Let me preface this by saying this is my first BIG $$ purchase from an online retailer. Also, this is my first plasma purchase. Like most people, I spent many hours at Best Buy, searching online forums ([...] is a GREAT resource for anything TV related), and reading reviews about products. It was a little hard to make a solid decision without reading any reviews of this TV or seeing it in person (I saw the 50pz800u at Best Buy but not the 42). Anyways, I finally decided on this TV, mainly because of the THX certification and 4 speaker setup. Most people raved about the out of the box setting that the THX provided so I definitely wanted that. This TV is for my room so I am not hooking up any entertainment system, thats why I wanted 4 speakers.
I purchased the TV from [...]. I found them thru Amazon and ordered directly thru them. They offer free shipping. I ordered the TV on May 22 and the price was $[...]. Between May 22nd and June 3rd (when the TV arrived) the price had dipped as low as $[...]. I called up 6ave and they price matched it all the way down to the lowest price. Each encounter I had with 6ave was great. The shipping company (Perlas Logistics) was great! They have an online tracking site (not always up to date, but still useful) and their customer support is great. Twice I emailed them to get more information on arrival date and they got back to me within minutes. When my TV showed up, the driver took it out of the box for me to inspect. He then offered to help me take it upstairs to my room. After reading all of the horror stories about online retailers, shipping companys, damaged products, horrible customer service etc from other retailers, I am totally happy with 6ave.
As for the TV, it is great! I have only had limited time to play with it, but the HD picture is really good. My cable company’s box only outputs 1080i, but the HD channels look really good. Standard TV looks good too. I don’t have much to compare it to, but when looking at Best Buy, this TV definitely stood out against others. The THX setting is a really good out of the box setup. I have that on all the time. The sound is good, but once you get above the middle range of volume, it doesn’t go much louder. Either way, for my bedroom, it is perfect. The reflection is not too bad, but with lights on I could definitely see some reflection. It is not any worse than on my 20″ iMac. If they room were dark, like at night, I am sure it will be fine.
The viewing angles are awesome. I can see the picture great from any angle in my room. After I get 100 or so hours on this, I will hook up a DVD player and old PS2 to see what the picture is like.
I will update this when I have more viewing hours logged.
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