All Costco/Best Buy/ Circuit City/Sears/Target et al chat goes here and only here

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Here you go fellas: your own Costco/BB/CC thread: but you still must abide by forum rules :)

Technical support issues only please

The Philips site now shows info about this exact model. It mentions "anti-ageing circuit" as a screen enhancement. Is that Philips' version of pixel shifting?

So i just ordered this from costco and wanted to get an idea of when these would be shipping from panny to the US. I called up panny cust service and they informed me that no more 50 or 500 models are being made and that the next ones to come out are the 60 and 600's which will be in March. Anybody else have this same info? Whats going to happen to our Costco only PM's?

Thanx markrubin.
This is an extremely useful thread.

Wow. So is there where we can read about how people buy TV's from Costco's and then returns them years later for a full refund? NICE...

The Philips site now shows info about this exact model.

In the 50PF7220A/37 specs "Smart sound, Volume Leveller" is NOT listed (it is in the 50PF7320A/37 specs). :confused:

I asked this question twice in the other Costco thread and never got a response, so here goes again.

For the record, I would not use Costco's return policy for a "rental" or abuse the policy. I would, however, use it if my TV failed within a few years. A $4k set should not die that quickly, and of course I would not be satisfied with my purchase. I would essentially buy a TV from Costco and pay my yearly membership instead of buying a set and extended warranty from some other store such as Best Buy.

What I'm wondering about is this: can Costco change their return policy after you have already made the purchase and have the new policy affect your existing purchase? For example, you buy a set and 8 months later they change the return policy to mirror their policy on computers. (6 month return policy, if I recall) Since you purchased your set 8 months earlier, you can no longer return your set and are left without the old Costco guarantee acting as your extended warranty.

Anyone?

I just bought a Philips 37" LCD less than 30 days ago and on their website it is now several hundred dollars cheaper. Does anyone know if I am entitled to get a refund of the difference? To complicate things further I did not have a Costco membership and my aunt did so I wrote her a check and she put it on her costco membership and Amex card. Do you think they would give me cash back or even a store credit? Thanks.

Good question Swank. My guess is they would make an exception for people who purchased before the new clause. Assuming they were big into the 100% satisfaction as they claim but technically I think they have the right to not allow you to return it if they wanted to.

And I don't think you could call and get them to tell you since the people you talk to can't really comment on a policy change that doesn't exist yet and may never exist.

I got a shipping confirmation on mine. It is being shipped out of southern CA. (i live in N. Ca. so I should have it soon.) My guess is if you put the order in, got a confirming email from Costco you will ge the set. My hunch is that Costco negotiated a bulk order and tiered pricing with Panasonic. We get you X number of orders and you give us this price point and guarantee our order count (otherwise why would they preadvertise then have a 1 week ordering window). Could be we got the last of a production run with a few straggler units left over distributed to whoever. All conjecture on my part so take it for what it is worth which is exactly nada, zip, zero and less than .02 cents.

I too am eager to see what anyone has to say about this unit when it become available. I thought it was an older unit dealt to Costco by Philips. But by the looks of what you folks are saying here, it's actually a new model not yet available.

I await all opinions on this unit. thanks.

I think the 7320 & 7220 are the same, but Costco was given it's own part number. It's not uncommon for Sam's Club or Costco to have the same item that's available in other stores but with a different part number or SKU.

Edit: I just did a quick look through the first 10 or so pages of the two manuals & they appear identical. In fact, the help box on the table of contents lists both of them (in addition to the 37" & 42" models.

Just took a quick swing by Costco during my lunch hour. They now have very few hdtvs on display, so they must be planning on putting a slew of new ones on display sometime soon (this week). The suspense is killing me!

The specs on costco did not show it, but the user manual seemed to indicate there was an integrated hd tuner? Anyone able to confirm whether it does and if so whether it would have optical/coax out so you could run 5.1 to a receiver from the tuner?

Lindseybb,

I had the exact same situation with the 32" and had no trouble getting a "price adjustment". Just bring in receipt.

matt

Wow. So is there where we can read about how people buy TV's from Costco's and then returns them years later for a full refund? NICE...

LoL, if you want to read that, there's a retail employee's forum out there somewhere. On the costco one, there's a thread dedicated to return policy. Quite a few interesting stories in there such as cat toy returned because a lady ran over her cat, a man who returned a dead plant because he didn't water it, a ring returned with a fake diamond inside, and also big plasma tv returned with bricks and junk inside the box instead of the tv itself. At least Costco employees are smart enough to catch most of that unlike Best Buy customer service.

Where do you see that Costo has a 30-day satifaction guarantee? They have a 100% satisfaction guarantee which stipulates on a 6 month return limit on computer equipment. Nothing about 30 days anywhere on their website that I can see.

I suggest you verify your statements before you post them in a thread and misinform people.


Lindseybb,

Since you purchased the LCD less than 30 days, if I remember correctly, Costco has 30-day satisfaction guarantee so I don't see why you can't get a refund of the difference. Otherwise, you could return the whole TV because you're not satisfied with the price.

I don't think they can do anything once it's beyond the 30-day period though.

That's why I said "IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY". I'm in Canada though so maybe the policy isn't the same as in the US.

See Wormzer's posting on the link to Philips' manual on model PF7220.

Referring to this manual. Pages 2 and 3, it clearly states that 7220 has a built-in digital SDTV and HDTV tuner plus and cable card for cable use. So, 7220 is capable of receiving HD signal OTA, where available. This is excellent !

Regarding output for 5.1 surround AV system. See page 34. 7220 does have a digit audio output. I don't think it's optical, however. I can't be sure from the picture. But it's there none-the-less.

Hey Muskeg,

I'm in Anchorage too and already have Dish Network. I've been trying to get a definitive answer on what is required to receive HD programming.

Is the Dish 500 the really big one?

Also, does anyone know how this will look with a standard digital signal? I really want a bigger TV and one that is ready for HD when I get it, but not sure how soon I will make the committment if it means one of the 8' dishes in my yard.

Thanks

ACS called me back with an answer to the Dish Network HD in Alaska. It does require the 6' dish ($1,300), the 811 receiver ($450), $10 monthly fee on the receiver and the additional HD programming fee.

So, I now await an answer (I hope) to the question... how will this look with my standard digital signal?

Thanks

Yup...just received mine today. Very high quality...my only problem is my Vizio L37 is not listed on the Screen Compatability Chart. It will fit, just not sure which hardware package to use. They include enough hardware for just about any product. All nicely packaged.

I'm interested in the Sharp Acquos 45" LCD (LC-45GD7U), but would prefer to puchase it in store instead of having to pay the $200 shipping fee (and waiting 20 business days).

I know there are none in the OC/LA area. Has anybody seen these in their B&M's?

For those who've already purchased it, would you recommend this particular model (the sticky on this model mainly discusses the GX version of this - there's no a whole lot on the GD7U so far)...

ghwk,

your theory seems pretty good. how long after placing your order did it take to ship out?

Do NOT buy the 811! The new MPEG 2/4 ViP222 is out and will get the new HD channels that are going up. All new (the stuff in HD now will stay MPEG2) HD channels will be MPEG4. You may have to wait till Feb. 1st. to order as that is the official launch of the new ViP 222 and 622 (HD PVR).

John


ACS called me back with an answer to the Dish Network HD in Alaska. It does require the 6' dish ($1,300), the 811 receiver ($450), $10 monthly fee on the receiver and the additional HD programming fee.

So, I now await an answer (I hope) to the question... how will this look with my standard digital signal?

Thanks

I'm interested in the Sharp Acquos 45" LCD (LC-45GD7U), but would prefer to puchase it in store instead of having to pay the $200 shipping fee (and waiting 20 business days).

I know there are none in the OC/LA area. Has anybody seen these in their B&M's?

For those who've already purchased it, would you recommend this particular model (the sticky on this model mainly discusses the GX version of this - there's no a whole lot on the GD7U so far)...


I've only seen the Sharp 45" in Costco, and frankly, I thought the 50" Vizio next to it looked more vibrant. The Sharp is just too much money at this point, in my opinion, and this is coming from a Sharp 32" owner.

I must throw my 2 cents in.
Costco understands retail. I have bought tens of thousands from them whether I lived in Boise, England, or Phoenix over the last 12 years. They have always taken back a product if it didn't suit the purpose that I had intended when I bought it. I returned a 32" LCD last week that I had for a week because it "didn't suit the purpose I intented. I bought a 37"LCD from them instead.
It does bother me that some consider it "OK" to take back something years after they bought it just because they can. Those people are just cheap and you won't change that as some people are just that way they are.

Hey guys... if you have any specific questions on the Philips 7220 you can PM me and I will be glad to answer them for you as best I can... I picked it up from Costco last week and plan on using the coupon for a refund coming up soon..

It does have a built in tuner and cablecard access...... So far no complaints in PQ.... I am far from a tV expert but I am sitting about 7 feet back from this set and am about to go blind.... HD is pretty good... no complaints over here... only issue I can see so far is the glare form the screen can be quite annnoying...

I got a wall mount and need to mount it soon in a different room because 7 feet is too close for my eyes.. Good luck

Hi, is there a way to check for a Costco's warehouse inventory of LCD TV's online? I know that every costco warehouse differ in inventory. I wanted to see if there are any SoCal costco's that carry the Samsung 40 inch LCD. Costco.com has it online but there's a $200 delivery charge.

I've heard everyone say, that if you want to be safe then buy from costco. What exaclty is their retrun policy on plasmas. Are they guaranteed for life?

I've heard everyone say, that if you want to be safe then buy from costco. What exaclty is their retrun policy on plasmas. Are they guaranteed for life?

I don't know exactly but the Toshiba 50HP95 is [EDIT]... on the website.

EDIT>>

mod note: no discussion of discounts or "great" prices. Thanks

yeah, i was just looking at that. [EDIT]... a 50 inch toshiba isnt that bad at all

EDIT>>

mod note: no price talk. Thanks

I've heard everyone say, that if you want to be safe then buy from costco. What exaclty is their retrun policy on plasmas. Are they guaranteed for life?

Yes and no. Yes, unless they change their return policy, then it may be no.

Costco will accept returns on just about anything after any period of time, except for certain computer products (details outlined clearly at every Costco store). For now, plasma tvs are still not on that exclusion list. But, there's no guarantee that it won't be added later, and when they do, it's up to Costco to decide whether existing owners will be grandfathered or not.

Costco's customer satisfaction guarantee is truly excellent. Given it's a membership only store, I'd think they can easily refuse to renew the membership of individuals who abused that policy.

Threads merged

Thanks Meltz, but I'm looking specifically for an LCD since I play a lot of Xbox and dont want to even think about burning-in a plasma. That's why I figured I'd go with the 45" Sharp instead of a 50" Vizio or Panny.

Was the difference in PQ really that noticeable?

I've only seen the Sharp 45" in Costco, and frankly, I thought the 50" Vizio next to it looked more vibrant. The Sharp is just too much money at this point, in my opinion, and this is coming from a Sharp 32" owner.

SB - there's no way to check Costco's B&M inventory online. But if you get the Costco item number online, you can call or visit your local Costco and have them search the area for that particular product. That's how I discovered the 45" Sharp wasnt available in my area (since I'm also looking to save on the delivery fee).

Hi, is there a way to check for a Costco's warehouse inventory of LCD TV's online? I know that every costco warehouse differ in inventory. I wanted to see if there are any SoCal costco's that carry the Samsung 40 inch LCD. Costco.com has it online but there's a $200 delivery charge.

[QUOTE=antidentite]Thanks Meltz, but I'm looking specifically for an LCD since I play a lot of Xbox and dont want to even think about burning-in a plasma. That's why I figured I'd go with the 45" Sharp instead of a 50" Vizio or Panny.

Was the difference in PQ really that noticeable?


The PQ of the Sharp is good, but in my opinion, the picture was not as vivid or ahem sharp as those of the pio and vizio plasmas. I understand your concern about gaming on a plasma, but it seems to be that the large price difference warrants being careful with the plasma regarding burn-in issues.

But really, you need to find a way to see it yourself.

Great point, Meltz. I'm trying to find a place that carries the 45" Sharp along with the Pioneer and Panny and it's proving to be more difficult than I thought -especially for southern CA!

The PQ of the Sharp is good, but in my opinion, the picture was not as vivid or ahem sharp as those of the pio and vizio plasmas. I understand your concern about gaming on a plasma, but it seems to be that the large price difference warrants being careful with the plasma regarding burn-in issues.

But really, you need to find a way to see it yourself.

Costco's customer satisfaction guarantee is truly excellent. Given it's a membership only store, I'd think they can easily refuse to renew the membership of individuals who abused that policy.

I really wanted to buy from Costco for that reason alone. The main reason I went with best buy was the 24 months same as cash. I figure at with this deal I'll just pay a couple hundred a month on the TV and have it paid for long before any interest charges.

On the other hand If I purchased it on my card from Costco I'd be paying more than an extended warranties worth of interest by the time it is all said and done.

It's just too bad Costco doesnt offer special financing rates on large purchases.

I hope I can ask this question. Are Costco's prices cheaper in store than they are on the net? Thanks

Can anyone please tell me if Best Buy will do a price match for same exact model Plasma selling at Costco for $500 Less.

Anyone seen the new Philips 50" on the floor yet? I just checked my local store and they've got the boxes out on palettes but nothing on display. Something about waiting until the sale next week before putting out a display model... A sign was hanging above with the regular price but there was a "KEEP OFF FLOOR!" note attached. Weird policy, but I can wait.

matt

and online price == in-warehouse price, in my experience. I saw a price drop online and it was dropped to match in the warehouse that same day.

matt

Can anyone please tell me if Best Buy will do a price match for same exact model Plasma selling at Costco for $500 Less.

Yes my Best buy was willing to do the online pricematch with Costco. Plus free shipping and a rewards card ($100 value)

I ended up going with a 42" at the last minute and they gave me a similar deal on that with delivery and the rewards card ($75 value)

You just have to go in there informed and willing to barter.

Costco.com just added a bunch of new TV's today. Philips plasmas, toshiba, JVC 1080p RPTV. Their selection is getting pretty good.

Too bad I am still unsure which model to get...

double post, sorry. I didn't notice this thread until after I started my other one.

Ok, so after 3 years of setbacks (possibly more), I once again have my plasma fund ready to go. My intention is before any more mishaps suck the fund dry to get this purchase knocked out within the next few weeks. Based on budget factors and everything else, I'm pretty set on a 42 ED Panny model. The goal is to keep the purchase below 2k which knocks HD out pretty much everywhere I've seen so far.

With than in mind, can any Costco members around the Boston area let me know if they've seen any 42 Panasonics in store? They have none listed on the site, but I've seen them in there in the past. My membership to BJs just expired, so I'm debating on switching. If I can find a 42 Panasonic (ED or HD if the price is very good) at Costco, I'll switch and make the purchase there. If not, I'm leaning towards Visual Apex.

Truth told, I'd prefer the commercial model anyway, but would love the ease of dealing with Costco should anything be wrong with the display.


Mark, feel free to axe the other thread at your leisure.

Recently I heard that CC will do dish installs even if the equipment is purchased elsewhere. I called their In-Home Service #888 333 2333 to inquire about installation only for the DTV AT-9 dish & H20 receiver and was told the cost is $300.

Anyone had this dish installed by them & how did it go?

I spoke to one of the Costco electronics guy, over the phone, an hour ago. He too told me that he's got the Philips 50 plasma TVs in the back room but will not display it until next Monday when it goes on sale.

I guess this is how Costco works with a new item that comes in synch with a sales promotion of the same item. No display until set date.

My question is this: I understand that this Philips 7220 has a built-in HD OTA tuner. Will I need a special antenna to receive HD programming OTA? or could I just use my indoor rabbit ear type antenna that I've been using to receive regular TV signal. I have no problems receiving SDTV signals with these indoors rabbit ears type antenna since I live in Los Angeles area.

And if a special indoor antenna is needed, as my brother-in-law is doing. Why is this necessary? Is it the band widths, the different frequencies?? Or is it just hype and more monies for local electronics stores when buy these new indoor antennas?

Thanks.

When is the sale for the Philips start at Costco?

Anyone know the box dim for the 42" Pioneer at Costco? PDP-4214 I think.

I can't imagine financing a tv, no matter how cool the tv is! :eek:

I asked this question twice in the other Costco thread and never got a response, so here goes again.

For the record, I would not use Costco's return policy for a "rental" or abuse the policy. I would, however, use it if my TV failed within a few years. A $4k set should not die that quickly, and of course I would not be satisfied with my purchase. I would essentially buy a TV from Costco and pay my yearly membership instead of buying a set and extended warranty from some other store such as Best Buy.

What I'm wondering about is this: can Costco change their return policy after you have already made the purchase and have the new policy affect your existing purchase? For example, you buy a set and 8 months later they change the return policy to mirror their policy on computers. (6 month return policy, if I recall) Since you purchased your set 8 months earlier, you can no longer return your set and are left without the old Costco guarantee acting as your extended warranty.

Anyone?

You purchased your TV under and during the then policy and that policy should remain in effect as long as you own the Tv and are a member.

costco's return policy on TVs is not in jeopardy. Most of what they sell is good and they know which brands may be more inclined to have issues. They also can tell who may be abusing their policies. PCs are a whole other issue. People return PCs when they mess up the software. They had to be getting alot of PCs back in order to change that policy.

I would guess if you brought a TV back after they changed the policy they would honor the policy on the old TV and you would begin anew with the changed policy on the new one if you bought one with your refund.

I spoke to one of the Costco electronics guy, over the phone, an hour ago. He too told me that he's got the Philips 50 plasma TVs in the back room but will not display it until next Monday when it goes on sale.

I guess this is how Costco works with a new item that comes in synch with a sales promotion of the same item. No display until set date.

My question is this: I understand that this Philips 7220 has a built-in HD OTA tuner. Will I need a special antenna to receive HD programming OTA? or could I just use my indoor rabbit ear type antenna that I've been using to receive regular TV signal. I have no problems receiving SDTV signals with these indoors rabbit ears type antenna since I live in Los Angeles area.

And if a special indoor antenna is needed, as my brother-in-law is doing. Why is this necessary? Is it the band widths, the different frequencies?? Or is it just hype and more monies for local electronics stores when buy these new indoor antennas?


Thanks.

You do not need a special antenna. Just a good one. Yes marketing hype is alive and well. If the stations are local enough a wire hanger could work. :D

First post. I've read this forum for years and have gained a wealth of information from you guys. I'm currently in the market for a 50 inch plasma and will probably wait to make my decision until I can look at the new Panasonics this Spring.

Anyway, I was at Best Buy today looking at the 50 inch Pioneer when a salesman started talking to me. He was pleasant enough and we talked about a few things including wall mounts. He then started going on and on about "clean power" and before I knew what was happening I was over in the "Monster Power aisle" with him. They had two LCD displays set up, one connected to a Monster Power Center and the other one not. Needless to say, the one connected to the "clean power" looked fabulous; the other looked like total crap.

I was skeptical that the power center could make this degree of difference and I asked the sales rep if everything else in the displays was the same. He assured me that they were otherwise identical. I then looked at the back of the displays and saw an HDMI cable coming out the clean power LCD and composite cables coming out of the one that looked bad.

When I pointed this out to the sales rep, he told me that the cables would make a difference in the resolution but that all the "noise" I was seeing was due to "dirty power."

So what did I learn? I'll pass on the $350 power center but when I hook my DVD player up to my new plasma, I'll strongly consider using HDMI or component.

LOL

Talk about false advertisement.

In philosophy they say: "power corrupts". ;)

my 50" panny from costco is scheduled for delivery on this friday. Thats less than 2 weeks from ordering. Not bad if you ask me. And the price was right. A 50 inch panny for sub3k. before shippping and tax( i live around the corner from a costco, but it was an online only deal. I hate paying both shipping and tax)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello all,

First off, I have to acknowledge this website, its forums, and its members - truly a wealth of knowledge. This site was my primary source of info during my plasma research phase.

Now, onto my post. Today, after much research and deliberation, I purchased a Panasonic TH-42PX50U from Circuit City. While I was signing up for the CC credit card (to get $140 store credit from my purchase), I had a CC salesman approach me, inquiring about my purchase. I told him that I just bought the Panny, and he immediately asked if I included their warranty. I said no, and he reacted in shock. I was told first that plasmas last only a few years at best, and then that, when they break, they're as good as dead - no possibility of repair. He then relayed a sob story about how he had purchased a plasma two years ago, and it recently broke - three one-inch thick black bars appeared vertically on the screen, right in the middle of it. He said something like "the lines of resolution died". He told me he wished he had purchased a warranty, because his TV was now worthless and unrepairable. I asked him if he had received similar complaints from customers in the past, and he affirmed that yes, he had heard from many customers that their flatscreens died within a few years of purchase. He then brought me a Consumer Reports magazine, bookmarked to a page discussing the fact that plasmas are relatively new, and thus their reliability is unknown. The article broke CR tradition and suggested that a warranty be considered. I was then told that, if I changed my mind about the warranty, I could come back in and have the purchase price refunded.

Here I stand. I have combed this website and its forums, looking for anything and everything discussing plasma life-spans, and I remain convinced that they are sufficiently reliable. I plan on getting a refund for this warranty. But, before I do, I wanted to hear the community's take on my experience today. Is there any truth to these horror stories? Is a $500/3-year warranty worth it? Is plasma a technology worth investing $3000 in? I get the sense that this community is comprised of plasma advocates, but I'm hoping to get some hard-truth, honest responses here.

Thank you all very much in advance for your time and advise. Your comments are highly valued. I look forward to reading your responses.

-John C.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello all,

First off, I have to acknowledge this website, its forums, and its members - truly a wealth of knowledge. This site was my primary source of info during my plasma research phase.

Now, onto my post. Today, after much research and deliberation, I purchased a Panasonic TH-42PX50U from Circuit City. While I was signing up for the CC credit card (to get $140 store credit from my purchase), I had a CC salesman approach me, inquiring about my purchase. I told him that I just bought the Panny, and he immediately asked if I included their warranty. I said no, and he reacted in shock. I was told first that plasmas last only a few years at best, and then that, when they break, they're as good as dead - no possibility of repair. He then relayed a sob story about how he had purchased a plasma two years ago, and it recently broke - three one-inch thick black bars appeared vertically on the screen, right in the middle of it. He said something like "the lines of resolution died". He told me he wished he had purchased a warranty, because his TV was now worthless and unrepairable. I asked him if he had received similar complaints from customers in the past, and he affirmed that yes, he had heard from many customers that their flatscreens died within a few years of purchase. He then brought me a Consumer Reports magazine, bookmarked to a page discussing the fact that plasmas are relatively new, and thus their reliability is unknown. The article broke CR tradition and suggested that a warranty be considered. I was then told that, if I changed my mind about the warranty, I could come back in and have the purchase price refunded.

Here I stand. I have combed this website and its forums, looking for anything and everything discussing plasma life-spans, and I remain convinced that they are sufficiently reliable. I plan on getting a refund for this warranty. But, before I do, I wanted to hear the community's take on my experience today. Is there any truth to these horror stories? Is a $500/3-year warranty worth it? Is plasma a technology worth investing $3000 in? I get the sense that this community is comprised of plasma advocates, but I'm hoping to get some hard-truth, honest responses here.

Thank you all very much in advance for your time and advise. Your comments are highly valued. I look forward to reading your responses.

-John C.

I have 2 Panny plasmas. The first is 3+ years old with no issues ever. The second had one issue at approx 6 mths, fixed immediately under the Panasonic warranty at no cost to me. I am extremely happy with the PQ of both.

Would you feel any better if you had NO protection after three years when you are more likely to really need it? If you cannot trust your TV PAST the 3 year extended warranty period why buy it in the first place.

Get the warranty refunded. Its a waste of money. The likely hood that you will need it is nil ESPECIALLY since you bought what is uniformly considered the BEST Plasma TV you can buy.

First off the picture is incredible!!! I had the Sony 50A10 LCD projection and there is absolutely no comparison. Needless to say I'm very happy with the Panasonic and want to keep it. The problem I'm facing is the Panasonic website and the Costco website made it seem that the plasma and stand were 32" high, perfect for my built in. Well apparently I messed up and with the stand it is 34.5", which would still fit but by a hair. I can't get it in because I have molding in front of the built-in and can't shimmy it in.

Now to my question, does anyone know if there are alternate stands out there that may be shorter? The Panasonic website only has wall mounting brackets which wouldn't work either because the whole is 25+ inches deep to fit my old 36" XBR. If anyone has any ideas I would be very greatful.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello all,

First off, I have to acknowledge this website, its forums, and its members - truly a wealth of knowledge. This site was my primary source of info during my plasma research phase.

Now, onto my post. Today, after much research and deliberation, I purchased a Panasonic TH-42PX50U from Circuit City. While I was signing up for the CC credit card (to get $140 store credit from my purchase), I had a CC salesman approach me, inquiring about my purchase. I told him that I just bought the Panny, and he immediately asked if I included their warranty. I said no, and he reacted in shock. I was told first that plasmas last only a few years at best, and then that, when they break, they're as good as dead - no possibility of repair. He then relayed a sob story about how he had purchased a plasma two years ago, and it recently broke - three one-inch thick black bars appeared vertically on the screen, right in the middle of it. He said something like "the lines of resolution died". He told me he wished he had purchased a warranty, because his TV was now worthless and unrepairable. I asked him if he had received similar complaints from customers in the past, and he affirmed that yes, he had heard from many customers that their flatscreens died within a few years of purchase. He then brought me a Consumer Reports magazine, bookmarked to a page discussing the fact that plasmas are relatively new, and thus their reliability is unknown. The article broke CR tradition and suggested that a warranty be considered. I was then told that, if I changed my mind about the warranty, I could come back in and have the purchase price refunded.

Here I stand. I have combed this website and its forums, looking for anything and everything discussing plasma life-spans, and I remain convinced that they are sufficiently reliable. I plan on getting a refund for this warranty. But, before I do, I wanted to hear the community's take on my experience today. Is there any truth to these horror stories? Is a $500/3-year warranty worth it? Is plasma a technology worth investing $3000 in? I get the sense that this community is comprised of plasma advocates, but I'm hoping to get some hard-truth, honest responses here.

Thank you all very much in advance for your time and advise. Your comments are highly valued. I look forward to reading your responses.

-John C.

You should definitely return the warranty.

If it was me, I would find when that salesman was working and when the store mgr was working. I would then go to return the tv that day and get them both together at the same time. I would let the store mgr know why I was returning it and ask him the following: if they are selling products that are so bad that salesman are telling you they are going to fail after a short time, then why are they selling them? and more importantly, why would you buy such a low quality product?

After they gave me my refund I would then inform them that I was heading over to Costco to buy the set there---as part of Costco's "service" they offer basically a lifetime warranty against a poor product or defect. Watch their faces and then see the salesman get a spanky from the mgr.

You gotta watch these guys. They are not your friends...

i take it that costco has more tvs at their store then they do on their site?

The problem I'm facing is the Panasonic website and the Costco website made it seem that the plasma and stand were 32" high, perfect for my built in. Well apparently I messed up and with the stand it is 34.5", which would still fit but by a hair. I can't get it in because I have molding in front of the built-in and can't shimmy it in.

Now to my question, does anyone know if there are alternate stands out there that may be shorter?Well none of their stated measurement specs ever seem to say "with stand" so technically they're right, but they should include height specs for both with and without stand. Or you could have checked here first to make sure it'd fit your space before buying it :D

This stand below seems like it would work. It's height adjustable so presumably you could lower the plasma all the way down till it's resting on the inch-thick (or so) base. That should lower the plasma about an inch and a half (or so). It's a much nicer base than that distracting gawd-awful bright silver duckfoot stand :p

Oh and TVAuthority sells it . . . . .

http://www.premiermounts.com/PartData/Images/large/PSD-TTS_B.jpg


http://www.premiermounts.com/adapterSpecs.asp?ProductID=&PartID=1252

http://www.premiermounts.com/PartData/Docs/PSD-TTS_Spec%20Sheet.pdf

I agree with you, diego44. My concern isn't so much the warranty as the value of purchasing the unit if it is so unreliable that a warranty is all but necessary.

Scotlandcap - excellent point. I was thinking the same thing: are they really selling a TV that breaks down after two years? Unfortunately I do not think that Costco carries the Panny 42x. Circuit City offered me it for a sale price of $$$, and since I purchased it with their credit card, I got ~$140 in store credit as well. Not too bad.

EDIT>>

mod note: no price other than MSRP, please. Thanks

I drove 200 miles just to buy a T.V. from costco. We have SAMS club in our area but no costco. Their warranty sold me.

Thanks for the advise... of course I visited this site and did a ton of reading but one only has so much time... and quite possibly I was blinded by my excitement that Costco was offering the 50 without a tuner at such a great price. Regardless, thanks for your help. This should work perfectly.

While I'm at it, any way I can cheat again and ask to be pointed to the appropriate thread for Calibration Settings for the 50' Panny's?

Great point, Meltz. I'm trying to find a place that carries the 45" Sharp along with the Pioneer and Panny and it's proving to be more difficult than I thought -especially for southern CA!

Have you tried Ken Crane's? They have all three. There's one near the 405 in Hawthorne.

Great point, Meltz. I'm trying to find a place that carries the 45" Sharp along with the Pioneer and Panny and it's proving to be more difficult than I thought -especially for southern CA!


Fry's carries that set. They have a few of those in So Cal. We have several in the dallas area, and I saw that set there. to tell the truth, it didn't look that great. Had what i believe they calll "clayface"
I've heard such great things about that tv and was really surprised it looked as poor as it did. Maybe it was the signal, but the signal sure looked good on the sets around it. Good luck. I'll also say that my buddy has a 40 in samsung lcd, and it looks great. Cheap now too. ( ok, lets just say cheaper) I watched his alot and i haven' t noticed any issues with the "dni"(?) that some complain about. Good luck with whatever you get

Anyone know the box dim for the 42" Pioneer at Costco? PDP-4214 I think.

The Pioneer PDP-4214HD box is: 55.5"L x 32.5"h x 14.75"w

i take it that costco has more tvs at their store then they do on their site?


Not at my costco. they only have 2 or 3 50" plasmas in the store. I only remember the pio and the maxent. In fact i think those were the only 2. The panny i bought was only online according the friendly costco kid standing by the tv's.

Costco has a 50" Pioneer, Vizio, Akai, Maxent and soon Phillips in the Myrtle Beach store

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had a CC salesman approach me, inquiring about my purchase. I told him that I just bought the Panny, and he immediately asked if I included their warranty. I said no, and he reacted in shock. I was told first that plasmas last only a few years at best, and then that, when they break, they're as good as dead - no possibility of repair. He then relayed a sob story about how he had purchased a plasma two years ago, and it recently broke - three one-inch thick black bars appeared vertically on the screen, right in the middle of it. He said something like "the lines of resolution died". He told me he wished he had purchased a warranty, because his TV was now worthless and unrepairable. I asked him if he had received similar complaints from customers in the past, and he affirmed that yes, he had heard from many customers that their flatscreens died within a few years of purchase.
Reading this kind of drivel makes me . . . :mad:

I think scotlandcap's solution is very appropriate, and I would think hard about doing if it was me!

He then brought me a Consumer Reports magazine, bookmarked to a page discussing the fact that plasmas are relatively new, and thus their reliability is unknown.
I don't want to be trolling here, but . . . consider the source. :rolleyes:

Here I stand. I have combed this website and its forums, looking for anything and everything discussing plasma life-spans, and I remain convinced that they are sufficiently reliable. I plan on getting a refund for this warranty. But, before I do, I wanted to hear the community's take on my experience today. Is there any truth to these horror stories?
Not if you've been reading this forum for a while.

BTW, if you would have used a major credit card, your warranty would have doubled on-the-spot.

my .01 (worth half as much)

Will Costco help me load the set into my car? I've been to some places that are so afraid of lawsuits that once you buy it you're on your own. I'll be by myself when I buy it.

Will Costco help me load the set into my car? I've been to some places that are so afraid of lawsuits that once you buy it you're on your own. I'll be by myself when I buy it.


They helped me load in my TV when I bought one there. I assume they'll do the same for you.

Costco has a guy that their sole job is to help people load stuff into cars. Just go to the customer service or the guy who checks your receipt and ask him. They will flag him down for you.

Well just went to Costco by me. They finally had the 50" Visio Plasma. Not sold on it. Then they had but not displaying the new Philips 50" model that goes on sale on Monday. The casing looks cheap and plastic to me but Philips is a name I somewhat could trust unlike Visio or Maxent.

I asked the guy why he didn't have anymore Pioneer 50's and he told me that they sold out of the 50" and are about to get the new model Pioneers no later than March. And from what I have read the new Pioneers models have MUCH better blacks.

So now do I get the 42" and just suck it up. Or go Philips or wait a month for the Pioneer?

Also I asked the guy if he had any return issues with the Visio since I have read that there is a lot of burn in issues. He told me the only return on that TV was that it was not big enough. Liberal Policy.

You should definitely return the warranty.

If it was me, I would find when that salesman was working and when the store mgr was working. I would then go to return the tv that day and get them both together at the same time. I would let the store mgr know why I was returning it and ask him the following: if they are selling products that are so bad that salesman are telling you they are going to fail after a short time, then why are they selling them? and more importantly, why would you buy such a low quality product?

After they gave me my refund I would then inform them that I was heading over to Costco to buy the set there---as part of Costco's "service" they offer basically a lifetime warranty against a poor product or defect. Watch their faces and then see the salesman get a spanky from the mgr.

You gotta watch these guys. They are not your friends...

Like many others, I'm sure, I had an identical experience at CC. Basically, I was in a hurry, knew exactly which television I wanted (TH-42PX50U as well) and was there to get it and get out in under 20 minutes. I was asking CC to do a price match to a local competitor (which they did but wouldn't give me the 10% difference guarantee) that knocked over $500 off of the price. Then, the manager tried to sell me on the warranty. I politely refused, mentioned my limited time available and asked to proceed with the sale. Basically, he would not allow me to proceed with the sale in an uninterrupted manner. He tried to sell me power conditioners, cables, wall mounts, etc. Again, I politely refused. He then went back to the extended warranty (even had the nerve to suggest I was getting it for free since I was getting a break on the price match). I then asked him why I would need to add 20% to my purchase price on a warranty for an item that MSRPs for $2999. Then he started in on how unreliable the technology was. Finally, I thanked him for his frank disclosure and said that I couldn't afford the warranty but would also pass on the purchase altogether since I would be making a huge mistake by spending several thousands of dollars on this unreliable piece of technology. The look on his face was pure disbelief. I got in my car, drove about 0.5 miles down the road to Sears. Bought the tv, got the price match, got the 10% difference and declined the extended warranty without incident. Was in and out in 20 minutes. One week later, I sent my dad to the same salesman. He bought a TH-50PX50U. Turns out that salesman also does installs on the side. He'll get another $200 cash from my dad to mount the 42" tv he was replacing in my parents' bedroom.

Yesssssssssss

LOL good way to handle that one. There are too many retailers to have to put up with BS like that. When you politely decline and they just can't accept that and keep pushing something, then they deserve to lose the sale in my opinion. Especially when you make it obvious that you're in a hurry. It's one thing to follow a company policy and offer/suggest the extended warranty if they need to, but to not accept your decision after that is pretty bad business.

thats awesome

That's just great. You could relay that story to CC corporate...but why even waste your time. They won't do anything about it anyway.

Many---not all---but many of these stores/mgrs/salesmen are just not in business for the right reasons. Just tell the custy anything and get his/her money.

You think that is one of the reasons CC is teetering on the edge and Costco is flourishing? Think someone higher up would recognize that.

Great job, though!

I predict within the next 12 months you will see CC liquidated just like GG was. Much of it due to the reasons above. This isn't a good thing though, BB will have even less incentive to be competitive. Question is will WalMart, Target etc. step up into that space to challenge BB with their own buying power. We shall see!

Yes. Someone always steps up when opportunity arises. BB isn't exactly the service king either. There are plenty of players. CC will get what they deserve.

Better use those $24 GC's I recieved from them for not having my in-store pickups ready within 24 minutes!

Wal Mart will move into that void. Count on it. They can see what Costco is doing and how much product they are moving. With slim margins on a national level they can more then provide low to middle end product millions will be satisfied with perhaps with a high end nameplate thrown into the mix at extremely competitive prices.

I routinely see Best Buy employees misinform customers on what they need and oversell. The sales person ANY sales person should be trusted to be honest and helpful NOT out to fleece the unknowing customer of cash based on the ignorance of said customer. People go to these places for HELP and understanding and come away ripped off. But hey they have $100 HDMI cables......worth about $15.00 and a fancy light $300 "surge protector" ...........which as one Best Buy sales person told me has "separate joules for every component" friggin WOW......I'll take two....

I know many think Wal Mart is evil but I for one hope Wal Mart gets into the game bigtime with a fat return policy and cheap EWs for those who cannot sleep without those.

Sams Club is owned by Wal*Mart, and so far they havent been able to even come close to Costco in terms of sales OR customer satisfaction.

Wal Mart will move into that void. Count on it. They can see what Costco is doing and how much product they are moving. With slim margins on a national level they can more then provide low to middle end product millions will be satisfied with perhaps with a high end nameplate thrown into the mix at extremely competitive prices.

I routinely see Best Buy employees misinform customers on what they need and oversell. The sales person ANY sales person should be trusted to be honest and helpful NOT out to fleece the unknowing customer of cash based on the ignorance of said customer. People go to these places for HELP and understanding and come away ripped off. But hey they have $100 HDMI cables......worth about $15.00 and a fancy light $300 "surge protector" ...........which as one Best Buy sales person told me has "separate joules for every component" friggin WOW......I'll take two....

I know many think Wal Mart is evil but I for one hope Wal Mart gets into the game bigtime with a fat return policy and cheap EWs for those who cannot sleep without those.

I understand but I do not compare warehouse stores with non fee retailers. I think Wal Mart can bury Best Buy and Circuit City in TV sales if they get serious about it.

The majority of Wal Mart shoppers are not warehouse shoppers. There are not that many who will pay "fees" to belong to a shopping "club."

Most people are not aware that Costco even carriers the variety of TVs they do and those that do think they are all 2 year old overstock.....and many do not know or do not believe in Costcos return policy.

Most people do however know who Wal mart is and know they have a good return policy as well. People seem to trust Wal Mart to back up what they sell. Since Wal mart has a very high visibility they have to do that. If they were to open a serious section for Home theater not only would HD sales explode nationally in my opinion, but prices will drop faster......The losers would be the niche players like Best Buy.

Even the heavy Zenith gold component cables for $20 look every bit as good and are as heavy and packaged as slick as any Monster product costing 4X as much!

I think Wal Mart can bury Best Buy and Circuit City in TV sales if they get serious about it.

The majority of Wal Mart shoppers are not warehouse shoppers. There are not that many who will pay "fees" to belong to a shopping "club."

I suspect that the Wal Marts in your town are a lot nicer/newer than where I live (Tucson, AZ). The run down, under-stocked Wal Marts here are not going to be burying anybody any time soon. My local WM does not even have one single LCD or plasma! These stores do not have the room to stock a decent selection of TVs even if they wanted to. Not to mention I feel I have to grab my wallet and check from side to side for "gangstas" every time I enter/exit the store - LOL!

Contrast this with my experience with the Costcos in Tucson: Huge landscaped parking lots in the suburban parts of town, lots of airy space and shiny-happy middle class people shopping inside, a reasonable selection of interesting LCDs and plasmas at freakin' internet prices, no haggling with Best Buy/Circuit City extended-warranty-monster-cable peddlers trying to make you feel all guilty because you didn't let them rob you, no waiting for 15 minutes while some pot-smoking joker goes back to the storage room to manhandle your precious purchase up to the front door... at Costco you just grab what you want, pop it on a pallet yourself, and you're good to go! Costco's security rocks both inside and outside the store - it feels safe to shop there. And as for the shopping club fee: it ain't discouraging anybody around here... both Costcos I've seen are continually packed with shoppers doing very brisk business.

Sure, Wal Mart probably has the money to bury everybody - but do they have smarts to actually do what it takes? I've noticed that once a company has hit on a formula that worked and made it rich in the past, it is very reluctant to change, at least until threatened with bankruptcy. As for Sam's Club, it's a step in the right direction, but the one here feels like "Costco Lite"... just not quite as big and satisfying. Wal Mart got big by killing dinosaurs like K-Mart, etc... someday somebody like Costco is going to kill them.

Well just went to Costco by me. They finally had the 50" Visio Plasma. Not sold on it. Then they had but not displaying the new Philips 50" model that goes on sale on Monday. The casing looks cheap and plastic to me but Philips is a name I somewhat could trust unlike Visio or Maxent.

I asked the guy why he didn't have anymore Pioneer 50's and he told me that they sold out of the 50" and are about to get the new model Pioneers no later than March. And from what I have read the new Pioneers models have MUCH better blacks.

So now do I get the 42" and just suck it up. Or go Philips or wait a month for the Pioneer?

Also I asked the guy if he had any return issues with the Visio since I have read that there is a lot of burn in issues. He told me the only return on that TV was that it was not big enough. Liberal Policy.

New Pioneers?

Can you guys tell me where to locate what the sale price on the Costco plasmas is or where to view the coupon? I pitched the booklet in the usual frenzy to discard junk mail.

Can you guys tell me where to locate what the sale price on the Costco plasmas is or where to view the coupon? I pitched the booklet in the usual frenzy to discard junk mail.

Go to the membership counter. They have books there.

does anyone know what happened to the 50" pio that was at costco? i know they're supposed to get more in (according to employees)! was i caught sleeping and missed out? i had to wait for the return of my samsung 50" to hit the credit card which took a couple days, and next thing i know everyone was sold out of the pio and none online! HELP PLEASE!

Kingfrog is right, Walmart and Dell is actually Best Buy's biggest threat right now. Dell is hurting them where it hurts, in computers. B&M stores have high cost on those things, while Dell mainly only having Kiosks and online stores not only killing them in that department, but is now moving onto TV, camera, and mp3 players.

Walmart is just pure power. I personally have a relative who tried to get their product into Walmart, and their buying power is huge, and so are their pricing power, and lastly the contract they get you to sign is even worse. There's no way Walmart is going to support Costco style of return policy, and they are stepping into the TV world with Daewoo plasmas and such. I don't think HDTV is big enough for Walmart to jump in as a big player yet though, still too many people holding back. They are just waiting in the shadows, but if they do, I doubt they'd carry all the nice stuff a lot of people on this forum enjoy.

Kingfrog is right, Walmart and Dell is actually Best Buy's biggest threat right now. Dell is hurting them where it hurts, in computers. B&M stores have high cost on those things, while Dell mainly only having Kiosks and online stores not only killing them in that department, but is now moving onto TV, camera, and mp3 players.

Walmart is just pure power. I personally have a relative who tried to get their product into Walmart, and their buying power is huge, and so are their pricing power, and lastly the contract they get you to sign is even worse. There's no way Walmart is going to support Costco style of return policy, and they are stepping into the TV world with Daewoo plasmas and such. I don't think HDTV is big enough for Walmart to jump in as a big player yet though, still too many people holding back. They are just waiting in the shadows, but if they do, I doubt they'd carry all the nice stuff a lot of people on this forum enjoy.

I agree I do not think they will carry the top end stuff. But most everyday people do not buy the enthusiast's choice. They buy value. Especially Wal Mart shoppers. If Wal Mart carried the Panasonic ED or non Elite Pioneer stuff they could severly hurt the Best Buys who depend on EWs for most of their operating margins.

Best Buy is trying to be the Wal Mart of Electronics. Hardly a top end Home Theater store. One needs sales people to EDUCATE unknowing customers, Not sales people educated to rip them of and take advantage of that ignorance. Something high end respectable retailers don't do.

Enthusiasts will always shop specialty stores to buy the lastest and greatest. Thats why those TV prices will stay high. No volume. Targeted market who WILL pay more if for nothing else substantial to be a member of the "exclusivity club". IT's always that way with high ticket products. The value is not so much in the build as the price rises but the exclusivity of affordable product.

People think hand made is better and are duped into paying more when the human error factor is supremely higher then machine made. this applies from Steinway Pianos to Roll's Royces. Cars are much better today because of the lack of human interference more then anything else as are circuit boards (and pianos).

People equate Chines products with shabby quality.........I wonder if they are mostly hand made.....?

does anyone know what happened to the 50" pio that was at costco? i know they're supposed to get more in (according to employees)! was i caught sleeping and missed out? i had to wait for the return of my samsung 50" to hit the credit card which took a couple days, and next thing i know everyone was sold out of the pio and none online! HELP PLEASE!

If you read my post above I touch on this since I am in a similiar boat as you.

The 50" Pioneers are listed in the Costco computer as empty at all the stores I called in NJ. They told me that means they might get more in but don't have any on current order. The sku is NOT discontined so that means they might get more in.

The guy I talked to at my local Costco yesterday told me that they are sold out of the 50" Pioneers and that they won't be getting anymore in till Feb or March when the newer models come out. He said they are clearing out old inventory and waiting for the new line in regards to Pioneer. What the new model is? I have no idea. Was this guy full of crap? I have no idea. But he sounded confident with what he was saying and everything else I asked he knew answers to that were correct. So I believe him when he says they are getting/waiting on new models.

I asked about the Philips and he showed me it up on those tall racks and said it won't be for sale or on display till Monday.

I know the Coscto in Delaware still have a few 50" Pioneers left though.

I wish I could get more info on the new models to make my choice easier. Like which model (I am assuming a 5060 equiv) with what type of connections/tuner/cost/etc...

If anyone finds out about newer models please post here.

I did notice on costco.com a few days ago they llisted the new JVC 1080 LCOS series. All 3 sizes but they are already MIA. Wonder if they jumped the gun on those models or just sold them out that quick.

You may be well served getting one of the Pio's in Delaware....no sales tax, right?

You may be well served getting one of the Pio's in Delaware....no sales tax, right?

You got that right. I drove down there a few nights ago and bought the 50" Pioneer and saved $240 on sales tax. But was unable to fit it in my car so I had to return it. :(

I plan to head down there soon and pickup the 42" Pioneer instead. But the 50" Philips that goes on sale Monday is tempting.

I think the 7320 & 7220 are the same, but Costco was given it's own part number. It's not uncommon for Sam's Club or Costco to have the same item that's available in other stores but with a different part number or SKU.

Edit: I just did a quick look through the first 10 or so pages of the two manuals & they appear identical. In fact, the help box on the table of contents lists both of them (in addition to the 37" & 42" models.

I was in a Costco in Nashua NH last night, and both the 32" and 37" LCD's were 7320's not 7220's.
(I'm not sure if that's the TV's you're talking about though.) Also while looking on Philips site, I didn't see any 7220's at all.

And unfortunately I didn't see any Sharp 32" or 37" LCD's at all. Like someone else said the HDTV section seemed very 'empty'. Hopefully the selection does improve soon.

-Kyle

I will never buy anything from CC again. I may get something from BB if its on sale. At least there, you dont get attacked by salemen. For the most part, I'm now a full time costco and online shopper.

Never posted before, long time lurker, but reading this made me want to chime in. Last night on way home, I stopped at local WallyWorld to pick up wall mount for newly ordered 50px50u; Sanus customer service had given me the scoop on a mount of theirs that Wal-Mart carries as a private label brand for about half of Sanus' official price.

I was amazed at the new look to the electronics area! They really are cleaning it up and displaying some higher end stuff. It was clean, organized, had more iPods than either CC or BB (and displayed better!), maybe 5-6 plasmas, some lcds, computer cards, etc. I had read in either NYTimes or WSJournal recently about how they are starting to carry some "aspirational" items for mainstream middle and upper-middle income shoppers (plasmas, diamond rings, etc.). It looks like they are really going to expand up the food chain, and I wouldn't bet on them losing ground on the bottom feeders either...

Just my take,
Squirrel

Man, wonder what CC and Sears and various other stores you guys go to get attacked by sales, I always get ignored. (Not like I walk in with a Best Buy shirt on.) Walmart I highly doubt will ever carry Pioneer plasmas unless they start getting the Costco model ones.

On B&M part, I agree Best Buy need to train their people more because people walk into a store to get educated on what they are buying, and they pay retail for the service/proper display of products. However, we should still be thankful that these B&M's are pushing all these tv's else if it is mainly online sellers and local mom&pop shops, we'd still be looking at 5k budget 42" plasmas due to lack of demand.

Shabby quality relating to Chinese products is only due to 1. people have seen the poor condition of the country a few years ago. 2. Racism. 3. Actual experience with poor quality control of products from China.

N
I was amazed at the new look to the electronics area! They really are cleaning it up and displaying some higher end stuff. It was clean, organized, had more iPods than either CC or BB (and displayed better!), maybe 5-6 plasmas, some lcds, computer cards, etc. I had read in either NYTimes or WSJournal recently about how they are starting to carry some "aspirational" items for mainstream middle and upper-middle income shoppers (plasmas, diamond rings, etc.). It looks like they are really going to expand up the food chain, and I wouldn't bet on them losing ground on the bottom feeders either...

Just my take,
Squirrel

Im tellin ya Look out for Wal Mart. They will be the nail in CC and Best Buy's coffin. They have the buying power AND more importantly can deliver public exposure the BB and CC cannot. can one imagine how many people will see their first HD TV in a Wal Mart. I would bet more then who have seen them in other places.

Any Tv manufacturere who wants to sell TVs who be foolish to hold back their brand from Wal Mart. They not only have the opportunity to move more product but as a bonus they can create a whole new "fancy" line for exclusive dealers made up of the really the same TVs with a few cosmetic and some frivilous feature enhancements for a lot more money. Win Win for all. Buyers and Sellers.

Best Buy sales people are trained to push very exensive add ons using fear and ridicule taking advantage of ignorance as a sales tactic.

( I was told I needed a MOnster power conditioner because "it has seperate joules" for every component enhancing the picture. When I told him TVs have switching power supplies and that being the case a line conditioner does ZERO for a TV especially as far as PQ goes he walked away to "chat" with a mamager. Reminds me of a car dealership).

At least Wal Mart does not have pretenders selling. You need to know what you want and buy it. If there is a sales person they will not have the "pressure" to sell sell sell and thusly claim ignorance when such is so. No one in Wal Mart "sells" They assist. If I were in charge of Wal Mart I would hire a knowlegable sales associate just to answer questions. NOT to sell. But to enable customers to make choices based on what THEY need not what the Sales force thinks they need for the bottom line. This could add alot to the bottom line as they do not depend on EWs or electronics sales to carry them. No pressure. Just business as usual.

Im tellin ya Look out for Wal Mart. They will be the nail in CC and Best Buy's coffin. They have the buying power AND more importantly can deliver public exposure the BB and CC cannot. can one imagine how many people will see their first HD TV in a Wal Mart. I would bet more then who have seen them in other places.


I did some consulting work at BB HQ in their strategic marketing dept. Best Buy knows that Wal-Mart is its #1 competition, not CC, not any of the smaller chains. The vast majority of competitive analysis by BB is focused on beating Wal-Mart. They rarely even menitioned CC, Good Guys, Ultimate, Tweeter, Sears, etc.

I did some consulting work at BB HQ in their strategic marketing dept. Best Buy knows that Wal-Mart is its #1 competition, not CC, not any of the smaller chains. The vast majority of competitive analysis by BB is focused on beating Wal-Mart. They rarely even menitioned CC, Good Guys, Ultimate, Tweeter, Sears, etc.

Man you would think Best Buy would calm down the guerilla selling tactics and taking full advantage of customer ignorance to enhance their bottom line. Wal Mart will not do that. they don't have to. Just provide a good product at a decent price. It has worked for them since Sam opened up his first dime store.

Best Buy has nor seen anything yet except their reputation go down the tubes. I used to respect that stores years ago. But they are like a used car dealership anymore. hit and run. Even the Geek squad is designed to take as much as they can from unsuspecting customers and the training in that department is hardly proficient considering what they pay those "technicians."

Hi,

I just went to BB to get the 50" Zenith Plasma that had a $400 MIR on it... I tried to use my 10% off coupon and was rejected because they said I can't combine it with the existing offer. Did anyone else run into this problem?? Because as far as I can tell, a lot of people got this deal.

I did some consulting work at BB HQ in their strategic marketing dept. Best Buy knows that Wal-Mart is its #1 competition, not CC, not any of the smaller chains. The vast majority of competitive analysis by BB is focused on beating Wal-Mart. They rarely even menitioned CC, Good Guys, Ultimate, Tweeter, Sears, etc.

Just curious, is it standard practice for your consulting firm to randomly talk about client strategies on internet forums?

I purchased the Zenith yesterday online..........no problems.

Just curious, is it standard practice for your consulting firm to randomly talk about client strategies on internet forums?
Talk about client strategies? He didn't do anything of the sort. All he did was mention that WM is their #1 focus in performing competitive analyses. That is hardly news. Reading any Wall Street equity research report would tell you that. Guess what? Wal-Mart is the #1 focus for not only Best Buy, but also: Circuit City, Sears/K-mart, Target, JC Penny, Kohl's, Toys-R-Us, OfficeMax, Office Depot, Staples, Kroger, Safeway, Albertsons, Ahold, SuperValu, Costco, BJs, CVS, Walgreens, TJX, CompUSA, PETsMART, SportsAuthority, and anywhere else that Wal-Mart chooses to focus its merchandise strategy on.

A discussion on strategy would have included how they intend to battle the ever-growing influence of Wal-Mart, not just that they've identified them as their #1 competitor.

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and found it thru a google search of plasma forums. What I have read sofar is very informative.
Now to my question: I went to Cosco hoping to buy a TH-50PM50U but to no avail. he person at the customer sevice desk said they were available on-line but I could not pull it up. While in the store I looked at the Visio P50HDM and was impressed. Not much info on the net about this company.
Does anyone have any input about this unit or the company or should I wait for a Panasonic?
Thanks, Jim

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and found it thru a google search of plasma forums. What I have read sofar is very informative.
Now to my question: I went to Cosco hoping to buy a TH-50PM50U but to no avail. he person at the customer sevice desk said they were available on-line but I could not pull it up. While in the store I looked at the Visio P50HDM and was impressed. Not much info on the net about this company.
Does anyone have any input about this unit or the company or should I wait for a Panasonic?
Thanks, Jim
Jim, welcome to the forum. This TV is very well regarded and a general consensus exists that it is one of the best "bang for you buck" 50" plasmas. There is a thread that talks about this unit in detail. The only downside is that it is currently at 4,357 posts and counting. It might take a while to get through. But surely you'll find out everything you ever wanted to know. Here's the link: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=543988

Thanks very much for the quick reply.
Jim

I checked the link you provided and WOW

I checked the link you provided and WOW
Yeah, the good news is that you should be able to make a well-educated decision. The bad news is that by the time you get through the whole thing, we'll all have moved on from plasma to 3-D holographic projection images! Good luck.

I'm sorry, I'm new here and hit wrong button and reported a bad post. I hope no harm was done.

No harm was done, and welcome to AVS.:)

Hi all. Long time viewer, first time poster.

Couple thoughts about king frog's poor experiences with BB. While I am not a shareholder or anything like that, I am a part time employee of BB for about a year on the weekends, aside from a full-time job during the week.

All I can speak for is what happens at my store, and that is all.

BB doesn't always practice the sales attack tactics that you seem to experience in my opinion, although I agree it does happen way more than it should.

BB, to me, isn't a complete loss though. A perfect example: the Xbox 360 launch. A simple scan of various stores would show that almost every chain store was "forcing" bundles of 360's with additional accessories onto the unit.

CC forced rediculous bundles in the excess of $500 (game, controller, etc), online and in their B&Ms

EVEN MICRO CENTER packaged bundles that customers told me amounted to over $600!

And Costco shared the same practice too, with a clam-shell type package including a controller and game to my knowledge.

In the end, BB was one of the ONLY places that people could stand a chance to get a 360 on lauch day (and now weeks to follow), WITHOUT any additional accessories, period.

Surely some of you heard about some stores forcing 360 bundles, but I assure you our store didn't, period. Later we were told that ANY employees caught or reported forcing bundles could be subject to termination. If that's not a move in the right direction I don't know what is. Corporate even sent investigators to stores to ascertain who did force bundles on the 360.

I'm not a stockholder, and I won't always work for BB I'm sure, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt; just want you to know that when people come to my store, they get an honest graduate-level educated opinion about whatever it is they need. My head likes to hit the pillow knowing I didn't fleece anybody.

And I ALWAYS educate about WIDESCREEN :)

I'm not a stockholder, and I won't always work for BB I'm sure, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt; just want you to know that when people come to my store, they get an honest graduate-level educated opinion about whatever it is they need. My head likes to hit the pillow knowing I didn't fleece anybody.

And I ALWAYS educate about WIDESCREEN :)

Sadly, based on my rather frequent trips to BB, you're the exception rather than the rule. Now, to be fair, I have found a small share of intelligent, non used car sales people at BB. From time to time, I've even had some long, cross-educational conversations with some.

Unfortunately, like I said, they're the exception. I still hear the same old crap from a majority of them, between pushing one brand, or using BS (even heard the gas refill as recent as a couple months ago, when I thought it was all but dead) tactics to push extended warranties, and just making stuff up rather than admitting to not knowing the answer.

Sadly, based on my rather frequent trips to BB, you're the exception rather than the rule.

I'm sincerely sorry that has been your experience :(
I don't know where they find some of these dope-smoking types. I'm saving up now for a Pioneer plasma, and try to dispel burn-in / longevity myths whenever I can. As far as extended warranty's go, I agree they aren't for everybody.


On the brightside, many BB are adding mini-Magnolias, which may help the lack of sheer tech knowledge and myth dispersal.

I read many HT mags and reviews seem to be pretty upbeat about the courtesy and know-how of the reps that work there.

I do remember when our local BB used to sell $1000 bipolar speakers in the mid 90s...

Sigh.....

The price of dumbing down HT.....

Just a little news for anyone who cares, Best Buy is not losing Fujitsu's and adding Hitachi's. Fujitsu's are now moving over to Circuit City. Same with Boston Accoustics.

Hi,

I just went to BB to get the 50" Zenith Plasma that had a $400 MIR on it... I tried to use my 10% off coupon and was rejected because they said I can't combine it with the existing offer. Did anyone else run into this problem?? Because as far as I can tell, a lot of people got this deal.

I was thinking about purchasing the Zenith today at BB with the 10% off. They also told me a bunch of crap about they can't combine offers because it would be under their cost. What a load. The rebate was a manufacturers rebate that wouldn't come out of BB's pocket. I think they may have done me a favor though. I liked the Philips they had above the Zenith better so I am going to look at that at Costco on Monday when it goes on sale. I prefer to buy from Costco anyway and have the security of their return policy. That Philips is sounding better and better.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello all,

First off, I have to acknowledge this website, its forums, and its members - truly a wealth of knowledge. This site was my primary source of info during my plasma research phase.

Now, onto my post. Today, after much research and deliberation, I purchased a Panasonic TH-42PX50U from Circuit City. While I was signing up for the CC credit card (to get $140 store credit from my purchase), I had a CC salesman approach me, inquiring about my purchase. I told him that I just bought the Panny, and he immediately asked if I included their warranty. I said no, and he reacted in shock. I was told first that plasmas last only a few years at best, and then that, when they break, they're as good as dead - no possibility of repair. He then relayed a sob story about how he had purchased a plasma two years ago, and it recently broke - three one-inch thick black bars appeared vertically on the screen, right in the middle of it. He said something like "the lines of resolution died". He told me he wished he had purchased a warranty, because his TV was now worthless and unrepairable. I asked him if he had received similar complaints from customers in the past, and he affirmed that yes, he had heard from many customers that their flatscreens died within a few years of purchase. He then brought me a Consumer Reports magazine, bookmarked to a page discussing the fact that plasmas are relatively new, and thus their reliability is unknown. The article broke CR tradition and suggested that a warranty be considered. I was then told that, if I changed my mind about the warranty, I could come back in and have the purchase price refunded.

Here I stand. I have combed this website and its forums, looking for anything and everything discussing plasma life-spans, and I remain convinced that they are sufficiently reliable. I plan on getting a refund for this warranty. But, before I do, I wanted to hear the community's take on my experience today. Is there any truth to these horror stories? Is a $500/3-year warranty worth it? Is plasma a technology worth investing $3000 in? I get the sense that this community is comprised of plasma advocates, but I'm hoping to get some hard-truth, honest responses here.

Thank you all very much in advance for your time and advise. Your comments are highly valued. I look forward to reading your responses.

-John C.


A CC sales guy with income topped at $10/hr bought a plasma.... and even though he had a discount of about 65% on the warranty he didn't buy..... BS.

They also told me a bunch of crap about they can't combine offers because it would be under their cost. What a load.

Actually, that's the truth, at least in my store as long I've worked there. We're not allowed to combine or stack offers to my knowledge.

Some people seem to think that BB makes tons of money on MOST everything they sell, which just isn't the case. Why do you think one of the reasons BB pushes the warranty's in the first place? To help with profit margins. That doesn't excuse the badgering about them that goes on sometimes though.

Shop with your money. But just to remind you, not every chain buys wholesale like Costco can and can pass on the prices to its customers as low as they do.

On new release Tuesday, BB routinely loses anywhere from $1-4 on EVERY copy of popular DVD's for what it's worth.

It's called business for a reason, and my store routinely negotiates its pricing in favorable ways to its customers.

Don't get me wrong. I negotiate prices on my car. My house. And yes, even my tv.

I guess my question is how fair is it to expect a retailer to everyday operate on a wholesaler's pricing tier?

And when they can't EVERY DAY, then to view it like they're gouging.
Just seems like some people are a bit unrealistic if they don't think they can get most ANY purchase for next to nothing or at cost.

Anyone see Sharp LCD 37" at Costco stores yet? Heard they had them in the past. Also, interested in Samsung 40" but only see them online. Thanks

I was thinking about purchasing the Zenith today at BB with the 10% off. They also told me a bunch of crap about they can't combine offers because it would be under their cost. What a load. The rebate was a manufacturers rebate that wouldn't come out of BB's pocket. I think they may have done me a favor though. I liked the Philips they had above the Zenith better so I am going to look at that at Costco on Monday when it goes on sale. I prefer to buy from Costco anyway and have the security of their return policy. That Philips is sounding better and better.

The rebate comes from Best Buy, where do you see it's manufacturer rebate? Also, certain Best Buy coupons say in small text that it has to be used from normal MSRP. It's up to the manager to enforce it or not. The extra 10% does knock it below cost, please don't call b.s. without knowing the truth.

You just need to make sure to have some kid who doesn't care ring up your purchase. It's not an issue of not being able to stack the discounts in their computer system. As long as you can get someone to scan the coupon in for you, it should work without any hassle or needing any mgmt overrides.

Some people seem to think that BB makes tons of money on MOST everything they sell, which just isn't the case.

Best Buy's gross margin is pretty high on most products, but this is offset by high overhead. The issue that usually arises when negotiating discounts is: they're usually better off financially making a heavily discounted sale than losing the sale, but if every sale has a heavy discount then BB won't be profitable overall.

When I was working down the price of my TV with them, I made it pretty clear that I could get it from any number of websites for much cheaper, and I left it up to them to decide if they were willing to drop the price low enough to pick up a sale they wouldn't otherwise get. Eventually I got BB down to a pretty competitive price once the 3 years no interest financing and the reward zone stuff was taken into account.

Hi all. Long time viewer, first time poster.

Couple thoughts about king frog's poor experiences with BB. While I am not a shareholder or anything like that, I am a part time employee of BB for about a year on the weekends, aside from a full-time job during the week.

All I can speak for is what happens at my store, and that is all.

I too believe you are the exception and I would bet the management pushes employees to sell high prices EWs and Cables, power conditioners etc in the name of the bottomline. NOT to truly give the unknowing customer an honest education about what they need and why even if its the AR cables and a $25 surge protector.

Thats why I hope Wal Mart gets into TV sales in a big way. People wilkl not have the choice to buy $100 cables but will still get great cables EWs, and surge protectors that all work as good as any Monster product or EW that BB sells. They will enjpy their HD experience just the same .

I too believe you are the exception and I would bet the management pushes employees to sell high prices EWs and Cables, power conditioners etc in the name of the bottomline. NOT to truly give the unknowing customer an honest education about what they need and why even if its the AR cables and a $25 surge protector.

Thats why I hope Wal Mart gets into TV sales in a big way. People wilkl not have the choice to buy $100 cables but will still get great cables EWs, and surge protectors that all work as good as any Monster product or EW that BB sells. They will enjpy their HD experience just the same .

Yeah, they'll really enjoy their HD experience with their high def boxes outputting 480i through coax, and their progressive scan DVD players set to interlaced scan.

Also, Wal-Mart's EWs are not as good as any of the major retailers - they require people to ship their own product, at their cost. Sure would be fun paying the shipping on a 30"x60" 125 lb box, and hoping it didn't get rebroken on the way back!

Regardless of anyone's opinion of BB or CC, they must realize that Wal-Mart is the absolute pits of any customer service experience.

Oh, and once ultra-low-margin retailers like Wal-Mart get a taste of the high margins available from Monster and other like cables and accessories, they'll jump right on the bandwagon like everyone else. Regardless of the opinions of Monster on this forum, the buying public will demand them to some extent.

Yeah, they'll really enjoy their HD experience with their high def boxes outputting 480i through coax, and their progressive scan DVD players set to interlaced scan.

Also, Wal-Mart's EWs are not as good as any of the major retailers - they require people to ship their own product, at their cost. Sure would be fun paying the shipping on a 30"x60" 125 lb box, and hoping it didn't get rebroken on the way back!

Regardless of anyone's opinion of BB or CC, they must realize that Wal-Mart is the absolute pits of any customer service experience.

Oh, and once ultra-low-margin retailers like Wal-Mart get a taste of the high margins available from Monster and other like cables and accessories, they'll jump right on the bandwagon like everyone else. Regardless of the opinions of Monster on this forum, the buying public will demand them to some extent.

Well, maybe the custy will have to send back his plasma becasue the plasma has to be "recharged." Thats what people are hearing from BB sales people. How many times have you heard a BB rep telling some obviously unknowledgeable person---could be anyone---a complete lie. "Yeah, these are all HD sets." Lie. "You have to have these cables or your set won't work right." Lie. Plenty of people buy dvd players at BB and end up with them set at interlaced scan. An d HD at 480i. They didn't get any good guidance at BB either. As for shipping the sets back and having to pay, I can't comment on that because I don't know. But the difference in the prices in the warranties themselves more than make up for the shipping cost.

So Wal-mart won't be better than BB? How? At least with their reps not trying to sell things, people won't get shafted with what they don't need.

Weak. What else ya got? Do you work at BB?????

Ok folks, had the fortune to see the 50" philips wall mounted at a Cosco Home store today. Even tho I'm a panny fan, I can't pass up the price. The 50" panny was a few feet away, and they had similar visuals. I'm a 42" ED plasma owner (daewoo), so I know the lowlights -- I saw a little skin problems in faces on the philips, and during a shot of billowing clouds I could see some slight rainbowing of green and red (both problems my daewoo has), but saw no ugly pixellation or scaler issues. The whites were whte, and the panny was a little off tune, showing a green tint on its whites, so it was hard to call it a fair comparison.

My wife thought the colors were richer on the panny, but I asked her to watch the philips for 5 mins without looking, and she agreed that it looked wonderful for our needs.

Its going to be her TV, and she needs one remote control for one device to tune television channels, so an integrated tuner is required. Thus, the picture, the tuner, and the price of the philips can't be beaten for us.

Also, I talked to the mgr at the regular costco and they had only had 9 in stock. She figured they'd sell out by Tuesday.

Brad

Yeah, they'll really enjoy their HD experience with their high def boxes outputting 480i through coax, and their progressive scan DVD players set to interlaced scan.

Also, Wal-Mart's EWs are not as good as any of the major retailers - they require people to ship their own product, at their cost. Sure would be fun paying the shipping on a 30"x60" 125 lb box, and hoping it didn't get rebroken on the way back!

Regardless of anyone's opinion of BB or CC, they must realize that Wal-Mart is the absolute pits of any customer service experience.

Oh, and once ultra-low-margin retailers like Wal-Mart get a taste of the high margins available from Monster and other like cables and accessories, they'll jump right on the bandwagon like everyone else. Regardless of the opinions of Monster on this forum, the buying public will demand them to some extent.

Guessing you work at Best buy? LOL NO No No The pits of customer service is not being ignored totally by someone in a blue vest......Its being outright lied to and led astray by someone in a blue shirt!!!!

Wal Mart can ALREADY get Monster cables and ANY retail product available.....DO you really think they are unaware of Monster products? Sounds like someone is a tad nieve. The "idea" behind Wal Mart going all the way back to when they were a dime store is to create value at LOW margins. Sure there are higher margin products out there. Even some they carry already. The iPOd is there! Less then at Costco even!!! Best Buy's mantra is make the most you can on every customer....push EWs, push excess....sell sell......friggin MAGAZINES even.....



BTW I seriously doubt the general public will be demanding $100 Monster component cables. Not now. Not ever. If they were you can bet Wal Mart would have them!!!

Well, maybe the custy will have to send back his plasma becasue the plasma has to be "recharged." Thats what people are hearing from BB sales people. How many times have you heard a BB rep telling some obviously unknowledgeable person---could be anyone---a complete lie. "Yeah, these are all HD sets." Lie. "You have to have these cables or your set won't work right." Lie. Plenty of people buy dvd players at BB and end up with them set at interlaced scan. An d HD at 480i. They didn't get any good guidance at BB either. As for shipping the sets back and having to pay, I can't comment on that because I don't know. But the difference in the prices in the warranties themselves more than make up for the shipping cost.

So Wal-mart won't be better than BB? How? At least with their reps not trying to sell things, people won't get shafted with what they don't need.

Weak. What else ya got? Do you work at BB?????

*sigh*

Number one rule of argumentation, don't make wide sweeping generalizations. As a just-resigned BB/Magnolia employee, I take offense to a lot of what you just said. I have never lied to a customer. I make sure they know how to set up their product, or recommend installation. I know my stuff. I don't sell anything I wouldn't personally buy. People get plenty of good guidance at my BB and other electronics chains. Saying otherwise is just stupid, to be blunt.

Yes, you have to ship with Wal-Mart's EWs. No, a $100 or so price difference will not cover the cost of shipping a huge oversized overweight box, or the annoyance of doing so. I'm not going to debate cables, power conditioning, EWs, etc. here, because the subjects have been beaten to death.

You obviously had a bad experience with Best Buy. I'm sorry for that. You never heard that at my store, I promise you. Every company has it's bad salespeople, and I believe BB has asked for it by only paying 8 bucks an hour and therefore getting a young, ill-trained, high-turnover workforce. However, even a mediocre experience at a major electronics retailer (I wasn't just talking about BB) will provide the customer with the knowledge of what they need at MOST stores. People don't understand HD. They are not as smart as the typical AVSer when it comes to televisions. A grab-and-go mentaility doesn't work for them.

If you truly believe customers would consistently have a cheaper, and better overall experience at Wal-Mart, and still come out the other side with a functioning, quality HDTV and surround sound experience, I think you're just plain crazy.

So here's "what I got":

1) Major electronics chains chains carry a wider variety of product.
2) Major electronics chains have salespeople, like myself (or used to ;)) who know how to recommend the best product for a customer's needs, and how to get it working right.
3) Major electronics chains work package prices for whole systems
4) Major electronics chains carry high quality accessories
5) Major electronics chains have better extended warranty coverage
6) Major electronics chains offer real audio products, not boomboxes or crappy HTIBs like at Wal-Mart
7) Major electronics chains can install a customer's product
8) When the customer has questions about their product, or a problem with it, real electronics stores can answer them.
9) Major electronics chains carry better quality, higher end product
10) Major electronics chains can provide advice on how to hook up a system

Need I really go on? Wal Mart has built into the second largest electronics retailer on the strength of some limited HDTV sales and a lot of tubes, which require no special intelligence to operate. They cannot compete in the realm of service provided with Best Buy, Circuit City, Tweeter, or whoever else you want to put them against.

Do you work for Wal-Mart?!? :D

Guessing you work at Best buy? LOL NO No No The pits of customer service is not being ignored totally by someone in a blue vest......Its being outright lied to and led astray by someone in a blue shirt!!!!

Wal Mart can ALREADY get Monster cables and ANY retail product available.....DO you really think they are unaware of Monster products? Sounds like someone is a tad nieve. The "idea" behind Wal Mart going all the way back to when they were a dime store is to create value at LOW margins. Sure there are higher margin products out there. Even some they carry already. The iPOd is there! Less then at Costco even!!! Best Buy's mantra is make the most you can on every customer....push EWs, push excess....sell sell......friggin MAGAZINES even.....

BTW I seriously doubt the general public will be demanding $100 Monster component cables. Not now. Not ever. If they were you can bet Wal Mart would have them!!!

Kingfrog, we've gone round and round before, and I'd rather it not happen again. It wouldn't bother me so much if you weren't so offensive in pushing your opinions as fact.

Perhaps I am "nieve", but not naive to the spelling of "naive". The iPod is not necessarily a high margin product - its accessories are. Also, you seem to be instructing me on Wal-Mart's business model, which I already know and understand. In your first post, you seemed to assume they didn't carry Monster products, which is why I said what I did. I do know they carry Monster, though I try to avoid their store whenever possible.

It's also very naive for you to say they can get any retail product available. I didn't know they were carrying Fujitsu or Pioneer plasmas...or BMW Roadsters. Wal Mart has many brands who won't deal with them because of their horrible payment terms and terrible treatment of manufacturers.

Wal-Mart has dirty stores, low stock on most items, limited variety, and no customer service. Some major electronics retailers have some bad employees, and people do have bad experiences. I've never denied that. But no Wal-Mart will be able to provide even the level of service of a mediocre Best Buy, and won't be able to touch the service of a properly trained and knowledgeable salesperson. No matter what you say, you must admit that there are many electronics salespeople who are well qualified and knowledgeable. No Wal-Mart discount price can make up for great service and a personal relationship when a typical consumer is making a difficult HDTV purchase.

And yes, Kingfrog, we all know you're not the typical consumer.

Just to clarify, not any/every company can get into walmart. In order to get a product into Walmart, you first have to provide a huge amount of that product. Second, Wal-Mart decide their own pricing, and it usually is a bit lower than the msrp. With the already lowered pricing, Wal-mart will then go on to purchase the product from the manufacturer at roughly 80% of the lowered price. As Wal-Mart aims for a profit margin of 15%, Best Buy aims for 30%. (differences is one sales full retail the other doesn't) If the product is not to the liking of walmart's customers, 2 things could happen. One is walmart would tell the manufacturer a price drop along with a drop on the cost, manufacturer has no choice but to abide due to contract. The second is manufacturer gets all of the products back at their own expense. (Whole lotta shipping and storage fee.) Anyways, that's Walmart's buying/pricing power to my little bit of knowledge, and that is why not every product can get into wal-mart.

Just to clarify, not any/every company can get into walmart. In order to get a product into Walmart, you first have to provide a huge amount of that product. Second, Wal-Mart decide their own pricing, and it usually is a bit lower than the msrp. With the already lowered pricing, Wal-mart will then go on to purchase the product from the manufacturer at roughly 80% of the lowered price. As Wal-Mart aims for a profit margin of 15%, Best Buy aims for 30%. (differences is one sales full retail the other doesn't) If the product is not to the liking of walmart's customers, 2 things could happen. One is walmart would tell the manufacturer a price drop along with a drop on the cost, manufacturer has no choice but to abide due to contract. The second is manufacturer gets all of the products back at their own expense. (Whole lotta shipping and storage fee.) Anyways, that's Walmart's buying/pricing power to my little bit of knowledge, and that is why not every product can get into wal-mart.

Wal Mart sucks BIG TIME!! It's the Wal-Mart business model that forced many companies to close-up shop or move their mfg'ering to China. Over 85% of Wal-Mart goods are imported from China. The only thing the Sam Walton Club is good at is giving this country the shaft.

Kingfrog, we've gone round and round before, and I'd rather it not happen again. It wouldn't bother me so much if you weren't so offensive in pushing your opinions as fact.

Perhaps I am "nieve", but not naive to the spelling of "naive". The iPod is not necessarily a high margin product - its accessories are. Also, you seem to be instructing me on Wal-Mart's business model, which I already know and understand. In your first post, you seemed to assume they didn't carry Monster products, which is why I said what I did. I do know they carry Monster, though I try to avoid their store whenever possible.

It's also very naive for you to say they can get any retail product available. I didn't know they were carrying Fujitsu or Pioneer plasmas...or BMW Roadsters. Wal Mart has many brands who won't deal with them because of their horrible payment terms and terrible treatment of manufacturers.

Wal-Mart has dirty stores, low stock on most items, limited variety, and no customer service. Some major electronics retailers have some bad employees, and people do have bad experiences. I've never denied that. But no Wal-Mart will be able to provide even the level of service of a mediocre Best Buy, and won't be able to touch the service of a properly trained and knowledgeable salesperson. No matter what you say, you must admit that there are many electronics salespeople who are . No Wal-Mart discount price can make up for great service and a personal relationship when a typical consumer is making a difficult HDTV purchase.

And yes, Kingfrog, we all know you're not the typical consumer.



You can accept my opinion as fact or not. They are fact to me as opinion usually is to anyone expressing one. Thats called conviction of ideas. Spelling aside. I would not change doctors because he or she missspelled a word. But I know it's an easy rebuttal although it does not speak to the point.

My "fact"is no service at Wal Mart is far better then being mislead to the money pit by a "well qualified and knowledgeable electronics" Best Buy sales person. Thats a fact. A discounted price can MORE then make up for "well qualified and knowledgeable electronics" Best Buy "salesperson" when they use that "knowledge" to pick pockets of from some "making a difficult HDTV purchase."
Thats a fact.

People are better off asking their neighbors what to buy and going to Wal Mart and or Costco to buy it rather then deal with that "well qualified "knowledgable" electronics" salesperson at Best Buy you seem naively to claim are in abundance..

The chances of getting such a person are the same chances of Wal Mart carrying Fujitsu and BMW roadsters (neither of which BEst Buy sells.)

Touche.

Unfortunately, SOME of these BB employees/salespeople have consumed the corporate kool-aid and think the consumer just can't live without their counsel and/or high prcied/high pressure tactics and add-ons.

Tha's ok, let's just see what happens over the next few years.

It is called value-added. If you actaully do this, you will probably be paid for it and still be in business. If you can't, the buying public will at some point figure it out and take their "chances" elsewhere.

You hit the problem squarely on the head...

Wal Mart sucks BIG TIME!! It's the Wal-Mart business model that forced many companies to close-up shop or move their mfg'ering to China. Over 85% of Wal-Mart goods are imported from China. The only thing the Sam Walton Club is good at is giving this country the shaft.


Although I am not nor have ever been an employee at Wal Mart I respect their business model and success, Iam a typical value shopper and yes I have no problem "being seen" in a Wal Mart. Sam has help pay off my house in savings over the years.

The Wal Mart bashers are amazing, Wal Mart is an example of what has made this country great and powerful. Individuals being allowed to pursue their visions. Sam Walton did not ALWAYS have a giant store or buy from China (which seems to be the main focus of the Wal Mart basher). He started with ONE. People made him successful and still does because he provided what THEY WANT not what some sales dweeb THOUGHT they should have.....

Wal Mart is not the ONLY business buying goods from China. Reminds me of the "made in Japan" bad rap in the 60's. Now Japanese goods are considered the best products in many areas of commerce. I would opine 85% of ALL goods we buy are made in China or soon will be. People are smart. The days of valueless badging for exclusivity's sake is reserved for the few who need such. Most people are happy to find decent product at good prices.

Wal Mart is he nation's largest employer and NO ONE is forced to work there and guess what?. All those little mom and pop business people many are whining about closing ALSO pay minimum wage...but to far less people.

Yeah Many would like to see a more socialistic approach to Wal Mart for their OWN benefit. More than likely the same people who over sell fluff to unknowing customers at the Best Buys of the world which do much more harm to ordinary people in the long run.

This forum and the internet has helped me gain more knowledge on the LCD and plasma sets. I have exchanged conversation with sales personnel in a CC & BB (at least with the ones that can speak some English) and believe me they lack in the area of expertise by far. But they do excel in the benefits of an extended warranty. Bottom line is if you do your homework you can comfortably purchase what you are happy with. Myself, I have purchased all my LCDs at Costco and would not have it any different. I would rather have the Costco customer service than the low level expertise and that BB & CC have at this point. All in all Costco does carry the nice LCD and plasmas now.

Moderator

AVS is a technical support forum

we set up this thread to discuss flat panel displays at these stores:

NOT THEIR POLITICS

Please get it back to technical discussions of flat panels

I apologize Mark, you're definitely correct and this Forum is not the place for politics.

Ditto Mark.

I have always said there were people on this forum who will only buy the very best of what is available according to other enthusiasts no matter where they have to go to buy that particular TV. Then there are those who come here to learn about the truth in all all brands from all experiences because they do not want to pay top dollar for hairsplitting differences in PQ or specs,

It is those people who benefit more by a forum such as this. Its is easy to open up a Consumer's Report or seek out a high end retailer to find the best. Sometimes the high price alone is fine for many people seeking the best. Anyone with a brain can come here and read in less then an hour Panasonic and the SXRD are considered the absolute best technologies available.

The difficulty comes for those of us seeking out "good enough" and a great value. That takes far more research and collection of personal experience. I saved thousands buy reading such examples and am just as happy as anyone who bought a new HDTV. The Vizio/Maxent threads are always busy. I believe those mid or low tier panels and their quality (or lack thereof according to some) will become the public choices. . The public who just wants a good TV. Those who buy the Sanyos. Those who choose Toyota and Impalas over Lexus and Cadillac. There are a lot of us.

The choices of where to buy go hand in hand in chosing what to buy. Many would never buy their TV at Wal mart or even Costco because they do not carry the TOL, prestige or banner brands. That dialog is a neccessary part of the learning curve for may as well. This thread serves that purpose well but a seperate high end plasma thread may help aviod some of the confusion and conflict as well as in the audio side of things.

Perhaps sub $3000 Plasmas. Although it many only work for a few months until all Plasmas are sub $3000....LOL

My wife just picked up the Philips this morning at Costco. She was going to pick me up during my lunch hour to pick it up but she thought it was going to sellout due to the special this week.

She picked it up, helpers could not get it into our Mecedes ML suv with the box so they had to take it out of the box. THe height of the trunk opening is 37 inches so for those looking to pick this set up as well, that won't fit with the box.

It's currently sitting in the suv in our garage until I get home to get it into the house. :D

Got mine at lunch as well. It's still at Costco, awaiting the delivery guys to pick it up. With -15F expected during the next few days, I didn't want to put it in the back of a pickup, and taking the seats out of my friend's van is a pain, so I just went with delivery guys.

I'm new to the area and I have read a lot of interesting things. What I ant to know is about CostCo's Sceptre X32Sv and/or Maxent MX32X3. Yeah I know... You get what you pay for, but I was curious if anyone would rate them for me. I'm a Dad and can't find much time to get to Costco.
Thanks for reading this.
Later :)

I actually had a positive experience in BB yesterday when looking for 40"+ LCD's. The sales rep was knowledgable about the pros & cons of LCD's versus Plasma's, and took the time to adjust the settings of several TV's down from their standard VIVID settings.

He was not pushy by any means and a pleasant guy to talk to, although I didnt buy anything, so there was no opportunity to push a warranty or other add-ons.

In a way I am taking advantage of them by comparing the TV's that I will end up buying elsewhere; most likely Costco.com. It's too bad they cant build a business model based on the experience of the buyer where the less informed buyers will pay a little more and get better service, whereas the guys like me will pay much less but not have to worry about dealing with a service guy.

Now to wait for the 45" Sharp at Costco.com to come down in price, since that's the one I saw at BB that I liked!

Are the speakers removable on the 50' Philips that is currently on sale at Costco?

Are the speakers removable on the 50' Philips that is currently on sale at Costco?

No they are not.

I'm new to the area and I have read a lot of interesting things. What I ant to know is about CostCo's Sceptre X32Sv and/or Maxent MX32X3. Yeah I know... You get what you pay for, but I was curious if anyone would rate them for me. I'm a Dad and can't find much time to get to Costco.
Thanks for reading this.
Later :)

Bought a 27" Scepter HDTV to use as a computer monitor and it is excellent. The Maxent looks as good to me. In fact Im looking to buy another LCD and the Maxent is high on the list. I have found SXGA is perfect for my computer use and at those prices they are a great buy for a large monitor.

I have a Maxent plasma and am totally satisfied with it so far and I don't baby my TVs by any stretch.

Thanks for your input, I plan on hooking up a gaming system/HTPC to an affordable LCD so any suggestions are welcomed.

At the local Costco here in Santa Barbara, a new Maxent was being sold --- the 50X2 . . . which isn't the latest model, that one being the 50X3. It's on sale at BestBuy, that latest model, but partly because there's no BestBuy here, partly too because Costco's warranty can't be beat, I'd rather wait and see if that chain gets the X3 too.

And so . . . does anyone have any info whether or not Costco will be getting the new Maxent sometime soon?

-- Michael

I'm planning on buying the 50" Philips plasma mainly for HTPC and watching Standard Cable. Should I worry about Burn-in? Plasma life-time issue? or should I wait for the 42" Sceptre LCD?

No you should not worry about burn in. The new plasmas are no more suseptable to burn in then CRTs and they have a half life 4X the CRT. 60,000 hours vs CRT 15,000.

Since you are buying at Costco you should not worry at all because you can return the Tv if it does not meet with YOUR satisfaction for as long as you are a paying member.

No you should not worry about burn in. The new plasmas are no more suseptable to burn in then CRTs and they have a half life 4X the CRT. 60,000 hours vs CRT 15,000.

Since you are buying at Costco you should not worry at all because you can return the Tv if it does not meet with YOUR satisfaction for as long as you are a paying member.

Thanks, Kingfrog.
That's a relief. Most ppl suggest me to get an LCD instead of plasma since I'm gonna be using it on HTPC+Std Cable most of the time. To me, 42+"LCD is still too expensive and I can't stand watching "bright" black.

Sears has the Toshiba 42HP95 for me. Nice discount. Anyone have any experience, positive or negative, on buying from Sears? I see a 15% restocking fee on Home Electronics for something taken out of the box and plugged in. Thx

Sears has been great for me, returns have always been hassle-free. A plasma tv may be a different story though.

Hope a new owner of the phillips will write a quick review. I took my wife to costco tonight to checkout the phillips thats on sale, what a let down, even she was saying the picture was dull and lacking detail compared to the pioneer and visio. We talked the sales guy into letting us play with the remote but could not adjust the dull look off the screen, it was like the background/glass was gray on the phillips and black on the pioneer and visio. I really wanted the features this set has but not with that picture!!!!! Please write reviews. maybe its just a bad set on display? or completely out of adjustment? but the black levels looked terrible.

The prices at Sears are higher than other places. But if you get a warranty from them they will stand 100% behind their products.

Hope a new owner of the phillips will write a quick review. I took my wife to costco tonight to checkout the phillips thats on sale, what a let down, even she was saying the picture was dull and lacking detail compared to the pioneer and visio. We talked the sales guy into letting us play with the remote but could not adjust the dull look off the screen, it was like the background/glass was gray on the phillips and black on the pioneer and visio. I really wanted the features this set has but not with that picture!!!!! Please write reviews. maybe its just a bad set on display? or completely out of adjustment? but the black levels looked terrible.

Ditto with my wife. Pic on Phillips is dull no matter how I played with it. I'm gonna get the Pio PDP-4214 instead. Pic looks clearer and sharper. Not bad for the price.

I dont much like sears, but I cant complain. My first sony Wega exploded and burned up inside on the 91st day after I bought it, so the warranty was over, but they took it anyways and fixed it.

My sears experience was excellent!! I also bought the 42HP95 from them. They were nice enough to pricematch any online price that i brought them that showed shipping costs. They used that price, deducted 10% of the difference then added tax. I was able to get it at a great price--hundreds less than their advertised price--and was able to deal with an actual store versus an online vendor.

If you do try to pricematch and they say they only honor local retailers---have them ring it up under 'other' in the place of the store name where you are pricematching and it should work. I think i pricematched from Butterfly photo...
JUC

BARK: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=634473
Check out this thread. All talk about the Philips 50" at Costco.
The in store displays look horrible for the most part. Looks MUCH better at home.
With the lights off the black levels were fine to me in HD.

I still haven't calibrated the set or really hooked anything up with it yet. So I am still learning and adjusting. Monday I get my Directv install and new dish so mid next week i should be able to give a more detailed review.

Overall from first impressions (internal speakers not good) but everything else seems solid. I notice the lack of adjustments compared to my old Sony set but overall the picture looks solid so I plan on keeping it. Price and PQ make it a solid choice for me. Personally I wanted the Pio 50" because the aesthics of it were amazing and the PQ was also solid. But I could not validate another $1400 for it.

We saw the Philips on display last night at Costco and the picture looked milky, like a haze over the TV. The electronics guy at Costco said he spent a good amount of time adjusting it to make it look it's best (and that was in HD format), and I thought it still looked poor.
We decided to pass on this one.

penaddict3: For what its worth the TV looks WAY better in my family room than ANY of the TV's on display at my Costco. All the TV's at my Costco were not very impressive and at home it is like night and day.

Just took a look at the Phillips as well at Costco. I hope my Maxent does not fail. The Phillips looks alot like the Akai did. somewhat washed out. The CNET opinion seemed on the mark.
The real deal breaker is no individual input adjustment memory though.

The only acceptable "replacement" for my Maxent if it fails seems to now be the 42" Pioneer. Pony up another $5 bills though.

penaddict3: For what its worth the TV looks WAY better in my family room than ANY of the TV's on display at my Costco. All the TV's at my Costco were not very impressive and at home it is like night and day.

I did side by side comparisons from other Plasmas on display and Philips just didn't look that good. I don't have HD so I figured it could probably just look worse at home.

I did side by side comparisons from other Plasmas on display and Philips just didn't look that good. I don't have HD so I figured it could probably just look worse at home.

My point was that the displays in Costcos are hardly setup properly, have mixed cables so some look better than others, and the lighting is HORRIBLE! I am not telling you to go buy the Philips but just let it be know that the picture in the store that I saw looked like a washed out bad color display. At home it looks crisp, clear, nice blacks, overall a solid picture.

I second that... I have this TV for about 10 days... could care less if you buy it or not.....but don't pass judgement based on the Costco setup.... The Philips looked much better then the Pioneer at Costco when I went to view them... I am not disappointed in PQ at home... HD is great....not sure I woudl purchase the set if I had no HD programming.... Bring it home and set it up and then complain.....

jmzoot,

Costco in the South San Francisco store has 6 Philips 50 inchers in stock. The picture quality looked very good. How does your picture look with regular digital or satellite feed?

Right now I'am torn between the Philips 37" LCD or the Philips plasma. The problem that I have about the plasma, is the possibility of burn-in.

Thanks,
Randy
Millbrae, Ca

There are 6 plasma sets 50 inches or bigger in size being sold at Circuit City, and the customer reviews are generally not favorable to an even more expensive Phillips 50 inch set, which is nonetheless likely to be very similar to the model being sold at Costco.

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catOid/-12869/Ns/cust_rating_overall_avg|1/N/20012866+20012867+20012869+528/link/ref/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do

For what it's worth, customer reviews of electronic equipment at Circuit City are generally of high quality, listing pros and cons and using a common ordinal (rank) scale between 1.0 and 5.0. Two Hitachis rank the highest, followed by the Zenith 50 inch, , a Samsung, a Panasonic, and an LG, with the Phillips in last place. Click on the yellow grading-bar and you will be taken to the individual reviews by the customers who evaluated their sets. Note that the Panasonic was ranked 5.0 in picture quality --- or close to it --- and got lower results overall because of its sound features. The Hitach 55" is very highly rated, but only by about 10 customers (the last time I looked). The Hitachi 42" gets very high marks too.

The Zenith set is the big surprise, very highly ranked considering its price, with the customer evaluations suggesting that they find the set a real bargain.

-- Michael

PS

(i.) I saw the Phillips earlier today at the local Santa Barbara Costco, and the picture quality of the Maxent 50" X3 seemed clearly superior, though I agree with the posters who say that you can't really tell much from Costco's displays . . . what with the atrocious hook-ups there.

(ii.) A tag-on observation: in the Maxent forum, there is a link to the new plasmas that it will be bringing to the market soon, and so those seeking the existing X3 might want to wait and see what it looks like.

(iii.) Another tag-on come to think of it: Costco was also displaying the 42 inch Panasonic EDTV, priced at $1699. It had the best picture of all the sets there, including a Pioneer 43 inch not far away. Too bad it doesn't come in a 50 inch size. It would be a wonderful transition set during a period of relentless technological turmoil, what with all the changes in various HDTV's, Mpeg receivers, emission quality from TV stations, satellite and cable connections, and breakthroughs in LCD and, more important, SED based on CRT quality display . . . the latter touted by even the head of Panasonic US as the most promising dominant technology of the future.

(iv.) For what it's worth, the Maxent 50 inch --- whose speakers are removed --- was the handsomest of the sets, except for the 43 inch Pioneer.

Randy,

regular SD cable is good...but nothing compared to HD cable....

I am having problems with my cable lines so I am not sure how good I can judge the pciture... I am constantly losing channels... but this is due to a poor fed...

I feel SD cable is worse on this set than my 10 year old 27" sony tube.... but I primarily watch HD and play XBox360... Also this is a 50 inch set compared to a 27 inche set.. As you blow up the picture you are also blowing up the imperfections on SD cable

Honestly... if you are gettin this set primarily for SD viewing I would just wait for more HD to become available.. I find myself just watchin HD due to the great PQ...

Hope this helps...

I second that... I have this TV for about 10 days... could care less if you buy it or not.....but don't pass judgement based on the Costco setup.... The Philips looked much better then the Pioneer at Costco when I went to view them... I am not disappointed in PQ at home... HD is great....not sure I woudl purchase the set if I had no HD programming.... Bring it home and set it up and then complain.....

Well, I saw the Phillips today also at Costco. Two words.....Washed Out.

It wasn't even close the the Pioneer sitting next to it. I guess that wouldn't matter if I brought it home but if people are reporting from stores all around the country with the same comment, I have to wonder. The other displays are running off the same feed with the same lighting.

Also, never mind the Pio, it wasn't as good as the 50" Vizio either. And the Vizio is cheaper.

The 50 inch panasonic is back on the costco web site

I was able to check out the Phillips right next to the Vizio and Maxent, all side by side with the same feed and same lighting at 2 different stores. The Phillips wasn't even in the same class as far a PQ. It looked like it had a gray film over the screen and washed out compared to the Vizio and Maxent. The colors weren't even close. Text was much sharper on the other 2 as well. I really wanted to like this set because of the features it has but I think the Vizio will be the one, as soon as they come back in stock :cool:

Didn't read the whole thread, so I appologize if this was already mentioned. The Toshiba 42HP95 & 50HP95 are available at Costco.com at a rather nice price.

So has anyone seen any 42" Pannys in any Costco locations recently? I haven't seen any in quite a while, which is a bit of a bummer...

Yesterday, when I was out at the local Costco in Santa Barbara, I found the sales-clerk in charge of the Home Entertainment section standing alone there, and so we chatted for about 15 minutes. A likeable woman. In the course of our chat, I asked her about the warranty policy, and she said that at her store you have only 30 days in which to return a HDTV set if you happen not to like it.

She did say that in case of accidental breakage or malfunctioning, the set can be returned any time for a full refund.

Is this a local Costco-outlet decision, or have others of you heard something to the same effect at the stores in your area? Of course, you could always ensure that a set you didn't like after one month malfunctioned, but in effect the change in policy --- if it's a Costco decision overall --- would only be encouraging cheating.

-- Michael

From my understanding they encourage a 30-day return window. But from what I can tell they will allow it beyond that. It is not their goal to tell everyone COME return any TV in 6 months if you want. But I think they are pretty easy going when it comes to returns.

Cause if you brought in a TV (6 weeks or 6 months down the road) and said, it is not as bright as it was and I see a lot of garbage on the screen in fast action screens, how are they going to test it and prove it is NOT defective? They can't and won't. So they should still accept the return.


My brother called a Costco and acted like he bought his TV there 2 years ago. Said the picture is not nearly as sharp as it used to be and he is noticing some brightness issues and they said "bring it back no problem". So unless you have a history of returns I think you are safe.

Hey guys. just picked up my 50" pio from costco on monday. They were getting 4 in stock in concord and i think all of the bay area costco's are getting replenished with pio's. last batch probably. Just FYI.
Great tv, couldnt be happier compared to my samsung hrp5052 that i returned. menu isnt as user friendly, but thats just nitpicking!

Just saw a pioneer plasma PDP50A%HD at costco. Anyone have any info on this model. Is it comparable to the PDP-5060HD model?

From what I learned this is equal to the 5050 model. The new Pioneer models (5060 equiv) are suppost to show up in Costco around March. (according to Costco employee.

50A5 is called the "consumer" model -- it has the tuner and A/V inputs built right into the set. The 5050HD has a separate media box.

One major between 5050 and 5060 (and I'm assuming between 50A5 and eventual 50A6) is the newer models have improved blacks. There is lots of further discussion on other threads...

Personally, I'm waiting for the 50A6 myself to show up at Costco... Expecting it will probably be priced similarly to the 50A5.

matt

I bought me Philips 7220 on Monday in Burbank, CA.
I have to agree with earlier postings regarding it's pq being a bit wash out compared to the other plasmas. I was a bit surprised and disappointed by what I saw because of the supposed 10,000:1 contrast ratio rating.

I think perhaps it is due to its inherent black/grayish screen vs. others the likes of Panasonics, Maxent and others that are essentially black.

But because of it price and its featrues I bought it anyways.

A quick side note: I got to Costco at ~ 1930 Monday night and I found 9 units in their box beneath the dispaly model. But by the time I got to the check out stand 20 minutes later after some additional shopping. All the boxed units were gone and there were shoppers coming be to ask me if the one I was leaning against (my) while waitng to be checked out, was mine. It was almost a slight riotus scene.

So, despite of Philips' initial slight washed out appearance compared to the other display models. I have to say, it's not stopping shoppers from wanting it. Meaning, its pq is not at all that bad.

At home, my experience with it's perfomance have been very positive. I don't have another plasma model to compare with, and I have only watched at night (have to work, as well all do). But it's pq have been superb. In fact I have I had to turned down the factory setting to contrast and brightness because the color was so intense and vivid to the point of almost been too sharp and bright. There was no inkling of the washed out appearance that I saw while in the store.
So far, I found it's weakest point is it's speakers. As with most TV speakers it does not have enaough crisp sharpness and the deep thundering lows of a true AV 5.1 or 6.1 DTS surround system with subwoofer set up. But then again my Philips is in my bedroom, I don't need such a punchy TV. I have a front projection A/V DTS system in my livingroom for true rumbling theater experince.

I plan on buying the 42" Vizio Plasma that goes on sale on 3/20. I'm going to take the day off from work to get it early since I've been waiting two years to make this purchase.

My question, do you guys think it's necessary to get to the costco extra early? Like before if opens early? From your past experiences, will people be lining up two to three hours early just to get one? I seriously have no idea.

How many units to the Costcos get when a new product is introduced? Can I expect that they'll get at least 15 tvs?

Thanks,
Dave

First off, I thank all to have posted on this forum. Ive been like a sponge soaking all the knowledge and research that all of you have done. Its much appreciated.

I just went to Costco to get a membership just to buy a Plasma (hopefully their Panasonic model) but I was surprised to see that they dont open up til 10am?! Wow thats late.

I hear that plasmas shouldnt be laid down flat or else it will ruin the display? If thats the case, I wont be able to use my hatchback vehicle to bring it home. ?Does Costco offer shipping if I were to go into the store to make a purchase?

djithm

Just wanted to comment on you buying membership just for a Plasma. When I went to my costco to buy my plasma they took all my info and went to the back for a few minutes. When he came back I asked him why so long in the back. They stated they had problems in the past from people abusing membership. He told me they would of not sold me the TV the same day I purchased membership. But I was ok because I had picked up my membership 2 weeks early. So make sure you get your membership first and not try to purchase the same day becaause you might be regected.

I would think twice about ever buying expensive merchandise from BB. I originally purchased a Toshiba 42HP95 in November and have endured honestly the worst customer service experience I have ever experienced.

I am now on my second unit after the first was returned due to being defective. While not horrible, my experience with BB service was not exactly pleasant either. Despite promising in home service within 24-48 hours of request, it took 5-6 days to receive an in home service visit. After returning the first unit, I began having problems with my second unit and it took almost 2.5 weeks to receive a service visit. "Coincidentally" enough, the service visit took place exactly on the last day that I was able to return the unit (Jan 24th). After being told the unit was defective, I called the store from which the plasma was purchased, explained the situation and told them that because I had already taken half the day off work to be home for the service visit, I had to go to work and did not have time to bring the plasma back to the store to return it that day. Given the situation, the store manager approved me to being it in the next day (yesterday, 1/25). When I brought it back, despite the fact that the manager "approved" my return, they told me that because I was one day late on my return, my only option was an exchange or store credit.

Since this is my second HP95 that had to be returned b/c it was defective, I am obviously a bit gunshy to pull the trigger on another one or any other brand. I would just prefer to get my money back and wait for a bit before pulling trigger again or perhaps get something available at Costco so I dont have to worry about this kind of stuff. Anyone know the heirarchy of BB stores or with whom I need to speak above the store manager to get this taken care of?

djithm

Just wanted to comment on you buying membership just for a Plasma. When I went to my costco to buy my plasma they took all my info and went to the back for a few minutes. When he came back I asked him why so long in the back. They stated they had problems in the past from people abusing membership. He told me they would of not sold me the TV the same day I purchased membership. But I was ok because I had picked up my membership 2 weeks early. So make sure you get your membership first and not try to purchase the same day becaause you might be regected.

Ahh, thanks for that bit of info! I was planning to join Costco (regardless of plasma purchase) since they were alot closer to me than Sam's club. Its just that my first purchase was going to be a plasma tv. I will inquire today if I can purchase or not after getting the membership. Thanks again!

New member here.

I went ahead and bought the Philips 7220 at Costco after looking at several. I went to CC, and checked out the ambilight Philips (same screen specs) along side a Pany, Pioneer, Zenith (LG), and the LG. The pq wasn't quite what the others had, (although in some respects I liked it better) but I decided when it was hanging on my wall instead of along side the others that after adjusting it to my preferences, it would be just fine. Costco's return policy was also a large factor in the decision process. I figured what with the coupon deal, and not having to get an extended warranty I saved at least a grand plus, and for that I was willing to deal with the pq. I also looked at the Visio, but I just didn't like the look of it, and thought it wouldn't fit in well hanging in my family room.

I went Tues afternoon to look when they had three, the wife and I went after dinner and they were sold out. Today I got up and went right when they opened for regular customers. The got 9 in today, and they had sold 4 while I was standing there (the other Costco here in Tucson sold all 9 of theirs during the business cust hours). One other thing, they also offered to upgrade my membership from gold to executive. I paid 29 bucks prorated, and they'll send me a check later for 2% off along with 2% off all my pruchases.

I'm happy.

My Local Costco in Edison NJ has a couple pallets of the Phillips, but no more pioneer or panasonics.

Just got back from my local Costco in Concord, CA. Got my membership today (woohoo) but I was disappointed to not find any 50" Panny (TH-50PM50U) at the store. They had a few of the Phillips plasmas that are on special. While I was looking at all the plasmas, there were probably about 10-20 people that stood there at least momentarily salivating at the Phillips deal.

Just got back from my local Costco in Concord, CA. Got my membership today (woohoo) but I was disappointed to not find any 50" Panny (TH-50PM50U) at the store. They had a few of the Phillips plasmas that are on special. While I was looking at all the plasmas, there were probably about 10-20 people that stood there at least momentarily salivating at the Phillips deal.



They told me the panny was an online product only. Mine has been sitting in my ofifice for several days now while i'm working out of town. I sure hope i get home soon so i can enjoy it. Too bad i cant trust my wife to set it all up for me.

Will Costco help me load the set into my car? I've been to some places that are so afraid of lawsuits that once you buy it you're on your own. I'll be by myself when I buy it.

Yes, they will help you load your plasma into your car/truck with one big caveat.

They will not load it flat - they follow the warnings on the box and will only load it in an upright position.

I talked to a red-vest guy (manager/supervisor) at Costco and he explicitly told me that they will only load them upright, and that if they suspect that a set was transported flst, they will not accept it as a return.

Why the nazi control over Costco/BB/CC/Sears talk here? It really is often very pertinent to other individual threads and really makes natural discussion difficult in many cases. I just don't see the point, especially since no price/coupon talk was allowed already?

What I'm wondering about is this: can Costco change their return policy after you have already made the purchase and have the new policy affect your existing purchase? For example, you buy a set and 8 months later they change the return policy to mirror their policy on computers. (6 month return policy, if I recall) Since you purchased your set 8 months earlier, you can no longer return your set and are left without the old Costco guarantee acting as your extended warranty.

Anyone?

Don't worry, Costco will never change its return policy on anything else in the store. At least that was the work from the CEO's mouth. When they instituted the computer change they did not make it retroactive, only on new computers purchased.

Why the nazi control over Costco/BB/CC/Sears talk here? It really is often very pertinent to other individual threads and really makes natural discussion difficult in many cases. I just don't see the point, especially since no price/coupon talk was allowed already?

I've wondered about this before.

Even if they did change it, I doubt they would change it without any kind of warning. Maybe something like "as of xx date this will be our new return policy." So I would think you would have time to return your item in that time if you are that concerned about it.

Now, Sharp 37" (LC-37D6U) available on Costco website.
Has anybody seen this in the store?

I have so enjoyed reading this thread and finding this site. I wish I had found it before I bought my Philips 7220 at Costco last week.

For what it's worth, I am a complete audio-video dummy who only barely figured out how to turn the tv on. I have really enjoyed this tv and the picture and sound is excellent. At the Costco where we purchased this set, it had a great picture and is what sold us. So there is a lot of truth in how it's connected at the store. There was one other set that looked great; however, it wasn't HD.

Also, what's this about a Costco coupon for the 7220, is that for the 42" or the bigger one?

Edited to say: I forgot to say that the first one we got from Costco was the floor model. They weren't expecting anymore until 1/23/06 and we wanted to have it set up by the weekend, so we took the floor model. They helped us load it. We got it home and a day later, the set would just mute itself. We called Costco and they said just bring it back. In our rush, we didn't realize we had forgotten the receipt until we got back to Costco. No problem. They had another tv brought up to us and loaded it. It took all of 7 minutes. Costco is a great place!

Just heard from a friend that my local Costco now is display a NEW 43" Pioneer. Not sure of model number or features. Anyone have any info on this? I will stop by later after work and at least get a model number. It is $100 more than the 42" Pioneer right next to it.

A bit more info regarding Philips 7220.
Just read through my owner's manual. In it, it mentioned that the factory setting for this unit is set for displaying this set in a room filled with fluorescent light, in bright room conditions such as in a showroom floor. It further mentioned that owners will likely use this set in a much darker room the likes of most living room etc. . and would likely need to re-adjust the picture setting to fit one's need in relation to his/her room lighting condition.

I'd have agreed with this statement and perhaps its also why many shoppers noted that this unit looked washed out when viewing it in the showroom.

I did not noticed this statement regarding Philips purpose and the reasons why they have pre-set this T.V. to such high brightness setting when I decided to adjust my T.V. the very first night I powered it up and found it too bright and a bit washed out.
I noted then, that the factory setting regarding brightness is set at a very hight "83". I had to turn it down to near "50" and the pq and it's darkness then became very very impressive.

I do not know how proficient the store personnel are in setting up various T.Vs that's they had to constantly set up and replace. I suspect they do not have that much time to play with each T.V. and its controls and to figure out how to adjust each individual aspect of each T.V. So, I suspect many shore folks may have left the T.V. to it's factory setting. In this case, the factory setting, I think, is set with brightness being way too high, hence the washed out appearnce. This is too bad for shoppers wanting to compare this T.V to others. I hope Philips will reconsider recalibrating their factory setting...

Now, Sharp 37" (LC-37D6U) available on Costco website.
Has anybody seen this in the store?

wow - big price difference between that and the Sceptre 37. I'd like to see someone do a side-by-side compare. I'm pretty happy with my Sceptre right now, I wonder what all that extra $$ gets you in the Sharp.

Just heard from a friend that my local Costco now is display a NEW 43" Pioneer. Not sure of model number or features. Anyone have any info on this? I will stop by later after work and at least get a model number. It is $100 more than the 42" Pioneer right next to it.

any chance someone could check this out & post the new model number ? ... I would but I live close to 2hrs away from the closest Costco to me :(

So, I suspect many shore folks may have left the T.V. to it's factory setting. In this case, the factory setting, I think, is set with brightness being way too high, hence the washed out appearnce. This is too bad for shoppers wanting to compare this T.V to others. I hope Philips will reconsider recalibrating their factory setting...

Almost every TV comes from the factory in "torch mode" with the contrast jacked up. This is done to make the sets stand out in a sea of other displays, and catch peoples eyes.

I'll take that one step even further - I'm convinced that managers in places like Best Buy and Circuit City nicely calibrate the displays they are trying to push, and leave the settings way off on the displays that don't make them much money. Then Joe six-pack walks by and thinks "Wow look how much better this TV looks than that one", never knowing that 2 minutes of calibration would have saved him hundreds of $$ and left him with a better display.

However I doubt this happens at Costco, their pricing model doesn't really work that way.

Almost every TV comes from the factory in "torch mode" with the contrast jacked up. This is done to make the sets stand out in a sea of other displays, and catch peoples eyes.

I'll take that one step even further - I'm convinced that managers in places like Best Buy and Circuit City nicely calibrate the displays they are trying to push, and leave the settings way off on the displays that don't make them much money. Then Joe six-pack walks by and thinks "Wow look how much better this TV looks than that one", never knowing that 2 minutes of calibration would have saved him hundreds of $$ and left him with a better display.

However I doubt this happens at Costco, their pricing model doesn't really work that way.

I've worked in the AV business for almost 14 years. You'd be amazed at the number of sets I've set up correctly (or as close as my naked eye can set up) or convergences I've performed at BB, CC, and others. It amazes me how poorly most are set up right out of the box.

The Pioneer 43" model had no boxes under it and I could not see a model numbr on the back. It was a very basic shell and not the glossy mirror look of the 4214 model. The sign also said HDTV monitor and had VGA and serial ports on the bacl. Might not be new but a left over from sometime before. It was not hooked up and no boxes around.

I am ready to purchase a plasma tv (42 or 50) and have decided to purchase from CostCo. Based on what I have seen in the store the last month and this thread; it appears like several plasma models are being phased out, and unknown models are coming in soon. Also based on this thread, it appears like a number of new plasma models will be coming out this spring. I know technology is always changing, and prices are typically going down; it is worth waiting a couple of months for new (better) models to hit CostCo? I can wait a few months, but I do not want to wait more than that. At the top of my list right now is the Pioneer 42, but I can't find any reviews on the PDP4214. Also considering the Dell. The current CostCo deal on the Phillips 50 is interesting, but I am not impressed with the picture quality. Recommendations?

The Pioneer 43" model had no boxes under it and I could not see a model numbr on the back. It was a very basic shell and not the glossy mirror look of the 4214 model. The sign also said HDTV monitor and had VGA and serial ports on the bacl. Might not be new but a left over from sometime before. It was not hooked up and no boxes around.
If it's a 43" Pioneer, matte (non-glossy) black, monitor (no tuners), with detachable speakers, on a plain black, non-swivel stand, it very well may be an older left over PDP-4312.

Man, you guys are keeping me in suspense. I wish I knew what Pio model you are talking about. Went to the local costco tonight and I didnt see any other pio besides the 4214. Suspense is killing me. I hope they show up before I buy the 4214 next week. Also, just my observation...the Philipps 50" 7220 had the worst pic of the plasmas on display, sorry to say.

cheezz

I called Costco about their return policy and asked that specific question, which was "if I buy a plasma TV today with a one year warranty, and 5 years from now, it burns out, can I return it for a full refund" and they said yes, and would also refund the shipping. Also, they said there was no time limit. Then I asked "If your policy changes in the future, would I be bound by the policy in force when I made the purchase, or by the new policy". They said I would be bound by the new policy, but they said their return policy was established when they were created and there was no indication it would ever change. They said they had to change it with computers because people were returning computers just to keep up with the new technology, and they made the adjustment to limiting computer returns to 6 months, but no other changes were expected. Hope this helps.

Does Costco pricematch other internet etailers? I have asked them twice via email, no response. Store asst mgr didn't know when I asked her. Prob too good to be true...

Other than Vizio or Maxent, brands specifically made to sell at Costco and other discount stores, Costco does not generally carry --- and maybe never --- the latest models of big name brands. The exception is when a big brand model --- say, the Sharp 45" LCD that came out last year --- doesn't do well in regular or online stores, and Costco might get hold of it in the third or fourth quarter of its life-span. Otherwise, the big brand models are those that are about to be phased out.

Are there exceptions? Maybe, but neither online nor in the store have I seen any the last few months, the period in which I started to look for an HDTV.

That doesn't mean you can't get a good deal on a name-brand like Panasonic or even Sony, but it depends on whether you decide that the newer model isn't much more than a series of limited cosmetic changes.

Those of you waiting for the arrival of awesome-new sets are, I fear, likely to be disappointed --- a case of Waiting for Godot, at any rate until next November, December, or January.

Michael

I purchased this from Costco. I stopped working in 2 weeks. And Philips refused to help repair. Left me at the mercy at the local center (to whom they sent the wrong part). After 3 weeks of talking to the rude people at Philips customer service, I am reutning it.

My Local costco ran out of the phillips 50 incher and the pioneer 4214 but they had a dozen pioneer 50ah5d's that looked fantastic, but no great deal on them.

I purchased this from Costco. I stopped working in 2 weeks. And Philips refused to help repair. Left me at the mercy at the local center (to whom they sent the wrong part). After 3 weeks of talking to the rude people at Philips customer service, I am reutning it.

Since you bought it at Costco, you should have just returned it right away instead of dealing with Philips.

I plan on buying the 42" Vizio Plasma that goes on sale on 3/20. I'm going to take the day off from work to get it early since I've been waiting two years to make this purchase.

My question, do you guys think it's necessary to get to the costco extra early? Like before if opens early? From your past experiences, will people be lining up two to three hours early just to get one? I seriously have no idea.

How many units to the Costcos get when a new product is introduced? Can I expect that they'll get at least 15 tvs?

Thanks,
Dave

Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Obviously not on the P42, but on their initial supplies of new tv releases.

I joined as a business member so that I could get in there an hour earlier than the general consumer card holders, hopefully that will guarantee me a tv.

I went to costco last night and noticed that they didn't have alot of TV's set up. (LCD's & Plasma's) I live in the Van Nuys area in California. I guess I'm lucky to have 2 costco's by my house within a 10 minute drive. I've read some members have to drive over an hour or two to get to one!(That is a pain!) I was wondering if anybody knows of a new crop of TV's coming in anythime soon? I'm a new member to AVS and I just wanted to thank all the members for their great information. I really want to buy a LCD for my bedroom and that is why I joined this great site. Thanks for any info on this subject.

. At the top of my list right now is the Pioneer 42, but I can't find any reviews on the PDP4214. Also considering the Dell.

For more information on the Pioneer PDP 4214-HD, use the AVS Forum Advanced Search feature with the keyword '4214'. Might want to check for threads on the Dell too.

Why the nazi control over Costco/BB/CC/Sears talk here? It really is often very pertinent to other individual threads and really makes natural discussion difficult in many cases. I just don't see the point, especially since no price/coupon talk was allowed already?

I think the administration of this forum is more concerned with sucking up to sponsors than facilitating good discussion. They don't get any kickbacks from Best Buy so of course they're going to try to bury information about non-sponsor pricing/retailers.

I think the administration of this forum is more concerned with sucking up to sponsors than facilitating good discussion. They don't get any kickbacks from Best Buy so of course they're going to try to bury information about non-sponsor pricing/retailers.


This thread does not seem to be buried! The admin has made it a sticky and is keeping it at the top of the forum.

The weekly Circuit City ad has this Akai HD plasma. It is the model that has a resolution of 1024*1024. Anybody own this model? The price is very low for a higher res Plasma.

http://www.akaiusa.com/products_detail.aspx?cat=VISUAL%20ENTERTAINMENT&subcat=Plasma%20TV/Monitor

Spec sheet for this model.

Too wise

Sam's sells the PDP4225M1
CC has the PDP4273M
They seem to be identical.

http://www.akaiusa.com/products_detail.aspx?cat=VISUAL%20ENTERTAINMENT&subcat=Plasma%20TV/Monitor


Too wise

I think the administration of this forum is more concerned with sucking up to sponsors than facilitating good discussion. They don't get any kickbacks from Best Buy so of course they're going to try to bury information about non-sponsor pricing/retailers.

I'm fairly new here, but I'm guessing they don't allow such info because they have a paid subscription portion of the site where there seems to be forum for just these deals. I'm sure sponsors also play a part as is AVScience being a store themselves.


g'day
youth

Hello
I am a Costco Executive Member. It was hard for me to return my Toshiba 62HM85. I had it for almost a year. The problem (HDMI Input not working), after purchasing two HDMI cables.
Called Toshiba and they game me a phone number to call a technician. The technician came in and he observed only was was the problem. He left without saying was was the problem. He blamed it on the other components. Took my dvd with hdmi to my son house and we tested it in his tv and worked fine. The technician told me that he was going to contact me. Im still waiting for his call. Checked my receipt and called Costco. They told me to take it there for a full refund. I thought about it many times, I dont like to do this things, but I didnt have any other alternative. They game me the full refund. If you buy a new car and the trasmission is bad, the option is to get another one. I dont feel I abused of my priviledge, I had a reason. I will keep spending my money in Costco every month for any other purchases. Business like that need our support.

I think the administration of this forum is more concerned with sucking up to sponsors than facilitating good discussion. They don't get any kickbacks from Best Buy so of course they're going to try to bury information about non-sponsor pricing/retailers.

It seems to me it's more that the admins are trying to keep certain discussions focused to a single point. For a while there, better than 50% of the threads started on here would turn into a discussion/debate around BB, Costco, CC, or Sears. This would inevitably send the thread into a downward spiral and the original topic would be lost. So instead, they put a sticky up to handle all those discussions and try to keep everything confined here.

The reason they don't allow the direct links/prices is to keep the forum from turning into an advertising spam dump. This is hands down one of the best (if not the best) forums for Home Theater information on the net, and it's largely due to the work the mods around here put into keeping the things that destroy good forums in check.

Are there any other businesses out there like Costco, that has their return policy. I am waiting until they get the TV I want, then I will buy from them. Any others??

I think the administration of this forum is more concerned with sucking up to sponsors than facilitating good discussion. They don't get any kickbacks from Best Buy so of course they're going to try to bury information about non-sponsor pricing/retailers.

This is an unfair and inflammatory statement. Both you and I are lucky this site is available and provides the service it does. There is nothing buried on this site and if you need a price from Best Buy it is easily located on their own site. Good deals are mentioned in these forums all the time but if you have to have everything spelled out to you all the time then you are in the wrong place and need to move on. I have a house full of home theater equipment and in about every instance I garnered most of the information of that equipment from this site. On a few occasions I have bought from a forum sponsor but mostly I did not. Every question I ever had got answered to my satisfaction and if I could help anyone I most certainly did. And by following the rules that are clearly stated in the faq's, you can have any discussion on this site that has to do with the home theater hobby. But throwing around words like "sucking up", "control", and "nazi" will not get you very much help. And if you want to know what someone paid for something, just send them a PM and discuss it in private. That is allowed. Guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Sorry. End of rant. :rolleyes:

Are there any other businesses out there like Costco, that has their return policy. I am waiting until they get the TV I want, then I will buy from them. Any others??

Didn't I read that they are looking to change that policy now. Might want to make sure it is not a free tv exchange any time you want now. Still it would probably be a lot more liberal than a lot of other places. I have been a member there ever since they have been in Atlanta and have probably lost money on my membership. I guess I need to start looking into using it more.

Today's Sunday flyer in Northeast edition has the TH50PX50U back in stock.

Today's ad in the paper has this unit at an astonishingly low price. It is sold out on their website. Are they in dump mode for some reason? Anyone have recent experience with this model? I'm tempted to go buy it just in case it is a good deal. Comments?

i just saw the ad and was about to post about it too. we just bought a sony hd crt, but this price looks nice. user comments?

First off the picture is incredible!!! I had the Sony 50A10 LCD projection and there is absolutely no comparison. Needless to say I'm very happy with the Panasonic and want to keep it. The problem I'm facing is the Panasonic website and the Costco website made it seem that the plasma and stand were 32" high, perfect for my built in. Well apparently I messed up and with the stand it is 34.5", which would still fit but by a hair. I can't get it in because I have molding in front of the built-in and can't shimmy it in.

Now to my question, does anyone know if there are alternate stands out there that may be shorter? The Panasonic website only has wall mounting brackets which wouldn't work either because the whole is 25+ inches deep to fit my old 36" XBR. If anyone has any ideas I would be very greatful.
i also have the sony 50A10. i love the HD but the SD is pretty brutal. i purchased it at costco because of the return policy. i was torn between a 42 in plasma and the bigger LCD projection so i got the bigger TV. it is a little too big for my room and the SDE is noticable. i just saw that they have a toshiba 42in at the same price i paid for the sony. depending on reviews i see here, i might exchange it. i've heard that plasma does a much better job with SD and lets face it, thats the bulk of TV viewing right now.

It seems to me it's more that the admins are trying to keep certain discussions focused to a single point. For a while there, better than 50% of the threads started on here would turn into a discussion/debate around BB, Costco, CC, or Sears. This would inevitably send the thread into a downward spiral and the original topic would be lost. So instead, they put a sticky up to handle all those discussions and try to keep everything confined here.

The reason they don't allow the direct links/prices is to keep the forum from turning into an advertising spam dump. This is hands down one of the best (if not the best) forums for Home Theater information on the net, and it's largely due to the work the mods around here put into keeping the things that destroy good forums in check.

I too felt that sentiment as well but
This sticky is proof they are not totally against other non sponsored talk. I applaud them for this thread.

my problem is not with this thread, but rather that they won't even let you mention these retailers in other threads without the post being deleted/edited/locked. I agree that we don't want to hear about Costco's return policy over and over and that this shouldn't turn into a deal discussion forum, but there needs to be some leeway with the simple naming of a vendor here.

MODS NOTE:

Get back on topic.

If you have issues with the policies posted here then notify David or Alan and voice your concerns with them.

You can do this via PM.

All other Non-Constuctive posts or comments with be removed with out notice.

That is all!!!

Dave

Looking at these 2 models as the price seems to be the same.

Which one is the better TV?

And if a) is better, is it worth it to buy b) just because of the Costco return policy if there is ever a problem compared to ordering a) from the Internet?

Thanks.

Hello
I am a Costco Executive Member. It was hard for me to return my Toshiba 62HM85. I had it for almost a year. The problem (HDMI Input not working), after purchasing two HDMI cables.
Called Toshiba and they game me a phone number to call a technician. The technician came in and he observed only was was the problem. He left without saying was was the problem. He blamed it on the other components. Took my dvd with hdmi to my son house and we tested it in his tv and worked fine. The technician told me that he was going to contact me. Im still waiting for his call. Checked my receipt and called Costco. They told me to take it there for a full refund. I thought about it many times, I dont like to do this things, but I didnt have any other alternative. They game me the full refund. If you buy a new car and the trasmission is bad, the option is to get another one. I dont feel I abused of my priviledge, I had a reason. I will keep spending my money in Costco every month for any other purchases. Business like that need our support.


Why feel bad about it? I am sure it is not Costco that eats the cost, it would be Toshiba would it not?

I went out and bought the 50" Philips at Costco this weekend. So far I'm impressed with it. I haven't calibrated it yet, but it does not look at all washed-out as some people have mentioned. Of course I just switched to this unit from a LCD PJ (Sony HS-10) with low contrast, so take that with a grain of salt.

I think I saw somewhere on this thread where someone mentioned a broken line running across the top of the screen. I saw the same thing on a 42" display unit at Circuit City (for the same price as the 50" at Costco!). My heart sunk when I saw the same thing on my unit in Widescreen mode when I got it home. I looked through the manual, and buried in there it mentioned that you can use the cursor keys to adjust the position of the image on the screen. That fixed the problem right away.

I am thinking of ordering this plasma TV through Sears. I currently have a 25" regular TV connected to plain jane cable using one of those coaxil cables that screw into the back of the TV.

Does the Panosonic TV have the same connection so I can connect it to my cable?

Hey guys,

After reading a bunch of reviews here, I bought the 37 inch Sceptre from Costco in early December. Everything was great. HD and DVD's looked awesome, and SD was acceptable. Anyhow, today I am watching TV and an entire column of pixels gets stuck red....and right before the Superbowl!

So, this TV is obviously going back to Costco, but the real question is, what do I replace it with? I could always get another Sceptre, or wait for the 42 inch model that Costco should get soon (though my wife threw away our coupon book :mad: ). If anyone knows what that will cost please PM it to me. Or I could get something else within a couple of hundred bucks of the Sceptre, preferrably from Costco again (in case this happens again). I would like to stay the same size or larger. It will be used for SD and HD viewing from Dish Network, DVDs, and Xbox 360.

Thanks.

I had the same problem. Furthermore, when I first played my DVD player with my 7220, I noticed that the images were significantly skewed to the left horizontally so part of the image was cut off to the left and the Rt. side, a blacken blank space was seen. To make certain that it was not the sources' fault, I hooked up my better DVD player to it and the same thing happened. My frustration was relieved when I found the instruction on how to center an image by simply using the cursor keys to reposition the image when a non-center source image is being displayed. A simple task but not so obvious instruction - small print buried in the manual.

Moderator

AVS is a technical support forum: the purpose of this forum is for technical issues with flat panels: not where to buy, pricing, or the exchange of coupons: there are other forums for those issues

Thank you

I purchased a Maxent 42" plasma from Costco in Mid-December. The remote has not worked since the second day I owned it. The picture would sometimes disappear. Maxent replaced my remote, and the new remote won't work either. So they assume the TV is the problem.

A service tech for Maxent came out and replaced the image board hoping to fix both issues. The remote still doesn't work and the image problem is fine but I won't know until I actually watch the TV for an extended period.

I've pretty much given up on this company. This is a model (42X3) that is not sold in Costco stores anymore. The newer model is not as good and I don't want it. I am not interested in any of the other models Costco has.

Can I bring this TV back to Costco and get a full refund? If I tell them about the problems, will the refuse to take it back? I'm pretty muh resigned that I will have to pay more for a quality set. this TV had a good picture but it just doesn't work right.

It seems that all Costco stores are out of stock on Pioneer 50" Plasmas. Does anyone know if Costco will continue to carry them? It seems odd that all stores are out of stock on this model. :confused:

i spoke with someone at costco last night and she said it was an "inactive" product and she didn't expect them to have them moving forward. however, there has been some chat of new pios hitting the costco shelves in march. i cannot confirm...

I was in Costco last night and it looks like the Pio 50A5HD is marked inactive. They have one in stock and will not be getting anymore. They still have the Pio 5040HD but the A5 is a newer Panel. I wonder if they will be getting any new Pioneers soon?

Can I bring this TV back to Costco and get a full refund? If I tell them about the problems, will the refuse to take it back? I'm pretty muh resigned that I will have to pay more for a quality set. this TV had a good picture but it just doesn't work right.
My understanding is that they will take it back - no questions asked. There are plenty of satisfied customers with this model. Maybe you just got a lemon. They had the 42MX3 in stock in my local store last weekend. You could either try another one or just get your money back and buy something different there or elsewhere.

The guy at my Costco claimed that they will be stocking the new Pioneer 50" models in Feb/March. Then I called them and they said they have no new sku numbers for any Pioneers other than the current inactive model. So not sure if that guy new what he was talking about or full of crap.

Well, Costco has it again. The best model (to date) of the 45" Sharp. It has the media box. It is on their website right now. Unfortunately you will not have it in time for Superbowl or even Valentines day!

I am torn now between the Plamsas at Costco. They are both 42 Inches. The model for the Pioneer is 4214. I 'think' the Phillips looked a bit better, but the setting on the Pioneer might not have been right. Any advice would be helpful.


Thank you

I will cast my vote for Pioneer.

So I have a dilemma, and hopefully someone here can help me. I bought a Zenith 50" from Bestbuy.com, and it had a substantial rebate with it. The TV came, and it has a defect (buzzing sound which nobody else on the forum seems to have). So my dilemma is this, if I do a return/exchange, they credit me my money back and do a re-order. But if I do this, then my rebate is most likely nullified, and then the TV isn't such a good deal anymore. I really like the TV, and feel confident that I just got a lemon, but I also want my rebate. Seems like an unfair policy to penalize the buyer in this case, but that's what bestbuy.com seems to be doing. They're sending a tech out, but i'm not too confident in what that person can do for me.

Any thoughts on what I can do? Anybody else have dealings with bestbuy.com that would help me get a good outcome? I think if i had bought at the store, I could do a straight up exchange.