What's the best place to buy an HDTV?

[SouthernMac]

I am planning on buying an HDTV and I was just going to ask what the consensus is on buying the display? What site/store is the best place?

P.S. I'm probably going to be getting an LCD

 

[zioxide]

www.bhphotovideo.com

Great store with some good deals. I got my BRAVIA for $699 when it was $1099 at Best Buy and Circuit City.

 

[aricher]

Amazon has amazing prices, no sales tax, free shipping and white glove delivery - they bring it into your house, unbox it, test it take the box with them. They also have price protection so if they lower the price a few weeks after you buy it they'll give you the difference in store credit. They won't hang it for you but you can do this yourself or hire someone (best buy geek squad, etc.) to do that for you.

That said when I was getting ready to buy 2 Samsungs I took Amazon's pricing to Best Buy and told them they could have the sale if they beat Amazon's price factoring in sales tax and delivery. They almost got there. Management would sell it for the same price but they said they had to charge for delivery.

I then went to ABT Electronics (local shop) and got them to beat Amazon's price including tax/delivery. Their online prices are a sham, face to face they'll haggle with you. Lowest price around - lower than anywhere I found online. If I didn't have access to ABT I would have probably ordered from Amazon.

Get your HDMI cables at MonoPrice.

 

[obeygiant]

SAM'S Club or Costco is a great place because of the return policy.

 

[atthecross]

I agree with B&H Photo as well as Beach Camera I have bought from both places

 

[MattG]

Amazon is great, and I've also had good experiences with Vanns.

 

[maestro55]

It really depends what you are looking for. I am glad this thread came up, because I am in the market myself. I want a simple 37-inch LCD HDTV. I have found very good reviews on Vizio TVs and so I am going to probably end up with a Vizio from Wal-Mart (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5684931)

I second the suggestion for Sam's Club, but they do not take AMEX in their store (just got my AMEX card, going to use it to buy the TV) and I don't want to have to pay shipping on Sam's website.

 

[gmecca2]

I bought my two HDTVs from best buy. I have never paid the asking price on the ticket display though. My first was a 32'' Samsung 720p I bought almost two years ago. Sticker said "On Sale $1850", I paid $1665 plus tax with no additional add ons like a lot of companies require to get discounts. My most recent one was a Samsung LCD Model 5265- 1080p, price during superbowl was $2200 I paid $1999 plus tax. The most recent deal was much harder to get though because the original price was $3000 which it went back up to after superbowl.

Also, You can't beat 36 months with zero interest on BestBuy Card( promotion during superbowl). I don't advise overspending but anytime I can borrow other peoples money for free I will be more than happy to.

Its all about finding a tv at the right time if you are looking to buy a larger tv. I dont think they fluctuate quite as much with 32'' and below.

I'm big on buying online to save money but I feel tvs are hard to because of the fact something could go wrong within the first 30 days. Example being the first time I turned my tv on it had a line of dead pixels. I immediately took it back to best buy and had it replaced with a new set. If I had purchased online instead I would have had to package the tv back up and send it back or have a tech fix a brand new tv. I would rather just get a new one.

 

[SouthernMac]

Thanks for all the replies, keep 'em coming if you have them.

 

[hotsauce]

Wirelessly posted (Apple Communication Device: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

I second Costco. Awesome return policy. Although not as good as it used to be. I think they went from 2 yrs to 6 months.

 

[SouthernMac]

So I have found a TV that I am interested in, and I would like a few opinions on whether it's a good deal. Here is the link. It's a 40" Sony Bravia 2500 series. The price of the TV is $1099 shipped. Let me know what you think.

 

[gmecca2]

Have you seen this tv in person. I never suggest buying something offline until you have tested it out yourself. What is your price range, location you intend to put the tv in, and its primary use?

Sony Bravia's always get good reviews.

So I have found a TV that I am interested in, and I would like a few opinions on whether it's a good deal. Here is the link. It's a 40" Sony Bravia 2500 series. The price of the TV is $1099 shipped. Let me know what you think.

 

[GSMiller]

This Hitachi TV is a better deal than the Sony. It's 10" larger and only a few more hundred dollars. Plus I saw one of these babies at Magic Mart the other day and it had the most beautiful picture I have ever seen on a TV.

 

[gmecca2]

This Hitachi TV is a better deal than the Sony. It's 10" larger and only a few more hundred dollars. Plus I saw one of these babies at Magic Mart the other day and it had the most beautiful picture I have ever seen on a TV.

I always thought Hitachi's had great picture quality also. I would be a little afraid to buy one though because in the most recent Consumer Reports I believe Hitachi got very poor reliability reviews on their HDTVs.

 

[Jschultz]

We sell that Hitachi TV here at my work (Circuit City) and I'm not that impressed. We used to carry the ultravision, but don't anymore. THOSE were good TV's.

 

[ccwilli3]

just drop the coin on a pioneer kuro and thank me later...

 

[DakotaGuy]

It really depends what you are looking for. I am glad this thread came up, because I am in the market myself. I want a simple 37-inch LCD HDTV. I have found very good reviews on Vizio TVs and so I am going to probably end up with a Vizio from Wal-Mart (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5684931)

I second the suggestion for Sam's Club, but they do not take AMEX in their store (just got my AMEX card, going to use it to buy the TV) and I don't want to have to pay shipping on Sam's website.

I bought the 42" version of the Vizio at Walmart and I have been completely satisfied for the price. If you compare the Vizio to the big name brands, it will come up a bit short on features, but still offers an excellent picture for the price. The piano black case looks pretty good for the price as well. I was going to get the 37" model and the employee told me they had 4 in stock. When I got up to Customer Service they did not have any because their stock system was messed up. He suggested that I go with the 42" model so I asked for a discount. The manager gave me 10% off so I ended up paying about $90 more for the 42" over the 37". I left the store with a smile on my face to say the least. I have never liked Walmart, but that experience did make me like the store a little more.