got a deal on a home cinema system - good or not?

[S//P]

ok so ive been meaning to get a hdtv for a while now, i recently walked into a
local electronics store (peter rhodes of louth) and was looking around.

a friendly looking salesman walked up to me, we started talking about tvs and the like.

he soon gave me a quote on a system - here it is:

Panasonic TH42 Px60 (42" plasma screen - part of panasonics viera range)
with Panasonic DMR-EZ - he told me this was a HD-DVD player/recorder, i asked him if he was sure about this and he confirmed it for me.
also with Panasonic SC-HT15 speaker system.

he is gonna throw in a high quality scart lead and some dvd-rs. all for £2500 (although i could maybe manouver him a bit lower!)


alright, im not so sure about the hd-dvd thing i think its an upconverting dvd recorder or something, but still he assured me it played hd-dvds and i didnt speculate too much,

now i want your opinion on this deal, is it good should i go for it, should i try a bigger retailer such as curries etc...

ps. the £2500 also includes full tech support, installation and shipping.

what should i do?

[brian]

Welcome to Techwatc, S/p.

A quick warning about Plasma TVs:
http://www.platinax.co.uk/blogs/bria...en-tv-problems

That's after I got burned buying an LG 42".

Also, I have no idea why you'd want to buy a HD-DVD now, when we're entering a VHS vs Betamax equivalent on DVD formats - best advice would be to *not* force yourself into just one or the other DVD format, or you could find your HD-DVD player to be pretty worthless in a few years time - especially as Sony have a big hand in film and video games, and they are pushing Blu-Ray.

Anyway, overall, shop around on comparative prices for the TV range you want to look at, and watch out for for issues with Plasma TV screens.

Also, ensure you know what type of DVD player and recorder you're looking for - especially in terms of format.

Just my 2c.

[S//P]

thanks for the reply brian,
i dunno if i would have the same problems as you (in refernce to your link) as that seems quite a rare thing to happen... but you never know! ill keep alert anyway

i checked some stuff out i found out that that is not actually a hd-dvd player, its a dvd recorder which upconverts normal dvd to a better standard. this is a good thing because i am actually supporting blu-ray!

also curries gave me a MUCH better deal, its about the same price but they're gonna throw in another dvd recorder and a 7" portable IDTV too!

ive got the price down to £2375 at the moment and im going to buy if he pulls it down to £2300

[brian]

It was more the general problems with Plasma TV's - Comet claimed to have no idea that Plasma TV's had inherent flaws, but as soon as the Comet engineer came around, he had a pre-prepared sheet on the inherent problems with them.

Comet refused to do a refund because they could get away with it (if I had paid by credit card it would have been different) - but I made an exchange and got a normal CRT TV.

Personally, I wouldn't touch a Plasma TV with a bargepole unless it was a proven quality - same with LCD TVs.

Just ensure you do your homework before you make a purchasing decision.

As for Curry's - much better place than Comet, IMO.