New TV Advice Needed

[lurker]

Yeah, Abt was great -- they let us be spazzes and return our tv twice with free delivery each time and price matching. (We got a Sony, then a Samsung, then decided the Sony was better.)

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by stevew

I would hope all of you guys are ignoring the extended warranty pitches people are feeding you. IF you can't live without extra coverage, look into a Mack warranty.

I'm about to pull the trigger on the just released V10 model from Panasonic. Can you expand on this thought? Are the extended warranties really not worth it, and what is a Mack warranty?

[stevew]

Basically, if I sell a 350 dollar 3 year warranty on a 1200 dollar plasma, our local store takes 175 dollars as profit. Then I get paid 32 bucks out of that. The other 175 gets kicked up into the Sears service, and approximately 90% of that is profit. Literally 3/4ths of any kind of staff meeting will be about us not selling enough warranties, us needing to use more tools to sell warranties, us walking customers who don't want to buy warranties.

So, it's essentially a sucker bet, IMO. I guess if your stuff does break outside of warranty it sucks, but I think the odds are going to be much more in your favor that it will not.

Mack's a third party extended warranty company that's been in buisiness forever. I don't believe the costs of their packages are that expensive, in comparison to a store's cost.

Dola, if you're going that high end, I'd at least look into an 850 plasma from Samsung, or one of their LED's too.
The b850 plasma is one of the best one's i've seen, and it's like an inch thick.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by stevew

Basically, if I sell a 350 dollar 3 year warranty on a 1200 dollar plasma, our local store takes 175 dollars as profit. Then I get paid 32 bucks out of that. The other 175 gets kicked up into the Sears service, and approximately 90% of that is profit. Literally 3/4ths of any kind of staff meeting will be about us not selling enough warranties, us needing to use more tools to sell warranties, us walking customers who don't want to buy warranties.

So, it's essentially a sucker bet, IMO. I guess if your stuff does break outside of warranty it sucks, but I think the odds are going to be much more in your favor that it will not.

Mack's a third party extended warranty company that's been in buisiness forever. I don't believe the costs of their packages are that expensive, in comparison to a store's cost.

Good info as always, thanks Steve.

Looks like I'll be ordering the new Panasonic V10 50" shortly...

[stevew]

dola, i edited above. It might be worth you're while to check out the 850 plasma from samsung, it's pretty sweet.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by stevew

dola, i edited above. It might be worth you're while to check out the 850 plasma from samsung, it's pretty sweet.

I did a bunch of research online, and these Panasonics are consistently rating just behind the discontinued Pioneer plasmas in terms of picture quality. Better yet, the THX mode on this line appears to be damn close out of the box to what you can get with professional ISF calibration.

[fantom1979]

I used to work for CompUSA and Circuit City and I completely agree with Stevew. If I sold a warranty, at least half of it was profit. I usually got around a 10% commission (spiff) for selling it. EVERY sales meeting was about extended warranties (or Technical Assurance Plan as CompUSA called it, or Extended Service Plan as Circuit City called it).

I highly recommend to everyone that I know that you pass on the extended warranty. More times than not, you save money by passing.

[dawgfan]

Update:

I ordered the Panasonic V10 a week ago via Vann's, got it Wednesday, watched my first Blu Ray movie last...

Ho
Ly
Shit

Simply stunning picture with 1080p source material, and the 24p playback works without flicker/flashing (unlike the rest of Panasonic's current line). Sports look very good, especially the HD 1080i channels. The 360 games of course look stunning.

Color me a happy boy!

[k0ruptr]

The Plasma vs LCD thing is all user preference, I prefer LCD just for the lower electric bill and less heat in the room. Plasma has a better picture/color generally I'd say though

[Izulde]

I've never heard of a Mack warranty before, but I will say that I almost always get the extended warranty on expensive electronic items.

The one time I didn't on a PS2, back when they were still high-priced, I got burned on having to get a new one.

And considering my tendency to have problems with electronics, especially computers, a lot of times the extended warranties have paid for themselves. Plus, the free batteries you get with a Best Buy extended warranty on computers and cameras usually make it worthwhile just for that alone, I think.

[stevew]

Never worth it. Its nothing but a money grab.

[k0ruptr]

Wouldn't it be worth it if it broke within the extended warranty period and they covered it? or would it still not be worth it? lmao

[stevew]

I'm just saying if its 90 percent profit for the offering company it is highly stacked against the customer.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by stevew

I'm just saying if its 90 percent profit for the offering company it is highly stacked against the customer.

I read a study once where 65% of the cost of an extended warranty is marketing and 32% was compensation.....only3% was in repairing products....so you lose 97% of the time

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by stevew

I'm just saying if its 90 percent profit for the offering company it is highly stacked against the customer.

And you know, that's fine. I'd rather have the extra security and if something -does- break, like what happens sometimes, one repair in the extended warranty period goes a long way to paying not only for that warranty, but other extended warranties.

I know a lot of people say you shouldn't get the extended warranties, but as far as I'm concerned, they're generally worth it.

[stevew]

Maybe I'm just biased today. I had to listen to a conference call this morning and them try to spin how a 299 warranty on a 719 dollar TV was good value for the customer.

If its less than 15 percent maybe. But I'm not inclined to buy anything that's not a swap out warranty. Those type you can exploit as a consumer. For instance you can basically get a new Ipod every new generation if you buy the 2 year replacement for 15 percent extra.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by stevew

Maybe I'm just biased today. I had to listen to a conference call this morning and them try to spin how a 299 warranty on a 719 dollar TV was good value for the customer.

If its less than 15 percent maybe. But I'm not inclined to buy anything that's not a swap out warranty. Those type you can exploit as a consumer. For instance you can basically get a new Ipod every new generation if you buy the 2 year replacement for 15 percent extra.

How many years is the 299 warranty?

[k0ruptr]

I'm on the extended warranty side as well, as a consumer and as a seller. working for wal-mart our extended warranties IMO are relatively cheap. for a 600 dollar tv its 60 bucks for another 2 years of warranty. If I'm making a purchase on something expensive like a tv, another 10% of the price is much worth it for 2 more years of warranty.

[stevew]

Bulb DLP TVs if you are a heavy watcher were generally worth it. IF it was unlimited replacement.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Izulde

How many years is the 299 warranty?

3 years from purchase

[stevew]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

I'm on the extended warranty side as well, as a consumer and as a seller. working for wal-mart our extended warranties IMO are relatively cheap. for a 600 dollar tv its 60 bucks for another 2 years of warranty. If I'm making a purchase on something expensive like a tv, another 10% of the price is much worth it for 2 more years of warranty.

That's not stupid expensive. I have to sell similar coverage for 2 to 5 times that amount.

[Kodos]

Today's TVs are pretty reliable. No need for the extended warranties.

[RainMaker]

Well we won a Sony Bravia 46 inch TV. It's a KDL-46S4100. From what I've been reading, the S-Series isn't as good as the other TV's they offer.

So my question is whether I should keep this or sell it and go with something better? The only major difference I saw in the specs was that this I believe is 60hz while better ones are 120hz. Now I'm thinking that this set is probably good enough for me to use. It's way better than what I've been watching (an old HD rear projection that I'm guessing is 7-8 years old). I would love a 52', but it seems like prices jump a ton when going from 46 to 52.

Is there anything negative I should know about this TV before busting it open and setting it up? If not, my next step is a new surround sound system that is needed before football season.

[stevew]

Exchange if possible.

That thing was a borderline stinker(read Wal Mart type TV).

I'd sell it, depending on what you got for it, and move to like a 46" V5100(09 model with 120hz), or to a Samsung 46b550(60hz) or 46b650(120hz)

Obviously it's not bad for free. Lower contrast ratio than most Sony TV's, and they put in a crappy graphics engine.

But if you don't mind kicking in 5-700 I think you can do a lot better.

[RainMaker]

I don't mind kicking in 5-700 dollars although I don't know if I'll be able to sell this one for more than $900 on Craigslist. I guess I'm just not sure if the difference really warrants the cost. I do watch TV a bunch, but I'm coming from an 8 year old rear projection HDTV. I'm just assuming that this one (despite being low end) would blow that out of the water.

My other thought is that if this is a serviceable TV, I can use it for the next couple years and thenupgrade down the line to one of the new LED TVs that should be coming down in price.

Is it really that bad of a TV?

[stevew]

If you have a lot of HD content it will be fine. If you saw it in a store near a lot of other options I doubt you'd buy it.

The LED stuff will probably come way down. The list prices are like 1800 with a retail of 2999.

It was just a TV that I didn't feel comfortable recommending to you if you were shopping where I work.

[Warhammer]

Let me ask this. For those of you with plasmas, do you worry about game consoles being played on your plasma? I ask due to burn in concerns, etc.

[stevew]

Panasonic-no issues with any of my friends anyways.

The only plasma I ever saw burn in was a beater vizio. I only ever sold that one cause it paid me a ton

It is basically a non issue.

[stevew]

Dola
True burn in is very hard to achieve. Image retention that goes away over time is possible I suppose.

[JS19]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Let me ask this. For those of you with plasmas, do you worry about game consoles being played on your plasma? I ask due to burn in concerns, etc.

I haven't had a problem. Hope I didn't just jinx myself. I know nothing about the issue, so I just role with it. Not sure how effective this is, but there is screen burn protection option.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Let me ask this. For those of you with plasmas, do you worry about game consoles being played on your plasma? I ask due to burn in concerns, etc.

I wouldn't leave a menu screen or any screen with a static image up on your display indefinitely, but for most games a plasma should be fine. Many of them come with image retention negating features - for example, the Panasonic I bought has a feature where the pixels of the screen can orbit every minute (something you won't even notice happening).

Some people suggest that certain measures be taken with plasmas over their first 100 hours or so of use to minimize image retention potential, but if you listen to Panasonic reps they'll tell you they put their displays through 100 hours of "breaking in" in the factories before they ever get to your house.

I think so long as you don't abuse your plasma display and it's a pretty good make (Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony) you should be OK for gaming.

[stevew]

Unless it was a system foul up, Sears is running the 42 X1 720 plasma nex week for 599. It is a panasonic plasma. If you want to go HD and not spend a ton this would be a good purchase. Or ideal for a bedroom or secondary set. They do dick around with quantities so I can't control that. I should know if it is legit on Sunday. Would be perfect if you are tired of watching SD at your parents house with fathers day soon.

[RainMaker]

Have a question for some of you TV gurus. I kept the TV set I won (Sony S4100) and hooked it up and noticed that I'm getting these light spots when the screen is black. It's tough to explain. It isn't a small pixel being out, but instead a faint looking smudge that is in several parts of the screen. It is mostly along the sides and top of the screen and there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to its placement. I don't notice any problems when I'm watching TV, but when a scene is black or credits come up, it is noticeable. Now that I've seen it, I'm looking for it and it's driving me a little crazy.

So first off, does anyone know what this is? I've read stuff about light spots and potentially an issue with the light engine. Since it's rather faint I'm hoping it might be something simple with my settings or a cheap fix.

My other question is in regards to warrantines. Since this was a prize, I don't have a receipt for it. I did register the TV, but I doubt they give a crap about that. I'm assuming they probably won't cover me under the 1 year warranty.

So I've essentially tasted the good life with a much better TV and can't go back. I also don't want a broken TV in my living room considering I use it a lot. Since the TV isn't real expensive on the market, paying $600 or whatever to fix a light engine doesn't make much sense. If it was smaller I'd just delegate it to a bedroom or my office, but at 46 inches it's just not a good fit. So I'm in a shitty spot right now and hoping it's either an easy fix or Sony doesn't give a shit about receipts for warranties.

Anyone have any advice here? You would be a savior.

[dawgfan]

This is an LCD TV, right? I wonder if those light spots are possibly damage from someone handling the screen directly - I know at work some of our LCD monitors have been damaged when someone grabbed the screen with a thumb or finger when trying to pick them up and move them. Although in those cases, usually the damaged area is dark...

[stevew]

Is it just the tv source, or is it when you watch a DVD also

[gstelmack]

It sounds like bleed-through which can be a common problem with cheaper LCD panels. Read monitor reviews and people will regularly talk about whether or not a monitor has this issue.

[gstelmack]

You can try turning down the brightness/backlighting setting (they are often the same thing on LCDs). That will dim the bulbs which may make it less noticable.

[RainMaker]

It's not the TV source since it does it when nothing is connected and the monitor is just on. The backlight setting does reduce it a little bit, but not much.

Is the bleed-through something that is fixed on warranty or is it just something you have to live with on crappy TVs?

[stevew]

I'd take some photo's of the problem(higher res, not camera phone), and post them on avsforum. They might be able to better help.

It may just be a problem you have to live with.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by stevew

I'd take some photo's of the problem(higher res, not camera phone), and post them on avsforum. They might be able to better help.

It may just be a problem you have to live with.

I'll try doing that. When I turn the blacklight to minimum, it almost completely goes away. I wonder if it's just the backlight that's doing it and I'm just not used to a backlight on a TV. I am coming from a 10 year old rear projection HDTV so this is a little foreign.

[SteveMax58]

Not my specific field of expertise, but sounds like the display panel (or screen) itself. May not be a monumental pricetag to replace, but likely more than free. Not sure but I'd also suggest avsforum for that kind of question.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Is the bleed-through something that is fixed on warranty or is it just something you have to live with on crappy TVs?

The latter. It's a big indicator of the quality of the panel. See Backlight Bleeding: An LCD Problem, and you can search on the term to find more info.

[stevew]

A panel issue is likely to be very expensive.

See what the experts say. And get in touch with Sony.

This was not a very good model so an issue with bleeding would not be shocking. Like I said earlier, they built it exclusively for price point to sell at wal Mart.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

The latter. It's a big indicator of the quality of the panel. See Backlight Bleeding: An LCD Problem, and you can search on the term to find more info.

That is exactly the problem I have. It's not horrible but something that did catch my eye. I know the TV isn't a good one but for free, it destroys my old one. I've been saving up to move to a larger condo or buy a 3-flat to rent and it just doesn't make financial sense at the moment to sell it and buy a more expensive one.

I will hit up Sony though and see if they can do anything to fix it. It's under warranty I guess and the worst thing they can say is no.

Thank you all for your help on this.

[CleBrownsfan]

Anybody see any good 4th of July sales? I'm possibly in search mode for a new TV for the basement.

[stevew]

There are some sick deals tomorrow from 6 to 9 at Sears

Sammy LCD and Panny Plasmas

Only good deals with Sears card.

A 55 LED is 2299(or possibly its 2399 bad memory)minus 10% for event. Then minus 10 for Sears card. Then minus 5% for event
So like out the door for under 1900 plus tax(this is the 6000)

There's more than that if you were looking at a model I can get you a price tomorrow morning

[stevew]

The 40 lED and a 50S plasma from panny are both roughly a grand after tax

[stevew]

I just lost a post. Anyways really good deals on Panny/Sammy tomorrow 6 to 9 at sears. Have to use A Sears card but potential for 2 10percent deductions plus a 5%. Off really good sales prices.

[Scarecrow]

If anyone's interested in a mid-sized (32") LCD for $299.99 today....

http://www.woot.com/

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

If anyone's interested in a mid-sized (32") LCD for $299.99 today....

http://www.woot.com/

Nice, been thinking of getting a cheap one for my office.