Quick and Painless: TV question, WTB PST.

[adciv]

Well gee, stupid me didn't realize the monitor doesn't have speakers... so it's usefullness vs a TV seems to be completely lost.... *sigh*

See Here

[Deacon]

The only way that link will help is if the source (i.e. cable box or external tuner, assuming this is a computer monitor and not a TV) has a compatible output. It's more likely that she'd simply use an RCA-to-8th-inch-stereo converter as a line in to the computer and use the computer's speakers, which would work fine.

I guess that's really why we need to know what the real plan is, here, whether it's a TV she's looking for or a computer monitor. If it's a whole separate unit, then it needs to be an actual TV. If it can be tethered to the computer, then a nice big monitor might be better.

[adciv]

Ok then, Shegokigo, which is it?

[Deacon]

By the way, if you can bump it up to $600, you'll have far greater selection. See Amazon.com for instance. For my money, you're better off going with a 32" LCD HDTV than 26" to be honest, though either will be OK in the end. If you don't have the money right now to get something good, wait another month so you can save a little more and then get something you'll be happy with longer.

How big is your current monitor? Depending on how you anticipate using everything, I still might suggest opting for a TV tuner card instead, so you don't have to buy any new display or sound or anything like that. But it depends on how you're using it, as it will be another window on your desktop at that point (or full-screen), and if your current monitor doesn't have multiple inputs (especially component or maybe a VGA plus a DVI...HDMI anyone?) then you've got to figure out what it is you really want. A tuner cad would be much less expensive, though, regardless.

[Shegokigo]

First of all, I just want to say thank you for how patient and helpful ya'll have been with me so far.

Secondly, what I really want is just a TV that I can watch Cable on, Play PSP/Ps3 games on, watch Blu-Ray movies on.

It's gotta fit on my "tier'd" computer desk, so bigger than 26'' is pushing it. I might be able to swing $500+ but I really wanted that to be as a "last option".

Is 8ms really that bad for high defintion gaming? I found alot of good sized TVs

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productD ... merRatings
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productD ... merRatings

but they're 8ms so I wonder if they're worth it....

[Deacon]

Buy what you want.

You keep looking at places like Wal-Mart and Circuit City (especially the latter) and you're not generally going to get the best deal. Do yourself a favor and shop Newegg and Amazon and such. Usually no tax and inexpensive shipping.

[Arc Orion]

Costco is an excellent place to shop, too. They tend to be priced well, and they actually provide their own warranty service on most (if not all) of the televisions they sell.

[Deacon]

You're still paying sales tax, and on a low-dollar, low-failure-rate item such as this, I don't know that it's all that critical. Not saying it's not an option, but...

[Arc Orion]

Personally, I like to have a chance to look at something I'm going to be staring at for the next several years before I buy it. In fact, displays are one of very few items I refuse to buy online, for that reason. Then, of course, there's the usual benefit of being able to take it home immediately, and that it's much easier to return an item to the store in case something's wrong with it (MUCH, MUCH easier, in the case of Costco). Also, since when is $500 low? Hell, if it's that low, what's an extra $40 for tax?

But hey, I'm just pointing out an alternative here.

[Deacon]

I just bought a 61" LED 1080p DLP from Amazon.com and couldn't be happier. Yes, it's theoretically possible that you may need to send it back, but while I eyeballed sets in several different stores (for what little that's worth due to their notoriously inaccurate out-of-the-box configuration and the terrible and totally different lighting in stores), I bought online due to the price advantage and lack of tax. I first saw my purchase up and running out of its box was in my living room, the exact same way I would've first seen it if I'd bought it from Best Buy or any other local store.

[Arc Orion]

Wait, so you don't bother playing with the configuration of the displays in the stores? I do that with every display I look at in a store. For that matter, I do that with every display at the store I work at. Also, is the lighting where you keep your displays really so constant? Do you keep them in a dark room or something? Or do you adjust them two or three times a day for changes in daylight? Finally, would you stop harping on about the price being so much better online? I just checked several televisions off of Costco's site, and in almost all cases, they they met or beat the prices on Amazon.com. This isn't definitive, but I tried to pick a broad price spectrum from which to compare.

[Deacon]

Wait, so you don't bother playing with the configuration of the displays in the stores? I do that with every display I look at in a store.

Then you're wasting your time. Or you accept very wide tolerances. Each display is different for starters, but even more importantly the overhead fluorescent lighting and other variables help it mean very little. That doesn't mean that it's impossible to get a display on a store shelf looking decent, just that what you see does not necessarily equate to what you get at home for (at least) both the reasons I mentioned earlier, including the lighting thing but also the fact that you don't get to see in action the specific display you bought until you get it home, unbox it, and hook it all up.

Also, is the lighting where you keep your displays really so constant? Do you keep them in a dark room or something? Or do you adjust them two or three times a day for changes in daylight?

You can change the settings if you want, but it's fairly consistent in my living room. There's no wall of glass facing the west to catch the setting sun or something like that. Not that this has anything to do with anything. I don't recall saying anything about consistency of lighting.

Finally, would you stop harping on about the price being so much better online? I just checked several televisions off of Costco's site, and in almost all cases, they they met or beat the prices on Amazon.com.

I don't even know where to start with this except to point out that you're apparently the only person who seems to be under the impression that you can't consistently find better prices on the net than you can in your local retail store, even if that comparison is made against not a retail store but a paid-members-only wholesale club like Costco of which Shegokigo is very unlikely to be a member. And even then I will point out that even if you include the obscure displays that few people have heard of and even fewer carry, the model numbers rarely line up. I know this is partly on purpose so that Best Buy and Circuit City aren't literally competing directly against Costco and Sam's and such, but there can be significant differences in features and sometimes even basic operating specs between models--and more importantly quite a bit of price difference. By the way, just for reference, the TV I bought was $900 cheaper from Amazon.com than it was from Best Buy. The same size display but lower down the model line (fewer features and some minor downgrades) was available from Best Buy for nearly $500 less.

I don't know why it's so important to you to try to find some way to convince people on a shoestring budget that buying local is preferable, but it's rarely going to offer the best deal.

[Arc Orion]

Then you're wasting your time. Or you accept very wide tolerances. Each display is different for starters, but even more importantly the overhead fluorescent lighting and other variables help it mean very little. That doesn't mean that it's impossible to get a display on a store shelf looking decent, just that what you see does not necessarily equate to what you get at home for (at least) both the reasons I mentioned earlier, including the lighting thing but also the fact that you don't get to see in action the specific display you bought until you get it home, unbox it, and hook it all up.

Yes, but given that it is the same model and type of display, you still get a good idea of what it is going to look like when you get it home. I play with displays like this all the time, and for the most part, the same type and model display have very similar, if not identical, picture quality out of the box. Maybe you have different experiences, but then you're not here to show my these apparent "wide tolerances".

You can change the settings if you want, but it's fairly consistent in my living room. There's no wall of glass facing the west to catch the setting sun or something like that. Not that this has anything to do with anything. I don't recall saying anything about consistency of lighting.

You said that stores have different lighting from your home. My lighting is affected by the sun. Hell, I keep blinds and a curtain of sorts over my window just to ease how much light makes through and I still get a great deal of variance in lighting.

I don't even know where to start with this except to point out that you're apparently the only person who seems to be under the impression that you can't consistently find better prices on the net than you can in your local retail store,

Because you haven't proven otherwise. When I last got my displays, I consistently found the pricing between online stores and local stores to be pretty much the same. Sometimes the local store won out for price, sometimes the price online won out. I ended up getting my current display at Best Buy, and the price was about fifty bucks less than I could find it online. Perhaps your experience has been different, but I'm not basing my thoughts and opinions on yours. For that matter, I've at least shown some examples from my last post of what I'm talking about.

I'm wondering why you keep insisting that online prices are *always* better. Have prices on these things really been so bad for you, or have you just been assuming that online prices are better because they usually are?

[Deacon]

At this point it seems like you're arguing just to argue with me. By the way, if you can't find a better price online that at Best Buy, you're probably doing a poor job of looking or it's a very low-end display with little price variance anyway and Best Buy happens to be having a sale and a mail-in rebate or something and there's no sales tax where you live. And if you can't discern the difference between distant overhead fluorescent floodlighting and what you see in your living room then I understand how you think you can judge what your display in your living room will look like.

I'm wondering why you keep insisting that online prices are *always* better.

Always, consistently...same thing, right? And as someone who researched his purchase for over a year before making a buying decision, I know you're wrong because I doggedly price-shop major purchases.

[Arc Orion]

So, basically, rather than pointing out references or providing some evidence that you're right, you're right just because you say you are? Awesome.

Honestly, I don't know why you even brought this whole thing up. I pointed out that Costco was a good option. They have excellent prices. They provide good service. Am I wrong in that regard?