An Observation of Target's TV Line
This week when I was at Target, just for kicks, I decided to wander through the electronics department (Where did you expect me to go...housewares?). While there, I meandered over to televisions. I can make two observations about their department.
First, the less important one, is that compared to some other retailers that come to mind, the worst offender being Wal-Mart, all of the TV sets had a great signal. It did appear to be high definition as well. All of the TV's had the same signal with no static, or digital noise, or signal dropouts. Whoever set this up did it right, and it shows. This makes it a lot easier to compare sets when the only variable in the picture is the television itself.
Speaking of TV's, that brings us to our second point. Out of the entire wall of sets, big and small, I noticed only one plasma set. True, there were a ton of sets in the 26" to 32" range where LCD truly shines and is more affordable, and this size has never been plasma territory which is 37" and up. Still, when the number two retailer is so heavily slanted towards LCD, and away from plasma, it kind of makes me wonder if plasma is going to be relegated only to the high end specialty stuff. I seriously doubt that too many technophiles shop for their gear at Target, but if this is what the bulk of America is buying, you can bet that the sales figures will show it, and the manufacturers will build for it.
For years, there has been ongoing debate on if a plasma or LCD was the "true" HDTV (as if there could be only one). It went as far as coworkers telling me that "I had to buy a plasma as it was the only way to go." Needless to say, I took their advice from whence it came, and proceeded to buy what looked good, and I could afford (which is always good advice no matter what the product). Bearing that in mind, I find it ironic that perhaps this is how the LCD vs. plasma debate will be settled- "Not with a bang, but a whimper," with consumers voting with their wallets strongly in favor of plasma.
--Jonas
First, the less important one, is that compared to some other retailers that come to mind, the worst offender being Wal-Mart, all of the TV sets had a great signal. It did appear to be high definition as well. All of the TV's had the same signal with no static, or digital noise, or signal dropouts. Whoever set this up did it right, and it shows. This makes it a lot easier to compare sets when the only variable in the picture is the television itself.
Speaking of TV's, that brings us to our second point. Out of the entire wall of sets, big and small, I noticed only one plasma set. True, there were a ton of sets in the 26" to 32" range where LCD truly shines and is more affordable, and this size has never been plasma territory which is 37" and up. Still, when the number two retailer is so heavily slanted towards LCD, and away from plasma, it kind of makes me wonder if plasma is going to be relegated only to the high end specialty stuff. I seriously doubt that too many technophiles shop for their gear at Target, but if this is what the bulk of America is buying, you can bet that the sales figures will show it, and the manufacturers will build for it.
For years, there has been ongoing debate on if a plasma or LCD was the "true" HDTV (as if there could be only one). It went as far as coworkers telling me that "I had to buy a plasma as it was the only way to go." Needless to say, I took their advice from whence it came, and proceeded to buy what looked good, and I could afford (which is always good advice no matter what the product). Bearing that in mind, I find it ironic that perhaps this is how the LCD vs. plasma debate will be settled- "Not with a bang, but a whimper," with consumers voting with their wallets strongly in favor of plasma.
--Jonas
Labels: Digital Television, HDTV, LCD, Target, Television
posted by digitaldoc at 1:48 PM
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