Hi-tech-tv.com: Television technology news & answers

I wonder what the better places to buy TV’s are. I heard BestBuy or Circuit City. Can you guys give me some advice?

Answer 1: I know its not LCD/Plasma but last month I bought a brand new LED DLP, and the best price by FAR was on Amazon.com (from them directly, not using them as a middle man). They were a good $500-$600 cheaper (plus no tax, free shipping) than best buy/PC Richards, and neither of them would come down.

I have also heard good things about The High Definition Store. They didn’t carry the model I wanted when I was shopping, but I see now that their price is closer to Amazon’s than anywhere else I looked. And I have heard very good things about their customer service.

Answer 2: I bought a new HDTV in April and got and very good deal online at Walmart. Try to “google” your model number & brand. You should get a lot of links to different prices.

Answer 3: I was going to buy online but read a few horror stories about return policies and issues with shipping, so I opted for Best Buy. However, I went in with a flier and told them they had to come close to the price or I’d order online and let them sell a service plan to someone else. They came within $50.00 of the price and then I just returned the expensive warrantee within 15 days after I made sure it was working and no issues with it. After I figured out shipping and taxes, I was about where I would’ve been ordering online without worrying about anything happening in shipping or having issues with returning it.
Not guaranteed, but if you’re persistant and a bit obnoxious with the hourlies, you may luck out.

Answer 4: I bought my Plasma from Amazon: Free shipping, no sales tax, and it was $400 cheaper than Best Buy. TV arrived 5 days before the estimated arrival date in excellent condition. I noticed that the price on Amazon was less for about a day (went right back up) and they refunded me the difference. That’s good for 30 days after your purchase, you just have to send them an email. My father just purchased his LCD TV from Amazon, too. I noticed that a few internet sites were a little cheaper, but they charged for shipping or had a shady (to me) return policy.

Answer 5: I bought my plasma at Sixth Avenue Electronics - they have multiple stores in NJ and one on LI. Better prices than Best Buy et al.

Answer 6: They have some great prices at BJ’s and Sam’s club. Anyone ever have any trouble with them? Costco adds 2 years on the warranty at no extra price.

Answer 7: I’d suggest Pricegrabber.com — It’s a list site, which links all retailers with their lowest prices for that particular model. It does your homework for you — you can’t beat that.
I recently bought a 40″ Samsung LCD 1080P for $1500 flat using that site. BestBuy, CircuitCity and Newegg couldn’t even come within $250 of the price I got.

So I’m going to buy my first HDTV this July 4th (when the sales begin). I already know what model and size TV I want but I have questions about other things:

1) I live in a cablevision home but I bought Direct TV for the YES Network/NFL pckage a few years back. What box offers better channels? How much does it cost to upgrade to an HD cable/direct box?

2) Besides the HDTV adaptor, what else do I need?

Answer 1: Direct TV is ~$10 more a month for HDTV. You also have to have a different type satellite installed, and also purchase a new convertor box (~$100.) You can get a HD/DVR Direct TV convertor box for ~$250. It’s a freaking pain but it’s worth it.

Answer 2: You will need to get HDMI cables. What about the existing cables? For the HD signal can you use the existing coax cable from the dish to the receiver? I understand you need an HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV.

Answer 3: If you have cablevision and you get a TV with a QAM tuner, you should be able to just plug the cablewire into the wall to get the network HD channels (fox, cbs, nbc, pbs, abc). Also, if you get a cablecard ready TV you can rent a cablecard from cablevision instead of a cable box (cablecard is only $1.95/month) you can get the fully io HD lineup. You can’t get on-demand stuff with the cablecard though.

Answer 4: The RG-6 you already have is what they use for HD installs. If you upgrade to HD, Directv will upgrade the dish and run any additional cabling for you. You need component or hdmi cables to connect HD to your new tv. Go to monoprice.com to buy these for a few bucks. DO NOT waste money on so-called “high-end” cables.

Yes — you can run on coax, component or S-video just fine until you pick up your HDMI’s.

Answer 5: Well if you are going the satellite way, they will need to install a new HD satellite on your roof and will wire it up to the box for you. I’m getting DirectTV satellite. I am trying to avoid any more holes drilled into the house so I want to know if they can use the existing RG6 coax which is already buried in the walls.