LicensedTaximan
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I wasn't quite sure where to post this, but as it's not specific to a piece of hardware but rather a situation that occurred in one of John Lewis stores I felt this was the best place to recall my little story.
Ok....my last fare of the day (Sat 11th June 2011) was in Maida Vale an area which is sort of slightly northish central London. Great I thought to myself, from here I can head home (Barnet area) through a little bit of Kilburn and then through West Hampstead (to miss out crap traffic through Kilburn High Road and Cricklewood Broadway...ok knowledge Of London lesson over) and then go via Hendon Way to Brent Cross (as opposed to Golders Green, Finchley and home) and i'll pop my nose into the BX branch of John Lewis, doing this would enable me to have a gander at the Panasonic VT30 series. I had phoned up a couple of evenings prior to check that they had one on display and in fact they had a 55 incher, and although I was only interested in the 50 inch model it would enable me to see the set "in the flesh" as it were. When I got there and saw the tv, and very nice it is to, I asked to speak to an assistant. Now as many of you may know with the VT20 series there were problems with "floating blacks" and the "50 hz bug", there were a couple of other things as well but we'll concentrate on these two as they were the main noticable problems on this series.
When I got a Mr assistant, which was quick, I explained about these problems on the VT 20 range, which on the VT30 (floating blacks) had been either minimised or eradicated and he gave me a very strange look as if to say er...are you making racist comments and then said "I'll take your word for it sir" . Then when I mentioned about the "50 hz bug" his eyes started to change sockets, and once again it met with a reply "well it's the first I have heard of these things, but if you want to look at the models we have i'll leave you to it"... . But what made me walk out with itchy teeth was somebody within ear distance was buying a 3d enabled tv and the sales assistant said "....and of couse you'll need to buy a high speed 3d enabled HDMI lead otherwise you won't get the 3d". How much, I wonder, would one of these super duper 3d enabled HDMI leads cost £££'s i'll warrent. As many forumites know a lowish (well made) hdmi lead at around £8 per metre will work fine. Yes you can get them for less but personally I would start to question the construction quality.
Now I know that JL isn't a specialised place like a dedicated av shop but given their position of trust with the general public, as against the likes of Currys, Comet et al, you would think that their sales personel would (and should) be better informed. And given the VT and the GT series are hardly cheap products they were not conversant with the (well known) past problems, well not at the BX branch. Maybe they need to log on to AV Forums or have a word with either Phil or Steve. Either way their buyer has not ordered any 50 inch models (at present) of the VT 30 series only 55 and upwards at this branch so he was not even able to give me a price on that size. Maybe JL's buyer considers people living within a few miles of Brent Cross are all rich and have big houses. Yes I know i'm looking at an expensive replacement tv, but the old one we just disposed of was a 19 year old crt one, and no we don't have a big house, well not that big. By the way I only wanted a price on the 50 inch version and I haven't made my mind up who I will be buying it from. Probably not JL as they don't sell this size (yet)....plus it won't be for a couple of months yet as i'm still saving up for it.
Now some of you out there may feel that i'm being too harsh on JL regarding the tv debacle, but the situation with the hdmi lead is totally out of order. Even if they sell one of their own makes it will be a darn site more than a perfectly good cable from any of the "assured advertisers" on these forums. Anyway rant over...but what do you think?
Ok....my last fare of the day (Sat 11th June 2011) was in Maida Vale an area which is sort of slightly northish central London. Great I thought to myself, from here I can head home (Barnet area) through a little bit of Kilburn and then through West Hampstead (to miss out crap traffic through Kilburn High Road and Cricklewood Broadway...ok knowledge Of London lesson over) and then go via Hendon Way to Brent Cross (as opposed to Golders Green, Finchley and home) and i'll pop my nose into the BX branch of John Lewis, doing this would enable me to have a gander at the Panasonic VT30 series. I had phoned up a couple of evenings prior to check that they had one on display and in fact they had a 55 incher, and although I was only interested in the 50 inch model it would enable me to see the set "in the flesh" as it were. When I got there and saw the tv, and very nice it is to, I asked to speak to an assistant. Now as many of you may know with the VT20 series there were problems with "floating blacks" and the "50 hz bug", there were a couple of other things as well but we'll concentrate on these two as they were the main noticable problems on this series.
When I got a Mr assistant, which was quick, I explained about these problems on the VT 20 range, which on the VT30 (floating blacks) had been either minimised or eradicated and he gave me a very strange look as if to say er...are you making racist comments and then said "I'll take your word for it sir" . Then when I mentioned about the "50 hz bug" his eyes started to change sockets, and once again it met with a reply "well it's the first I have heard of these things, but if you want to look at the models we have i'll leave you to it"... . But what made me walk out with itchy teeth was somebody within ear distance was buying a 3d enabled tv and the sales assistant said "....and of couse you'll need to buy a high speed 3d enabled HDMI lead otherwise you won't get the 3d". How much, I wonder, would one of these super duper 3d enabled HDMI leads cost £££'s i'll warrent. As many forumites know a lowish (well made) hdmi lead at around £8 per metre will work fine. Yes you can get them for less but personally I would start to question the construction quality.
Now I know that JL isn't a specialised place like a dedicated av shop but given their position of trust with the general public, as against the likes of Currys, Comet et al, you would think that their sales personel would (and should) be better informed. And given the VT and the GT series are hardly cheap products they were not conversant with the (well known) past problems, well not at the BX branch. Maybe they need to log on to AV Forums or have a word with either Phil or Steve. Either way their buyer has not ordered any 50 inch models (at present) of the VT 30 series only 55 and upwards at this branch so he was not even able to give me a price on that size. Maybe JL's buyer considers people living within a few miles of Brent Cross are all rich and have big houses. Yes I know i'm looking at an expensive replacement tv, but the old one we just disposed of was a 19 year old crt one, and no we don't have a big house, well not that big. By the way I only wanted a price on the 50 inch version and I haven't made my mind up who I will be buying it from. Probably not JL as they don't sell this size (yet)....plus it won't be for a couple of months yet as i'm still saving up for it.
Now some of you out there may feel that i'm being too harsh on JL regarding the tv debacle, but the situation with the hdmi lead is totally out of order. Even if they sell one of their own makes it will be a darn site more than a perfectly good cable from any of the "assured advertisers" on these forums. Anyway rant over...but what do you think?
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