[Kage]

Yesterday I bought the Sony KDL-46VL160 at Costco after I returned my comestic damaged Samsung LN46B750 (cracks were forming inside the tv frame a few days ago and the paint was peeling off) and the screen was to reflective. I bought the LN46B750 exactly 30 days ago at Best Buy. I called Samsung about the problem and they wouldn't replace the tv and Best Buy's extended warranty does not cover comestic damage. Now back to the topic, I know the 46VL160 resembles and has the same specs as the 46Z4100. I have some questions on Costco's LCD tv's.

1. Is it true that Costco versions of LCD tvs have inferior internal parts than retail versions?
2. How good is the Costco free extended warranty?

 

[boswd]

1. No it is not true that their TV's and parts are inferior. The reason why the models numbers are different is to accomdate retail sellers so they don't have to price match with Costco's and the likes. The difference may be a bell here a whislte their, neither better nor worse, just different.


2. What Costco's does is extend the manufacturer's warranty by one year, so you know have a two year factory warranty instead of one for free. Best deal out there.

 

[BoilerJim]

It's also been my experience that many (not all) of Costco's TVs may often be "last year's" technology repackaged with different bezels and some slightly different specs so that manufacturers can unload their excess and outdated inventory. This doesn't make the TVs inferior, but they just may not be the most recent models on the market.


Perhaps that's why Costco's warrenty is so good.

 

[adone36]

It would cost more for a mfg to build "last years model" for Costco instead of just building a current model with Costco's part number.

 

[Kage]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Kage /forum/post/16892718


Yesterday I bought the Sony KDL-46VL160 at Costco after I returned my comestic damaged Samsung LN46B750 (cracks were forming inside the tv frame a few days ago and the paint was peeling off) and the screen was to reflective. I bought the LN46B750 exactly 30 days ago at Best Buy. I called Samsung about the problem and they wouldn't replace the tv and Best Buy's extended warranty does not cover comestic damage. Now back to the topic, I know the 46VL160 resembles and has the same specs as the 46Z4100. I have some questions on Costco's LCD tv's.

1. Is it true that Costco versions of LCD tvs have inferior internal parts than retail versions?
2. How good is the Costco free extended warranty?

I'm going to return the Sony KDL-46VL160 back to Costco, because I've been noticing red trails from fast movement scenes and produced very noticable motion blur. My 4 year old Sharp Aqous 37 inch LCD tv has less motion blur. Today I got a good deal on the Sony KDL-46XBR9 at a local dealer and I'm going to pick it up after work.

 

[BoilerJim]

Ok.