$1999 42" Plasma HDTV @ Costco

[Maximus96]

bump, i'm looking to pick one up after work tonight. went on saturday trying to score one but the local store took all the boxes away. even took away the display unit that was there a week ago.

 

[Uclagamer_99]

WTF, went to Costco around noon and all 13 had sold out this morning. Don't bother going to the Costco in Chino Hills if you're looking for one.

 

[Maximus96]

Originally posted by: HenHowC
WTF, went to Costco around noon and all 13 had sold out this morning. Don't bother going to the Costco in Chino Hills if you're looking for one.

so did they issue a rain-check?

 

[imported_Bud]

went to costco on sat., one of the employees said i could get one then, and come back to get the credit for the coupon during the week. Was gonna do it, but the only one left had a very dented box. Asked him if they had more... he said there were were about 20 on the loading dock.

went there today (this afternoon), they sold them all out. Argh!

 

[Maximus96]

i just called san leandro costco and they're sold out too, fock!!

 

[StumbleBum1]

OOS at Nashua NH today at 10:15am:disgust: Got a rain check

 

[Maximus96]

can't believe this expensive (for me at least) tv is selling like its a black friday special.

 

[jimmythehammer]

Got one. After reading how fast they went eveywhere else I'm glad I decided to get there early.
I got there about ten minutes before they opened. A lot of people already outside waiting (SOP on weekends) but busy for a weekday/holiday. Started considering anyone with a hand cart a possible competitor for the plasma screen (about 1/2 dozen guys with hand carts.) It turned out about four of us were after the plasma's. It looked like there were maybe about a dozen plasma's, so no problem getting one. I imagine they sold out by noon, but don't know (Boise, ID) for sure. I looked for the best box (no damage to box) and they had some stacked horizontally (been reading this could be bad) so I had a Costco guy help me move one to get to a lower box.
I only have an s-video cable so I haven't fully tested it out yet. The picture looks fine by my (low) standards, but I will get a HD cable for my dvd (still only 480p/i) to test it more.

 

[Kavikgold]

I went to my local costco (westlake, ca) after work (around 6) and they were totally cleaned out with 20 rainchecked/back orders. I talked to the manager and he said he was not selling any more of the plasma tvs (refused to give out any rainchecks) until this friday.

 

[imported_Bud]

yeah, the sales guy said he wouldn't raincheck it unless it was like the end of the week and they were out of them ... btw- here's a link http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages/ces2005.htm stating why the vizio is so inexpensive, and saying / speculating there's more to come in the market...
Anyway, good luck to all who got one, and let us know any pro's / con's !
Regards, -Bud

 

[huesmann]

I went to the Gaithersburg, MD Costco and they were sold out. Then I went to the Beltsville, MD one and they were also sold out. I got a raincheck at Beltsville. I should have gone straight to Beltsville because I'd called 90 minutes before and they'd said there were still 4 units in stock. These things are selling like hotcakes.

Does anyone know if they will honor the coupon with rainchecks after Sunday if they don't get stock in before then (or if they sell out again by then)?

 

[Zoglog]

Hey, I picked up the last one of these (besides the display Unit) at Costco in Inglewood (It was kind of scary picking up a 2000 dollar TV there . I was gonna get it at marina Del rey but thier shipment didnt arrive. So I couldnt handle it so I went to inglewood =/. Anyway After Taking it out Unfortunetly the damn box wouldnt fit in the backseat of my altima (1 inch too high =( ) So I had to basicallypull it out of the box which was a pain. Anyway So finally get it home and running watched 24 on it on standard def which sucks (gonna have to contact my cable company about a HD cable box) . then I ran some tests with my xbox. the 720 P worked well with soul calibur 2 but then I ended up with those rainbow lines like Aircasper had. I don't think this is just in a defective unit considering both Me and 2 of Air casper's units display this way. It would be a huge pain in the ass for me to exchange it at a costco, and considering the problem doesnt seem to be isolated to just my unit i'm wondering if anyone knows how to fix the problem. Maybe I should contact Vizio's support.
Besides that the unit is great. 720 P with soul calibur is jawdropping D:!!!

 

[JasonG]

Looked at various Costco's in the San Francisco area on Saturday. SF Costco had 18 on pallets and did not have any on display for sale. South SF had only 5 units.

Went to SF store on Monday morning before opening and there were about 5 people buying these along with myself. Noticed that most were "P42HD" with only a few showing "HD64e". This is only on the manuf. sticker on the box, not on the box itself.

I thought I read somewhere that the "e" model was newer so I took one of those instead.

I'm sure if they weren't sold yesterday, they will be out today at the latest.

Jason

 

[Nutdotnet]

Question for the HT guys-

Would the quality of this unit warrant replacing a 50" RPTV (Toshiba 50h82)? I know it would have better "athstetics and probably better PQ" but I'd be sacrificing 8 inches of viewable area.

 

[Uclagamer_99]

Originally posted by: Zoglog
Hey, I picked up the last one of these (besides the display Unit) at Costco in Inglewood (It was kind of scary picking up a 2000 dollar TV there . I was gonna get it at marina Del rey but thier shipment didnt arrive. So I couldnt handle it so I went to inglewood =/. Anyway After Taking it out Unfortunetly the damn box wouldnt fit in the backseat of my altima (1 inch too high =( ) So I had to basicallypull it out of the box which was a pain. Anyway So finally get it home and running watched 24 on it on standard def which sucks (gonna have to contact my cable company about a HD cable box) . then I ran some tests with my xbox. the 720 P worked well with soul calibur 2 but then I ended up with those rainbow lines like Aircasper had. I don't think this is just in a defective unit considering both Me and 2 of Air casper's units display this way. It would be a huge pain in the ass for me to exchange it at a costco, and considering the problem doesnt seem to be isolated to just my unit i'm wondering if anyone knows how to fix the problem. Maybe I should contact Vizio's support.
Besides that the unit is great. 720 P with soul calibur is jawdropping D:!!!

Many people seem to have the problems you're having with certain games on the Xbox. Check AVSforum.com. It's not for all the games so there must be something a bit off with this plasma.

 

[Uclagamer_99]

Originally posted by: zaku

Originally posted by: HenHowC
WTF, went to Costco around noon and all 13 had sold out this morning. Don't bother going to the Costco in Chino Hills if you're looking for one.

so did they issue a rain-check?

No, the guy working the floor said First Come, First Served but that they would be getting more later in the week.

I don't have to run around checking if they have it in stock so I just got the Pioneer 4312 instead. Sweet plasma and works perfect with Halo 2.

 

[camelcowboy]

Wait a sec.. I'm seeing you guys writing about the p42HDE but the one i purchased is a p42HD, with the orange box and written 5000:1 contrast ratio on it.. its black also. I got it from the Foster City, CA Costco. So whats the difference between the two, the box and manual both say p42HD.

 

[LyNX31]

Originally posted by: camelcowboy
Wait a sec.. I'm seeing you guys writing about the p42HDE but the one i purchased is a p42HD, with the orange box and written 5000:1 contrast ratio on it.. its black also. I got it from the Foster City, CA Costco. So whats the difference between the two, the box and manual both say p42HD.

don't worry man u got the right one

 

[Zoglog]

aye dont worry camel

however you should worry about these problems with 480 p I am running into I checked the AVS forms but it seems like nobody has found a fix. I guess i'll have to disable 480p on my xbox. I'm gonna test my ps2 on 480p tonite (I just bought a component cable for ps2). If it works i'll let you guys know if not, I guess 480p on these sets is whack.

 

[imported_Bud]

if you want to see the p42hde label, look on the back of the actual unit itself.
The box doesnt say hde... but on the floor model in costco, the unit model
number on the back was P42HDe.

Regards,
-Bud

 

[camelcowboy]

ok so I bought the plasma, took it home and plugged it in, and guess what.. a green line running vertically right down the center of the screen. I dont know if its just an isolated problem or a heads up for these vizio's. I'm going to take it back, but it'll take forever to get a replacement with the chaos going on. I may end up paying a little more to get a name that I can trust.

 

[MixMasterTang]

So I am having a personal debate with myself trying to convince me to sell my 48" Mitsubishi Rear Projection HDTV and get this one. So my question is for the people that have purchased this one, do you think it would be worth getting rid of my old tv to get this one, or wait a little while and save up the money to purchase one and keep my old tv too? Or should I just settle for what I have.

 

[Zoglog]

yeah thats prob a bad unit camel I think unless you plugged your stuff incorrectly or did something else incorrect, can u show a picture?

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: MixMasterTang
So I am having a personal debate with myself trying to convince me to sell my 48" Mitsubishi Rear Projection HDTV and get this one. So my question is for the people that have purchased this one, do you think it would be worth getting rid of my old tv to get this one, or wait a little while and save up the money to purchase one and keep my old tv too? Or should I just settle for what I have.

Yeah, I'm having the same prob w/ my 50" Tosh.

 

[imported_Bud]

Called another nearby costco last night, they had 2 units. By the time I got there, 90 mins later, they were gone! But, at least at this Costco, they DID give me a raincheck.

I must admit, hearing about these vertical lines and things, I'm starting to get a little cold feet.
-on 1 hand, from what I understand about costco's return policy, if anything is wrong, i can just take it back - so nothing to loose, no questions asked.
-on the other hand, these little issues about the xbox & lines, it could use 2 REAL YPBPR inputs, perhaps a vido out, a video input in the front, are just things that "could be a little better" in the set.

In a link I previously posted, the rumor is that the vizio is just 1 import from 3 big chinese tv makers, who are supposedly flooding the market with cheaper tvs. In turn, the speculation is that the name brand tvs are going to have to respond with price decreases (Korean / Japanese). The expected time frame for this happening is within 3-12 months.

Anyone else have any pro's / con's stories to tell, now that they have their P42HDe ???

Regards,
-Bud