What a sober picture this must be for Sony, Pioneer, and Panasonic. The counter example to Syms motto "An educated consumer is our best customer." I'm not sure if this is hilarious or sad.

From a story at CNN on an increase in Walmart sales due to tax rebate checks.

I don't see what the problem is, they mass marketed LCD and Plasmas and came out winners. It's probably thanks to these guys Panasonics and Samsungs are so cheap these days. If it pushes people to go HD and buy bigger and bigger screens it can only be good for people like us. The more HDTV owners the more chances Blu Ray doesn't die like HD DVD. I know a lot of people on this site tend to think the only reason people don't have HDTVs is because they are ignorant/oblivious but the real reason is money and relative worth of a TV to a person. I'd never buy a Vizio but good for them nevertheless.

What a sober picture this must be for Sony, Pioneer, and Panasonic. The counter example to Syms motto "An educated consumer is our best customer." I'm not sure if this is hilarious or sad.

From a story at CNN on an increase in Walmart sales due to tax rebate checks.

Why?? I think there are enough people out there that care about quality to support those companies. If the Wall-mart shopping masses want crap cheap, then they can buy all the Vizio panels they want.

Actually this may be a good thing for the Panasonics, Samsungs etc who are still producing plasma's and plasma's as a whole. With, what seems to be an early success of their 32 in. plasma's this may be the shot in the arm the plasma industry needs. It for the most part has negelected the smaller sized TV's and with the 32in being one of the biggest sellers, the success of the Vizo 32" should prompt the major manufactures to start producing them as well, exposing and giving many more options on the smaller screen size, that would no doubt come in much cheaper than LCD's.

Vizios are fine. If they're using the new 2008 LG panels then they should be very competitive with current offerings from Panasonic and Samsung.

Vizios are fine. If they're using the new 2008 LG panels then they should be very competitive with current offerings from Panasonic and Samsung.


I agree, nothing wrong with Vizio. If people are hestiant then just buy the extended warranty.

more people buying hdtv's. yes this is a bad thing:rolleyes:

What a sober picture this must be for Sony, Pioneer, and Panasonic. The counter example to Syms motto "An educated consumer is our best customer." I'm not sure if this is hilarious or sad.

From a story at CNN on an increase in Walmart sales due to tax rebate checks.Educated or not, I have $8000 to spend on "another" PDP... do you?

Point is... most other people don't either... hence the China, Wal*Mart, Vizio connection.

What PDP is selling for $8K?

What PDP is selling for $8K?Just a ball park figure. I spent $7750 for my PRO-150FD. Conversely, since you're in the market for another 50" display, you can buy a VP50 (http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=39) for $1299.99 :)

No thanks, lol. I would just keep my Elite.
I'll stick with the 11FD for my next display.

You must have gotten that in week one at that price.

No thanks, lol. I would just keep my Elite.
I'll stick with the 11FD for my next display.

You must have gotten that in week one at that price.Correct. I got the 1st PRO-150FD to arrive in smAlbany NY from this region's "only" authorized Pioneer Elite dealer.

Same with my TH-50PX50U from CC, when those panels were still made in Japan. :)

Robert is a good man!

****** brands might be forcing the hand of their higher end competitors to be competitive and lower prices, but I don't think the world quite works like that. In reality we cant get everything for nothing, in other words those higher end competitors will be forced to cut corners in order to force prices down and the overall quality will drop in time. In the end the people hurt most by all this will be the people who care about quality.

****** brands might be forcing the hand of their higher end competitors to be competitive and lower prices, but I don't think the world quite works like that. In reality we cant get everything for nothing, in other words those higher end competitors will be forced to cut corners in order to force prices down and the overall quality will drop in time. In the end the people hurt most by all this will be the people who care about quality.

I don't neccesarily agree with that statement. The only way that comes true is if they aren't willing to lose out on the bottom line of maximizing their overall profits.
Until Vizio turned the HDTV upside down last year with their popularity, the Sony's, Samsungs etc, were waaay overcharging for their products, almost to the point it was price gauging. Upon reading up on Vizio and William Wang, one of the reasons he chose to get in this business was he went into an Electronci store for whatever reason and saw the prices on LCD's and Plasmas. and since he's been in the business of computer monitor's with MAG and Gateway, he knew how much the cost of producing these types of sets were and knew how much the Big Boy's were over charging the consumer's and viewed this as an opprotunity to get in the HDTV business.

They can still keep up great quality and still make a nice profit. The question is will they still want that 200% profit margin.