My rabid comparison of HDTV specs turned out to be way less useful than simply doing a visual comparison of various high def sets in the local BestBuy. The Westinghouse model, while cheaper than the other vendors, did a poor job of rendering skin tones and true blacks and whites. Sony, Sharp, and Panasonic boasted nice sets, but none of them were in the same visual league as the Samsung models. Another discovery was that LCD sets are still not in the same league as the plasmas. Compared head to head, the plasmas simply had more lifelike colors.
With this information in hand, I spent quality time researching Samsungs and comparing prices. It turned out that I could get the brand new 2006 Samsung HP-S4253 42″ plasma online for about $600 cheaper than in the store. We’ve had this set now for 4 days and no longer feel guilty about shelling out a major fortune for a television.
I am, however, angry at the pathetic state of consumer choice with respect to HD cable service. My requirements for upgrading to HD cable comprise only two things:
1) Must have an HD DVR.
2) Must have OLN (Outdoor Life Network) so we can watch cycling.
This doesn’t seem too complicated, so my initial reaction was to check with DirecTV about upgrading to HD with a new TV. For some idiotic reason, though, their HD Tivo is incapable of receiving the local HD channels. How…unimpressive. That left Dish, Comcast, and WoW. Switching to Dish was unattractive due to cost and the annoyance of switching the dish tacked onto my home. WoW got ruled out due to not carrying OLN, which only left Comcast. I have called those fools twice now, only to discover that they can’t manage to put my address into their broken computer system. Hence, at least for the moment, they are unable to take my business. At one point their customer service representative actually asked me if I was sure that Comcast serviced my area. I calmly informed him that I was certain Comcast was indeed a local provider because I received their junk mail all the time.
Bottom line, though, is that the new TV is great, even if the cable providers leave a lot to be desired.