San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Costco only if you think the tv will drop in price in the next 90 days and you want to return it/ credit.

Otherwise, monitor slickdeals.net for deals.

Frys on special. Hit slickdeals

I'm liking Costco's no problem return policy on big ticket items.

newegg.com is selling a 42" philips 1080p for $700:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.as...

tiger direct has a 42" LG 1080p for $730, if you are willing to go for 720p, they also have one for $530:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...

Costco has excellent deals on Panasonic Plasmas. Also, 2 year warranty can't be beat. Just bought a 42" and I am very impressed. (My only complaint is single RF input).

so far, Costco seems the best. Now, is ordering online better?

I'm more of a touch, smell, and discuss shopper.. However, if it helps - I can order via net.

As with most difficult questions, "Idiocracy" has the answer...

Amazon charges no sales tax. That's a 9% savings. Also free shipping on some TVs. Prices are usually very competitive with Costco.

Agreed. I bought a TV from Amazon. Delivered with no sales tax and no CA recycling fee.

I wonder what the shipping on a 42 inch tv is from Seattle?

Depending on your budget and viewing distance, you probably can save some money by going with a 720p set. Unless you have really good eyesight and sitting close to the TV, you will probably cannot tell the different between 720p and 1080p.

For budget TV, I'd go plasma over LCD. From my experience, cheapo LCDs have horrible viewing angle problem (i.e the colors look washed out when viewing at an angle).

Yes, but costco has a 2 year warranty on it. Trust me, if you plan on buying lower end LCD/plasma, you definitely want that.

Technicians say that some of the lower end units (won't name names but you can guess what they are) been having a 33-35% failure rate. The only one's made with slightly better components are Sony higher end.

Trying to return a plasma/lcd over the internet, you'll easily pay $100+ for shipping.

Side note. I just bought a el-cheapo 24" lcd computer monitor from costco. And although it's "fine", I has a really annoying buzz (like the 60hz hum you get)....It's going right back to costco for an exchange.

Look at models in a retail store, but buy online. You avoid sales tax, and shipping is often free.

http://www.nextag.com

http://www.pricegrabber.com

I used these services recently. They check many vendors for the price of any model. You set up lists of models you want and it emails you when the prices drop below a certain level. Anxiously awaiting my goodies.

Costco is good if they have what you need and their return policy is great.

That 42" LCD at Tiger is a 60Hz model.

Using the services above, I found this for $850.
http://www.adorama.com/LOT42LH55.html?se...
It's a 250 Hz TV. Great for sports.
Price is back up to $1200 now.

Recommended by http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com
Also, check http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com

I thought we were to avoid Plasma TVs? I am tech challenged, but am in the same boat. Looking to get a flat screen (refused to shop black friday) and was hoping that Americans would defy the consumer hype enmasse, allowing me to catch an awesome deal right after Christmas.....yeah I know, I still haven't bought a house for the same logic.

Anyway, I am now considering cashing in my credit card points to get one (that and two ipod shuffles.)

This is the model I am considering and am wondering if anyone has any thoughts? Is it worthwhile to get 1080 vs 720? Is there a big difference between 37" vs 42"??
LG 42" HD 1080p LCD TV Features 1080p resolution, 50,000:1 contrast ratio, HDMI™ v.1.3 with Deep Color, 24p Real Cinema mode, and an invisible speaker system with Dolby® Digital 5.1 and Clear voice for richer more balanced sound. Includes remote control and stand.

I am with FLU, don't buy large electronic items from the internet, returning it is a pain. Also you need to look at apples to apples comparison and evaluate if you're getting the same thing. Say you're looking at a 42" LCD made by the same manufacturer, from the same year, and look to be the exact same model except different retailers have different model numbers, and you're comparing solely on price. This is sometimes due to an extra item thrown into the packages ( IE a HDMI cable included in the box with the one at Costco), or it could also be due to differences in quality. Cheaper components or TVs with the same components but that batch passed the quality tests at a lower number.

Why do you think Best Buy vs Walmart versus XYZ Online only guy pay different prices to the manufacturer for what you think is the exact same TV? Some of it is in buying power and volume, but some of it is also different quality levels. You do get what you pay for.

Best Buy will negotiate, but if you're looking to buy a lower end TV, you don't have as much bargaining power. If you are looking to buy one of their newest 52" TVs, then you can get them very close to what an Amazon charges, but they usually cannot beat them. If you need other items as well including accessories such as TV mounts, then you can start pushing them towards a price slightly above cost. The accessories are where there is often 300% margin, TVs have a lot less margin.

That said, I went to Best Buy over Costco because Costco simply didn't carry the models I wanted. They tend to carry the lower end model in the same series of TVs ( IE Samsumg 5 series versus 7)

Also, don't buy HDMI cables at a big name retailer, order them from www.monoprice.com where you can buy a $7 or $11 HDMI gold tipped cable ( versus $50).

What is the model number / Refresh rate / Price on that LG ?

Regarding returns, I have never done a return on such a big item for an online but it seems that a return to a big-box store is more of a pain because you have to schlep the thing down there yourself and do the transaction in person. With a quality online-order place, you use the phone and just put the TV in the box and have them pick it up. Probalby takes longer to get the transaction done, but takes less of your time and energy ?

I've been doing a little research in this area and I like that costco doubles the warranty and has the concierge service. My sister just told me about having to use the concierge service from costco, they pretty much act like your lawyer when dealing with a warranty issue, making sure you are happy and not having to make tons of calls. I've also found that the tv's in the ads at many stores or online are the 60hz models or do not look very sharp when you see them in person.

One thing to look for is energy use, some models can use 2x to 4x the elecrictiy of others, some of the older big plasmas gobble up air conditioning amounts of juice.

The lowest energy use ones appear to be LED, but they are new and expensive at the moment, in two years, it's likely plasma and lcd will be extinct, the LED's look better and use less energy, significantly less.

TG- LED TVs seem to mostly be hype

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-103...

http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/news/LCD-TV-...

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009...

Re: 720 vs 1080... if you do most of your watching on cable, it probably won't matter because the cable companies compress the shit out of signal in order to squeeze more HD channels through their pipes. So while cable may be offering HD channels, their quality certainly shouldn't be considered true HD.

1080 only comes into play if you're watching an un-compressed source, eg BluRay or Xbox/PS.

Also, your viewing distance from the TV is a factor on whether or not 1080 matters. If you have a big screen and sit close, 1080 can be noticeable improvement, but if you have a small screen or sit far, 720 is probably fine and you wouldn't even notice the 1080. Here's a good graph showing optimal size/distance ratios: http://www.blogcdn.com/hd.engadget.com/media/2006/12/resolution_chart.jpg

For me, contrast ratio and refresh rate is more important than 720 vs 1080.

out of state to avoid being double taxed by California - the standard sales tax + the e-recycle 'fee'.

try tiger direct

For all of you attempting to avoid paying taxes on big ticket items shipped over the internet:
The State of California would like you to hold onto your receipt and submit it with the appropriate tax payment next year :-)

Online purchasers trying to shirk their tax duties are going to cost the state of California BILLIONS!!

This is the honor system folks!

Heard that on NPR this morning and I do love to quote NPR.

So, if I am understanding it really is not that important to have 1080 over 720 if I just watch the occasional trash tv and am getting it so it takes up less space in my house.

Here is a 240Hz, 42" 1080p LCD for $850. Similar to the one I bought. Free shipping. It's from Dell. I saw the 50" version of this at Costco and it looked great.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/produ...

I understand that Plasma is falling by the wayside.

One thing that still draws me to it is that you can view a plasma from wider angles than LCD and LED.

So if I didn't care about power consumption, heat generation or weight is plasma the way to go?

Does the life expectancy of a new plasma compare to that of a LCD?

sd_matt, plasma has blacker black and equivalence of ~600Hz for LCD. So, if you watch sports or movie, I think plasma is the way to go. Plasma is also a lot cheaper than LCD for the larger screens too.

What about durability?

Plasma is the way to go IMHO. If you can manage your debt I would go to Best Buy and do their 3 years no interest deal. If they want to give me free money for 3 years I'll take it (in fact I already did).

I hate Best Buy but they do negotiate. I bought the Panny V10 58" Plasma (top of the line TV). Their asking price was $2699 but I got it for $1899 including a 5 year on-site warranty. Plus their 3 year deal above...

MARK

try Pacific Sales.
http://www.pacificsales.com/stores/

LCD outsells plasma by a wide margin, but I have not heard that plasma is "falling by the wayside".

From a pure picture quality point of view, up to now at least, the plasma technology produces a better picture than the LCD technology, and the evidence to date does not suggest any substantial difference in useful life. However, neither has been around long enough to be certain about useful life.

Plasma televisions have two attributes that can be significant problems.

Plasma screens are typically shiny surfaces, LCD screens are typically more of a matte finish. If you have a dark room, like a movie theater, you will like the plasma better. But for a typical living room or family room, light coming in from various directions can result in irritating glare, which the the matte finish of the LCD breaks up. For most rooms not dedicated to theater-style viewing, LCD has been the better choice. Some plasma manufacturers are attempting to give their products anti-glare treatments. I have not seen any of these to judge the effectiveness.

Plasma screens are also known for burning images into the screen if the same image is displayed for extended periods.

We bought a 65 in flat screen from Amazon..best TV purchase we've ever made. Delivery and installation were superb.

Another thing to do is use the reviews on Amazon...they clued me in to the fact that the prices on TVs change daily so we were patient and by watching the prices about a week, found a point where prices had dropped 4 or 5 hundred dollars and then bought. Worked out very well.

PS - plasma's days are numbered. Even Pioneer is pulling out of that market.