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Sun 8 Jan, 2012 05:32 pm
It's a 60" Samsung 6240. It's a SmartTV, 120 mHz, We got a BluRay DVD player, plus the Shaw PVR and the Apple TV for web access (plus all the darn cables). The bill came to about $3600 but they brought it down to $2550 with all the discounts, then we added in 3 yrs of warranty, something we don't normally do, but with all this electro-technology, who knows? I've had a camera and phone go on the blink. It will arrive on the 11th and the install will be, not sure yet, but before the 16th. But we bit the bullet and got into the 21st century! I'm really excited about the PVR - replay a goal, replay what someone said if you missed it - love that idea. And we can download up to 500 mB of shows, not that I've ever done that, but...
We spent about 3.5 hours in two stores getting all the info on the tvs, then negotiating. I'm exhausted. The salesmen at both stores said that Sharp made the innards for Sony and this year they're not very good. Both recommended the Samsung (I really wanted the one with the dimming) or the LG.
Soz, have you decided yet?
@Mame,
Congrats on your HD and Blu-ray purchase. I prefer no extended warranty, but I'd be hard pressed to adise you against it. FWIW, you have a short period of time after purchase to cancel the extended warranty, BTW.
Are you aware that many bank credit cards typically protects and extends the warranty for you for free?
Depending on what size or model, samsung and sharp make panels for Sony.
Sorry to pick nits but the refresh rate is 120 Hz (not Mhz).
@Mame,
Congratulations! I hope you enjoy it.
@Mame,
I have not. I'm going towards Samsung but our budget is a lot lower I think. Although that's one of the big things we have to decide, whether we'll start by dipping our toes in cautiously and expect to get something bigger/ better not too far down the line, or whether we'll get a Nice TV now.
Yours sounds awesome.
E.G. is telling me he wants a 32" TV now, I'm not so sure. It's all theoretical to him, I'm going to take him to Target or Best Buy or something (just so he can actually see stuff) and go from there. (I think that when the different aspect ratio is factored in, the 32" would not be THAT different from our current cubey dino. Mostly just more going on to the right and left.)
@sozobe,
We pay more for stuff up here. I'd venture a guess to say the tv will be a lot cheaper in the US.
@Ceili,
CheapER, but still more expensive than our current budget which is in the $500 range. (I say it can go a bit higher, E.G. is rebelling at the moment. Yes,
I'm the one in the family who wants a big HD TV so I can enjoy football games, especially the Super Bowl. We don't put much store in gender roles 'round here.)
@Mame,
That’s not a bad price for a 60’ smart TV with a blue ray DVD player.
@sozobe,
FYI, 32-in display is an OK set for a bedroom due to the generally shorter viewing distance of 6-8 ft, generally an ideal distance.However, in the living room where you can watch from 10 ft or more ...re commended is a 40-46 inch display - far more useful and impactful than a 32 in display.
@Ceili,
Off the top of my head, I think roughly there's a 20% difference in HDTV prices from USA to CN. Sometimes the bigger CN population centres are a bit more competitive and are more likely to be closer to the wholesale prices. I know this to be true in Toronto.
Yeah, Mame and I live in Alberta. We don't get the deals very often.
@Ceili,
Off on a slight- tangent...(how rare). I researched than arranged a purchase for a friend who consulted me to help them buy a 46 in HDTV. I'm not aware about pricing and shipping issues if you are buying from USA firm if you're in CN about surcharges etc.
I heard a few Canadian friends talk about using Amazon for ordering HDTV.
Personally, I found a highly reputed mail order outfit called Vann's (6 stores in MT). Consumers review and love them as a top notch retailer. It's not something I would advise everyone to do as you can't be timid. HDTV displays are a little fragile..but not early as they were when they were glass CRTs.
Vann's store front is in Missoula, MT:
http://www.vanns.com/shop/?v_c=netelixir&ne_ppc_id=705&ne_key_id=6134665&ne_sadid=6016999727
The fact is that with the packaging which is far superior and gets through the delivery process with nary a scratch. My dear friend is now the proud owner of a 46 in HDTV..and had never stepped foot in a store front. Even the delivery people helped her uncrate/open up the set (not typical) to check for any problems. 100% satisfaction.
@Ragman,
Yes, that's my opinion as well, but need to convince the non-NFL watching husband of that.
Here's the thread Mame was referring to btw, I welcome your input there:
http://able2know.org/topic/182678-1
@sozobe,
Rather than add redundancy, there's also quite a bit of info (on purchasing , brands/models and proper viewing distance) in Mame's earlier thread:
http://able2know.org/topic/181238-1
@sozobe,
Closed captioning should be easier to read on a bigger screen.
@sozobe,
FWIW, here's an excellent well-written HDTV buying guide from C|Net:
http://reviews.cnet.com/tv-buying-guide/
Here's an excerpt (from the above) site about viewing distance and sizing up your HDTV display needs:
Size up your screen
TVs come in sizes from 5 inches to more than 100 inches diagonal; however, we recommend a size of at least 32 inches for a bedroom TV and at least 40 inches for a living room or main TV. If you're replacing an existing TV set, those sizes might seem too big--tube televisions had a maximum size of 36 inches--but trust us, a relatively big HDTV is a wonderful thing. In fact, more than any other "feature" we discuss on the next few pages, we consider stepping up in TV screen size the best use of your money. One of the biggest post-TV-purchase complaints we heard is from people who didn't, well, go big enough.
Screen size versus your room
How big can you go? Your upper limit will be determined by your budget, taste, and by the space where you want to put the TV. If you want to fit an existing entertainment center, make sure you have at least an inch on the sides and top of the TV cavity to allow for ventilation, then shoot for a TV that can fill that space without being too big (usually too wide). HDTV width is generally 1 inch to 3 inches less than the screen size, so a 46-inch TV is typically 44 inches wide, whereas a 65-inch TV is 63 inches wide.
Can you go too big? Definitely. Depending on your decor, you might not want the TV to "dominate the room" too much. If that's a concern, it might be worthwhile to tape together a cardboard panel that's the same size as the TV you're considering and place it where you want to locate the TV so you can get an idea of its size.
Seating distance is also a factor, although from a picture quality perspective with high-definition sources, you can sit pretty close to the screen and still not see any loss in quality. In a perfect videophile world, you'd want to sit no closer than 1.5 times the screen's diagonal measurement, and no farther than twice that measurement to the TV. For example, for a 50-inch TV, you'd sit between 75 and 100 inches (6.25 and 8.3 feet) from the screen. Many people are more comfortable sitting farther back than that, but of course the farther away you sit from a TV, the less immersive feeling it provides.
Screen size versus your wallet
This table lists the average minimum price for a TV given its screen size, our estimated "typical" price for a mainstream model in that size, and, just to keep things interesting, the maximum price for that size; as you can imagine, the sky's the limit for high-end HDTVs.
Screen size 32 inches 37 inches 40, 42 inches 46 inches 50, 52 inches 54, 55 inches 58, 60 inches
Minimum $350 $450 $500 $600 $700 $1,300 $1,000
Typical $450 $550 $700 $1,000 $1,200 $1,800 $2,000
Maximum $1,000 $1,000 $1,700 $5,000 $4,000 $6,300 $2,800
Editors' note: This table's information is based on BestBuy.com's published prices as of July 2010.
At this point you can go to your favorite Web site, search for HDTVs, sort your chosen screen size by "lowest price," buy it, and perhaps be perfectly happy with your entry-level TV. It might lack the features, style, and picture quality of more-expensive models, but it will display high-definition TV channels and HD content like Blu-ray and video games with plenty of detail, and many people are perfectly happy with that. As we explain in HDTV 101, any high-definition television is an improvement in most areas compared with standard-resolution televisions.
@Ragman,
Thanks, never saw that one.
@sozobe,
Soz, the price diff between the 46" and 60" is HUGE, so if you want a 44 - 42 - 46" you'll be paying $700 or less CDN. Take EG for a look. They're cheaper in the States.
@Mame,
Yeah, the 42" seems to be in the $700 range here. That's currently $200 over E.G.'s budget, definitely will take him for a look and go from there.
He's kind of stubborn about NOT wanting the latest bright shiny object. He refuses to get a cell phone, we don't have a Wii, we have this ancient little TV, and we have an iPod only because it came free with our iMac -- he actually wanted to just turn it down or give it away! The one exception is computers -- his work laptop + monitor, and our home desktop computer. They're nice, though still not WHOA fancy, just good quality and functional.
Still debating which TV I should buy for the den once we move to CA. I've narrowed it down to 2 Vizio M-Series TVs. Both are LED-backlit with local dimming and have internet apps. The 47" is "120Hz" and not 3D-capable for $648. The 50" is "240Hz" and 3D-capable for $788. Anyone who has researched LCD TVs knows that 120Hz vs 240Hz is a pointless argument because it's all artificial with mixed quality results. I'm not a huge fan of 3D movies either. So, is it worth $140 for 3 more inches? (Loaded question, hehe.)
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