Home audio & video forum: Best time of year to buy a new HDTV?

There will allwise be a sale!! Somewhere! Yes, Super Bowl is comming up.
I got mine from Sam's Club. BJ's closed up here about 12 years ago. Any Costco stores around you?

MODELS change all the time. Coming soon; most of the "DOG DAYS OF AUGUST" sales will begin, (At least in the NorthEast/New England.)
Also, check for your prices on the Internet OFTEN!!!

riv.

Tht Super Bowl would great on the 40" set

LOOK AT IT FROM THE RETAILERS PERSPECTIVE. EVERYBODY WANTS AN HDTV NOWADAYS. THERE'S NO REASON FOR THEM TO BE GIVING OUT HUGE DISCOUNT WITH DEMAND BEING SO HIGH. GET THE BEST PRICE YOU CAN GET NOW AND ENJOY IT. I AGREED GETTING IT FROM A STORE IS BETTER THEN ONLINE. NO MATTER WHAT BRAND, THERE IS ALWAYS A CHANCE THE UNIT MAY BREAK AND HAVING A STORE TO RETURN IT IS THE INSURANCE IN RETAIL.

I forgot to mention several 37" plamsas which I recommend you consider.

Panasonic EDTV models TH-37PD50U or TH-37PWD8UK
Panasonic HDTV models TH-37PX50U or TH-37PHD8UK

Costco also sells a Panasonic EDTV monitor (without tuner) model TH-37PM50U

Hi everybody and here is my update after having my new Aquos for a few days. Prices didn't drop, in fact, they went up at CC, so I still have about 25 days to see if this thing will come down in price. The CES electronics show is coming soon, but not sure what the plans are for this model, so not sure I will be getting any $$ back.
I haven't tried to hook up via the HDMI cable I bought. I may try that later today. Not sure I will see a big difference, what *should* I see to make me keep that type of hookup from my Comcast DVR to the TV?

From someone without all that good knowlege to give specifics, here is what I see:

Regular TV broadcasts is just ok, but going to HD is stunning!
Football: AMAZING!!!
DVD Movies: WOW!
Virtual Surround Sound: In my smallish room, it sounds great. Not as good as my low end Magnavox 5:1 set up on the old TV, but still very nice.
Settings: Lots of settings for the picture. A calibrating CD came with it and I used it, but ended up doing my own thing after messing around a bit. I dropped the back light way back, contrast way back and got very good detail. No ghosting that I can see. Sometimes grainy black stuff in non-HD broadcasts, but with Comcast, most of the major channels are HD in the higher channel numbers.
With the Comcast HD DVR, I can do picture-in-picture which is kind of cool. I change everything through that remote which is nice.
All in all, everybody is happy with the purchase here at my house, especially son #1 who is in from California and watched football with his mouth open. Maybe he will come home more often now! *grin*

Hi, I was excited to haggle CC to 2399 for this monitor, but now I'm torn. I can't figure out how to set the tv properly for the best image.
I've connected my HD DVR straight to the TV with an HDMI connector. HD looks great, but the other 1000 non-HD channels look horrible.
Can you let me know what settings you have it on? Also is there anything else I could try to get a better image on non-HD channels?

Thanks!
amir

Hey everyone,
I am going to buy a 37" myself but here is my problem.

I have a Time Warner HD cable box including local HD channels so I don't need any other Airwave or HD tuners. The cable card ready sets don't interest me because they do not give me the full function of the HD box. Also, I will never use this as a computer monitor.

My question is;
Which sharp aquos model comes with all the high end Video and Audio bells and whistles (highest contrast, best viewing angle like 176 degrees, PIP, HDMI or DVI, 3D sound, 30 watts, tru surround sound, all I/O's necessary, etc) without those extras as I listed above?

I also find it strange that when I price the different models from CC and BB the model with the ATSC tuner is actually less money than the model without that tuner? You would think it would be the other way around!

Also, I am beginning to hear that plasma doesn't cook itself out as fast as it use to, is this actually true or just industry hype because the LCD's are outselling the plasma's?

Sounds like there are some pretty informed people in the forum, hope someone can lead me in the correct direction.

THX

Baran220

I am thinking doing this on New Years Day. I think there will be one day specials etc. I will have all my ammo before hand and know who has what. Then let the haggle begin!
I have no problem going in with local pricing, and Best Buy and CC are right next to each other near me! I am not sure one has in stock the model I want. Truth is, I am not sure which Sharp Aquos I really want yet.I thought I wanted a cable card-capable set, but have heard too many problems with the technology. So maybe I just keep my cable box and use that, and can opt for a slightly lower price Aquos which is a lot more available than the LC-37D7U, like the D5U or D4U or D6U. It isn't just color that makes the difference on these models, right?

I was told by Time Warner that the cable card is limited in its functionality, in the TV staion availibility and extra functions that the box gives you.

The market for the new flatscreen TVs is way too hot to have a huge sale. I've been evaluating the Samsung 23" LCD set for the bedroom and waiting for a "blow out" sale. Won't happen any time soon. Everyone sells it for the same. It lists for $999, but Best Buy has it for $899 this week. Circuit City has the same price. Sears has it for $949, but said they will price match plus give 10% of the difference...meaning their "sale" price is $894. Wow, I could hardly contain my excitement over this LOW price from Sears. Two weeks ago, the Samsung was $999 everywhere. Next week, it will probably be the same. I think the sets that are heavily discounted are the sets with technology that may be outdated soon or if there are new sets arriving to replace the old sets. I'd bet that you won't see the new Sony LCOS sets on sale any time soon either.

After the consumer electronics show in February you will start to see the discontinued models with rebates, instant rebates and then clearance. If what you want is one of those models you will be in luck.
I got the Sharp Aquos LC-37D4U at Circuit City in Moorestown today. Price was $2519. Thought I was getting a nice deduction from the listed price of $2799. online price, but when I got to the store, it was 'special priced' at the same $2519.
CC and Best Buy have the 30 day price guarantee and CC is the only local store I found that carried this model in stock. I thought I should get it since it might not be in stock when I want it if I waited so this way if it does go down in price I can get the difference.If it goes down in price online or in the store at Best Buy or any other non-membership store like BJ's they will refund the difference 110%.
I browsed over at Best Buy (right next door) first. They didn't have the D4U in stock but could order it. They had a better warranty-4 years at a much lower price.
I went over to CC and told them I wanted to get the Sharp, but Best Buy had a much better warranty and what could they do for me? The CC guy said their warranty was much more comprehensive and instead of making an appointment and waiting for 7-10 days for someone to come out and tell me if they thought it was broken or not, it was a 36 hr. response time and it was repair or replace. I don't know if all that is true. The manager used to work at BB, (so they said) and that also could be a real good story, but they were able to almost match BB's price in total when I got the Monster HDMI cable and warranty. That was the only way they would work a deal, if I got those other things. The CC guy also got me the Comcast Cable $100 rebate called 'cable cash' to apply to my next cable bill since I am upgrading to the HD cable box with the DVR. A tuning and calibrating DVD was included with it. So I came out with a warranty, cable and Sharp Aquos for about $3100 (damn those NJ taxes).
If I decide I don't need the Monster Cable ($115.), I can return it and bring the price down a bit more.
I hope it was a smart idea to get the warranty, I would hate to buy something that expensive and have it go bad after 1 year was up. I read on one of the sites that in the case of these big TV's it is not a bad idea to go ahead and get a warranty. Oh, it also includes a bulb replacement.
Thanks for all your help everybody.

the turnaround time is 48 hours for first contact for inhome services on tv's. but a lot of times, ordering parts take quite a bit of time.

sharp has soo many different 37inch lcd's out. the current one that bb sells is the 37DB5U for $2339 online which most stores will pricematch. i atcually think (but not 100% sure cause i dont have our stock system in front of me)...the d4u is last year's model and best buy has it on clearence for $1499.99. cause i remember i checked 3 weeks ago, last year's sharp 32inch lcd and 37inch lcd were both $1499.99.

although, I have nothing against CC and have been happy with my purchases there, I felt that I had to warn you about their warranty. The items that break DO get fixed, and the only way to get a new item is to have it break 4 times. The store will try to repair the broken item 3 times, and then call it quits. The process works for items that are "easy" to bring-in and wait, for other like a SONY 450 CD/DVD player filled with all of our CDs/DVDs, it has been a nightmare.

I needed to stay in the CRT money range and ended up going w/ this TV with the built in HD tuner. But it doesn't go 16:9. Did I make a mistake?