If you guessed that was a Carnac bit from the Best of Carson DVD box set you wouldn’t be too far off…that’s available at Cost-Club as well. When it comes to a bargain for an HDTV using money that was hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar on your porch until the “time was right”, perhaps the feeling of being all-knowing and all-omniscient has you donning a massive, red velvet turban with adorning flowing cape. Once the domain of canned goods that, were they to fall on your foot, would wreak the same kind of damage as an Al McGinnis slap shot, savvy merchandising has propelled your local warehouse club into a formidable electronics powerhouse.

You know the place - large enough to house the Airbus 380 assembly line and with restrooms the size of a Best Buy. Just around the end-cap from the aisle with the #10 can of Beef-A-Reno (Rusty? Rusty!!) is an ever-expanding department with increasingly larger-sized High Definition televisions. While the volume in electronics business in these zip code-sized places are doing, is making Wall Street take notice, it is slicing the strings on the golden parachutes of Brick and Mortar CEO's all over your "City". Therefore, I posit the question: Is this path to market for high technology HDTV in the overall best interest of the consumer?

A Wee Bit Of Soul-Searching Last year when you wanted that small set for the kitchen counter, you couldn't resist the bargain-hunter lurking within. I know you remember it well... It was a week before Christmas, a Saturday in fact, and you headed for Cost-Club. Walking past the electronics area you paused, as if Jean Shepherd himself were whispering into your ear. "Gee, it sure would be festive while wrapping presents to watch It's A Wonderful Life in the kitchen on that cute little AC / DC / Crank-powered / VCR / DVD player / Weather Emergency Band Radio / Ginsu Knife / TV". (Think I jest, do ‘ya? The knife was a special mail-in offer!) So what could be the downside? At least you wouldn't put your eye out. Hah! Bill Maher isn't funny, you're funny. (Careful with that knife, though). Oh, but wait...you'd promised Franco at Emporium de A/V Paranoia  you would buy one at list as a gesture of appreciation for the deal on those new high resolution cables he sold you. Remember, the ones made with Moon dust that guarantee you'll be able to hear an ant sneeze in a hurricane? (At least you think you hear more detail; you're not sure if it's that or the parrot's water bowl resonating at 14.99 kHz). Decisions, decisions! Filled with the Joy of the Season (more likely the caffeine from the triple-straw ginormous Coke from the cafeteria) you placed the Weltron 2010 onto your cart. After a short conscience-appeasing dialogue, you determine that when you bought those cute 027 gauge train set telephone poles for your speaker wire from Franco, this ends up a face saving tie, just like Japanese sporting events. Come to think of it, that sales tax was more than the price of the Weltron. That's OK. As Franco likes to remind you, he doesn't sell Hi Fi, he sells pleasure. Enigma ended, moral dilemma resolved. There is a Clarence!  Tonight you and George Bailey are wrapping presents.  

What is the downside to purchasing at these warehouse endeavors? In the mind of many consumers, there isn't one. Pricing on many models is competitive with e-tailers (everyone knows it's cheaper on the ‘Net!) and some Club stores double the manufacturer's warranty. However, when their exchange period has expired despite the set still being within the specified warranty, obtaining service can be nightmarish. But service and warranty, though integral to the purchase in sum, is not what I am leading up to. More so, it is the process of evaluating a TV under these conditions, discussing attributes of brand vs. brand with the Cost-Club "experts", and ultimately making a determination if now is the time to plunge into the HDTV pool, and with which display type. It is a dizzying slalom through technology that forces a shopper to slash and cut like Bode Miller (when he's maneuvering downhill around gates on a mountain, not bar stools). Yet in this environment their "coach", by default, is a hapless amalgamation of mis-speaking propagandist meets the youthfully exuberant Frank (or Joe, you decide) Hardy. Let's listen in as our adorable couple..... Stewart and Sophie Nielsen, have just entered Cost-Club...  

"Well, the ol' Admiral died, so we're looking for a new TV". Frank, er, Joe thinks to himself "Dude and Dudette, one of our Admirals is dead and you're celebrating by buying a new TV? What's wrong with you?"  But instead, in his best Eddie Haskell voice says "We have the best buys, I mean, lowest prices on TVs in the whole world. I'd be happy to help you!", but mutters under his breath "until my break you heartless, anti-military ghouls". Says Stewart , "It happened all of a sudden while we were watching Lawrence Welk. There was a snap, crackle, and a pop, and then...the screen went dark".  "Well", chimed Stewart, "we paid $587.00 for the Admiral, and you would think something that expensive would last more than 31 years. Anyway, when you were working in the meat department, that standing rib roast you recommended at Christmas was outstanding. We knew we could trust you. What do you suggest for a new TV?"

Joe, despite being totally confused with the Navy thing, was certainly on top of his game after the 2 hour training he received on TV technology. In fact, he remembered the cardinal rule of the training: Never use the word ‘Technology' since it would confuse people. Taking a deep breath, he faced the Nielsen's, knowing this was his time to shine. He was in his element, this was his calling. Hone his skills here, and who knew what the next stop would be? Sears? Maybe the big stage...trade in the Red vest for a Blue shirt! No more cart roundups in the dark or trying to get that pesky plastic wrap over the three dozen tray of cupcakes without jacking up the icing. Dare it be dreamt? No! Focus! Don't jinx it!  .... ‘'I was carefully considering what would be perfect for your needs. Perhaps this Sony? It has that hurts 120 times then freshens up techno... I mean, stuff. It is our best selling TV and never breaks. Or, maybe this Samsung, it has a really strong picture...". Stewart, duly impressed with Joe's TV aplomb feels reluctant to interrupt, however he is compelled to ask, "Do you have any other brands? Which one of these is made in America?'' Joe beckons the Nielsen's to follow him to the other side of the Muskegon Pallet and Rack Company model number 993, to where salvation stood. " Doesn't get any better than Westinghouse!". Joe had done it! Dear readers, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent and point out the ignorant.

There are 8 million stories in the Naked City, this is one of them. What my depiction of Our Town was meant to illustrate is an all too common manner in which high technology (I can use that word) products are ushered out the door in not only warehouse clubs, but nearly every channel of mass-market box-moving. Caveat Emptor rules the day. Certainly there are bargains to be obtained through such outlets. When my local warehouse club was relieving Pioneer of Pro 940 PDP's for $1,999 (they cut the serial numbers off the carton, but what dealer is overstocked so heavily that they can supply Cost-Club for a few weeks worth of inventory?) I sent at least a dozen people in to pick one up. At that time, last Fall, and prior to the bottom falling out (again) with flat panel pricing, nothing could touch it for the money. (Remember, I live in Scottsdale, Az. Folks around here send their high school juniors in their own 2007 "3" Series convertibles to pick them up). The broader, more worrisome aspect of this type of retailing is the deceptiveness that accompanies the presentation. At my local "club" most of the sets are driven by signal that comes in through the ATSC antenna input. It is a DirecTv private channel with "club" oriented commercials inserted among clips from various subscription channel content providers such as HDNet, HBO, sports packages, etc. Most of the box stores implement this type of info channel ("Chris" from Tweeter is actually rumored to be David Letterman's son).  It occurs to me that connecting these displays in this way could be good, and it could be bad. In one sense, it implies the signal distribution is a modulated ATSC channel. In no household in America is this the manner in which the TV will ever be used. ATSC antenna IN? Sure, as it is likely the best means for attaining HD broadcast signals. But modulated?  I can't think of a means in which that would be employed. Whether SAT or CATV, HDTV is likely going to have Analog Component or DVI / HDMI Digital interconnectivity. As a result, one could technically make the case that you are seeing all of the displays connected in this way much like the emperor sans robe: Signal through the Tuner section is as close to "tamper-proof" as you may get. It likely engages all the manufacturers' default settings (though most manufacturers allow for parameter adjustments through the tuner input). Yet it does somewhat render all sets on display to a level playing field. (Just thinking out loud: Most sets probably anticipate a signal through the ATSC tuner to be solely HD, and likely engage REC 709 Color Space. What if the content is legacy at the source and mastered at REC 601 such as a DirecTV non-HD channel that the SAT receiver is outputting at HD resolution. We should devise a means for determining if the ATSC antenna input is displaying the signal correctly). That brings us to the one, singular set that is connected to a Blu-Ray player via HDMI. That is the set that shines like the Old North Church steeple. Usually the featured brand is connected in this fashion. Until the 120 Hz refresh Sony appeared in my local "club", Vizio was the proud recipient of this arrangement. The inference, naturally, is that any of the Vizio sets will appear this snazzy in your home. An early visit on most Saturday mornings whistling past the returns counter spells a different story. Sauntering slowly past the carts where many of these sets are prepared to meet their makers, the return tag seldom says "Defective". Mostly, it is something akin to "Looked Fuzzy" or "Trying Different Brand". Although a lot of folks are feeling pressured to buy a new HDTV, probably because all their friends already have made the plunge, they don't like what they see in most retail environments. Gosh, Wally, like, we're 10 years into this already and people still aren't convinced? Why should they be? When image fidelity through a distributed, low bandwidth, poorly implemented scheme in the store seems merely a few notches better than an older, Interlaced classic set such as a Pioneer Elite RPTV that is still working quite well (perhaps even calibrated). 

Where's the sense of urgency? For the viewer that finds his TV watching dominated by SAT or CATV broadcasts and still has a VCR connected for the occasional movie rental, the quality of image he peruses doesn't strike him as investment-worthy.  While this late-adopting segment of the market has yet to convert, it remains the largest percentage of sales potential the industry is frothing over. They aren't forum lurkers; they don't buy an eight dollar latte and sip it while reading Widescreen Review at Barnes and Noble (even though that One Installer's Opinion column is alone worth the cover price). They were the last to buy big screen TVs when they finally looked better than what they saw at the local sports bar. This is the segment that represents the rudder that will steer the HDTV ship when it launches February 19^th, 2009 (probably from Shanghai) and the design criteria that appeals to them, not the Videophile, will be what you see in upcoming products. Not that 02/13/2009 will represent any manifest shift in the retail HDTV market, but the press alone leading up to the cut off will generate interest (if not panic) about the deadline.

To the extent we can here at TweakTV, we will attempt to point out elements of performance that purely and simply are not conducive to image fidelity. When an offender must be called out, it will not be done in such a manner as to chastise the manufacturer, more so to offer up what is egregious and what the competition is doing in that market segment, with the anticipation that the product manager of that brand (they do read the forums) can carry the information back to his people and root out a cause and a solution that furthers all our desires. This really doesn't differentiate much from the manner in which the original The Perfect Vision postured itself. While TweakTV doesn't envision performing laboratory-based product reviews (at least not at the outset) as TPV did two decades ago, real-world implementations of the product from data collected in the field will fuel our reports for the best nominal settings in a particular product's User Menu. Additional adjustments that enhance and elevate performance by way of professional calibration will also be noted. The January, 2008 demise of The Perfect Vision as a stand alone entity does not pass without regret. While it epitomizes many facets of industry change since its inception circa 1984, perhaps the most notable is how the key individuals present with the magazine at that time captured not only the interest of the consumer (so that's how TV really works!) but through a spirit of cooperation went on to gain the attention of the manufacturers, enacting a sea change in product development, marketing, and resulting performance. These tireless people went on to create The Imaging Science Foundation, which today actively continues the endeavor of working with manufacturers to simply follow the rules laid out by the founding fathers of the television system and their current brethren. We feel that TweakTV has a chance of becoming the cyber version of that distant, faint voice as it not only will be our voices, but yours as well who will let the manufacturers know what it is you will and will not buy. As a unified voice, I am confident in time they will hear what we have to tell them. In Part Two of this cyber-tome, I will illustrate my perspective on how mergers and acquisitions of larger regional chains as well as new distribution channels at the wholesale level have served to squash the path to market for deserving products and disrupted the end-users' ability to access high quality manufacturers.