Conversation with a HDTV sales persons at Ultimate Electronics and Sears

161 Views 6 Replies 7 Participants Last post by del, Aug 29, 2001

cwood

Discussion Starter · Aug 28, 2001

I spent a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon shopping some local stores in Salt Lake. There may be hope!

A salesperson at Ultimate Electronics approached me in their HD display area. Aside from the usual (sets with contrast too high and out of the box) most looked respectable. They were using OTA from KBYU with the PBS demo loop along with DirecTV for some variety. He actually knew about scan rates, OTA, CBS-HD, etc. In comments about DISH Network, he said the company made a decision about two years ago to go with DirecTV (which he now personally regretted because of lack of HD) because they were threatened by DirecTV. According to him, DirecTV told them they would pull their products if they didn't drop DISH sales, etc. I found their prices fairly competitive...a 2001 Mits 16:9 46" with a five year extended warranty was being closed out at $1535.00.

Sears had the Hitachis on display but with no program material--all had the DISH loss of signal screen up! But their sign claiming they'll match any price was clearly displayed in the HDTV area. The sales person apologized for no programming stating some rewiring had caused loss of the DISH signal and it couldn't be fixed over the weekend.

Both salespersons said that in large screen displays, HD ready sets are now the preferred choice by most buyers,the buying public seems to be starting to catch on. Also, both said settop boxes are starting to move in steady quantities.

[This message has been edited by cwood (edited 08-28-2001).]

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Benji

· #2 · Aug 28, 2001

Quote:

Originally posted by carlosrojas-pdx:
cwood,

I think is just a matter of time for HDTV to be mainstream, I hear that it took over 20 year for color TV to become mainstream.

Regards,

Carlos

As someone who was around many years ago (when I was very, very, very young), I can tell you color tv took about 13 years to really get off the ground. The first RCAs came out in 1953 and all the networks went to full color around 1966 or 1967. Seems to me HDTV is moving at a far more rapid pace.

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carlosrojas-pdx

· #3 · Aug 29, 2001

cwood,

Thank you for the update, is good to hear that HDTV is moving to the front.

I think is just a matter of time for HDTV to be mainstream, I hear that it took over 20 year for color TV to become mainstream.

Regards,

Carlos

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Stop DFAST.

Boycott JVC!

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dagman

· #4 · Aug 29, 2001

Allow me to go off-topic a little . . .

Quote:

Originally posted by cwood:
he said the company made a decision about two years ago to go with DirecTV (which he now personally regretted because of lack of HD) because they were threatened by DirecTV. According to him, DirecTV told them they would pull their products if they didn't drop DISH sales, etc.

This is what Dish Network's antitrust lawsuit is about . . . anti-competitive behavior like this. It is not about whether DirecTV is a monopoly.

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JeffKocher

· #5 · Aug 29, 2001

DirecTv cannot "pull their products"- they are purchased from the manufactures or distributors of the equipment. What they can do is terminate the dealers ability to sell DirecTV programming. The dealer could still sell DirecTV receivers, but would not be price competitive without the commission from DirecTV.

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DanTheMan

· #6 · Aug 29, 2001

Quote:

Originally posted by cwood:
Sears had the Hitachis on display but with no program material--all had the DISH loss of signal screen up

Don't purchase those demos sets!!! The combination of the out of the box "torch mode" high contrast setting and the constant warning pop up window, will cause that image to be burned in by the time they get around to fixing the reception problem.

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-- Dan Farris

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del

· #7 · Aug 29, 2001

I agree. Never ever buy a demo tv.

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