Panasonic VT50 Deals - Page 65

Taking exception to this statement and looking for a professional calibrator's opinion. On a plasma panel, VT50, there is no need to go into the service menu to calibrate, correct? This, as I understand it, is all done in the custom mode or ISF modes. Mine was done only using ISF modes (by W. Jeff Meier).


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Edited by scirica - 1/23/13 at 11:38am

Thank you all for such great information.

How reputable is Paul's TV? I'd prefer to give them the business but concerned if I need to return for any reason such as defective & such.

Thanks.

Best Buy told me I would get 2 years free financing if purchased using my Best Buy Credit Card. That and the ability to return has me thinking BB.

Just ended up buying the 65" VT50 at BB! Took me going to three in the area but the one with the Magnolia is the one that worked with me on the tax. All of them were willing to match the Paul TV offer without much ado (except one tried to say that they may not match it cause Pauls is out of stock but then relented and agreed to match it anyway.) Noone went for the BuyTVtoday deal even though I had the BBB A+ report as mentioned by Skeet. SO the final deal was 2424 (2570 with tax) cause they agreed to split tax with me. They did say that usually they wouldn't do that but as someone else mentioned earlier in the thread, I was respectful, did not act "douchie" and just requested that they meet me halfway and they did. Also, the Magnolia people seemed really nice and were knowledgable (compared to the standard BB kid) and explained their calibration process, etc. I was also given the names of the calibrators that I should request for the calibration. Also, being that I am a silver elite member, I get double points and will probably get $100 in BB credit to use towards anything in the store (planning to buy some Bluray discs to use in my next purchase....an Oppo 105). So in a sense I got it for 2470 (tax and delivery included) and will get a free calibration. Its coming on Fri. Can hardly wait....

The traveling calibrators are typically using higher end calibration equipment (spectros) and will spend hours to optimize the display. They are also far more experienced and knowledgeable - you get what you pay for.

Nice! Congrats. I'm patiently waiting for them to call me and tell me mine has arrived.

My purchase was also via online chat. I provided them with the order number (from my email confirmation) and they were able to confirm in real time that I was eligible. I believe that regardless of the original terms of your purchase, if the current price is less (including coupon right now), that you should be eligible for a refund. My request for refund was also pursued via online chat. The customer serivce person confirmed it in the chat, and said that he sent it the request to his sales manager for approval, which was automatic. Good luck, and let us know how it goes...

Grats indieman. I wish I had similar luck but my best guys here in Northern California declined to even come close to Paul's.

I am reluctant to order through Paul's. I like the safety of knowing BB if an issue arises. I am being told that if I just wait until Feb/March the cost of the 65" VT50 should drop to $2,500 at the very least, and probably more due to end of life. If this is the case I can certainly wait. Thoughts ??

Compared to the typically Geek Squad calibrator, yes, you are correct. As I said in my post though, the Design Centers offer a much more comprehensive calibration service. Also, it's not like any of them are using $200 Spyder's... You do get what you pay for though, and a fairly large group of people find that $400+ is more than they are willing to spend.

Will BB let you use the 250 dollars from the free GS calibration and apply it towards having the design center calibrator come out if you pay the difference?

ChinaCat:
As far as I can tell, I do not think there should be any down side ordering from Pauls. They are on Panny's site as an auth dealer and I have gone to their store inside Art Van furniture and it seems legit. The only incentive I had of going thru BB was the calibration and the BB dollars and the fact that if all else was (almost) equal I'd like to give them my business cause I like to browse there once in a while...If Northern Cali BB won't play ball, I would consider ordering from Pauls. Have you tried a couple of different places?

55" VT50 is $1, 599 right now on Amazon! Best price I've seen yet.

To get into activating the ISF modes, you first must use software to gain access to enable the ISF modes, and then from there make the calibration,adjustments for the ISF mode setings. Once the ISF mode is activated, the settings for ISF day/night are locked, and if you want to change them, that means using the software to get into it again..

MIne came no issues, white glove to my tv stand. Delivery people were super cool petting my dogs while i ran some slides.They offered to give me a 90in instead they had on the truck, lol Checked the screen with a flashlight, no cracks, all good. Signed off on paper.

Very happy with my purchase from PaulsTV.

Also getting 100.00 back using the 'save400' code.

Total price paid 1599.99.

This has nothing to do with my statement. The previous poster talked about going into the service menu. I was stating that opening up the ISF modes is not the same as going into the service menu.

And just what do you think accessing and adjusting the ISF mode is? You can't just turn on the TV and and make any changes to the settings for ISF mode with going into the TV with calibration software or software like ControlCal first. And having to do that to gain access to turning on and making adjustment for ISF modes, is very close to the same things as going into the service menu. Yes once ISF mode it turned on you can use either ISF day/night, but it's settings for those are also locked.

Opening up two new modes is not the same as going into the service menu. I'm done with this conversation as we obviously are not communicating well. If you reset to factory defaults, your ISF modes will disappear. End of story.

Not really sure. It certainly isn't something that was intended to be part of the offer. There is also not really a way for one system to credit another, as they were not designed to work together. It would essentially require them to just flat out discount their calibration by $250, which seems unlikely.

What it comes down to is, if you qualify for the free calibration, take it. It is very unlikely that you will be worse off than when you started. If you are, call them and tell them you are dissatisfied. They should send someone else out to fix it. Either way, if you don't like the result and still want one of the traveling calibrators to come out and "re-do" it, there is no reason they can't reset the TV or otherwise "fix" it. They are charging enough as it is, they should be happy to come out and show-up the competition.

I appreciate the re-assurance mate. I'm so hot for this TV. Been using an 8-year old Sony 60". Recently picked up the OPPO 95 and know playing movies on that to the VT50 65" will be insane fun.

This dude I talked to at BB said he's been working their for 5-years and he'd be shocked if this TV doesn't drop to at least 2,500 in a month when Panasonic and stores need to clear inventory for the 2013 sets. That's great and all if I am determined to get it at BB instead of Paul's but I really doubt it will ever go much lower than that number. The set is just too good and supply/demand will kick in. Then again, I have no clue at all how many of these sets will need to be liquidated.

Cheers

If I recall right, the 65 inch VTs didn't ship or hit stores till what, like May of last year? I would guess "close out" discounts would hit around April...

I've called my local Pauls TV a couple of times and spoke with the same salesman each time. The salesman was the most knowledgeable tv salesman I have ever spoken with. He actually knew a lot of info of each TV I was interested in. The Panny VT 50 55" he said is $1599 out the door, Sharp 60" $4500 and he owns a Sony 929 I stated I was also interested in the Sony 950. He is aware of these forums and frequents HDJ regularly. I was impressed. I am also a Silver rewards member through Best Buy and I would not hesitate to purchase from Pauls TV. The wife and I are going this weekend to talk to this salesman and I (We) will hopefully decide on one of the three mentioned.

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize they were two different entities. What the hell may as well try them after all it's free.

That's what I did. Paul's couldn't touch BB financing, otherwise I would have gone to Paul's. BTW, BB still had the 55VT50 for $1699 in-store last night.

The price will drop as the months go by, but can you guarantee that Best Buy will have the model available when it hits the price you are targeting? Production is going to stop at some point, then wholesalers will start running out. It's a crapshoot guessing which resellers will still have the model to sell come March. Don't wait too long. I'm thinking $2500 now is great compared to $3600 a short while ago and no TV because waited too long.

Not saying that it won't go that low, but there really isn't a need to cut prices that aggressively. If the price stayed exactly where it is right now, VT inventory would already be gone before the May-ish expected launch for 2013 models. You might be able to get a killer deal on a display model, but I wouldn't count on much more.

No problem. They are not really completely separate, they just don't use Geek Squad. This is primarily due to the custom integration work they do that is outside the scope of what GS can offer. They do some pretty crazy work. Check out their site sometime. magnoliaav.com.

Returned to Best Buy for one last price match on my 65VT50 last night... from $2475 to $2399. Started at $2599 on 12/10/12, which was a smoking price at the time. Matched BuyTVtoday... customer service desk just verified the price on the site, and executed the refund. All this at 36-month zero interest... is a tick over $74 a month with tax... just 35 easy payments...

I'd try to get BB to match: I'm a silver member too and just got a BB coupon in the mail offering 3X rewards points, so check your mail! If the price is close enough and your spending this much $, I figure this might help you out down the road.

I did the same last night. A price match of $2549 on 12/29/12 and three price reduction matches since then. I used standard financing so there'll be another $96 in rewards bucks. I gotta say...Best Buy has lost a little profit on me but they've gained good will currency in spades! I opted to buy a wireless USB adapter from them last night while I was there, even though it was cheaper at Staples across the street. But of course I asked them to price match too, and they did so cheerfully. ;-)

BadClams funny you should mention that. THe 3x coupon came in the mail and the wife kept fussin and fussin about the terrible timing so I said why dont you go and ask them....maybe they'll give it you since the set has not even been delivered. She went and they said no problem and gave her triple points. That is another $50 in BB dollars!!
The wife is a big fan of BB and their customer service. she was very impressed by how smooth our TV purchase was, they did not try to push ext warranty, cables, nothing and will certainly result in us using BB as much as possible. Johnla thanx for the clarification on the service menu vs ISF modes. Guess that was all I was asking about. I don't really have the knowledge to get really technical about that stuff.....