Dear DU HDTV experts: Thought on these three models at Costco?

[Gold Metal Flake]

This would be my first LCD TV purchase, and first HDTV purchase. I am looking at these three TVs that are available at Costco.

AOC Envision 42" 1080P

$799.99

Vizio VO42L 42" 1080P

$899.99

Scetpre X46BV 46" 1080p LCD

$999.99

The AOC is the cheapest, but the Vizio was rated higher by some on the internets and it does have the 4 HDMI inputs so it will work with more sources if I get more stuff in the future. The Sceptre is an older model, I think. It has a larger viewing area for not much more money but I fear it may be older tech.

Any knowledge/experience/comments/limericks?

[Gold Metal Flake]

1. OK, I fixed my links so they look like I intended.

I'll just kick this...

[Suich]

2. I have no idea but I'll give it a kick

'cuz I'm curious!

:kick:

[nytemare]

3. Of those the Vizio, but....

The prices on these TV's are coming down big time. You may find a Sony or Samsung on sale for that same price range, and the picture on those is much sharper. If you try a place like Circuit City, HHGregg, Best Buy, they will match competitors prices and give an additional 10%.

You may pay $100 dollars more for a Sony or Samsung, but the picture quality is worth it. Last week, HHGregg had a 20% off sale, and these happen fairly frequently. $200 bucks off a 1000 dollar tv means you can get much more TV than expected for the price.

I got a 32" Samsung for my condo that normally sells at 849 for 700 bucks(after tax) at HHGregg. If you are not in a hurry, research is your best friend.

This Sony 40" is $1099 at Circuit City. http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Sony-40-Bravia-V-Series-LCD-HDTV-KDL-40V3000/sem/rpsm/oid/186584/catOid/-12867/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

It is a buyers market for TV, especially with the digital dealy going on now.

You are sure to get a great TV for a bargain.

:hi:

[Gold Metal Flake]

4. I've been looking and the Vizio is a pretty good deal.

Also, Costco has a 90 day return policy and they extend the manufacturer's warranty to two years. That extension sounds good cuz I'm kinda scared of these things. That's a whole lotta electronomical gizmos in there. Lots to go wrong. I still have a Sony 20" TV that I bought in 1986. But, it would not hurt to shop around a bit, eh? I should look at that Sony maybe.

[nytemare]

8. I didn't know Costco did that.

I got an extended warranty through square trade, which is a good company, for 60 dollars. But, that extended warranty for free is good.

[Turbineguy]

6. Costco extends the warranty

for free.

[Deja Q]

14. I agree re: the Sony, but Circuit City sucks

Best Buy tends to honor their warranties a bit better...

[CherokeeDem]

19. Just bought a Sony 32"...

at Best Buy...it was $689...service was great, delivery on time and the quality of the pic is fantastic. The sales guy told me that the BestBuy brand wasn't worth the lower (almost $200) price because the quality of the pic wasn't there. He was right.

[Deja Q]

21. Best Buy branded sets are Insignia -- repackaged LG sets.

;)

Good price, $689...

[LeftyMom]

5. Second the suggestion to look into a more known brand.

My Dad got a 42" Samsung on sale for $999 a year and a half ago- I'm sure they go cheaper now.

The picture on that thing is fucking beautiful.

[Gold Metal Flake]

25. Certainly would not hurt to look further.

[helderheid]

7. we bought a 42" panasonic we LOVE from Costco

[Greyskye]

18. I like the Panasonic HDTV's a lot

I expanded on that some downthread. Good choice. :thumbsup:

[NJmaverick]

9. A read a consumers reports article a couple of years ago

they advised against buying your TV at CostCo. They said they had good prices but the products were subpar.

[brook]

10. I love my Vizio.

I bought it online from Vizio about 18 months ago after doing a good deal of research in forums around the net. Setup is easy even for a non-tech like me. Picture and sound are great.

They're in Garden Grove, California so the extra benefit is you get to talk to Customer Service and Tech
help right here in the good old USA! I ordered it on a Saturday and was watching it on Tuesday.

The model I got is small- noticed it's around a 100 bucks cheaper now but I have no regrets on that score either.

[ccjlld]

11. Check out the net for the Vizio "pop"

Our 1st LCD was a 37" Vizio LCD. It lasted about 28 months, then would drop power following an audible "pop". Now it won't power up at all. We started checking out stuff on the net and found a lot of complaints about this problem with Vizio LCD's. Contacted Vizio and found it would cost us over $400 to have the TV fixed. Since the price of LCD's has come down, we found it was cheaper to get a new one.

We got a JVC and like the picture, but the audio is a little funky. Unfortunately, we also have a 42" Vizio LCD and hold our breath every time we turn it on to see if it is going to start to "pop".

[Gold Metal Flake]

26. That is some scary stuff.

I'll search on it.

:scared:

[panhead1961]

12. This might help

999.99 Scetpre is worth the extra 200.00 for the long term. The TV should last 5 years and having the color and brightness better and the size (if it works for your space) is worth the 200.00



The contrast ratio is a measure of a display system, defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest color (black) that the system is capable of producing. A high contrast ratio is a desired aspect of any display, but with the various methods of measurement for a system or its part, remarkably different measured values can sometimes produce similar results.

Contrast ratio ratings provided by different manufacturers of display devices are not necessarily comparable to each other due to differences in method of measurement, operation, and unstated variables.<1> Manufacturers have traditionally favored measurement methods that isolate the device from the system, whereas other designers have more often taken the effect of the room into account. An ideal room would absorb all the light reflecting from a projection screen or emitted by a CRT, and the only light seen in the room would come from the display device. With such a room, the contrast ratio of the image would be the same as the device. Real rooms reflect some of the light back to the displayed image, lowering the contrast ratio seen in the image.


"Brightness" was formerly used as a synonym for the photometric term luminance and (incorrectly) for the radiometric term radiance. As defined by the US Federal Glossary of Telecommunication Terms (FS-1037C), "brightness" should now be used only for non-quantitative references to physiological sensations and perceptions of light.<1>

A given target luminance can elicit different perceptions of brightness in different contexts; see, for example, White's illusion and Wertheimer-Benary illusion.

In the RGB color space, brightness can be thought of as the arithmetic mean μ of the Red, Green, and Blue color coordinates (although some of the three components make the light seem brighter than others, which, again, may be compensated by some display systems automatically):<[br />

[Gold Metal Flake]

27. Where'd ya get that?

Off topic, what about that panhead? Got pix? Been to the DU Motorcycle group?

[Deja Q]

13. They're all crap. Go Sony, Samsung, or Sharp.

If you're a visual oriented person, the lack of shadow detail and blacks will drive you nuts. Or, conversely, washed out whites.

Vizio in particular is known for making boat anchors that die after ~18 months...

Regardless of brand, GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. Dead pixels, stuck pixels, or the cold cathode bulb going out make repairs expensive.

[Chovexani]

23. Amen.

I got a 42" Sharp Aquos the week before the Superbowl, from Best Buy. Best deal I could have found, and the thing is SWEET.

Best damn TV I've ever had.

[Gold Metal Flake]

28. I've read your HDTV posts before.

I will look at the big names. I've used a lot of pro vid equipment from Sony, but I have also had Sony consumer crap, so I don't default to the big names. But this thread is giving me the willies about the other brands.

[Greyskye]

15. Some thoughts from my experience

Here are a couple thoughts that may or may not apply for you.

1) My HDTV is for a home theater, and the sound is always going to go through my stereo system. Therefore, I had no reason to get built in speakers on the monitor - I'd never use them, and they take up extra space on the TV. If this is your case as well, look for this. Why pay for something that you aren't going to use?

2) I live in a little hollow in the foothills, and have absolutely terrible/nonexistent RF reception. Since I'm not attempting to pick up over-the-air signals, why pay for a TV tuner? If you rely on cable or satellite for your reception, this is the way to go. The inputs to these units are user swappable 'blades', so you can purchase extra HDMI or specialty blades if you need.

At this point, you're no longer looking for a 'TV'. You're looking for a 'monitor' or 'display'. Panasonic carries a professional line of these, and you've seen them many times. You know that big TV mounted on the front of Steven Colbert's desk on "The Colbert Report"? That's a Panasonic 50PH9UK 50" monitor - the same one that I have on my living room wall. :D Keith Olberman used to have a number of these exact same monitors in his old studio as well - I'm not sure if they are using in them in the new studio or not - I haven't been able to get a good enough look at the distinguishing features.

Here is a link to some of these professional monitors at the Panasonic web site. If you do some comparison shopping online, you can find some really amazing bargains on these units. http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelList?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&catGroupId=14624&surfCategory=Professional%20Series%20Plasma%20Displays

Good luck, and hope this helps.

Oh, on edit one final thought. Almost all HDTV's suffer from what is known as 'red push'. The factory calibration is set so that the TV's will look as good as possible under store florescent lights. This is a lot different from what you will most likely have at home. In addition, most manufactures turn the brightness up far too high in order to make their unit 'pop' out more (or at least as much) as the other brands. This can actually cause pixel burn-in, which is really annoying and distracting. This calls for at the minimum a user calibration with a calibration DVD and little colored filters that come with those kind of DVD's. Alternately, you can get a professional to come and do a cal for you, but that can get pricey. Panasonic does a good job (at least on their professional models that are not typically sold at Best Buy, etc) at having their factory settings pretty close to where they actually should be. Another reason to like the Panny. :)

Oh, just for grins, here is a terrible picture of my setup:

[Gold Metal Flake]

29. Thanks for the info.

I'll look into monitors. Availability Vs. the more popular sets with tuners and tiny speakers might limit the good deals. That's just one of the new questions I will add to my list and seek an answer for. I'm gonna take a vacation day Friday just for the hell of it and I'll wander around the valley looking at sets.

[Greyskye]

34. you're welcome...

...just be aware that most brick & mortar stores will not carry monitors or displays - the principle target market for these are restaurants, sports bars, etc, that have multiple TV's fed from a couple sources. They are readily available off the net, though. And remember, with these, you're paying for the picture, and not speakers and tuners. So you might end up paying the same price for a monitor as you would a TV, but you're going to have a higher quality picture with the monitor then the TV.

Final word - don't trust specifications, trust your eyes. Do side-by-side comparisons whenever you can.

Here is the on-line seller that I and some friends have used to great success. No sales tax if you live outside Georgia, as well. http://www.dtvcity.com/

Good luck!

[Tektonik]

16. Can you wait until Thanksgiving?

I bet there will be some great deals for Black Friday if you'd wait.

[Greyskye]

17. I'll never do Black Friday again.

I did the Black Friday dance a couple years ago to get a 'bargain' Toshiba 50" HDTV at Best Buy. :grr:

Real long story short, it was nothing but a nightmare, from getting up at 4am to wait in line, to a crappy TV that took them forever to fix. Here is a picture of what we had to deal with:


Space Invaders, anyone? :shrug:

After the Toshiba finally got fixed, I ended up donating it to a fund raiser auction at my the school my son goes to, and using it as a tax write-off. What a nightmare that whole mess was. The Panasonic we ended up with (and compared side-by-side at home) blew away the Toshiba in every respect: picture quality, features, lack of a 'buzzing' sound while operating, etc. I highly recommend doing lots of research and comparison. I learned the hard way that Black Friday 'bargains', often aren't.

[Gold Metal Flake]

30. Crowds make me want to beat up freepers.

I'd better not.

Saint Etienne, like the band?

[Bombero1956]

20. Bestbuy has a sale this week

A 32" Toshiba LCD TV and a Toshiba Laptop for $1,000. We purchased them last Sunday and saved the state sales tax.

Toshiba - Laptop with AMD Turion™ X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-70

Toshiba - 32" 720p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV with 2 HDMI inputs

BTW this is our 4th LCD TV. The first one we purchased at Costco died within 11 months. This was before Costco changed their return policy so after talking with the TV's customer service person who told us we had to ship the TV at our expense to California we checked with Costco who told us to return it for a full refund. With the refund money we purchased an Akai LCD TV with built in DVD player, that died after 13 months by that time Costco had changed their policy and with it being out of warranty we sucked it up and bought a Westinghouse which so far is holding up. We also wised up and purchased the extended service agreement.

[Gold Metal Flake]

31. AHHHH!

:scared:

I am very afraid of spending a bunch of dough on something that will break in months. I have a 1949 GE that we watched after our bedroom TV broke in the Northridge earthquake! Round tube.

[Missy Vixen]

22. We have the Vizio

We are VERY pleased with it. I can't wait to watch regular season football on it, the Super Bowl, etcetera. We looked at more expensive models, but this one had everything we wanted. We also know someone else who has one; he had us over to watch a baseball game before we bought the thing, and we were sold.

Seriously, go with the Vizio.

Julie

[Gold Metal Flake]

32. Folks on the AVS forum have good things to say.

This is gonna take more research, I can see.

[Pithlet]

24. We just bought that very same Vizio model from Costco last weekend.

So far we really like it. It was super easy to set up. The picture is great. I would recommend it. :thumbsup:

[Gold Metal Flake]

33. Thanks!

Did you buy it online or in a store?

[Pithlet]

35. From the store.

We'd done a bit of shopping around, first. We've been waiting on a big screen tv purchase for a few years. We stuck it out with our 8 year old Samsung 32 incher. I honestly didn't think the picture quality of some of the pricier models warranted the price differences. I think the picture on our Visio is beautiful, and just as good as some of the pricier ones. I'm not a TV geek, however.

I wish you luck in your tv shopping. Let us know what you decide to get :)

[Missy Vixen]

36. Pithlet, we did the same

I'd been wanting a big screen TV for awhile but would NOT pay the huuuuuuuge prices I saw even as much as a year ago. We watched someone else's Vizio before we bought our own.

I hope you'll enjoy yours! ;-)
Julie