There sure are a lot of TVs being sold out there!

[jaymer]

Stopped by a BestBuy and Costco today.
With prices coming down, there are lots of sales of these large screens happening.

With respect to "ISF Calibration", my wife asked me "Don't they come calibrated when they are new?". I guess not. Why not? Why does a manufacturer ship their unit at only what... 75% of peak efficiency? Are each of these new sets really candidates for ISF Calibration service?
Seems like that would be a tough sale (another $300 or so) to a family who just made the plunge... and if the picture looks allright, then why would they think they need to go the extra mile?

Anyways, another thing bothering me are these new EDTVs - its gonna look ok on the demo loops - and i wonder how many people will buy this only to realize months down the road they don't have real HD? or will they even care?

At BestBuy, I could not find ONE HD Settop box anywhere.
Didn't ask anyone, but just didn't see them and I kept looking.
Seems they are tight on space - TONs of tv monitors taking up a lot of space.

[CANDY76MAN]

I know the factories adjust the sets to stand out more on the showroom floor...which means mainly that the contrast is set way too high...My stepdad just bought a 46"hitatchi and the contrast was at 100% by default on all inputs....a factory ISF calibration would be great but how many people do you think that by these sets would notice a difference without a side by side comparison?...most people just want a big screen, they don't even realize that they should be able to see detail in dark scenes or that its a little green tinted overall.
From what I've seen an isf calibration can take hours...thats a lot of money the manufacturers would be spending on something only a few videophiles would really appreciate or even notice.

[FTBoomerIII]

My Mits was also set to 100% of Contrast and Brightness. I also had to "MANUALLY" set the convergence. HOW MANY BUYERS EVEN KNOW WHAT THIS IS LET ALONE KNOW HOW TO MANUALLY SET IT!!

Since then everytime I move the TV I have to do some fine tuning on the convergence.

Most buyers probably think that they buy the TV take it home and plug it in to the cable coming right out of the wall and VOILA!! HDTV.

[bdraw]

It doesn't help that the salesman tells you it is not needed.
I asked my sales person, and he actually said NO.
I am moving soon, so I plan to have it done after I move, no sense to have it done twice in 1 year.

[JCHDTV]

Yes I must say I am rather new to the HD realm but I enjoy my share of tinkering. Now that I can afford to have nice toys I just hired on Gregg to do my calibration which I hope will improve as much as I hear. I was in Best Buy on Friday after Thanksgiving buying another nice toy (5 Megapixel Sony digital camera) and the lines of people were wrapped around the store. People were buying big screens and HD equipment and most don't do home work before they buy. Some lady saw me buying my camera and she asked me if I thought it was the best one, since I was buying it I told her it was my best choice, so on that she bought it. Crazy how some people spend money!

[passedpawn]

Anyways, another thing bothering me are these new EDTVs - its gonna look ok on the demo loops - and i wonder how many people will buy this only to realize months down the road they don't have real HD? or will they even care?

At BestBuy, I could not find ONE HD Settop box anywhere.
Didn't ask anyone, but just didn't see them and I kept looking.
Seems they are tight on space - TONs of tv monitors taking up a lot of space.

They don't care. Most will claim they are watching HD. They don't know any better. But they are happy.

Any TV with a line doubler will look better than what they had (generally).

John Q Public doesn't want to do his homework, and I can't say I blame him. He just wants to push a button and watch a sitcom. Everyone is not like the addicts on these forums. As long as they go home and stay happy, no harm.

I, too, am always surprised to see the lack of OTA HD receivers. I suspect that the superstores are making a killing on satellite deals. Anyway, it is just a matter of time before all TVs have the tuners built in.

[chupacabra]

My best friend and I purchased different model 50/51" widescreens at the same time.

After my purchase I immediately calibrated with AVIA, hooked up 5.1 surround, good DVD player and started researching HDTV options, etc. I wanted to use the full potential my TV had to offer.

On the other hand, my friend only hooked up a DVD player and VCR and I had to convince him to at least to connect everything to his Dolby prologic 2 speaker system.

2 years later, you watch TV at his house - scan lines, torch mode, and all - he could care less- all he cares about is "wow look at that big picture!" He doesn't care that his picture quality looks WORSE than his 27".

Some people are just content with just the basics (or sub-basics).