Buying local retail vs. mail-order

[kromike]

I've decided on the Sony KDP65xbr2 based on the wide range of specifications the unit offers. But I'd welcome your opinions on whether to go with buying local at your friendly neighborhood retailer, or going with mail order.

Obviously, mail-order (m.o.) can often guarantee a much better purchase price, but many of the m.o. shipping policies won't accept returns on HDTVs. And whether it's damaged during shipping or bad-out-of-the-box has got me a little skittish.

Now, I'm no stranger to mail order. I've built many home PCs this way and have never had problems. But given that this is a much larger big-ticket purchase, what would any of you recommend?

Thanks,
Karl Romike
Peoria, Az.

p.s. Has anyone thought of or tried hooking up a PC with a standard high-end accelerated VGA card to a HD unit? If so, what was the result?

[zarlor]

Well, I'd find a place with a return policy, or at least that would provide some kind of assurance should the set be damaged in shipping. Otherwise I wouldn't have a problem.

The real reason I wanted to respond was to your P.S., though. Absolutely you can do that! Many of us have. In fact we use our PCs as "Home Theater Personal Computers", or HTPCs for short. :)

After all, it's a lot cheaper than buying a progressive scan DVD player and a Faroudja Scaler. A PC, by nature, is a progressive scan format and playing a video on whatever screen resolution you are using, hence scaling, is a basic funtion of virtually every video card out there. It also doesn't hurt to play "Need for Speed: Porche Unleashed" at 1920x540p, either, if you ask me. ;)

For a TON of info on using your PC with an HDTV check out the HTPC forum at AVS Forums (http://www.avsforum.com/) and see what the folks there reccomend. It is WELL worth it to plug your PC up to that HDTV, IMHO.

Good luck!

[ZeroDegreeK]

Mail order is a pretty good way to go. Your set is usually covered by at least a year of in home warranty. You can purchase more.

Even if your set did crap out in less than a month and you bought it locally, you wouldn't be able to return it to the store. They would send someone out to repair it per manufacturer's warranty, the same for an online merchant.

Make sure you get in home white glove delivery to protect against the set being dead out of the box. If it is broken on delivery, you can simply not accept delivery and they will be forced to take it back.

For a big screen, online merchants are a good way to go. You can save a lot of money. However, if you are still skittish, Sears (and many other merchants) matches internet prices.

Good luck.