It sounds like most of you know what you are talking about so I could really use some advice. I am going to purchase my first plasma tv from my brother-in-law. He can be kind of a iffy person, but it seems to be a good deal. He is getting a new TV, so he wanted to sell me his old one. It's a 42" Vizio Plasma that he got from Costco last year. So it's only about a year old and he is selling it for $1200. Like I mentioned, I know nothing about Plasmas and have never heard of Vizio. Before this I had a really old projection big screen that is on it's last legs. I don't watch a lot of tv, but I watch some. We have a digital cable box to hook it up to and a Sony DVD/Receiver set that is about 5 years old. So will I need anything else to make it work well and is it worth it? Thanks for your help.
1. I dont believe in electronics transaction between family members, no matter how well intended.
2. That aside, the brand new Panny 42 Pwd8uk is available for 1500 online at several authorized resellers. A much better display. The good thing about Costco is lifetime return however.
3. " Work well." Well- some folks would say you need a new DVD player that might be a bit better as far as deinterlacing ( ie progressive scan.)
4. Receiver quality is unknown as are speakers.
5. IN general, you dont want an HD plasma for standard def signals and DVDs unless you really know about upscaling players and upscalers etc. You want an ED display instead., The Panny model I listed is ED and the Vizio might be as well, depending on the model number. ED is usally 840 x 480 pixels or similar. HD is 1024 x 680 or 1366 x 768 for instance.
4. Get Digital Video Essentials calibration disk to set up your display properly and perhaps an SPL meter for audio as well. The disk is 50 dollars and the SPL meter is 50 dollars at RAT shack.
Well I just found out the deal fell through anyway. So where is another good place to get a good deal? It doesn't have to be top of the line, just something decent and 42" or bigger. Please let me know of a good place to get it and a decent brand. Thanks.
You might actually be better off at a local retailer with a 30 day return policy. That way if you get the wrong thing you can bring it back and exchange it (keep the packaging until you're sure). Internet buying is difficult if you don't do the research and learning up front. Paying for shipping and then again for return shipping plus restocking fees will eat up any savings from a REPUTABLE internet vendor if you have to return it. The unreputable internet vendors may accept your return and never contact you!
Costco will take back your brother's Vizio plasma and refund him whatever he paid for it - certainly more than the $1200 he was willing to sell it for.
The best overall plasmas for the price are the new Panasonics found at Circuit City and Best Buy. A better brand is the Pioneer PDP-4360/4361. Toshiba is another good brand (uses Panasonic glass).
I remember when I used to actually know a thing or two about technology, but now I am a complete moron when it comes to this stuff. I noticed that some of the new Panasonics and other TV's around that price are EDTV. I've read some stuff online about this, but it's all so technical so I'm not sure if it's worth it. Again, we are not going to be watching too much TV out there but some. Enough that I want a decent TV that won't be out of date in a year. So if EDTV is decent enough then that is fine with me. At this point we still have regular digital cable, but I understand I will need another cable box to actually view it in digital? Thanks again for all the help.
EDTV are good if you are not planning on taking advantage of HD signals and if you are not planning on hooking up any new HD equipment, DVD players, XBOX 360 etc, if all you want to do is watch some DVD's and regular cable, the ED it's a great choice. enjoy it.
There are several threads at avsforum.com about edTV vs HDtv. Plud that into a search and watch what happens.
Some online authorized resellers are visualapex.com, tvauthority.com etc. You can link them through the top of the avsforum site, which is the preferred way to get you to best pricing the quickest.