What's the best place to buy an HDTV?

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PizzaDude

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Jan 12, 2002
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I got a 360 for Christmas and was able to play it for about an hour on my parents' new Samsung LCD HDTV before bringing it home to my SDTV and noticed a HUGE difference.

I now want to start looking at HDTVs myself, so where is the best place to purchase them as far as price/reliability goes?

 
GooeyGUI

GooeyGUI

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Aug 1, 2005
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I can tell you that there are good deals online, but then there is always the shipping. Also, there is the fact that you would need to ship it back yourself when there is any trouble, so that means that you have the means to provide transport to send it back.

I looked up ResellerRatings.com for a few of these "good" deals and found that the best deals were from e-stores with very negative reviews. As I wanted to reduce headaches, I went to Best Buy to see what they had to offer straight from the store.

At Best Buy, I bought a Sony Bravia XBR3 46" 1080P LCD and got these deals;

First, they asked me to sign up with my cable company (Comcast) for HD channels. I was planning to anyway. but they gave me $100 off for signing up at the store. (I believe it was $400 off with DirectTV for dish people.) I also got a $100 gift card.

Second, they gave me $200 towards either a $500 install of TV or $300 to install speaker wire for my surround sound that I also bought there. I took the latter and skipped the TV install.

I'm sure I could have saved some money elsewhere, but they offer in home service during the warranty period. They tossed in a $55 subwoofer cable and a a$150 TV mount on top of my purchase. They tried to get me to buy my HDMI cables there, but I knew they were over priced.

From this forum, I learned about Monoprice.com and their low cable prices. I found good HDMI cables for 1/10th of the price of the Monster cables that they were selling at Best Buy. I also bought a subwoofer cable for $6, and I found a TV mount for $29.

Others may have other experiences, but I decided to go this route instead because I wanted the in home service (and free delivery). The deals were good too as I don't have the health to run speaker wire. The TV will be a bear, but I can get others to assist with lifting it as it is 80 lbs.

All of this occured within the past week as far as the buying goes. The XBR3 series is brand new. so they had to special order it. It will take a week (at least) extra to get it.

Hope this helps.



 
T

TheCanuck

Senior member
Apr 28, 2003
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Originally posted by: GooeyGUI
At Best Buy, I bought a Sony Bravia XBR3 46" 1080P LCD and got these deals;

First, they asked me to sign up with my cable company (Comcast) for HD channels. I was planning to anyway. but they gave me $100 off for signing up at the store. (I believe it was $400 off with DirectTV for dish people.)

Second, they gave me $200 towards either a $500 install of TV or $300 to install speaker wire for my surround sound that I also bought there. I took the latter and skipped the TV install.
Click to expand...

Lol. I just got a similar deal at Bestbuy this weekend. The key to buying from BB / CC is that you need to watch for better deals at other stores. Here's what I got on the 23rd:

1) Compusa had the Panasonic TH-50PX60U 50" plasma for $1999.99
2) Bestbuy had it for $2299.99
3) BB pricematched to $1999.99 plus gave me another $300 off for the Comcast deal
4) Had to purchase a $200 install for the deal, but Panasonic also gives you a $200 rebate for install/delivery.
5) Final price for the TV was $1699.99 + tax. Also signed up for their reward zone so I'll get another $35 back.

As far as the Comcast deal goes, regular HD is free and this TV has a QAM receiver so I can pick those up without the box. Originally they weren't going to give me both deals (they should've actually pricematched an additional $30) because the computers won't let them double up anymore...but they ended up calling the whole deal a pricematch of $600.

Bottom line is that HDTV prices aren't written in stone and you can always negotiate a little. I told them I would go to Circuit City if they didn't give me both deals ;)

Edit: I don't know if BB still has the Comcast/DirectTV deal, but Circuit City does have a DirectTV deal which gives $300 off the price + upgrade to an HD receiver w/$100 rebate till Feb. 2007. Find a local store with an advertised price less than CC, they will pricematch + give you 25% of the difference + the DirectTV = a good deal. But you will have to have Directv for 12 months...

Edit again:

Here is the link for the Bestbuy HD/Directv deal: BB Deal

Just select the TV size + HD Programming + Installation type and print it out. Good till February.
 
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