Waffling on the HDTV Bit
Posted May 6th, 2005 @ 09:57am by Erik J. Barzeski
I'm waffling on the whole HDTV bit. Granted, I only posted yesterday, but I've done a fair amount of research now and I've all but decided on the Sony KDF60XS955 60" Rear-Projection LCD TV. Retails for about $3600, but I'm pretty sure I could get it for just over $3,000. 20" deep and looks like it'd fit well in the corner of that room.
I've ruled out plasma. They're smaller, they're crisper, and they look better. They're also twice the price or more, and really aren't serviceable, I've read. With the RP LCDs, apparently it's not too hard to replace a lamp. Best Buy's service plan (which I normally wouldn't buy, but on a $3500 TV, I may for $399) covers lamp replacements.
Reasons for getting a new TV:
- Uhhh, we'll have a big big room, and a 36" TV won't cut it.
Reasons not to get a new TV, particularly this one:
- $3600 is $3600*
- I don't use any HDTV right now - I have DirecTV with a regular (not HD) TiVo. I have a GameCube and a PS2. The next-gen games, the next-gen DVD players, and the next-gen receivers will do HD, sure, but that's a year or more off.
That's about it.
* I am trying to find a way to pay for this without affecting the bottom line - i.e. by selling something or performing some extra work on my own time, that sort of thing. If I can't find a way to do that, then there's no way we're getting a new TV.
Donate Life
Posted 06 May 2005 at 11:14am #
ok. obviously I didn't read well enough. you're wanting something BIG.
Posted 06 May 2005 at 11:29am #
Even for a higher priced item, extended warranties are still a bad deal, since somebody must be making money. I did get one on a TiVo (which we had a lifetime subscription for) and was able to use it once the HD completely died a couple of months before the warranty expired.
It still wasn't worth it though. Best Buy took SIX weeks to get the TiVo HD replaced (which I could have done in one). And the HD would have been much bigger, and the price would have been the same as the cost of the extended warranty to begin with.
Not a good experience.
Posted 06 May 2005 at 12:04pm #
I've never regretted my HDTV purchase, but then again I have a fair bit of disposable income. Since you're buying your first house, I'd say hold off on the purchase for a few months. Houses are good for eating through your budget. Lawn mowers, paint, wallpaper, curtains, carpet, rugs, furniture, tools, plants... it all adds up very quickly. Why add money to list of things that are going to stress you out over then next year?
Posted 06 May 2005 at 4:01pm #
I'm in total agreement with Andrew. If you're not committed to the purchase, and it doesn't seem that you are, then there's a good chance for regret. In my situation, I knew exactly what I wanted from my HD, knew what my limitations were as far as service availability and still wanted it. One of the first programs I watched was ESPN Sunday Night Football in HD - it blew me away. Baseball is just as fantastic in HD. Any sports, really.
I've had two friends and a brother that have purchased houses in the past 4 years and I've watched all drop alot of time, energy and money into the houses in the first year and even beyond. If I were you, I wouldn't feel obligated to fill the living room with a TV that befits the room size. I'm sure your 36" will do the job just fine until you're sure that both your budget and your needs will be fufilled by something bigger.
Posted 06 May 2005 at 6:13pm #
I've been waffling on the purchase of an hdtv as well... until I saw a hdtv ready dlp projector on woot.com for under 500 bucks. If you've got a pc sitting around that could act as a home theater pc (htpc) then it's a ton of fun and will hold me off until the dlp big-screens come down in price. I watch regular tv on an older 27", but when I want hi-fi, I fire up the projector!
Besides, who doesn't want a 200" tv for one sixth the price?
Caveat: it isn't very practical if it's going to be your main tv for watching the news and such, but it has cooled my desire to drop $3600 on a tv.
Posted 07 May 2005 at 2:39pm #
Some people think I'm nuts for what I did and what I'm about to suggest...
Buy your TV from Amazon.com yea thats right. Thats just what I did. Here's why I wanted to save money, of course. The set I went with was sold locally for just over 1,000 more than Amazon was selling it for. Shipping was something like 99.95 (took just over a week and a half to get).
Now I what I also did was do a dailiy search on a9.com to get my pi/2% off... knocks it down a few dollars... signed up for an amazon.com credit card ($30 of my first purchase... which mas my display) the an added bonus I also received amazon.com gift coupons (I think for every 3 dollars you spend you get 1 point and ever 2500 points gets you $25 back).
For me I saved a just about 1300 from by my display online via amazon.com check it out it just might work for you.... I also then turned my Amazon.com dollars into getting a new dvd player that upscanned to 1080i and had an HDMI interface.
BTW: Amazon.com has the Sony KDF60XS955 for 3,499.94 (pre pi/2 discount)
Posted 10 May 2005 at 5:39pm #
I must say, it's hard to read your gripes about buying a home, what kind of mortgage you can afford, closing costs, etc. and then you write about a TV of this magnitude. Yikes! My brother has a model like you're talking about. I wasn't impressed.
Personally I've gotten better value out of investing the money in PVRs so that I can watch what I want when I want rather than the extra screen real estate and resolution. (3 wireless networked TiVo's in the house so far...)
I have about 3000 sq ft of home and my TVs are 15" LCD (master bedroom), 20" LCD (family room) and 25" tube (rec room). Ain't nobody complaining in my household of 7. Invest it in golf, photography, etc. but it's just a TV.
Just my $0.02