The TVs that are sold with huge discounts that everyone kills themself trying to get on Black Friday are the cheap in-house brands that will probably crap out in a couple years.

I agree, but is that a bad thing? I've had two cheap TVs that went out after 5 years and the TVs - equally low end - were a lot better.

I can't parse this-- yes, a TV failing after 5 years is bad. Did you mean.. the equally low end TVs were a lot better than the black friday no-name deals? (which, from what I've seen is not true.. often black friday deals ARE brand names).

Or are you saying the replacement after 5 years, a low end, was much better than the previous one it replaced? But you said they were both better, not the newer one was better.

I left off a crucial statement.

I bought two lowend 32 inch TVs five years ago. If I remember correctly, they were about $350. I replaced them with TCL Roku 32 inch TVs for $169 (regular price). The Roku TVs were much better - smaller bezel, better pictures, and the Roku smart TV platform is the best you're going to find as far as features, interface, etc.

Ah, okay. So you're saying the no-name cheapos are better (and cheaper!) than the low-end of the brand names.