HDTV – Where to Buy – Boutique or Retailer?

by Dave Donovan

If you want a viewing experience as close to that of the local cinema, your best bet would to be to invest in a quality surround sound system and a large HDTV. But if only it was that easy, right? Today, there are so many different types of HDTVs that it can be difficult to figure out which one will give you the best experience for the money. And if you think that is tough, just wait until you visit your local audio/visual store and see the wall of TVs. Talk about information overload! Here are some things to consider when choosing where to shop for your HDTV once you make the decision to go high def.

The Boutique Experience: Style with a Price to Match

HDTVs aren't cheap, so you want to know what you're buying, right? This is where things get a little tricky. For starters, boutique audio/video stores employ people who are highly educated about the stock they sell. Because these stores sell only audio and video equipment, these sales people don't have to worry about the latest CD releases, appliances and other electronic items sold at the retailers. Boutiques also offer the shopper the best opportunity to see how the television looks in a more realistic setting. But, with these benefits come higher prices and the salesmen are trained to try and get you to purchase all of the high-end cables and accessories to go along with your HDTV, which isn't a bad idea, except that the price on many of the accessories is inflated.

The Retail Experience: Maximum Selection, Minimum Expertise

Retailers offer the shopper better prices and usually a more diverse selection, including some bargain HDTV choices. But, don’t try asking the retail salesman about progressive scan, DCDi or aspect ratios because odds are he may look at you strange. Also, because these stores have such a wide selection, they usually have a model on the wall to showcase the quality of its picture, or lack thereof. The truth is, these wall-banks of televisions give you no idea how the HDTV will look in your own living room. The fluorescent or high-pressure sodium lights in the store do nothing to create a realistic experience and the sales team probably messed things up further by changing the resolution settings on each set. In addition, the video signal is so often split, that most of the televisions feature pictures that look worse than your current rabbit ear setup.

Before you ever purchase an HDTV from a retailer, always ask the sales person to see the remote control for the television you are interested in. This will allow you to adjust the settings to get a better feel of how the TV will look. If they can't find the remote, don't purchase that set, at least from that store.

The HDTV Bottom Line

The bottom line is that when shopping for your HDTV, be sure to research, research, research. Read current reviews from reputable sources, check out prices online and visit a few different stores. Educate yourself before you go shopping and prepare to put in the time to find the best HDTV for the best price. Perhaps the best advice is to combine the resources of these two shopping experiences, the expertise of the boutique with the value of the retailer, in order to find the perfect HDTV for your family room.

Dave Donovan is a freelance copywriter living in Atco, N.J. An electrician for 15 years, an injury forced him to pursue his true passion - writing.