Comparable replacement TV

In My Humble Opinion
1

First off, I readily acknowledge that I am quite ignorant about TVs and most other electronics. I’d appreciate any thoughts you might have about my situation.

2.5 years ago we bought a TV from one of the big box retailers with the initials BB. We bought what we thought at the time was a pretty decent set without going to flat screen - a Sony Trinitron WEGA 36", model # KD36X5955. We also bought the stand for this set, and the extended warranty from BB.

Long story short, our set turns out to have been a lemon. After the 3d attempted repair proved unsuccessful, apparently BB is going to allow us to get a replacement set “of a similar quality, performance, etc.” So I decided to look on-line to see what exactly that might entail.

Here’s the catch - as best I can tell Sony doesn’t make this model any more. If they do, BB doesn’t seem to carry it - at least they don’t admit as much on-line. Do any of you techies know if - in fact - my 3 year old TV is no longer made? And, if I am unable to replace it with the same TV, what would you suggest is the most comparable model/type of TV to relpace it with?

Looking on BB’s website, I see they don’t offer any tube TV larger than 32". Also, we’ve got a DVD/VCR, and multiple game systems hooked up to this TV, but I assume those would be compatible with most other sets.

So, is my basic option to try to convince them to let me upgrade to a flat panel? I can imagine them not being thrilled with that because, my TV wasn’t cheap, but it cost far less than the flat panels. Of course, prices probably have dropped since March '05.

We bought the Sony Trinitron because we had had excellent experience with them lasting very long and troublefree in the past. So I am hesitant to replace it with a brand I am unfamiliar with.

What a pain in the butt for this admitted luddite who wants little more from his TV than that it turn on and show a picture when you press the power button.

2

I have a larger 55" set in our rec room but I am soon going to have to replace our 32" Sony tube in our living room.
I’m thinking of going with this set>> 37" Sony projection.

BB may give you the option of the closest replacement set or a dollar amount towards another set.

3

I’ve understood them to be fairly liberal in their replacement policy. If you find them to be too rigid, put your foot down, talk to the manager (or regional manager). You paid not only for the TV, but the service plan, which they love to sell. Not to mention all the hassle, etc.

I’d stick to your guns and fight for something based on your original purchase price - that should get you something fairly nice. You’ll likely get a flat panel - most major manufacturers, including Sony, are not making large tube TVs any more - their profit margins on LCDs, now that they have fully ramped up production, are significantly higher.

4

I was going to recommend that exact model. DLP TVs are just fine, and have one big advantage over your current model - it’s about 200lbs lighter :slight_smile:

5

Yeah, to make a flat panel equivalent to the old tube TV, they should throw in a set of free weights and a hair dryer.

6

Yeah, one reason we got the extended in-home warranty was so that we wouldn’t need to carry that beast out of the basement ourselves! Very glad we did!

One difference I see is that that version would need an optional box for HDTV cable. I’ll have to compare options with a fine-toothed comb, to make sure it does what we want it to do. I know we’re going to have to buy a new stand, as we bought one that specifically fits our existing TV. Altho I must admit, the official HD TV of NASCAR is appealing!

How does the picture clarity on rear projection TVs compare to tubes?

If they give us credit for our purchase price, that would be good, as our set cost more than this one 2.5 years ago.

I guess we are a little concerned about what they will do, because they kinda hassled us over the phone. The guy came out and fixed it last Friday, and that very night the picture went out again. When we called them, they said we’d need another repair before they would replace it, because it needs to be a “qualified” repair that lasts for at least 30 days. My wife had to be very firm, pointing out that the warranty says nothing of the sort, to get them to approve a replacement. But hopefully the store will be more accomodating than the telephone “service” center.

Heck, if they could get this set to work, I’d have no interest in a replacement. I’m not trying to scam them out of a new TV. I’d be perfectly happy if the one I had bought would work.

7

Well, I know you were all just dying to find out how this ended… :wink:

They authorized a replacement for up to the purchase price of the old set ($1650). My wife went in this a.m., and picked out this set.

I’m sure it will be more TV than this luddite will be able to appreciate. Very satisfied with the exchange (and the extended service contract!). The $1600 credit was only good for the TV, so we bought a service contract on the new one.

We are also having it delivered for $25. I wouldn’t have minded bringing the new one home myself, but they required the old one for the exchange. I’d pay significantly more than $25 to have someone other than me haul that behemoth out of my basement and around to the front of the house!

One thing that strikes me as wierd, is that our old tube set was set up to receive HD over the air and cable with nothing extra needed. Apparently if I want HD cable on this new set, I need to get an HD Box from my cable provider.

8

It is common to not build in HiDef receivers into TV’s. Many cable companies force their own receiver on you, so people don’t want to pay for a feature they don’t need.

9

Yes, you will need a cable box that can deliver HD to you for cable-only channels, but with an antenna you can get local HD channels over the air for free, plus if your PBS station is like ours, they use their digital capability to do multicasting. So you end up getting a bunch of channels would won’t get with an analog set.

10

Yeah, when we got that old set, I was quite satisfied with the number and quality of channels we pulled in over the antenna. But the rest of the family wanted to go cable. When we did, we got HD over the cable without a box.

Now, apparently, with this new set, we will need a box with the same cable provider if we wish to get HD. Just strikes me as a little odd.

11

I don’t find it that odd, for the reason Philster already stated. Too many reasons for a QAM tuner (which is the device that displays unscrambled cable channels - to get scrambled channels you’d still need a card or a box) to be an unnecessary added cost. Our Samsung has it, but until very recently cable wasn’t even available in our area - we had satellite and we needed a box for that. Even if we decided to go with the local cable company now, we’d want a DVR, and the DVRs all have built-in tuners, so it’s not really very useful. Also, if you want on-demand programming you need a box to get that, and so on.

12

Personally I would recommend against getting anything less than 1080 resolution. 720 is called HD, but IMHO it’s just not.