lhalha
31-05-2004, 09:41 AM
I thought the following info might be useful to a few folk who are in the market for a new widescreen CRT...
Panasonic TX-76PW200A
Purchased saturday 29/05/04
Dick Smith, Moore Park Supacentre, Sydney
$2,400 - I think they may have even gone a bit lower than this...
This set is marked up at $2,999 at most retailers. I got a quote for $2,485 at Retravision on Gardener's Road ( I would not reccomend you go to this store though, the service was appalling) ... Harvey Norman at both Broadway Shopping Centre and Moore Park said that this was below their cost and could not match it, and in fact would not believe I could possibly have been quoted that price. I imagine they had old stock to shift that they had paid more for... Then Bing Lee at Moore Park said they could do $2,400 (and I saw on their internal computer that their stock price was 2187, to which the guy added 10% to come up with the $2,400) but did not have one in stock. Dick Smith matched their price and I had the unit in my car within about 5 minutes! Their shopfloor display price was lower than anyone else's at about 2799 I think...
Also the new MegaMart at Mascot - I think they would only go to about 2500 at a push.
Dick Smith also had the big Sony 76cm Wega equivalent on the shop floor for only $2,499 so I imagine you could get a good discount on that as well. Too bulky for my house though.
I am very happy with the set - the analog tuner is great, much better than my old 51cm Sony Wega. S-video DVD from my Harmon Kardon DVD21 looks great too. I don't have component outputs on my DVD so haven't tested that yet. The remote/menus/setup are all very easy and intuitive, and the channels/settings etc all change very quickly and smoothly.
1st DVD I watched was Moulin Rouge, and the colours blew me away.
2 small complaints: The "subwoofer" active frequency sounds like about 500Hz, not a nice low 60Hz. It does not really provide very deep bass, and makes the sound quite muffled if you turn it up past three quarters - surprising compared to the sound on other (much older) panasonic TVs I have heard. This is not a problem for me though as I have a home cinema system so don't use the sound on the TV much.
Also, the transformer is quite noisy - but you can only hear it whilst you are sitting right next to the unit, eg whilst inserting a DVD or something. I am no electronics expert - maybe someone can comment on whether this is normal - or if it will get better in time?
All in all, a very happy customer.
lhalha
Panasonic TX-76PW200A
Purchased saturday 29/05/04
Dick Smith, Moore Park Supacentre, Sydney
$2,400 - I think they may have even gone a bit lower than this...
This set is marked up at $2,999 at most retailers. I got a quote for $2,485 at Retravision on Gardener's Road ( I would not reccomend you go to this store though, the service was appalling) ... Harvey Norman at both Broadway Shopping Centre and Moore Park said that this was below their cost and could not match it, and in fact would not believe I could possibly have been quoted that price. I imagine they had old stock to shift that they had paid more for... Then Bing Lee at Moore Park said they could do $2,400 (and I saw on their internal computer that their stock price was 2187, to which the guy added 10% to come up with the $2,400) but did not have one in stock. Dick Smith matched their price and I had the unit in my car within about 5 minutes! Their shopfloor display price was lower than anyone else's at about 2799 I think...
Also the new MegaMart at Mascot - I think they would only go to about 2500 at a push.
Dick Smith also had the big Sony 76cm Wega equivalent on the shop floor for only $2,499 so I imagine you could get a good discount on that as well. Too bulky for my house though.
I am very happy with the set - the analog tuner is great, much better than my old 51cm Sony Wega. S-video DVD from my Harmon Kardon DVD21 looks great too. I don't have component outputs on my DVD so haven't tested that yet. The remote/menus/setup are all very easy and intuitive, and the channels/settings etc all change very quickly and smoothly.
1st DVD I watched was Moulin Rouge, and the colours blew me away.
2 small complaints: The "subwoofer" active frequency sounds like about 500Hz, not a nice low 60Hz. It does not really provide very deep bass, and makes the sound quite muffled if you turn it up past three quarters - surprising compared to the sound on other (much older) panasonic TVs I have heard. This is not a problem for me though as I have a home cinema system so don't use the sound on the TV much.
Also, the transformer is quite noisy - but you can only hear it whilst you are sitting right next to the unit, eg whilst inserting a DVD or something. I am no electronics expert - maybe someone can comment on whether this is normal - or if it will get better in time?
All in all, a very happy customer.
lhalha