First Plasma/LCD purchase ever - a few questions..


My budget is under $1k and considering 37" - 42" sizes.

Any issues buying from Best Buy?
Any issues buying open stock/demo to save $$?
BB salesman told me I need to have the TV professionally calibrated on a regular basis. Can I DIY this process instead?
Plasma and LCD - does one require more maintenance (calibration) than the other?
And of course, the salesman wants me to buy the top-of-the-line warranty service. I've never ever bought any extended warranty on anything in my life. But is this, or any costly service contract, necessary for these TVs (plasma/lcd)?

I'd be happy to hear about your experiences related to these questions.

Thank you (in advance).
rockadanny

Showing 1 response by chaskelljr2001

"Rockadanny":

Do you have any specialty audio/video dealers in your area???

If so, why don't you pay a visit to one of them and get a second opinion.

Surely, I have nothing against Best Buy, as it is one of my favorite stores. I would buy a lot of things out of Best Buy. But rest assure you, a TV will not be one of them. And I may have to slightly disagree with "Chadnliz" as far as a warranty is concerned. Being that Plasma and LCD Television are relatively new technologies, I may be inclined to buy a warranty as well (for your piece of mind if for nothing else..... that way if you have any issues with your expensive set during the warranty period long after your one year manufacturer's warranty expires, you'll be covered as well).

And lastly, like others have stated, don't buy none of that bullshit that Best Buy may feed you in reference of calibration. The calibration of your TV set is something you can do on your own. You can get an Aria Digital TV Calibration Disc for less than $40.00 and do the calibration yourself. Just put the disc in your DVD Player and follow the instructions as you go along.

To start out on getting your first Plasma set, you can get a 720p Panasonic Plasma for as little as $900.00. If you get it from a specialty dealer, they'll cut you a deal that will compete with anything you'll get from Best Buy. If you bargain hard enough, a specialty dealer will take about $100.00 off of the price of the set if you opt for other things like installation and delivery. Including an extended warranty (if your choose to go with one) and taxes, a high-end dealer in my area will sell you Panasonic TC--P42X1 for about $1,300.00 (delivered, installed and with an extended warranty). I am thinking about getting one for my bedroom (I have a 2007 Panasonic TH-42PZ77U 1080p 42" Plasma Set in my living room.... and it was about $1,500.00 for the set only back in 2007 and about $1,900.00 delivered and installed).

Good Luck and Happy Shopping.

Let us know what you end up with.

--Charles--