Please Help!Toshiba 34" widescreen tv for $1,600. Should I buy? (1 Viewer)

[Wayne Shiu]

Last week I received a coupon from tweeter for 10% off anything in the store. So I went into the store today to see if they had any good deals or closeouts. There wasn't any deal that caught my eye until I saw a Toshiba 34" widescreen HDTV (model 34HF81) floor model for $1,600. 10% off would bring the price down to $1,440. It doesn't come with the remote but I figured I could get a replacement one from toshiba. I looked online and the cheapest I could find was for $1,900, and bestbuy is selling it for $2,400. Please offer me some advice on whether this is a good deal or not. Thanks in advance for your help!! Forgot to add, this is a direct view tv, if you didn't know already.

 

[Jim FC]

Toshiba's likely to charge you at least $60 for a remote, so factor that in. Usually those 10% off coupons tell you they don't apply to closeout items, so study the disclaimer and see if this is the case. But if you can indeed get it for $1440 and it doesn't look beat-to-hell, I'd think that's a pretty good deal. The Panasonic 34" uses the same tube and it's still going for $2500 new.

A couple things to look at: check the back of the TV for a date of manufacture to determine how long the TV has been on display... any more than a year and you probably don't want the TV. Also make sure that Tweeter will honor the full manufacturer's warranty, and find out what (if any) return period you have... you'll want this so you can check the TV in your home for any problems.

 

[Wayne Shiu]

Thanks for the tips, Jim. Yeah, the coupon says it applies to all closeouts, so I'm good there. If I buy the tv, I figure I'm going to be purchasing a 3 year protection plan just in case.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

Yes!

BUT --- Make sure you check for convergence problems. Any problems wont be covered by the warranty (unless very severe).

 

[Wayne Shiu]

Thanks for the helpful advice Gregg! I'm sorry for asking a stupid question from a newbie, but what is the best way to check for convergence? Also, is there any crucial test that I may miss due to not having a remote control? Thanks!!

 

[Gregg Loewen]

put in avia or Video essentials and look at a convergence grid. Make sure yuo see all white lines and not red / blue / green rainbows

 

[Greg Johnson]

As far as not having a remote. I just purchased a genuine Toshiba remote from an ebay seller for 12 dollars. There is always quite a few Toshiba remotes for sale on ebay.

Greg Johnson

 

[SteveA]

Gregg - I believe he is referring to the 34" direct-view Toshiba. Direct view sets don't have convergence issues, do they?

 

[Jim FC]

Direct-view TVs do indeed have the same convergence issues taht RPTVs do, but it isn't an adjustment that gets out of whack nearly as often. Consequently, it's not an adjustment that can be done within the used menu of a direct-view set, which means if the TV has these issues it requires a service call.

Just ask the store to put the TV on CNN or something that has a lot of text on the screen. Looking at white text, you will very easily tell if the convergence is off.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

Thanks Jim!

Text can very often help diagnosis convergence problems. However, a static image is always preferable (when available).

Gregg

 

[ThomasL]

Wayne,

did you end up buying this set? That price still seems like a steal.

cheers,


--tom

 

[Wayne Shiu]

Hi Tom,

I ended up not buying the set because I recently got married and had a honeymoon in Hawaii, so an HDTV became out of my price range after that. I'm hoping to save up some money and get a similar HDTV by early next year. I think I still saw it on sale a couple weeks ago, but unfortunately the 10% off coupon expired. Tweeter's also had a couple of nice display models of Samsung's 30" and 34" direct view widescreen tv's at discounted prices.

 

[ThomasL]

Wayne, the Tweeter in my area has been selling the 34HF81 for $1999. This is still too rich for my blood but I'm hopeful that it means that their replacements will be similarly priced and in general, the price of 16x9 direct views are coming down. The Toshiba 34 inch set fits perfectly into our space and would mean a ~90 percent increase in the viewing area of 16x9 movies. I'd much prefer to get such a set as my long term set over a HDTV-ready 32 inch 4x3.

cheers,


--tom