50" Plasma Monitor at Costco B&M for $1969

[kmmatney]

Didn;t see this listed at all, but I thought it was a great deal. Costco has a 50" Plasma HDTV (no tuner) for sale at the store for $1969 at Costco. I bought it on Thursday, set it up in 15 minutes, and its pretty amazing. Awesome picture quality. I have another Panasonic HDTV at home, but the new plasma blows it away. The first thing that is most striking about the display are the colors - 6,144 shades of gray in 231 Billion colors. The specs are at:

http://www.vinc.com/site/products/product_p50hdm.html

In particular, I have a very crappy cable signal, but the monitor does a good job of getting the best picture out of it. The old SONY TV it replaced already had a broken tuner, so I was previously using my VCR as a tuner, and I'm going to keep using that until Denver gets a few more OTA HDTV channels, and then I'll get a High Def tuner.

I wish it has more S-video/composite inputs, but overall I'm very happy with it. The built-in speakers are very good as well (although I have it hooked up to better speakers.

Overall, a great price and you can't beat the warranty, and no annoying salesman trying to push the warranty on you. If you already use a cable box, then you don't need a tuner, and you'd be good to go with this unit.

I was previously thinking of getting a 42" LCD TV, but it was too hard to pass up a 50" plasma at the same price. IMO, plasmas look a little better than LCDs, although some LCDs have much higher pixel resolution.

 

[Passions]

Vizio brand. Yuck!

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: Passions
Vizio brand. Yuck!

Baseless
couple years back...may be.
Costco would not carry crappy products that may end up biting it in the return.

 

[gi0rgi0]

My parents have bought this tv and it blows the previous dlb they had away. Beautiful picture. Now i want one since they gave me the dlp, hehe.

 

[VaG]

Originally posted by: Passions
Vizio brand. Yuck!

People who don't do their research before they spew. Ignorant! The price, image quality, and Costco's return policy makes this a no brainer for anybody looking at plasma's and maybe quite a few not looking at them. Check the thread at FW with over 17286 views and 171 replies and the worst comment you will get is some fan noise in the older production dates that they will come out to your house and replace for free. Other than that there is nothing but praise. When you are through there head over to AVS then come back with a informed opinion.

 

[BigDaddyD]

what is the return policy from costco?

 

[captains]

Originally posted by: BigDaddyD
what is the return policy from costco?

life time i believe.... one of these days i gotta become a member

 

[TicoAz]

Originally posted by: BigDaddyD
what is the return policy from costco?

Yup, 100% Lifetime satisfaction guarantee on everything except Computers which is 6 months.

 

[matrix5646]

Since everyone kept telling me amazing return policy at COSTCO i dumped my sams when it expired and switched. And I asked about their return policy...and she said i can return anything in a reasonable time frame. And I asked well if I bought a 2000 TV and after 3 years it broke could i return it if i had all the original boxing? She said yes. She then said if i bought a 1000$ tv and after 5 years tried to return it....they might find that unreasonable since you probably get your use out of it.... at least that's the response i got... and when you return it they don't get you a new tv they actuallyg ive yout he original amount you paid credited ... so its pretty nice. Ive never returned anything yet but i feel safe buying electonics from them...just a bitch to keep all the packaging around.

 

[kmmatney]

Originally posted by: gi0rgi0
My parents have bought this tv and it blows the previous dlb they had away. Beautiful picture. Now i want one since they gave me the dlp, hehe.

I looked at a lot of TVs before I bought this one, and this one has an extremely good picture. What really jumps out is the crispness and the vivid colors. I originally was going to get a 42" LCD with 1080p resolution, but in the end having a bigger screen and better picture quality (very good blacks) made me switch over to plasma. Its only a matter of time before LCD TVs get this big and this inexpensive, but I didn't want to wait another year or so.

As I said in the initial post, the cable signal to my house is very bad, and not correctable (Comcast says I have to get digital cable if I want a better picture). I put a radio shack amplifier in-line where the cable signal enters the house, and it made a big improvement.

I don't notice the fans at all - I have to put my ear right up to them to hear them. My computer across the room is a lot louder. The monitor doesn't get all that hot, and the air coming out of the fans cool. A few people have complained about the remote. Its not the best remote I've ever used, but it's not bad at all. It's layout is exactly the same as the remote for my other Panasonic HDTV. It very easy to access the main remote buttons that I use - the Input and Screen Ratio buttons. Between the screen ratio and Zoom buttons, I've been able to get an ideal use of the screen for everything I've thrown at it.

It was a weird buying experience for me. I just plopped the 50" plasma TV box onto a flat cart, and went through the checkout line like I was buying sny other item, and was out of there in 10 minutes. No hassles, or the dreaded warranty sales pitch. The box fit in our grand caravan, but I had to go through the side door (seats were out).

Although it has a RGB analog computer connection instead of DVI, the picture is great with a computer hooked up. No problems reading icons or web pages in windows. I hooked up my laptop and did an hours worth of work using the plasma as my display. It was quite nice on the eyes (I have Keratoconus - not very good eyes).

 

[gi0rgi0]

I noticed a buzzing sound the other day when i was over there. Could that be the fan making the noie ? I heard they fix it for free though so if it is thats not that big a deal.

 

[IGBT]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
Didn;t see this listed at all, but I thought it was a great deal. Costco has a 50" Plasma HDTV (no tuner) for sale at the store for $1969 at Costco. I bought it on Thursday, set it up in 15 minutes, and its pretty amazing. Awesome picture quality. I have another Panasonic HDTV at home, but the new plasma blows it away. The first thing that is most striking about the display are the colors - 6,144 shades of gray in 231 Billion colors. The specs are at:

http://www.vinc.com/site/products/product_p50hdm.html

In particular, I have a very crappy cable signal, but the monitor does a good job of getting the best picture out of it. The old SONY TV it replaced already had a broken tuner, so I was previously using my VCR as a tuner, and I'm going to keep using that until Denver gets a few more OTA HDTV channels, and then I'll get a High Def tuner.

I wish it has more S-video/composite inputs, but overall I'm very happy with it. The built-in speakers are very good as well (although I have it hooked up to better speakers.

Overall, a great price and you can't beat the warranty, and no annoying salesman trying to push the warranty on you. If you already use a cable box, then you don't need a tuner, and you'd be good to go with this unit.

I was previously thinking of getting a 42" LCD TV, but it was too hard to pass up a 50" plasma at the same price. IMO, plasmas look a little better than LCDs, although some LCDs have much higher pixel resolution.

..amazing how competitive plasma is these days. For the same money the contrast is so much better in the plasma.

 

[Zendeath]

Seems like I read something in the AVS forums about an inherent fan noise issue with this display. That was several months ago, so maybe they corrected the problem. Most of what I have read regarding the PQ is very good.

 

[bdubya]

Most plasmas buzz slightly during very bright scenes. I've never really noticed it. I purchased one of these a couple of weeks ago at Sam's club (who have matched Costco's return policy). I only hear the fans if the volume is muted. My XBOX 360 is 10 times louder. Great monitor. Only thing lacking is an integrated ATSC tuner and cable card capability. Sounds like cable cards standards are about to change, so that's no big deal, but an over the air tuner would have been nice to take advantage of PIP.

 

[Yo2]

saw it next to a pillips and a panansonic @ $2999 and 2499 and honestly could not see a difference in daylight conditions. considering this display in my HT room with little daylight it, and the faroujda converter, this must be the best deal :0

 

[gi0rgi0]

Originally posted by: bdubya
Most plasmas buzz slightly during very bright scenes. I've never really noticed it. I purchased one of these a couple of weeks ago at Sam's club (who have matched Costco's return policy). I only hear the fans if the volume is muted. My XBOX 360 is 10 times louder. Great monitor. Only thing lacking is an integrated ATSC tuner and cable card capability. Sounds like cable cards standards are about to change, so that's no big deal, but an over the air tuner would have been nice to take advantage of PIP.

Thats probably it then. Yeah, when the sound is up i cant hear it either. And yeah the 360 is pretty damn loud, hehe.

 

[kmmatney]

I can only hear the fans if I out my head over the top of the display and turn down the sound. It is a complete non-factor. I don't hear any sort of hum at all from the plasma display itself. I looked at the $2499 Philips plasma as well, but it didn't seem to be any better, except for the integrated tuner. I figured I'd be better off spending the $500 saved on other things - such as the Toshiba upconverting DVD player they have on sale this week.

 

[leigh6]

I have to buy something like this for an office conference room. I know nothing.

1. What does not having an integrated tuner mean?
2. I assume this can be used as a computer monitor also?

Thanks, Leigh

 

[asianboi2k]

costco is a great place to buy heavy duty electronics that you might spend anything over $200 if it breaks they replace it. Other than computers equipment most of my electronic come from them. They replaced our 1.5 year old fridge which broke down suddenly without any questions.

If I were buying a TV or projector it would be from them because of their return policy as compared to sears who makes you buy the tv at a prorated price along with a $400+ warrenty which only lasts 2-3 years depending on how much you pay.

 

[Todd33]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
although some LCDs have much higher pixel resolution.

1366 x 768 vs 1920x1080, ya kind of a large gap. Depends on your use, if you are primarily watching DVDs then enjoy. If you need a PC monitor for games, HD consoles and HD-DVD/Blu-ray I think the 1080P LCD are a better deal. I just ordered the 42" 1080P Westinghouse for $2k.

 

[kmmatney]

Yeah, I went back and forth several times between a 42" 1080p LCD or a 50" plasma. They both have their advantages. However since my use was mainly as part of a theater system, I thought the larger screen was better than the higher resolution. In the long run, I think LCDs will eventually win the battle over plasmas, but I think its still a few years away.

One thing that surpised me about the plasma is how good it is when used as a computer monitor. 1366 x 768 is not too bad, about the same resolution as the 15.4" WS 1280 x 800 laptop I have hooked up to it right now, with the same crisp text (but much better colors). So resolution is not at all a limiting factor for casual computer usage or mainstream gaming.

Where the 1080p resolution will be great is when blu-ray and HD-DVD movies hit mainstream. Hopefully by the time blu-ray/HD-DVD movies are the norm, you'll be able to get 50" LCD TVs.

 

[kmmatney]

Originally posted by: leigh6
I have to buy something like this for an office conference room. I know nothing.

1. What does not having an integrated tuner mean?
2. I assume this can be used as a computer monitor also?

Thanks, Leigh

1) Integrated tuner means you can plug in your Co-axial cable line or a Rabbit-ear antenna, and recevied TV signals. If it has an HDTV tuner, then you can received high defination TV signals, if you live close to a transmitter. I live near Denver, where environmentalists are keeping any HDTV towers from being built, and HDTV signals are weak. I'm pretty sure you do not need a tuner for use in a conference room.

2) Yes, it can be used as a computer monitor, at 1366 x 768 resolution. It has a standard RGB 15-pin computer video connection, and does the "auto-scan" thing to get the pictured centered on the screen, although I also had to set my video driver to use "Fix Aspect Ratio Scaling" to get the best results. This display lacks is a DVI input, but the aut-center feature works well enough. If the resolution was any higher, then you'd want to get a display with a DVI connection. This monitor does have 2 HDMI inputs, so when HDMI video cards are available, you'll be able to use that.

 

[wmansfield]

You could also use a DVI to HDMI cable to connect to the computer for a pure digital picture.

 

[ajtyeh]

whats difference of 1080i and 1080p

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: matrix5646
Since everyone kept telling me amazing return policy at COSTCO i dumped my sams when it expired and switched. And I asked about their return policy...and she said i can return anything in a reasonable time frame. And I asked well if I bought a 2000 TV and after 3 years it broke could i return it if i had all the original boxing? She said yes. She then said if i bought a 1000$ tv and after 5 years tried to return it....they might find that unreasonable since you probably get your use out of it.... at least that's the response i got... and when you return it they don't get you a new tv they actuallyg ive yout he original amount you paid credited ... so its pretty nice. Ive never returned anything yet but i feel safe buying electonics from them...just a bitch to keep all the packaging around.

At my Costco...I was told it is lifetime and you do not need orginial packaging

I have returned several things...a Uniden BT phone for the home..bought it online..they return shipping as well...the item sucked..5.8ghz phone that performed terrible for signal quality

I buy jewerly, watches anything I can there