New TV Purchase, Need Advice (Samsung 46" 650 series)

[MrHat]

Hey all,

I'm getting ready to buy a new TV since gaming on a 22" ghetto gateway monitor is stupid.  I've decided on the 46" 650 Series Samsung (Touch of Red), in part because the price is right and in part because 120Hz actually made a difference when I ran some tests on the local BestBuy.



Now the question is, do I buy it from Amazon ($1570) or Frys ($1500).  Both have free shipping, and I think Amazon's contractors come in and set up the TV for you initially.  Not sure on Frys, but I'm currently leaning towards dropping the extra $70 on Amazon, although that extra $70 will help me grab one of the accessories that I'll eventually be getting (OTA HD, HD DVR, PS3).

Any advice on this?  Both are at least $300 cheaper than any B&M place, and from the Black Friday leaks, are already as low of a price as their going to go in a few months.

[Merusk]

The Black Friday leaks are already out? Huh.

I didn't figure prices were going to drop this holiday season, what with Radio, Cable and Broadcast TV doing their best to "educate" people, causing them to go "ZOMG I NEED A NEW TV BY FEBRUARY!!!" Dealers know there's going to be a push between now and February/ March, so I was planning on waiting until April or so to begin looking myself.

The Amazon one offers a link to installers when I view the page. I don't think it's included in the price.

[MrHat]

The Amazon one offers a link to installers when I view the page. I don't think it's included in the price.

Amazon's White-Glove Delivery Service

At your home, delivery experts will place the carton in a room of your choice, unpack the product, and remove all packing materials from the residence at the customer's discretion. They will carry it up a staircase provided that the package will physically fit.
If you find signs of damage to your product, simply refuse delivery and you will receive a refund.

Reading around a bit online, it seems that "signs of damage" include a turning on of the TV.

[bhodi]

I ordered my TV from amazon and they did just that. It was well worth the money.

They didn't wear white gloves, though.

[MrHat]

I ordered my TV from amazon and they did just that. It was well worth the money.

They didn't wear white gloves, though.

Right, but $70 is $70.

Does Amazon do a 30-day price guarantee?

[bhodi]

Things might have been different; I only paid an extra $20 or something over normal shipping costs.

[Merusk]

Hm it didn't jump out in the delivery stuff. My bad, but I see why they have the installer links.

Installation: Our white-glove delivery experts do not perform installation services.

So, they'll put it on the floor or a piece of furniture, maybe wait for you to plug it in and see if it works, but that's it.  Doesn't seem like a good use of $70 since you can negotiate that out of B&M stores.  Plus, if you're ornery enough you can argue the price at a B&M down with an online price, worked for my Dishwasher and my sister's Washer/ Dryer.

[Brogarn]

I got my Samsung 40" from Amazon and all that delivery stuff was included. The guy unpacked it, verified that it was working, and took all the trash from it with him. It was pretty cool and I didn't pay a dime for it.

[MrHat]

There's no way a B&M place is going to drop 30% off the price of a TV.  Not without corporate telling them too.  I'd let that sale walk as a salesman.

I'm thinking I'm going to go with Amazon as I've had nothing but good experiences w/ them and having the option to just basically refuse the product if its defective is enough for me.  Thanks for the advice all, I'll try and take a pic of the set up next week :)

Woooooooooo.

[Grimwell]

Yeah, margin on TV's is not as wide as it is on appliances. There is some give room, unless the item is at the end of it's product cycle but you can't always talk B&M down to crazy low prices.

Install on a TV is a professional service that many places charge too much for. Honestly, unless you are going to hang it on the wall and can't do that due to the physical requirements, just plug in the cables yourself. It's not as scary as it might seem. Everything is darn near color coded or custom plugged these days, so unless you are colorblind you can't fail.

[MrHat]

Oh, I'm not worried about that at all.  I have a degree in plugging things in.

I just don't want to deal with having something shipped that's broke out of box, and if this alleviates that fear, it's worth the extra cash.

[Grimwell]

Well... you can never count on anything to work until it does. That said, it's typically easy to sort out damage that was caused by manufacture and damage that was caused by the idiot who dropped the TV while mounting it, etc.

YMMV -- but the TV company will warranty it if it's not you pushing a screwdriver through the screen.

Paying someone to deliver and "setup" the TV will give you peace of mind, and a witness, so it's not all bad -- just not free.

[LanTheWarder]

I am going to purchase the Samsung 61" LED(yay no bulb replacements) DLP from Amazon, because there customer service is usually excellent and most other places charge extra to go anywhere beyond the door.

[Sky]

I'd really like the 61" 1080p LED version. Still would choke my 8800GTX on intensive games, though. Holy fuck hdtvs got cheap in the last five years. Hell, for those prices I'd probably bump up to the 67" :)

[MrHat]

I'd really like the 61" 1080p LED version. Still would choke my 8800GTX on intensive games, though. Holy fuck hdtvs got cheap in the last five years. Hell, for those prices I'd probably bump up to the 67" :)

I wouldn't buy another 60".  1080p front projector if you're going to go that large.

[LanTheWarder]

I wouldn't buy another 60".  1080p front projector if you're going to go that large.

My wife wouldn't ever sign off on a projector, but a 61" TV I can get away with and the picture quality on it is amazing.

[Margalis]

I just got the 40 inch matte screen version of that TV, the 630. The auto-motion plus weirds me out. At the store they have the display set up to maximize how awesome it looks, in real life personally I think it looks like garbage. However running at 120hz means that the tv can display stuff at true 24 FPS. (Film frame speed) Not sure what kind of player you need to make that happen though.

I got the Amazon delivery, was cool, they didn't unpack the box but I told them not to.

[Stephen Zepp]

I'd really like the 61" 1080p LED version. Still would choke my 8800GTX on intensive games, though. Holy fuck hdtvs got cheap in the last five years. Hell, for those prices I'd probably bump up to the 67" :)

I just bought the Samsung 67"--and was able to talk the CircuitCity guy down to $1889, free white glove delivery (they built the stand, put the TV on it, hooked up my cable and 360, did the powered on setup, and confirmed cable reception).

Well worth the price, although in hindsight the 67 was probably -too- big: my living room configuration puts the only real seating arrangements at about 12 feet from the screen, which is enough to see some artifacts even at 1080P.

As all of the reviews I read indicated, the built in sound really does suck. Definitely factor in the price of an external speaker system--either full on home theatre (the route I wound up going), or at least an amp/speaker set. Picture is wonderful however :)

[Broughden]

Not sure if anyone already mentioned but Amazon is doing a special with 24 month financing and FREE white glove delivery on all models over 40".

[Nebu]

Not sure if anyone already mentioned but Amazon is doing a special with 24 month financing and FREE white glove delivery on all models over 40".

This may be the motivation I need to replace my 15 year old 25" set. 

[MrHat]

Price dropped to 1529.99 on the 46".

Also, Amazon price matches itself within 30 days.  Good time to buy.

[Polysorbate80]

I just got the 40 inch matte screen version of that TV, the 630. The auto-motion plus weirds me out. At the store they have the display set up to maximize how awesome it looks, in real life personally I think it looks like garbage. However running at 120hz means that the tv can display stuff at true 24 FPS. (Film frame speed) Not sure what kind of player you need to make that happen though.

I got the Amazon delivery, was cool, they didn't unpack the box but I told them not to.

I have the previous model of the 650, the 71 series (glossy screen).  Turning the 120hz up too high gives everything a 3-D look, but makes films look like television.  It works well for stuff like the Pixar films, but yeah, a lot of material comes out looking strange.  As a result, I leave it set to low most of the time.  That smoothes out the jitters without destroying the film look.

A blu-ray player should be able to put out 24p, although I know in my case I had to manually set it.

[Signe]

You should get Nerf's dad to make you a steampunk TV.  It'll probably cost $30K or something but it'll be strange and unique.

[LanTheWarder]

Price dropped to 1529.99 on the 46".

Also, Amazon price matches itself within 30 days.  Good time to buy.

They no longer price match. It ended 9/30/08

[MrHat]

Price dropped to 1529.99 on the 46".

Also, Amazon price matches itself within 30 days.  Good time to buy.

They no longer price match. It ended 9/30/08

!!! Oh well.  Seems like I bought on the right day, price is back up to 1569.99 today!

[Abagadro]

However running at 120hz means that the tv can display stuff at true 24 FPS. (Film frame speed) Not sure what kind of player you need to make that happen though.

I think most of the decent Blu-Ray players (and many of the regular upscaling DVD players) will do 5:5 pulldown these days. You just have to set it up correctly in the options.