Recommendations on Online Vendors, major purchase

[Seeker47]

A thought on picture quality. Have you adjusted the models on the floor. One afternoon a friend of mine and I had lunch at Costco, then looked at the TVs. Amazingly the pictures appeared to be good, better, best along with increasing prices. We adjusted the two lower priced 32" models until their pictures were indistinguishable from the highest priced model.

Of all the B&M vendors, I might have supposed that Costco would not have a horse in this race: they're a membership club, they must do a huge volume, and they're probably going to sell way more of the lower priced models. In their case, I'd think competence of the setup on many of the TVs would be more of a question mark. In any event, I'm surprised that you were able to fiddle with anything at your Costco. At the ones I've visited, most of the panel TVs are mounted out of reach, or I don't see where customers would have access to the controls . . . or be allowed to change them.

[oldandinthe way]

We're both tall and highly motivated shoppers. The 32" TVs were under 5 feet from the ground. And frankly in this case we felt they wanted the SONY's to move. A lot depends on the store manager. By the way the next time we were back the pictures were returned to the previous settings so i feel it was deliberate.

Costco does make bad decisions from time to time on the merchandise select, in a recent interview in the WSJ the CEO talked about one of their biggest mistakes, a load of PCs from IBM which wouldn't move.

Costco also does silent markdowns. Sometimes they are evident by the fact that the product SKU is significantly below other products due to the age of the inventory. No big yellow smiley-faces to point you to the markdown.

[lordsmurf]

You'll be hard pressed to find a better television than a high-end Sony (one of the ones that has 120Hz and tons of filters to clean up video). I refer to the XBR4 LCD line or the KDH-xxA3000 DLP line.

It's the first set I've ever seen that did not make SD material look worse. In fact, with the filters engaged, it can look a tad better than the source! Comparable to how JVC DVD recorders clean up VHS.!

You must be referring to models that are more than 26", no ? I think even a 32" might really be pushing it, for the space I am dealing with in this instance. (It will likely compromise access to clothes closets on either side.) And I definitely don't want to reward Sony for their rootkits and other obnoxious behavior.

Yes. The 47-50-55-60" models

[Seeker47]

[Seeker47 So have you decided on what you'll be purchasing? LCD? PLASMA? size? Online or Local Store? Just curious! :

Hello budz --

Well, I decided not to wait 'til Feb. -- went ahead and got the Toshiba Regza 32". I had already done (maybe even over-done) my LCD research, and settled on this line. There are a couple of Panasonic models that are up there, but I'm convinced this is one of the very best. (Had already given the finger to Sony for general corporate turpitude, regardless of what high merits some of their products may have.) The most difficult decision remained the choice on size. 32" probably still is a bit too large for the bedroom, but I saw the 26" Toshiba side by side with the 32", and I just had to go with the larger one. Couldn't help myself ! I'm sure it will work out, somehow. If it doesn't, I guess I could do a swap with the eleven year old 27" CRT in the living room . . . plus I was thinking this is a more plausible replacement for there, should that set have to be retired sooner than I'd planned . . . even though this Toshiba might wind up being somewhat too small for that room.

I hadn't planned on making such a quick decision, although on the basis of good advice provided here, I was convinced to buy locally. First, there was a radio ad by a local, high-end chain a couple weeks back, touting a "we'll pick up the sales tax" sale for that weekend only. But as things turned out, I never even made it there. (By "local chain", I mean they are not national. I had already passed on going to another local chain because they don't sell Toshiba, and would not have bought from them anyway once I found out about their 20 % restocking fee.) There was another store that has just one location I'm aware of, which I had driven by hundreds of times,. They are kind of a hole-in-the-wall discounter, but they have been there for over 20 years. So, not a fly by night. On impulse, I stopped in. They happened to be an authorized Toshiba dealer, and happened to be having a big sale on that brand. The prices surprised me, beating Costco's price on the 32" (the only model in this line that Costco has -- online order only, though you can arrange to pick it up from one of their warehouse locations), and beating most of the online vendor prices I'd seen. I won't find out at this point, but I strongly suspect they also beat the 'No Sales Tax' sale price of the local chain I never got to, even though I certainly wound up paying sales tax.

Ah, but there must be a catch, right ? Well, maybe. I did not notice this until I got home, but this store stamps their receipts with a stamp that says "NO Refunds, Returns, or Exchanges Once Payment Has Been Made." Now folks, that is absolute horseshit ! A dealbreaker in fact, had I seen that earlier. I would rather pay 80 bucks more at Costco, or 150 bucks more at BB, not to have that stipulation. At this price, though, it is a reasonable roll of the dice, if there are no problems with the set. (I did make a point of using a credit card that claims to double the mfr.'s warranty. )

This LCD does seem to be very, very good, by the way. Which brings up a couple questions. I have an Avia disc that I haven't even taken out of the shrinkwrap yet, though I do intend to use it. Changes I've made in the Settings -- just with the remote -- have been minimal, so far. (And I've left the "main" setting on "Standard", rather than "Sports" or one of the other two.) I've found a few channels that look too hot, or where the color fidelity is suspect, but I'm wondering if that is more their problem than one at this end, because the vast majority of the channels look pretty spot on to me, just the way this set came out of the box. Is that possible or likely ? (Perhaps Avia will have a different tale to tell ?) Incidentally, I had my digital cable arrangements reconfigured, the end result being the addition of quite a few HD channels at no extra cost , except for a slightly higher monthly rental fee for the HD cable box. It has led me to some change of opinion on the merits of HDTV, but that should be spun off into a separate thread.

[budz]

Seeker47 Glad to hear you finally bought a LCD TV!
that they have a stamp on the receipt NO RETURNS, REFUNDS or EXCHANGES once payment has been made but at least your cc has double the warranty.

I've read about using those AVIA discs to calibrate the LCD TV sets but I've never used one myself.

[lordsmurf]

Whether or not a receipt says "NO RETURNS, REFUNDS or EXCHANGES" does not override any consumer laws that may protect your (both state and federal). Lots of those places put that on there to scare people, especially small stores, knowing full well that it's not legally enforceable (and indeed your credit card company will side with you, should there be an issue).

[Seeker47]

Whether or not a receipt says "NO RETURNS, REFUNDS or EXCHANGES" does not override any consumer laws that may protect your (both state and federal). Lots of those places put that on there to scare people, especially small stores, knowing full well that it's not legally enforceable (and indeed your credit card company will side with you, should there be an issue).

Thanks, LS -- I suspected as much.