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Help with a new TV.

Hi everbody,
The girlfriend and I close on our new and smaller condo the 15th of this month. Because it's smaller it has been decided that a wall-mountable, flat panel tv is going to be necessary to make the living room livable. Needless to say, I am all for this, and after a fair amount of research have decided on the following set, keeping in mind our budget is $2500 plus installation. The set in question is the Sharp Aquos 32" LCD HDTV. The picture quality and sound are both excellent, it is fully equipped with all the necessary ins and outs, and seems to have a very good rep for reliability. Sharp says the estimated lifespan is 60,000 hours, at a very high 5 hours per day that means it would last almost 33 years, more than sufficient. Given our budget are we making a wise choice, please keeping in mind we have space constraints that preclude and DLP set. Any alternate ideas would be very much appreciated as would support for the Sharp. Thanks.
128x128jond
markphd
667 posts
 
Pardon my ignorance here, but what does this $400 installation cost get you? For me, installation means I grab one end, my wife grabs the other end and we lift it on to a stand. I then plug it in and play with the buttons while my wife asks me how much it cost and how are we going to pay for it!

Wall mounts are incredibly expensive for what they are. The margin must be huge. I'll bet some manufacturers make more money on the stand/wall mount than they do on the TV.
jond's avatar
jond OP
5,846 posts
 
New question guys, having read Paul Frumpkins story about CC and some of the responses I've decided to go with Best Buy. For $1999 they have a 30" Philips LCD Flat Panel HDTV with free delivery and a few other freebies. The question is if we get this and buy the wall mount, how hard is it to do it ourselves? The tv weighs only 39 lbs and embarrasingly though I can't even draw a straight line my girlfriend is extremely handy. Could she do it with my help? Also in keeping with the theme of this story when I ordered the tv yesterday it was of course out of stock! They said to try back in a week, so we'll see. If there are any recommendations of sellers out there I'm all ears fellas.
richingoth
326 posts
 
FWIW, the March 2005 issue of Consumer Reports has some reviews of the different types of displays.
readster
241 posts
 
The wall mount i bought, is a Peerless, and it is solid steel, 26 lbs. to be exact, i think its well worth the money, $122 inc. shipping. I'm sure the companies that make the mounts are making money, some alot more than others, but you can find a great mount for decent price.
daveherm69
42 posts
 
Regardless of what TV you choose, be it LCD or plasma or RPTV, avoid Best-bye,CostlyCO.Find a store that has ISF certified technicians and bring a dvd you like and watch it,ask some questions and when you buy the set have it properly calibrated. This always costs a few bucks but is essential to getting the best possible picture from your set.
Happy shopping!!!!
PS Extended warranties are in general a large scale con. The dealer benifits more than you ever will.
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