Would you buy an HDTV with a big scratch just because it's cheap?

[John Clark]

Not really. IMO, the picture and viewing angles are inferior to plasma.

I know the older ones were bad for viewing angles, but the ones I've seen over here are decent enough. I know on one of ours, I'm almost watching it from one side when we have it on

As for picture quality, I don't know. I've only seen the plasmas in the showroom (and they tend to be larger than the available LCDs). They're good, but I don't see any difference in quality there. - That may be down to tuning/what ever they're showing though. The downside over here is that they are a bit pricier.

As for the original question, if the scratch is on the screen, no. On the base or the frame is ok, but not on the screen.

 

[An Officer]

If the scratch was just on the frame, and I had it in mind to buy a TV, but couldn't afford the full price, I would buy it on the spot and count myself lucky. If I had the full price cash, I would want a pristine one, if it's going to get scratched, I want it to be by me.

 

[Arrqh]

Just not an lcd tv. Never buy one of those.

What an odd thing to say.

Anyway, no. If you watch TV often, do you really want to be looking at a scratch all the time?

Not really. IMO, the picture and viewing angles are inferior to plasma.

Each type of display has its own benefits and disadvantages depending on the person who's going to be watching it and the environment that the display will be in... so to make the claim that no one should ever buy an LCD is a bit, lets say, overzealous.

 

[Pingfah]

I can hardly stand the one tiny dead pixel I have on my monitor, I think a gash on my TV would drive me insane. As such, no, I wouldn't buy it

I've got a dead pixel too. It pisses me off!

 

[Jadzia]

On the screen, a scratch is visible because it is refracting the light. To make the scratch invisible, you don't need to repair it, only to stop it refracting. You can do this by rubbing something like vaseline into the scratch, and then wiping off the excess. From a realistic distance it should be much less visible.

 

[Aragorn]

Hmmm, didn't think I actually needed to say that the scratch is on the screen, but yes, it's on the left half of the screen.

 

[An Officer]

^ Only good for the bin in that case.

I'm sure if I didn't have a TV at all though, I'd be happy to fetch it out of a bin.

 

[Squiggy]

Hmmm, didn't think I actually needed to say that the scratch is on the screen, but yes, it's on the left half of the screen.

When what's the point of buying it?

 

[ShimmeringFacet]

If the scratch was just on the frame, and I had it in mind to buy a TV, but couldn't afford the full price, I would buy it on the spot and count myself lucky. If I had the full price cash, I would want a pristine one, if it's going to get scratched, I want it to be by me.

yes, I'd actually only consider a scatched frame tv as a main tv if I really needed to save the money and it was ridiculously cheap; if I were flush with cash I wouldn't feel inclined to take a chance on an open box buy. I'd factor in the wear of it possibly being "on" so much.

 

[Aragorn]

That's why I posted this thread! Best Buy was selling it for $300 something and a couple was spending a lot of time contemplating and looking it over.

 

[ShimmeringFacet]

Just curious, how big was the screen size?

 

[Aragorn]

It wasn't a super big TV. I didn't look at the specs, but maybe it was a 27-32" TV.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I'd buy it for about $25

 

[Plecostomus]

I hate to say it but this discussion is worthless without pics.

All depends where the scratch is really... how deep and what angles it's visible at.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Where is the scratch? Wouldn't a massive gash across the screen negate the entire reason one would get an HDTV?

My thought as well.

 

[ShimmeringFacet]

It wasn't a super big TV. I didn't look at the specs, but maybe it was a 27-32" TV.

I've noticed that prices for LCDs have really dropped in the last year. Just quickly checking, there are new 26" LCDs going for under $400 depending on brand. I saw quite a few for 350. I saw a 32" Samsung on sale for 500 at target.
They need to get serious about reducing the price of this tv.

 

[Kelthaz]

We need more information.

How big is the scratch?
How big is the scratch compared to the size of the TV?
How noticable is the scratch when the TV is turned on?
How much of a discount is there on the TV?

 

[An Officer]

Yep, sounds a bit greedy to sell it for over $300. You'd have to be a fool to go for that. I would spend the $300 on a smaller, immaculate condition TV.

 

[Aragorn]

The scratch goes downward on the left half of the screen, maybe a third of the total length of the screen going up down. Best Buy discounted about $500 from the price.

I would never touch the thing, but couldn't help but notice the couple that spent an awful lot of time looking it over. I'm actually going back there today to return something, so if it's still there, I'll give you all the specs.

 

[An Officer]

I can't believe they would think to sell that. Sounds completely destroyed to me.

Must be hard times indeed... they probably know there's one born every minute.