Haier and Samsung are in a virtual fight at CES until Sunday evening. They’re right across from each other. It’s actually very interesting to see Haier’s sets pointing right at Samsung’s 9000 series and vice versa.

Don’t get me wrong, the Haier sets are thin and they’re light, but they’re not thin like the Samsung sets.

Haier doesn’t set out to make the thinnest or most colorful sets. Instead, Haier makes sets that regular folks can afford. The standard features (HDMI, 120/240hz, 1080p, USB ports, and screen size) are all generally there, but at much lower price points than some of the other Japanese brands. Haier is also a Chinese company that up until a few years ago was an unknown to the US consumer.

In China, their presence is significantly larger and they compete head-to-head against the big Japanese brands.

The picture quality is not that bad and it’s really tough for Tech Bucket Blog to really make an accurate determination on how well these sets line-up against other higher priced sets. On the show floor, we don’t have access to reference material to run on the sets, but I’ve seen Haier sets in action in real life settings. For the price, these are great solutions for people on a budget and not looking for a ultra-hi-end set that’s going to run you quite a few thousand dollars.

Quality, initially, has been a problem in my opinion, but I think things have gotten much better for Haier over the past few years. They know much better what the US consumer is looking for and our price points.

These sets are certainly worth a look if you’re shopping for a new set.

(Editor’s Note: We asked if the 240hz LCDs were true 240hz TVs and not reworked 120hz sets, but we were unable to get a clear answer to our question. For now, we won’t comment on what type of 240hz we’re looking at here.)

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