Termyn8or
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Joined: 11/12/2005
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I would not deal with Sears for electronics. You are looking at a Panasonic, ask them who services them. You gotta ask because I know this, if you buy a Sony from Sears you do not get a Sony warranty. That means you don't have a choice to take it in for service to any authorized shop, you must take it to Sears. If the Panasonic is the same, don't buy it there. I don't like that.
What's more, read very carefully what kind of extended warranties they have. These things are practically unservicable, so figure once the warranty runs out you are living on borrowed time. Even with a warranty, they generally do board level repairs on these, and the manufacturer makes the board very expensive, and after a short time, unavailable. They also use many proprietary parts which are not, nor ever will be available. Component level repairs, the type that any competent TV shop should be able to accomplish are impossible because they can't get parts.
Understand this, spend that money, figure on getting about three years out of the set and it'll be time for a new one. You have options. The plasma TV is not the only one, and I'll start with a general recommendation, don't move it around alot.
A plasma TV lasts about five years if nothing goes wrong. It will have a picture for longer, but they have a tendency to lose brilliance after about three years. When this happens there is nothing that can be done. Actually some of them start getting "dingy whites" and that might be able to adjusted out of it, once.
Actually it is more likely that a circuit failure will cut that short. Remember, once the warranty is gone, thank your lucky stars that it still works.
There are other options but they might not be suitable for you. The longest lasting TV in an HDTV is going to be a Hitachi or Mitsubishi rear projection. Yes it will require service, but it CAN be serviced. Over the years, they generally lose clarity, but still look good. A competent tech like me can keep the thing going and tuned up for quite some time. But these things require space. If all you want is a 42" this might not be a good option for you.
If you want a smaller rear projection there are two options, LCD and DLP. If they do 1080, it already p, it's just whether it can handle the signal. The i and p refer to scanning schemes of CRT based sets only. Try to avoid getting the LCD based projection, the heat from the bulb melts the innards of the light engine.
If you decide on projection LCD or DLP, get the price of replacement bulbs. You will be going through one or two of those a year. And if you do not keep the air filters clean, it will wreck it.
The DLP is the better choice actually, but I would recommend buying a replacement color wheel for it before even purchasing the set. Tell them "Get me this now and deliver it at the same time, then you get paid". Keep that thing safe, the DLP will last longer than the LCD projo, but if the color wheel goes it's so much for that. And remember the bulb life.
In either non-CRT based projection, anything that uses a lightbulb, it must not be jarred when running, and I mean to the point of keeping the subwoofer away from it. Those bulbs are extremely fragile and expensive, and they are even more fragile when lit. What's more power outages are very bad, the fan runs for a few minutes after you shut it off, otherwise the heat melts the innards.
However these precautions are not needed with a plasma. You can unplug it running, put it under your arm and carry it into the bathroom if you want to. I wouldn't recommend it, but it would be worse for any LCD, even for a smaller one like a 42".
And for a plasma you won't be going through those $200 lightbulbs every so many hours of use. As it loses it's brilliance you will hardly notice because it happens so gradually.
No matter what type of TV you get, I have to recommend Hitachi. There are things I do not like about their design, there are things I do not like about their products, but there is one saving grace. Even an independant (non-authorized) TV shop can get on the internet and get the service information. Generally parts are available. That I like.
Good luck. It's like buying a car, you could buy a shitcan and be pissed because it won't break down to give you an excuse to trade it in. Or you could buy a $60,000 car and have it spend more time in the shop than on the road.
T
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