Every day shoppers ask us if the price of plasmas is going down. Is now the time to jump in? Sure. Just make a smart choice.

            The prices of plasmas have come down. They will undoubtedly continue to go down. But it happens in plateaus. It doesn’t happen every day.

            When we put together our annual store catalog there is often a short shelf life on the video products. Plasma pricing in particular varies with models, promotions and stock availability. The fact is, we can’t tell you for sure what plasma prices will be in thirty days.

            Hence if you’re looking at our price list and a particular plasma says $3500, it WAS when we listed it. But odds are it has come down. Check with us for current pricing.

            Panasonic Pro offers the best value out there! It is a full cut above its Consumer Series that you see at the superstores. The Pro Line has the best quality of glass and scaler out there. The Consumer Series uses lesser glass levels and scalers. Because the CS is sold through the superstores, most buyers of such TVs just take them home and plug them into a cable or antenna- and that’s it. Panasonic Pro KNOWS you’ll have cable TV (or DSS) with an HD box, and an audio system to give you the sound. Why should you be paying for a mediocre tuner and lousy speakers you aren’t going to use?!

            The Panasonic Pro Line basically comes “naked” from the factory. We configure it with the array of input cards our customers need. Why should you have to buy a base if you’re going to hang it on the wall? Why do you need clip on plastic speakers if you have a nicer sound system? Panasonic Pro knows who the true AV nuts (er, enthusiasts) are! That’s us, and you?

            How great a deal is a cheap plasma or LCD TV? If you get a large LCD the colors become almost cartoonish. Skin tones are way off. Black levels are poor. Cheap LCDs and plasmas are full of artifacts. When you look at a camera panning past a fence or crowd in the stadium- the picture goes to distortion. Any motion has a tendency for fuzzing over. Great buy, huh?

            Take this challenge. Pretend you’ve already bought plasma X, Y or Z from where ever- be it a superstore or plasmasomething.com. Now get on the phone as if it has broken and needs service. See what it will take in terms of cost and effort to actually get your plasma fixed. Will someone come out to get it? What is the charge? If you take it in somewhere, where will it sit? Will it get leaned up against a pile of other plasmas, scratching the glass or frame in the process? If you show up at facility X will you be expected to carry it in yourself through the snow? Most likely. Are parts IN STOCK for the repair? If they have to be ordered, how long will you wait? Can you talk to a human on the phone? Do they know anything? Or do you get voice mail? Does anyone call back? Can you be sure it will be repaired under warranty? Or is it your responsibility to pack it up and ship it somewhere? Did you save 100% of the original packing? If you didn’t, if you improvise any of the packing you’re inviting the receiver to say- unit was damaged in shipment and now out of warranty.

            The typical answers are, local repair centers will not honor repairs under warranty. They are very good at finding loop holes as to why you’re not covered. The first and most legitimate is, you didn’t buy it from an “authorized” dealer. {How did you know?! They said they were!} Next, the plasma will go to the center with dozens of others. You wait in line. You have to carry the plasma in yourself because the technicians are busy fixing things and the office staff doesn’t do that. Your plasma will be leaned up with a bunch of others, chassis and glass perilously resting against each other. Parts are never in stock. Never. They will be ordered and it will take 3-4 weeks, if not more. You can call every day but nobody knows anything. You get voice mail. You are easy to ignore. Until the parts actually arrive and are IN HAND, nobody knows anything. By the way, what are you watching in the meantime? Will they call you? You must be kidding! Your plasma can go out of warranty waiting for parts!

            Not all plasma defects are covered by warranty. You’ll find if you buy a $1500 plasma, the manufacturer finds it totally acceptable to have half a dozen dead pixels. While you don’t find it acceptable, they do! Hence, what you may have thought was defective, they don’t! You’ll have to live with those stuck reds or blues. A plasma has three glass panels that will run about a grand each.

            How do we know all this stuff? Well, we too have been tempted and tried other brands. Each brings its own set of “I can’t believe…” stories.

            Stick with Panasonic Pro. It costs a little more but is well worth it. And the price isn’t necessarily the price listed in our catalog. The market is competitive we know that.

            Sometimes a cheap price isn’t a good deal. In one weekend after Thanksgiving over 100,000 people ran out to buy HD-DVD players on close out for $99. The format is OVER.

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