Need help about HDTV LCD

[dazco]

Well, it worked out and i'm 3/4 of the way moved into the new place. But i've decided that since my TV is old and will need a digi box in february when the airwaves become digi, i may as well get a LCD now and save myself from moving that huge tube beast. Heres the problem....i have to do it this week, and i will be far too busy to research them. So i need help such as what pitfalls to look for, what brands are best bang/buck, what i MUST be sure it has, etc etc. What little i know of from PC LCD's of which i'ev had a few. Samsungs for the most part. But i'd prefer more bang/buck because they are fairly expensive. My tube TV is a toshiba as was the one before that one. They were the best TV's i ever had in every area, so i am drawn to Tosiba LCD's. Are they good, and what do you think of this one?....
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8747886&type=product&id=1202649422582

The price is quite good compared to others except the no-name stuff. And by the way, i am looking for a 26". I'd actually be ok with a 22" like my PC is i'm sure, but what the heck....i'll play it safe. Anything you can tell me that would help, i'm all ears.

 

[grandpaul]

LG from circuit city.

 

[Dilligaf]

Vizio's have a good reputation and they are made in the USA.

I recently purchased a 52" Sony when my rear projection TV died, it fricken ROCKS!

 

[dazco]

You know, it's funny you mentioned vizio because i was at sears just recently and i was looking at a shelf with maybe 8 different large LCD's on it including one vizio. the rest were all big names like samsung. The vizio totally blew the others away in detail and clarity. the salesman told me not all the units had the best input for them, so maybe that was it. maybe a lot of them weren't at thier native res or something, i dunno. But the vizio was so far superior looking it was stupid. I fear new or no name products tho, and i looked then up online and found a lot of people complaining about some problem with them which i forgot. But it was a serious issue. But man, what a perfect picture !

 

[DaveM]

Well I cannot be much help here as I still have the tube style. However I also like going for the more well known brands like LG, Sony as I have found I have had little or no problems with them

 

[dazco]

I know that, but i'm trying to go on the cheap as much as possible so i want to know what to look for both good and bad and any suggestions for good brands that may not be as obvious as sony or samsung. I need to save some bucks here because i need a lot of things for the new place and it's gonna cost me. Oh, and of course i had to hit the pillar in my parking garage yesterday and destroy the fender on my accord. Thats another $500-1000. Cant win, can't win, cant win, can't win....... :angry: :angry: :angry: So saving even $100 over a samsung or sony would help.

 

[DaveM]

Oh dear that was not good :silent: I know what you are saying there are cheaper but just as good products out there. Did you check further into that Vizio's model at all.

 

[grandpaul]

The best tv on coax puts out a crappy picture next to the cheapest one hooked up with HDMI.

 

[dazco]

Did you check further into that Vizio's model at all.

just sears, but they mostly have huge ones.

The best tv on coax puts out a crappy picture next to the cheapest one hooked up with HDMI.

What he menat was they all have the same source, but some may be routed further or have bad cables etc etc. But same signal source. Could be the way the TV's themselves were set. But whatever it was i couldn't imagine a better pic. But a lot of issues with online reviews.

 

[Dilligaf]

CostCo has great prices on smaller LCD TV.

 

[dazco]

Wow, just found the 26" vizio at walmart for $438 and the customer reviews so far are raves ! I may just go for it. I'm going to read more of the reviews, but not all....there are 500+! people are saying great things tho like better than my samsung or sony. And this was from one of the reviews where someone found out the following....

Vizio in Irvine Ca, manufactures 95% of ALL LCD displays

I think this has got to be the one.

EDIT: hmmmm....seems if you have an issue they won't allow you to bring it to them. You MUST mail it. So if i have one of the issues a fair amount of people seem to have, it will likely cost me $70-100 to ship there and back. And i'm only about 30 minutes from them ! Thats makes me rather mad. I may look at the 32" because they said above 26" they will send someone out for the repair. But i don't need a 32" and hate paying that extra $70.

 

[avion]

All I can offer is make sure that it's FULL HD and not that software rendered HD. I think it should be 1080 pixels.

...

 

[dazco]

Thats was one of the things that wowed me about it...it IS 1080 which is unusual for that size and range i believe.

 

[Dilligaf]

Get a Vizio at Costco and if there is a problem Costco will refund or exchange at the store.

 

[dazco]

Looking at the price diff between walmart and costco and membership fees, the difference is i would pay $40 more at costco. I need to see if thats worth it. I have heard costco will accept a defective product after the 90 days most stores do. Even heard stories of people retuning things years after they bought. But i also heard costco recently tightened the reins because i guess people were abusing it. I'll look into it tho, thanks for the idea.

EDIT: just found out on the costco site, "Returns accepted within 90 days". So i guess they DID change thier policy. They do extend the manufacturers warranty to 2 years tho, so thats nice.

 

[Dilligaf]

The savings in shopping for food at Costco will cover the membership fee in 60 days. They also have lower gasoline pricing.

 

[dazco]

Yeah, but it's a bit of a drive for me so i likely won't be shopping there. I need to call them tho and ask a few questions about this. I still may get it there.

 

[dazco]

Well, i bought it at costco for 2 reasons...1)- i found out you can buy at costco online w/o being a member and it was as cheap as anywhere. And 2)-most of the places that have a vizio 26" have the VW27L, while i found out a select few places are carrying the VA26L which is a just released and improved model. And they list for the same price.

 

[Dilligaf]

Cool

 

[DaveM]

Cool, so when do you get it :y18: