Walmart Tries To Pass Off Antique As HDTV
Shawn spotted Walmart selling an old CRT TV, mislabeling it as an HDTV. He snapped the accompanying incriminating photos and writes:
Drove into [redacted], CT this past weekend to meet up with a friend, and he needed to pick up a digital picture frame. So we went to Wal-Mart.
We walked in and it immediately smelled like someone crapped themselves, but I digress.
While I was skipping through the electronic aisles, I stumbled across a CRT TV. I was like "WHOA. I didn't even know these were still in stock".
$188. The price was rolled back. Nice.
But wait. Whats this? 27" LCD HDTV? All the specs line up to the TV in question (stunning 480i resolution)...but it's LCD...HDTV? I think not.
The mistake is probably exclusive to this Connecticut Walmart, as the website seems to have it right, but if you spot a similar mislabeling drop us a line.
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Comments:
But you're saving $1.87! That is a good deal no matter what your label reads.
@RevancheRM: Consumerist policy, I think. They don't want to make it easy for Wal-Mart to just fix one store if it's really a widespread problem.
First mistake was deciding to go to Wal-Mart.
They probably have a template to quickly add the TV specs and print out a shelf label... and since they don't sell many (if any) CRT's anymore, someone forgot to change the now standard LCD HDTV heading. Nothing to see here, move along.
Well, No, all the other "specs" don't line up. I see front mounted AV jacks, but the tag says there is only 1 AV jack. Also, the "recommend" section lists HDMI cables, but no HDMI port is listed. I am guessing some employee put the wrong spec tag under the wrong TV.
We walked in and it immediately smelled like someone crapped themselves, but I digress.
Oh, that's ridiculous and unnecessary. But I laughed.
Whoever smelt it, dealt it?
@RevancheRM: Yeah really...all towns in Connecticut are bumfubar.
Still...I swear my 20 year old GE RF tv get's equal resolution to my big screen lcd tv (at least with dvds). Man...that's a rock solid tv. I remember playing NES on it when it first came out, now I'm running an xbox 360 through there! (well...when it works)
@rpm773: I swear people put these parts into stories JUST so they can say "but I digress"
Still, I feel it was somewhat necessary. =P
I'm trying to remember if there were upgraded crt televisions with better resolution. I can't recall what they were called but I KNOW these existed.
Go figure I just looked it up and there WERE/ARE High definition CRT televisions. Consumerist...you guys got it at least partially wrong. Look up SONY KV-32HS420 Direct View.
Way to freak out over nothing.. you could have just told an associate and they probably would have fixed it.
@nstonep: After thinking...it's possible this actually HAS an LCD screen just the exterior is fubar...couldn't tell you without looking at it to see if the screen is FLAT (LCD) or CURVED (CRT).
@zwizer25: But for every person that notices this, there's a person who thinks this is an awesome deal. The problem is, how many people who notice this will say something to the associate, and how many associates will actually do something about it?
@nstonep: I highly doubt the resolution claim. I'm not entirely sure exactly what resolution DVDs output to, but that's the resolution they output to EVERY TV they are connected to. Therefore if you had like a 5 year old TV and a brand new one, the DVDs would be shown at the same resolution. At least that's my educated guess (more of a wild stab in the dark really, but eh).
@nstonep: I have a 30" Sanyo CRT HDTV I picked up on clearance a few years ago from Wal-mart. At the time it was an awesome price top enter the world of HD. It is still my only HDTV, and besides the fact it is a pain to move because it is heavy and akward, it's been a darn nice TV.
I'm shocked that the Ph.D students that work at WalMart would make such a mistake. They should ask their Ivy League schools for their money back.
@YOXIM: Yeah...it's called an exaggeration. I doubt they're the same resolution but I don't give a flip; looks good enough, I don't need to count the stubble on Jason Statham's face in Ghost of Mars thank you very much.
@nstonep:
Yup, I have a Sony KB-34XBR970 34" widescreen CRT HDTV. It weighs 200 lbs. but has the best picture of any HDTV I've seen, to this day.
Info:
[www.crutchfield.com]
Lots of companies grafted digital tuners onto old standard-def, square tube TVs and, yes, they'll display high-definition and digital signals - in low-def and letterboxed.
@pecan 3.14159265: Actually...hdtv for under 200 bucks even if it weighs 100 pounds is a pretty good deal for a second tv unless you want to go scouring craigslist.
@nstonep: But if it isn't a HDTV, and someone thinks it is, they're obviously not getting what they paid for.
It can *receive* HDTV, just look at the label. It has to convert the signal to 480i for display though.
@nstonep: That's because DVD's output to 480i, a resolution that both TV's can display. You need an HD source to get a HD picture. The LCD should upscale the picture a bit, though, so you should get a picture that looks (slightly) better on it (maybe).
So right! I always shed a silent tear when I see people going into our local Walmart in droves. Do they not realize those prices come from low wages, poor benefits, etc. for Walmart employees?
How many better paying retailers have been run out of business because of Walmart? The list is endless.
@Brontide:
Bingo. This is 100% accurate advertising. All TVs sold in the USA capable of receiving broadcast TV MUST be able to receive an HDTV broadcast.
Way to overreact, consumerist.
@nstonep: i want a crt hdtv, been tryin to get one for my gaming as plasma gets image retention and burn-in and lcd has problems with scrolling. i own both type and am happy with niether.
I am very curious as to whether this is one of the Wal-Marts near me that I DON'T go to.
@nstonep: flat != lcd. There are flat screen CRT tvs. CRT = cathode ray tube, not curved. It has nothing to do with the screen itself, but rather the technology used to generate the picture. I know more than one person that has an HD, flatscreen, CRT tv, they are just heavy as hell and the tech is outdated.
Would you like Monster with that LCD TV?
@unpolloloco: I think you mean 720i or if you have a progressive scan then it's 720p only ones that go higher are HD DVD's and Blue rays which are 1080i/p respectively.
and there is a huge difference between CRT and LCD if you have a digital source.
Jumping in before the Capitalist apologists tear this thread to ribbons...
My favorite is walking through the parking lot with all the big pickup trucks and SUVs with 'Buy American' and UAW bumper stickers, all loading up on that cheap Walmart merchandise. These are the same people that look down their noses at me and my 'damned America-hating foreign car'.
Hypocrisy! The Amurrican Way!
@adrew: You can also still find some HD 16:9 CRT monitors floating around for very high prices. CRTs do have better color reproduction by their nature than LCD screens and so haven't quite yet gone away
But it's a top-of-the-line Sansui, come on!
@RevancheRM: I think Phil listened to the same audio book version of Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk that I did, and they keep saying "redacted" when referring to parts in the book blacked out with marker.
@shepd:
No... digital and HD are not interchangeable. It can receive a 480i ATSC signal, but don't expect it to do anything with a 720p or 1080i ATSC signal.
@TheSpatulaOfLove: Wasn't it just a few days ago that we were celebrating an Above and Beyond moment starring WM? Already, we're back to ripping into the company...
@GitEmSteveDave_@Gmail.comNeedsAWaveInvite: Looking at the English on their website (yes I checked...no crts listed however) maybe the packaging is wrong. Stranger things have happened.
@nbs2:
As I said before, Hypocrisy! The Amurrican Way!
Personally, I'll drive past three WalMarts to shop elsewhere and will only go to Walmart when I have no other choice.
On the occasions that I have shopped at Walmart and had a Customer service issue, for the most part, they have handled it to my satisfaction.
That's not to say that I am in agreement with their business practices. At a few points in my career, I have been engaged with them as a vendor and have chosen to avoid being a customer due to how I and the companies I worked for were treated. Sure, it's business, but in this case, it shook me to the core and changed my personal beliefs.
The point of my original post was more the hypocrisy shown by other people when that type of person would chastise me for my choice in vehicle, yet run over to Walmart to feed the monster they blame for the woes of the nation - all to save 50c on a package of toilet paper or whatever.
@unpolloloco: Well...I run it through dvi because I have a non-hdmi xbox but I believe that would be greater than 480i but I'm not finicky with the details of resolution because it strikes me as nerdy and like the guy who get's the "sports edition" of some car. It might perform somewhat better but if it can't cook me a hamburger and fries and cure sweaty boot rash then I just don't care.
@nstonep: Nobody needs to count the stuble on Jason Statham's face in any movie. At least I don't think they do.
@nstonep: I actually thought there was an actual town called Redacted, CT. You know, where privacy-minded Nutmeggers and Joe Lieberman live. But I digress.
This is probably a copy/paste thing, and whoever was making the labels wasn't quite paying attention. I've seen worse.
Question: why is there a need to redact the town? I can understand last names, but I'm honestly in the dark on why specific locations need to be.