Good deal?

aspeck

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19,100
Re: Good deal?

Vizio makes a good LCD TV. PC Magazine consistently gives them good ratings - there are better quality TV's but not at the price of the Vizio's, and there are a lot worse quality TV's at a much higher price - good bang for your buck.

When I talk quality I am talking picture quality. Don't know how they hold up in the long haul.
 

licketdsplit756

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Jun 15, 2007
Messages
318
Re: Good deal?

i bought a 52 inch tv from walmart. 800 dollars. pic looked good in the store got it home. screen wasent real clear. so i called about it. found out if i want to get a really clear pic i have to go threw my cable company and purchase this box witch increases the pixels of the screen that box is 48 dollars a month.. so when you bye one ask questions first.
 

12Footer

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Mar 25, 2001
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Re: Good deal?

Pony is the TV guru of iboats, Doug. He is up on the latest tech and develpoments. He advised me to wait a few months, but could not get into why too much. Something about a major shift in the industry.... I'm waiting a few months. :)
But I HAVE been eyeballin those Viseo's because of the price.
My computer monitor went south about a month ago, so I bought a $200 MAG 23"LCD monitor.. About a week ago, I bought a gizmo for my laptop to receive TV callled "HDTV Pro Stick USB" from Pinnacle for $80... I am an idiot. It won't werk with winders2000 -- the O/S of my laptop, (read those "minimum system requirements", guys,) so I hooked it up to my desktop here..
SHIZZAAAM!!! I have HD! Problem is, I can't post on iboats whilst watchin the tube... gotta go :)
 

Pony

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Jun 27, 2004
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Re: Good deal?

i bought a 52 inch tv from walmart. 800 dollars. pic looked good in the store got it home. screen wasent real clear. so i called about it. found out if i want to get a really clear pic i have to go threw my cable company and purchase this box witch increases the pixels of the screen that box is 48 dollars a month.. so when you bye one ask questions first.

Wow, that is an absurd price for a cable box......who do you have? My Time Warner HD box costs $7 a month for all the HD programming. Granted I already have digital cable.

This is pretty basic though. To get an HD picture you need an HD picture. There still isnt a lot broadcast in HD, and most of your cable channels are going to be only 480p (digital) anyways. The picture at home while watching normal channels wont be that great right now, if you still have analog it will be even worse. ( so basically you could go spend $20 and get an antenna and watch all the local HD channels at least.....assuming it has a tuner....which it may not at that price)

Pointer, at that size screen you are going to want to get yourself an upconversion DVD player. You will really notice the increased clarity at that size. They arent expensive at all. You will need an HDMI cable though to get the best picture. A lot of the new ones claim to upscale to 1080p, though I am not sure if that is valid. With those brand sems to make a difference. I have a Phillips and a Samsung and the Samsung is noticeably better.

That is a good price for a 47" 1080p. I know nothing about Vizio because Best Buy doesnt carry them. I have heard of color issues on the 42" version, but havent researched the 47"

The first thing I noticed about this TV is that it is refurbished. That would worry me, especially if there is not extended warranty or service plan available. This is even more important with something like an LCD. If you get a bad panel it is very very expensive to replace after the manufacture warranty is out.

The second thing I noticed is that it only has one component input. Right now I use 3 on my TV, and only having the one will severely limit your home theatre choices down the road. The 2 HDMIs is a plus though.

The third is that I didnt see a listed contrast ratio. I personaly like a higher contrast ratio, though you wont notice this unless you put a different tv next to it on the same feed. I like watching movies etc and darker darks are important to me. Since it wont ever be as rich and deep as a plasma, the higher contrast on an lcd is a must for me.

Almost all the new models for TVs are out right now.......which is why I told 12footer to wait;) That and it was the biggest TV reset in Best Buy history at least. Most of the time when the new models come out they are already priced at or below the lowest retail value of its predecessor. This usually means you can either get a new TV for cheaper, or get a steal on a closeout.

If you need help hanging it let me know......a few months back I did a side job and hung 6 42" plasmas up in a local restaurant:D
 

rogerwa

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Nov 29, 2000
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2,339
Re: Good deal?

Checkout www.lcdtvs.com. You can compare in the store and they seem to have rockin prices. they also have pretty active reviews.
 

QC

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Mar 22, 2005
Messages
22,783
Re: Good deal?

We have the 47 1080P Vizio. Had since Christmas. We love it!

Edit: Also it has 2 Component inputs, not sure why it shows only one on the specs . . .
 

tommays

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Jul 4, 2004
Messages
6,768
Re: Good deal?

IHMP they are NOT the best item to trust to a shipping company :eek:


At a store if it is DOA it is a very simple swap VS shipping things back and forth


Tommays
 

QC

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Mar 22, 2005
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Re: Good deal?

They are about $1600 new at Costco and Sam's. I actually like refurbushed as it has been individually inspected by someone . . .
 

Limited-Time

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Mar 30, 2005
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Re: Good deal?

Before you give up your hard earned greenbacks pay a visit to your local independent repair shop. Take a good look at whats sitting around, and question the techs on what going through the shop and whats sitting waiting for parts. Then go shopping.
 

Pony

Rear Admiral
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Re: Good deal?

I actually like refurbushed as it has been individually inspected by someone . . .

Sorry to say QC, but I couldnt disagree more with that statement. I hate bringing my job into these types of topics, but I personally ship and receive every TV that goes into and out of my store for service. I would say that 25-30% of the time the product comes back "fixed" with the same problem.....usually because they couldnt find one. A lot of times they don't do much more that reset the service menu to factory settings and thats it. Often they don't even turn it on. They simply plug into the service port on the back.

I will get chastized for this too, but in my expirience the lower priced, lower end televisions get repaired a lot more than anything else. A lot more to be perfectly honest. I hate to say that because I am willing to bet that everyone is sitting there thinking I am just persuading people to not buy from targets, costcos, and wal-marts. I dont want it to sound that way. I wouldnt recommend buying a bargain set from best buy either.

Most any TV you bring home will look good by itself. Most people dont know what they are looking at/ looking for with picture quality. I am more picky than most.....if it looks good to you, thats what matters.

I do agree with the shipping comment though. LCDs arent nearly as bad as Plasmas, but they are very very easy to damage. If you can avoid it at all...................do so!
 

QC

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Mar 22, 2005
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Re: Good deal?

I would say that 25-30% of the time the product comes back "fixed" with the same problem.....
No flak from me, you have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more experience. I got my attitude from Caterpillar Engine rebuilds under warranty, and Dell PCs . . . same thing right :rolleyes: Anyway, IF there is a tech responsible to test it, then I like 'em. If they just reship . . . :eek:
 

Pony

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Jun 27, 2004
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Re: Good deal?

No flak from me, you have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more experience. I got my attitude from Caterpillar Engine rebuilds under warranty, and Dell PCs . . . same thing right :rolleyes: Anyway, IF there is a tech responsible to test it, then I like 'em. If they just reship . . . :eek:

I hear ya.....depending on the product I dont mind refurbished either.


It was a little ironic yesterday at work after reading this thread. We had a plasma come back that had the inner glass completely shattered. I know that this happened during transit. The plasma was layed on its back after it was turned on. The gases were warmed up and when it was layed down, the pressure cracked the glass.
 
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