Costco offers 2 years extended limited warranty when purchasing any tv or computer as part of their membership service. They have a vizio 32" for 479.99 with $50 mail in rebate.
but circuit city has a Sony 499.99 32" lcd but the warranty is 30 days at circuit city, and 1 year mail in by Sony.
Which one would you get? Im leaning towrds the vizio 32" but maybe the warranty is overrated. They do have a samsung for 599.99 but thats out of my price range.
The Sony, is, IMO, a better product and will last you longer.
If limited warranties were worth it, they wouldn't sell them ;)
Circuit city may be willing to deal-they're not doing so hot these days.
Thats what i thought too. but theres always christmas HDTV deals, and costco has a 90 day return policy.... i can have one now and return it later if i decide to....
As far as dealing wit hcc, they dont have any stock in store, so id have to order it online from CC. :-\
Quote from: He Man on November 30, 2008, 11:08:31 AM
Thats what i thought too. but theres always christmas HDTV deals, and costco has a 90 day return policy.... i can have one now and return it later if i decide to....
As far as dealing wit hcc, they dont have any stock in store, so id have to order it online from CC. :-\
Just remember the old saying.
"I'm too poor to buy cheap".
makes sense. That was my mp3 phase. after buying a new device every year, i ponied for a nice Zune and ive had it for almost 2.5 years without incidence.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=209058#availability
HAHA ITS BACK IN STOCK AT THE STORE!!!!
Quote from: somebastid on November 30, 2008, 10:56:42 AM
The Sony, is, IMO, a better product and will last you longer.
If limited warranties were worth it, they wouldn't sell them ;)
Circuit city may be willing to deal-they're not doing so hot these days.
You do know that most if not all the manufacturers use the same panel, it's just that the firmware is different. ;)
Quote from: Super T.I.B on November 30, 2008, 12:19:36 PM
You do know that most if not all the manufacturers use the same panel, it's just that the firmware is different. ;)
That is true to a point. There are about 3-4 major manufacturers of LCD panels. Most of the major brands use panels from one of these. SONY makes its panels with SAMSUNG, I believe. Pretty high quality there as well as dependability. Unlike most manufacturers, Sony makes most of the internal components for its TVs and makes the sets itself. The major difference is not just the firmware but the electronics (such as the signal processor, the graphics chip, the audio chip, the navigation interface) as well. The combination of the two make a better picture with better features And will last longer.
With the prices being equal, buy the SONY you will thank yourself later. I have several friends that have VISIO and are not overly thrilled after having them for awhile.
Just compare them side by side and the picture quality is very noticeable. All the SONY equipment I have ever purchased had very few problems and lasted for many years.
The warranty can be a good thing if it's not too expensive. I bought a Toshiba DLP TV four years ago with the $180 warranty (separate warranty company). The bulb blew after 2 years and the warranty guys wouldn't replace it (said they offer a separate warranty for DLP bulbs that I didn't purchase). The bulb is $220 :o Anyway, the company I bought the TV from (J&R) paid for half the bulb since their salesman told me the warranty covered the bulb when I specifically asked if it did.
Point of the story is: make sure any warranty you buy covers common problems with the type of equipment you are buying.
circuit city is in bankruptcy, so I don't know how warranties work. All the CC are closing near us, but you can take the price over to Bestbuy and they have been matching them.
Costco is a pretty ethical company. I'd throw my cash that way for that reason alone. That said, I've never been that fond of the Visio stuff. Maxim or Men's Health gave them the highest marks in bang for the buck, but I went with a Philips for not much more money and got a much sharper/brighter picture.
Quote from: supakpow2 on November 30, 2008, 03:24:40 PM
That is true to a point. There are about 3-4 major manufacturers of LCD panels. Most of the major brands use panels from one of these. SONY makes its panels with SAMSUNG, I believe. Pretty high quality there as well as dependability. Unlike most manufacturers, Sony makes most of the internal components for its TVs and makes the sets itself. The major difference is not just the firmware but the electronics (such as the signal processor, the graphics chip, the audio chip, the navigation interface) as well. The combination of the two make a better picture with better features And will last longer.
With the prices being equal, buy the SONY you will thank yourself later. I have several friends that have VISIO and are not overly thrilled after having them for awhile.
Just compare them side by side and the picture quality is very noticeable. All the SONY equipment I have ever purchased had very few problems and lasted for many years.
The warranty can be a good thing if it's not too expensive. I bought a Toshiba DLP TV four years ago with the $180 warranty (separate warranty company). The bulb blew after 2 years and the warranty guys wouldn't replace it (said they offer a separate warranty for DLP bulbs that I didn't purchase). The bulb is $220 :o Anyway, the company I bought the TV from (J&R) paid for half the bulb since their salesman told me the warranty covered the bulb when I specifically asked if it did.
Point of the story is: make sure any warranty you buy covers common problems with the type of equipment you are buying.
Thanks for clearing that up. [thumbsup]
I will probably be in the market for a plasma next year and have been researching a bit. I'm either going Panasonic or Samsung.
Hmmm.. good info here!
you guys pretty much summed up my mind on dishing out the extra funds on a higher quality set. now just comes to sony and samsung.
Circuit City has the Sony 32" for $499.99, with tax, thats $541.88 manufacturers warranty only.
Costco has the Samsung 32" for 599.99, with tax that is 650.269, 2 year extended warranty. and as redxblack points out, they are very ethical and have replace computers that have a dead pixel almost 2 years later without questions.
I can purchase the sony online for $499.99 free shipping no tax.
Bestbuy doesnt carry that model.
So which one do i get? lol
Samsung and panasonic trade off on being the best picture. I prefer Samsung all things being equal. Good hunting!
Quote from: redxblack on November 30, 2008, 05:58:16 PM
Samsung and panasonic trade off on being the best picture. I prefer Samsung all things being equal. Good hunting!
I am leaning towards the Samsung.
The TV I have now is a Panasonic and it's getting on 15 years old now, the thing weighs a ton, but it has not missed a beat. I'm trading up because she who must be obeyed wants a new entertainment/TV cabinet. The old one looks like it belongs in the Waltons house. :-\
You can't have a new cabinet without a new TV. ;)
Quote from: Super T.I.B on November 30, 2008, 06:08:46 PM
You can't have a new cabinet without a new TV. ;)
nothing a nice wall cant beat ;D
I know I'm coming into this late, and I don't want to muddy the water, but. . .
We have a Vizio 40" as our bedroom Tv, and we've been very happy with it. Excellent picture, decent sound, no problems in over a year now.
The 50" Sony DLP in the theatre room has been a different story. Bulb blew after two years, replaced it for $160, it blew again a year later. Another $145 and 6 months, and we're holding. Hopefully this bulb will last longer than a year.
So, I'm seeing a common theme with spendy DLP bulbs. Do plasmas have this same problem? If not, do they have their own common but expensive pitfall?
JM
Quote from: the_Journeyman on December 02, 2008, 08:23:31 AM
So, I'm seeing a common theme with spendy DLP bulbs. Do plasmas have this same problem? If not, do they have their own common but expensive pitfall?
JM
Only rear projection TV's have bulb issues (LCD RP, DLP, and a few others are rear projection). True Flat panel LCD and PLASMA and OLEDs TV's have other issues instead of bulbs.
mitt
Plasma TVs have trouble with black spots on the display. As it was explained to me, the screen is composed of thousands of tiny gas bubbles that flouresce when current is applied. If the gas escapes from one of these bubbles, you get a black dot on the screen. There is no fix for this problem.
Quote from: Bun-bun on November 30, 2008, 08:23:26 PM
We have a Vizio 40" as our bedroom Tv, and we've been very happy with it. Excellent picture, decent sound, no problems in over a year now.
The 50" Sony DLP in the theatre room has been a different story. Bulb blew after two years, replaced it for $160, it blew again a year later. Another $145 and 6 months, and we're holding. Hopefully this bulb will last longer than a year.
Sony really is one of those brands where you have to pick and choose which type of product you want to buy from them. Car audio??? Never, but I've always been impressed by their TVs. DLPs in general always run the risk of having the bulbs crap out on them, but there are plenty of deciding factors that go into that such as venthilation and average minutes/hours of use per day. From straight in front, I'd compare DLP to many LCDs or Plasmas but the viewing angle turns to total shite even by simply standing up. I think I'm getting off point.
I don't have much experience with Vizio, but the GF has a 40" Olevia that looks pretty good (especially when you factor in the cost) but she and I both agree that the image on my Sharp Aquos is noticably better. I think you'll be happier with the Sony or even the Samsung over the Vizio. I guess if you're leaning towards the Sony or the Samsung it would depend on which product line you're looking at. I think it's the Sony V series tv (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that they push as a fairly high end set, but Samsung hails most of their products across the board as equal with exception to size, refresh rate, etc. Just remember though, it's not just the TV that has an effect on quality but whatever you're plugging into it. Standard def cable looks poor on an HDTV and, as I've found out recently, if you run an upconverting DVD player's video output through a reciever and THEN out to the TV, the image is a bit more garbled than if you go straight from DVD to TV. Signal quality makes a huge difference.
*annnnnnnnnnd the high horse dismount gets a 9.2 from the judges*
Quote from: Jarvicious on December 02, 2008, 01:01:37 PM
Standard def cable looks poor on an HDTV and, as I've found out recently, if you run an upconverting DVD player's video output through a reciever and THEN out to the TV, the image is a bit more garbled than if you go straight from DVD to TV. Signal quality makes a huge difference.
*annnnnnnnnnd the high horse dismount gets a 9.2 from the judges*
That's why you run video cable directly from the DVD player to the TV, and run the audio from the DVD player to the reciever...
^^^^^^ Yahhhhhhh. I've since moved and have also redone the system. The image wasn't toooo awfully bad, but it was definitely noticeable. I had everything run and setup "just so" at my last place that I didn't want to jack with it.
Still have not purchased it. Lots of final projects/test comming up for school and their prices are still the same so i think i have more time to hold out. Eitherway its better this way since it would just distract me from getting my work done.
News papers are reporting December 15 to be another day of droppage of prices!
I went back this morning to costco (seeing how i live adjacent to them) and they only have 4 Samsungs left. :( but they have a whole new stock of Sharp Aquos 32s for the same price. The samsung defintely looks cooler though.
[bang] man. i hate this waiting game. Though in the long run its for the better.
Man, I'm telling you you won't be dissapointed by the Sharp. I've had it since June of 07 and I've not regretted it once. Ever. Next year, in fact, I'll probably upgrade to the 46 or 53" aquos.
Quote from: Jarvicious on December 02, 2008, 04:25:59 PM
Man, I'm telling you you won't be dissapointed by the Sharp. I've had it since June of 07 and I've not regretted it once. Ever. Next year, in fact, I'll probably upgrade to the 46 or 53" aquos.
Upgrade now and sell him the old one ;D
I didn't see it mentioned anywhere but maybe I just missed it.
Are all the TV's you are looking at LCD's or are any of them plasma? Both are good but they both have their pluses and minuses. Some people say the colors are more vivid on a plasma but personally I can't tell the difference.
The LCD screens are better if the room you are putting it in gets a lot of daylight. Plasmas tend to have a big problem with reflection and glare unless they are in a darkened room. Also, it is surprising the amount of heat that a plasma will generate after a couple of hours of operation (they also use more power).
The DLP's are okay but IMHO they are old technology and prone to bulb and/or fan problems from what I've heard.
I bought a 50" Samsung plasma a year and a half ago and am quite satisfied with it. Good picture and no problems. It's in a room that is pretty much dedicated to a home theatre (windows covered) so outside light isn't a problem. I do notice the room temperature rises after a few hours of viewing which is annoying sometimes. If I was to do it again, I think I would have still gone with a Samsung but an LCD instead.
I cant/wont go plasma. Plasmas SUCK for video games. The burn in is HORRIBLE. And if anyones gonna disagree, turn on your xbox and leave it on for 45mins hours with an First person shooter. Your gun would be stuck on the screen for quite a while.
Anyway, I pulled the trigger on the samsung 32" 5 series. Hooking her up right now while i take a breather from moving junk out of my room. thye had a toshiba 37" for the same price, but theres no way im getting that thing to fit in my room
Quote from: He Man on December 04, 2008, 12:21:20 PM
I cant/wont go plasma. Plasmas SUCK for video games. The burn in is HORRIBLE. And if anyones gonna disagree, turn on your xbox and leave it on for 45mins hours with an First person shooter. Your gun would be stuck on the screen for quite a while. SNIP
Just make sure you are not mistaking Image retention with Screen burn, Screen burn on a Plasma now is very very difficult to achieve, The new generation of Plasma are almost as good as LCD for handling still/fixed Images, you would have to leave a high contrast image on a Plasma for days now before screen burn becomes a problem.
Image retention is just a case of a non moving Image leaves an excess charge in the Plasma pixels (And yes, you get this on LCD as well) and it leaves a shadow behind on the screen, use the TV as normal for a while or switch it off and the Image while disappear, this is normal on just about every TV design (excluding DLP)
QuotePlasma TVs have trouble with black spots on the display. As it was explained to me, the screen is composed of thousands of tiny gas bubbles that flouresce when current is applied. If the gas escapes from one of these bubbles, you get a black dot on the screen. There is no fix for this problem.
Gas leakage from Plasma's is an old wives tail, Dead pixels can affect Plasma, but it affects LCD more. who ever told you that has no idea what they are talking about.
The ONLY way to get gas leakage from a plasma is to break the panel, and in that case the whole panel will die.
And Plasma panels are under vacuum any way, so in reality, the outside air will be leaking in and destroying the delicate mix of Xenon and Neon.
I was waiting for you to get in on this thread.
Thanks for clearing some of those myths up, now I'm definitely getting a plasma. [thumbsup]
Ive seen image retnetion on my own computer monitor, but it usually goes away in a few minutes. The Plasma at my friends would hold that image in for almost 1/2 a football game and annoy the shit out of us.
He did have an older plasma though. If your saying the new plasmas are just as good as LCDs...i might just hold onto this one for a while, and return it for the cheaper plasmas. The video quality looks much better on plasmas too!
Sadly, i do not have any antenna waves comming into my room, or my front yard. so it looks like ill need to get cable. :/
Image retention on older generation plasma's was shocking on some brands (Samsung was probably the worst, and a lot of brands used Samsung's OEM panel's)
Sometimes to clear the image it was best to turn off the Plasma panel wait about a minute or two and then switch back on.
Sony's new RGB LED backlight LCD's have one of the best pictures for colour and black level I have ever seen on an LCD TV (It will give some of the best plasma's a run for there money!) but it still is only an 8ms response panel, soon as I put on a football game the blur was very distracting, motion blur is still a problem on LCD.
You have to weigh up the pro's and cons of each type of technology and where you are going to use it, and then start to compare brands and features from there.
And determine how much time you'll waste getting a TV. You could get a second job, learn an instruments, take night classes, become a male stripper, completely tweak out your duc with that time. Just sayin'.
Just picked up this little guy tonight:
sony 26" lcd
(http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/largeimages/548716.jpg)
Haven't turned it on yet, need to reorganize its home.
mitt
Quote from: MrIncredible on December 04, 2008, 07:27:10 PM
And determine how much time you'll waste getting a TV. You could get a second job, learn an instruments, take night classes, become a male stripper, completely tweak out your duc with that time. Just sayin'.
I already spend too much time on everything you just mentioned (ironically...i meant litterally). I'm on recovery mode right now. I just took a syringe to the chest right now. i think i deserve my TV time. :)
that 26 looks cool. In hind sight, i could of easily gone with a 26". the 32" is just a tad bit too big for my table.