HDTV purchase

[bruceb58]

Re: HDTV purchase

How come I have a feeling the sales tax sub-topic is going to eventually get this thread locked.

 

[JustJason]

Re: HDTV purchase

Okay... New rule... No more sales tax talk!!!

 

[Mark42]

Re: HDTV purchase

I spent a lot of time on AV forums before buying a HD TV. Ended up with the highly recommended Vizio LCD 120hz 47" screen, and it is just as the pro said, a much better picture than sets costing twice the price.

Walmart actually had the best price.

Avoid online purchases from places like Tiger Direct for HD tv's because the shipping is a killer.

 

[Nandy]

Re: HDTV purchase

IAvoid online purchases from places like Tiger Direct for HD tv's because the shipping is a killer.

That has been the case on everything I have looked at so far. I have not checked costco yet but so far best buy has the best prices. I will do a little more shopping tomorrow and will probably pull the trigger tomorrow evening/night or saturday. BTW, looks like it will be a plasma. Have seen a few lcd with good prices...

Thanks for all of your help.

 

[roscoe]

Re: HDTV purchase

We need to stick to facts here. Isn't it funny that everyone recommends what they own, and bashes what they don't

Plasmas life is rated by it's half life, that's right, the plasma TV will keep dimming it's entire life. Some bigger plasmas use more energy than a refrigerator!


Not sure why you guys are pushing plasmas, besides the fact you cheaped out and bought one and want someone else to also make the wrong choice.

I highly recommend going to a real AV forum instead of a boat forum to get the real facts and have your questions answered. Most people have no clue about TVs.

http://www.avsforum.com/

Not everyone can justify spending 2500-4000 to get the newest and "best">

After spending 2400 on 2 tv's, both failing, I keep having to dig the 23 year old RCA colortrak out of the garage.

THere is nothing wrong with the plasmas, just people with big egos, that can't believe they could have had a comparable tv, for much less money.

 

[roscoe]

Re: HDTV purchase

That's funny because when I was doing research the Sony Bravia was on top as far as quality was concerned. My parents bought a Sony Bravia 52" two years ago, used for hours daily, and it works great. My aunt and uncle bought TWO of them about a year ago and they're both very happy with them. A local hair cut place, which is open 16 hours a day 6 days a week has two Bravias on full time in their waiting area. They've been there about 5 years and those TV's still are as pretty now as they day they put them in. Sony is about the best quality there is out there, followed closely in second by Panasonic. Vizio's are questionable, they were on the bottom of the list two years ago with very high rates of return but things could have changed.

I would definitely look into the Sony Bravia line of TV's. I know a lot of people who have them and never had a problem with them.

Oh, and whoever said the picture is better on a Plasma probably hasn't watched Planet Earth on a 52" 1080p LCD. My parents TV will BLOW YOU AWAY. I think picture quality is irrelevant now, they're both gorgeous. The LCD has no issues with glare AT ALL.

Edit: And for the record, I don't even own an HDTV. I just do research, read way too many reviews to count on all different brands and such, and read a lot of consumer reports reviews from years past to establish trends, etc. But I do not own one.

My Bravia started failing with a row of pixels going out, then a month later, total failure. Cost to fix, $2000, double what you can get the tv for now.

2 co-workers have had theirs fail in less than 2 years also. One was a chip failure like mine, and the other was a power supply failure.

I like Sony products, have bought them for 30 years. But recently
have had 3 Sony products die on me, just after the warranty expired.

 

[roscoe]

Re: HDTV purchase

You need to look into the facts more, 1080 is great, but its not really available right now unless you have it in house and your eye can't detect the difference once you move back from the screen,
Plasma has proven to be very reliable and yes it will dim over time, but so far that has not been an issue in the industry.


Plasma is still much faster.

So much of what gets passed around as fact about each technology is sales HYPE and it just gets repeated enough times to become fact.





This person asked about low cost and good picture, right now you can't beat a 50" plasma for that combination.

Exactly.

 

[roscoe]

Re: HDTV purchase

Crutchfield.com has some deals, and some more in the clearance section.
They don't seem to rape you on shipping.

Decent retailer that has been around a long time.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: HDTV purchase

I bought online, it was about $700 less even after shipping and was a newer model with more features than I could buy locally. It was a little difficult to buy something like that online, but it worked out well. If you keep checking online you'll see that shipping can vary a great deal, it will be free one day and $200 the next, just track it for a short time and you'll see it change. I went to NexTag to compare pricing and shipping, you can also read ratings on the products there.

I bought my home theater system (Onkyo) locally and the store (Circuit City), went out of business so when the tuner died I was out of luck because I had lost the receipt.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: HDTV purchase

Most of the online places I shop with are all free shipping.

here is an example for a 58" Panasonic Plasma

http://electronics.pricegrabber.com...DTV/m737260558.html/search=TC-P58S1+/st=query

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: HDTV purchase

Interesting discussion re tech aspects. I've been rebuilding a bunch of computers for my home network, one of which is a multimedia server in the living room. I'm still using a digital ready CRT television, but will "enter the current century," when I get done fiddling with puters. From that standpoint, this has been a great thread to read.

One Q, however ... for those that shopped at Best Buy, did you have to do the rebate thing? Same thing with the other options ... rebates or not? Rebates drive me insane and I avoid the like them plague.



???

 

[ezmobee]

Re: HDTV purchase

Avoid online purchases from places like Tiger Direct for HD tv's because the shipping is a killer.

I think I'm smart enough to figure shipping into the equation before making my recommendation. There are free shipping deals all over the place....including right now at the aforementioned Tiger.

My sister and her husband recently bought a 52" LCD. They called me from BestBuy and told me some of the prices they were seeing. I did a quick check and told them to get the heck back in the car because they could do much better online. They ended up saving hundreds.

 

[skargo]

Re: HDTV purchase

Not everyone can justify spending 2500-4000 to get the newest and "best">

After spending 2400 on 2 tv's, both failing, I keep having to dig the 23 year old RCA colortrak out of the garage.

THere is nothing wrong with the plasmas, just people with big egos, that can't believe they could have had a comparable tv, for much less money.

I spent 1300 for a Vizio true LED LCD less than a week ago. You do NOT have to spend a ton. There is a certain crowd on the AV forums who insist you at least have to get a Samsung. Not true IMO.

I'm a cheapie, and hem and haw before pulling the trigger on something, especially a TV.

 

[skargo]

Re: HDTV purchase

I think I'm smart enough to figure shipping into the equation before making my recommendation. There are free shipping deals all over the place....including right now at the aforementioned Tiger.

My sister and her husband recently bought a 52" LCD. They called me from BestBuy and told me some of the prices they were seeing. I did a quick check and told them to get the heck back in the car because they could do much better online. They ended up saving hundreds.

I agree, you need to shop, and some online places actually beat brick and mortar. Just stay away from Crutchfield, they have the highest prices anywhere I've seen

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: HDTV purchase

I bought online, it was about $700 less even after shipping and was a newer model with more features than I could buy locally. It was a little difficult to buy something like that online, but it worked out well. If you keep checking online you'll see that shipping can vary a great deal, it will be free one day and $200 the next, just track it for a short time and you'll see it change. I went to NexTag to compare pricing and shipping, you can also read ratings on the products there.

I bought my home theater system (Onkyo) locally and the store (Circuit City), went out of business so when the tuner died I was out of luck because I had lost the receipt.

We went looked at the Onkyo receivers at Circuit City and then found a much better deal online. My parents are very happy with theirs. The sound is great and the price was right. We did all of our shopping online and didn't regret it, at least not yet.

What I recommend people do is to go to the local brick and mortar stores to see whats out there and to see what they like. Write down the model and brand names of the TV's or whatever that you like and then come back online, Google it, and see where you can get it cheapest. You'd be getting the same set with the same warranty, same product, why pay more than absolutely necessary to get it to your door? If you can't find it cheaper online then you can go back to the store and buy it from them. It worked great for my parents and saved them over 2000 bucks on a combo HDTV, receiver, and 5 disk CD player. Had they bought the same products from local stores they would have paid about 4500, I got all of it for them for 2500 to the door.

So if you want "personal interaction" go ahead. But after you've had the demo at the store, leave, and save your money for a rainy day. Get the exact same item way cheaper from an online retailer and save yourself a fortune. I definitely don't recommend buying something ONLINE ONLY without having ever touched it, punched the buttons, seen the picture, heard it in person, whatever the case may be. But if the brick and mortar places are going to overcharge, then they can just go out of business. They should learn to keep their overhead cheap so they can compete with online retailers. Cry me a river, but its called "free market."

 

[ondarvr]

Re: HDTV purchase

I liked the Onkyo system and the sound was good, if I still had the receipt I wouldn't be out the $900 for the unit. It died about 10 months after I bought it and after I checked online about the problem I had, it seemed to be fairly common.

I wanted to make sure the system sounded good in my home, so I bought it locally so I could return it easily and trade for a different unit if it didn't sound right. I would buy another one, this time I would do it online though.

 

[4JawChuck]

Re: HDTV purchase

Thought I should restate the fact that model #'s are very important when comparing pricing, when I was shopping for my HDTV prices were all very similar with the big box chains (Best Buy, Future Shop, Costco etc.) but they all sold the same low end model #.

Sears had the high end model # for only a few hundred more and a way better warranty for less than the big box chains were selling theirs for. It was worth spending the extra cash for the extra HDMI inputs and anti-reflection screen and 1080P output in the 50" size.

The warranty coverage I could negoitate the price on ($250) and I am covered for 5 years no questions asked, since they warrantied my old LCD's with no hassle I bought my Plasma from them also. Sears has been a good retailer for HDTV's for me and they carry high end model #'s that most big box brands do not, I highly recommend them. However it seems to depend on the Sears outlet what kind of TV's they sell, the one close to me had cheapo stuff and the other had nothing but high end...I guess it depends on the man running the show at each store.

 

[paulspaddle]

Re: HDTV purchase

Thought I should restate the fact that model #'s are very important when comparing pricing, when I was shopping for my HDTV prices were all very similar with the big box chains (Best Buy, Future Shop, Costco etc.) but they all sold the same low end model #.

Sears had the high end model # for only a few hundred more and a way better warranty for less than the big box chains were selling theirs for. It was worth spending the extra cash for the extra HDMI inputs and anti-reflection screen and 1080P output in the 50" size.

The warranty coverage I could negoitate the price on ($250) and I am covered for 5 years no questions asked, since they warrantied my old LCD's with no hassle I bought my Plasma from them also. Sears has been a good retailer for HDTV's for me and they carry high end model #'s that most big box brands do not, I highly recommend them. However it seems to depend on the Sears outlet what kind of TV's they sell, the one close to me had cheapo stuff and the other had nothing but high end...I guess it depends on the man running the show at each store.

Hey Chuck.....which Sears you frequent? (not a hijack...going to the boat show?)

 

[4JawChuck]

Re: HDTV purchase

The one in the basement of Polo Park Sears store, the older guy there has been a straight shooter to me and has been excellent with warranty etc. He beats everyones prices and give me the extended warranty for less than everyone else has...so far four TV's from him!

I seen one guy buy the floor model 60" Plasma for nearly half price and it was less than 4 months old,,,missed it by that much.:redface: Same 5 year warranty too.

 

[paulspaddle]

Re: HDTV purchase

The one in the basement of Polo Park Sears store, the older guy there has been a straight shooter to me and has been excellent with warranty etc. He beats everyones prices and give me the extended warranty for less than everyone else has...so far four TV's from him!

I seen one guy buy the floor model 60" Plasma for nearly half price and it was less than 4 months old,,,missed it by that much.:redface: Same 5 year warranty too.

Good to know....thanks.