[cougar-mountain]

Hi... I have a 42" Panny EDTV plasma (7 series)...love it. I'm about to plunk down for a second Panny, the 42PH9UK HDTV. I was looking before New Years and they looked really cheap and there was a 5-year warranty special too, that was to end 12/31/06. However, I wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger and something in my mind said "wait until after Christmas...for better prices".


Well after the holidays, I'm ready to buy and I go back online to find that the 5-year warranty offer is gone (expected that) and almost all the online shops have raised the price on the 42PH9UK by between $150-$265 (Wow!). Spoke to someone at VA and they said the manufacturer must have increased their price...(25%!!!). My understanding of the normal pricing trends in consumer electronics is things don't go up...they go down and/or the quality or power improve. So this explanation doesn't seem to wash. It's not like glass costs are going up, they're coming down.


I'm happy to report Panny seems to have just extended their 5-year warranty deal purchases through 3/31/07 (Great News) but the pricing has stayed high...like around $1300 where the 42PH9UK was $1000-$1100 before Christmas.


Does anyone know if this truly is a Panny price increase, or is this a typical seasonal spike by the retailers that I should wait out until they decide to go down again (like before Superbowl or Valentines Day or something?!?)


Appreciate anyone's viewpoint on this.


My nice little 2.1 system, (once I pull the trigger on the plasma)...

Pan 42PH9UK

NAD L53

ERA Design 4 Monitors (2)

Outlaw LFM-2 Sub

 

[Cleveland Plasma]

That is correct Panasonic plasma's this month went up in price. The 5 year warranty on commercial pieces has been extended. Samsung LCD's also went up in price.

 

[cougar-mountain]

Could they really have gone up almost 25%? Or are the retailers also taking more margin right now on top of an increase? I noticed the EDTV version of the 42" is roughly the same price...just a little higher than it was.


Do you think I would benefit by waiting a week or two to see if pricing gets more aggressive again?

 

[Cleveland Plasma]

There were also some back end rebates going on that were close to 25% on some models, so yes on some models there were big increases.

 

[spacemountain]

I waited till after the holidays too knowing that Panasonic would soon be cutting prices again making room for new models. I read somewhere the drop would likely happen within the first 4 weeks of the new year. I haven't watched the commercial series pricing much but I know for the consumer series the pricing has been all over the place; sometimes as much as $500 difference on the same model between vendors. I know they probably hate it too when they have to sell a panny 42" for $100 more than some Sylvania ED model they are pushing. It seems like the whole plasma panel market is due for a price correction. I think when Panasonic cut prices during the holidays and the other manufacturers didn't it created disparity in the market. Why buy a Magnavox or Polaroid plasma when you can get a Panasonic for the same or less. Panasonic wants to protect their rep as a premium brand; so they bump the price back up. I don't have much faith in Super Bowl sales as they end up being mostly financing deals, free delivery, and "buy any TV and get a free DVD player" kind of gimmicks. Some of us are just looking for rock bottom pricing. Sure they may blow out an Hitachi CRT RP or some Samsung/Akai DLP set for less than a Grand but I am not sure when we will see Pannys back at their Black Friday pricing again. Maybe in the weeks after the Super Bowl mixed in with all the "Open Box Buys" Panasonic may surprise us!

 

[cougar-mountain]

That would make a lot of sense. I guess I'll wait a little to see if Panasonic decides to push this model again with back-end incentives for the Superbowl buying season.


Thanks for your info Cleve.

 

[cougar-mountain]



Quote:
Originally Posted by spacemountain /forum/post/0


I waited till after the holidays too knowing that Panasonic would soon be cutting prices again making room for new models. I read somewhere the drop would likely happen within the first 4 weeks of the new year. I haven't watched the commercial series pricing much but I know for the consumer series the pricing has been all over the place; sometimes as much as $500 difference on the same model between vendors....!

Space: thanks for your reply. It's nice to know there are others in this same waiting game I'm in. I'm disappointed I didn't buy earlier...it's just a lot of money that I didn't expect would need to be shelled out by waiting longer. Hopefully Panny will feel a slowdown and decide to put together another incentive. They already extended the 5-year warranty deal to 3/31/07 so that's a big plus.


Good luck with your search for a great consumer model price! By the way have you seen some of the photos posted from CES? Looks like Panny is going all black with the consumer models for next season. I like black, but if you like silver, you better snap one up.

 

[sandgoose]

The best time to get a deal at a store on a big TV would probably be right before the super bowl.