price is not included in the score. [19659004] Another striking result is that the Samsung Q7 series gets a score of only 45 points, which is even lower than budget gears from smaller brands. And from this we can get an important aspect of the THX Standard score. THX tests the televisions especially in situations with low ambient light. That is precisely the situation in which OLED throws higher eyes than LCD, and the situation where Samsung is often not the best to come forward. However, we look at situations where there is more light than Samsung offers with its brightness, color volume, sharpness and anti-reflection screen much more.
Now we can conclude that this approach is already a part of the consumers and the situation in which they watch TV exclude. THX, as the company itself states in a response to Forbes has established a complete set of criteria by which points can be deducted (out of 100) as soon as a television shows problems on the specific criterion. No distinction is made between these criteria in order to arrive at a total score, so it is not the case that criterion A outweighs criterion B, or that criterion A weighs heavier for the consumer in a situation with, for example, a lot of light.
THX gives a total score and that can give a rather distorted picture, especially because it does not look at specific wishes or situations. If we look at the Sony versus the LG then this means that the Sony does not necessarily offer a better color reproduction than the LG, or that the Sony has better black values than the LG. No distinction is made between the various criteria, so that it is not clear on which areas the LG then had to submit points. Actually, the subscores, the scores with criteria, are a lot more interesting for the buyer, since they can be linked to their own wishes. But, THX does not show these scores, but rather the distorted total score.
So it is questionable to what extent these THX Standard scores are interesting when you buy a TV. You do not watch TV as a machine, where one specific criterion is viewed at a time. You look at the complete experience, the complete picture. Every minus is judged just as hard by THX by subtracting points, but one TV is not the other and knows the negatives might be better hidden in the total experience.
Manufacturers of the various televisions have not yet reached the results of THX responded but that reaction will not last long.
