Mitusbish at Best Buy versus a HiFi Dealer (1 Viewer)

[Steve Carlo]

Our local Best Buy is selling Mitsu Platinum series 55" rear projection TV's for 2799 (plus a $200 mail in rebate as a BB voucher and free delivery, extended warranty = 300). The local dealer is selling the same TV for 2999 (plus delivery, and extended warranty = 425-500). I spoke to the dealer (and confirmed myself) that his model of the TV has a few features that the BestBuy version doesn't, namely:
1. Non-reflective high contrast screen cover
2. Full control of RGB levels as opposed to "picture" and "tint"
3. A switchable digital/analog source choice which he claims will enable his TV to reproduce analog signals much better than the Best Buy which is fixed to digital.

Clearly buying from the dealer (even with a basic price match) will be more expensive and we are willing if it is worth it. Just curious what people's opinions are of the both tiers of TV's and is the differences are really worth an extra 4-500?

 

[JoeHard]

I have seen alot of RPTV's with screen covers that are very reflective and it can be very distractive.I also find most local dealers to be more helpful and knowlegable.If you passed on the extended warranty you could probably make up alot of the price difference.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Full control of RGB levels is very important as it will allow you to correct any color decoder issues without entering a service menu. Most all sets are set up to overemphasize red (called "red push"). This causes faces to appear sunburnt unless you turn color level down, which makes other colors less vivid.

Best Buy Mitsus also do not let you turn off Scan Velocity modulation--a "picture enhancement" that causes excessive edge enhancement.

I'd go with the non-BB set for the RGB control and ability to turn off SVM.

 

[Tyler DJW]

Does anyone know how to access the RGB controls on the Platinum series, without getting into the service menu? I have a week-old 48" Mits and I only know how to chance picture/tint settings. That would be a great help since my red setting is about 20%+.

 

[Tommy Ceez]

Which models are you comparing?

As a point of reference in the most expensive city in history, NY, I got a PC Richard dealer (local chain) to drop the price of a 55511 from 2700 down to 2299. BB cannot haggle. Work the dealer telling him your gonna go to best buy because you trust them on returns or some crap. Ususlly the independents want the cash in hand.

 

[sean_pecor]

I'd definitely go with the local dealer and not Best Buy. It's not the same TV. BB's version is dumbed down, and unfortunately lacks important features that allow you to get the best picture quality. The BB Mitsubishi is like a V6 Camaro, IMHO. What's the point? Get the V8!

*start rant* I'm not a fan of extended warranties. They are essentially a profit-engine for insurance companies and dealers, since they only insure the window of time when the equipment is least likely to fail. An RPTV is all "solid state" electronics; it's not a car with thousands of moving parts. My estimate is that 95% of all failures happen well before the end of the first year of ownership. Shucks, I'd bet 75% of failures happen within the first month. *end rant*

Sean.

 

[Steve Carlo]

I don't remember the exact models but they are basically the Platinum Series 55". I'm also considering a Pioneer 53" (next series down from the Elite - my local dealer informed me the Elite was a rip off for a nicer case) on the grounds that its picture is good, I can get it for 2500 (possibly less) and should I want to get an HD tuner I can get one for our dish for 500 right now making it the same price as the Mitsubishi (which as far as I can tell although it has the HD tuner built in, it won't work for anything other than terrestrial broadcasts as the cable and satellite companies scramble their HD signals). But I'm not sure if the Pioneer has that same velocity scanning switch as the Mitsubishi so I can watch analog signals without screaming at edge effects and the like.

 

[Tyler DJW]

as far as I can tell although it has the HD tuner built in, it won't work for anything other than terrestrial broadcasts as the cable and satellite companies scramble their HD signals

The Mits tuner decods OTA signals, as well as unscrambled QAM cable signals. I don't recall if QAM is standard per se, but I think it is widely adopted by the cable industry (well, in so far as broadcasting HD is widely adopted by the cable industry).

...I just wanted to clarify.

 

[Steve Carlo]

Can you tell me the difference between the OTA and QAM signals please? The dealer said that it won't deal with satellite signals and I'm guessing that if an HD signal goes through my regular satellite box it will strip the HD components from the signal?

 

[sean_pecor]

I'm not sure if the dish receiver supports an HD input which it passes through to your TV on the same input. It is likely that you would connect your dish receiver to one TV input, and your OTA receiver into a separate input.

If you're getting the Dish Network's HDTV solution, then don't worry about it. Just get the 6100 receiver with the $150 8VSB cartridge that adds support for OTA analog and HTDV broadcasts:

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/p...00/index.shtml

This is probably one of the best solutions because you can pipe your analog, ota hdtv and digital satellite standard and hdtv content through one component.

Also, I think I just read something about the Dish Network's new "super dish" that grabs signal from all three satellites (for dish 500 and hdtv).

Sean.

 

[Tyler DJW]

Sorry Steve, I'll try to clarify, though I'm not an expert. The Over-the-air (OTA) signals use a particular protocal for transmission, but I don't recall what it is called.

The cable industry settled on another protocal referred to as QAM (don't know any more than that). I beleive there is a scramled version of QAM as well, but the Mits DTV receiver is cable of decoding unscrambled QAM signals, which is what the cable industry has adopted.

In other words, the Mits receiver decodes standard OTA and Cable (unscrambled) signals just fine!

 

[Hugo]

Our local Best Buy is selling Mitsu Platinum series 55" rear projection TV's for 2799 (plus a $200 mail in rebate as a BB voucher and free delivery, extended warranty = 300). The local dealer is selling the same TV for 2999 (plus delivery, and extended warranty = 425-500).

BB model is the WS-B55 and your local dealer's probably the WS-55511. The model WS-B55 is a model that mitsubishi made with fewer features than the WS-55511 to make it cheaper and compete with the market of BB. So, in my opinion, I would go for the dealer's. I hope that helps.

Hugo

 

[Steve Carlo]

Everything has helped guys, thanks. We decided on the Mitsu Platinum and will be buying from Domes. We initially got a price from Domes, took it to Sears who did their 110% match and Domes beat that again. Overall it will cost us a touch more for the whole thing with Domes, but the extras we are getting (5 year warranty instead of the 3 from Sears) more than make up for it. I can't wait! 3 weeks until we move in and can set it up!

PS. Ultimate price was less than Best Buy for their "lite" version.

 

[Erik Farstad]

Steve: Sent you a PM! Nice decision on the Mits too! ;-)

 

[greg_t]

don't remember the exact models but they are basically the Platinum Series 55". I'm also considering a Pioneer 53" (next series down from the Elite - my local dealer informed me the Elite was a rip off for a nicer case

Your dealer is quite wrong. There are several differences between the Elite's and the Standard line.

 

[Steve Carlo]

Now several months down the road I bought the Mitsu Platinum from the local dealer for a number of reasons:
1. Good shop
2. They price matched and gave me a good deal
3. I wanted control of the velocity scan modulation (VSM)
4. Most importantly the dealer led me to believe that you could control the RGB levels.

Well the Gold versions do have full RGB control. The Platinum and Diamond do not! Can you believe that? So I spent an extra 400 on the non-best buy model for the priviledge of having VSM and a better front screen. The screen is quite reflective in dark scenes so very soon I will be removing it. I could have bought a Gold series and upgraded it to an HDTV tuner for the same price and had more control over my picture!

Even worse...I called Mitsubishi and they told me the TV had full RGB control!

However, the dealer has said if we cannot get our picture to look good for us, he will come out and tweak it with the service menu options.

/rant off