adhock

After a couple of years, I've decided it's almost time to replace my trusty Acer AT3705 37" LCD screen. It's a great screen and has served me very well, but there's some vertical banding on it which is getting harder to ignore, unfortunately. That and I'd like one with slightly better black-levels. But, it's been a few years since I actively looked into LCD panels, and I'm not really sure what brands/models I should be considering. I'm looking for either a 37" or 40" screen (I suspect 42" is a bit large for the room it's in), and aiming to spend something in the vicinity of $2000. 1080p is a must, not sure about 100hz (is it worth it?). It's primarily going to be used for watching movies/TV/video (through a HTPC and/or my Toshiba XE-1 HDDVD player), and also gaming (X-Box 360 and Wii). Armed with a pen and paper, I wandered around my local Harvey Norman to get a rough idea of sets to consider. From what I could find in the 37" screens, there were Samsungs (Series 6, LA35B650 T1F), Panasonic Vieras (THL37G10A), and LG models (37H56YD). In the 40" range, there were both S6 and S7 Samsungs, and a Sony (KDL40V5500). The LED Samsungs were very, very tempting...but probably a bit out of my price range. In terms of in-built media functionality, it'd be nice (I saw the Sammy's had 2 USB2.0 ports for video/photo/music playback), but I'm not greatly fussed. If there's a panel with substantially better PQ, I'd take it over the extras, since I can play videos through my PC which I plan to hook up to it. Does any one have any particular recommendations for screens this size, or ideas of particular models/brands to avoid? Looking around online, it appears that the Samsung and Panasonic models seem to have a good reputation, so I'm guessing they may be a starting point?

Just got mine today as well, part of the 25/2 club. I got: Next Stardust Blades of Glory Shrek Italian Job MI3 Hulk World Trade Center The Holiday And last, but certainly not least.... Norbit

My order of The Prestige got canceled by TheHut today - they couldn't track down a copy obviously...

The problem is that I'm not sure I'd have any problems with them if my address was correct in the first place. That's the main issue, and since then its just kept going downhill. They refused to change the address (before any items had even shipped), telling me to just cancel and re-order, despite the fact that a couple of items weren't available anymore. And now they don't seem to want to give me the necessary customs numbers for me to receive my order. However! They've just responded again after I re-asked for the numbers, with "I have passed this over to the team that deal with missing items and dispatched items to try to get this information for you". So yeah, I'm not sure I'd be complaining if my address was correct, but it's the customer service that I am completely dissatisfied with - unfriendly, and useless. Maybe I've just been spoilt by Amazon's customer service.

I will *never* be buying from TheHut again. Ever. This is getting absolutely ridiculous. Since my initial order, they've now shipped all but one of my discs (The Prestige) to my address without a street name. I contacted Australia Post, who told me that the items are sometimes just returned to sender, so to find out the "Customs Declaration number" and they should be able to investigate it, along with instructions on where it should be printed. I asked TheHut for this number last week for each of the shipments, and just got a response back of: AAAAAAAAAARGH! These one-line responses are not acceptable.

Thanks for the suggestion - I sent an enquiry form off to Australia Post today to see what they say.

Just got two emails, first said: "We are aware that your order for the below listed product(s) have not yet been despatched. The Prestige Constantine The Matrix - Trilogy Complete The Last Samurai Space Cowboys Charlie And The Chocolate Factory We are chasing the supplier for an update on your order and as soon as we have any further information for you we will contact you again." Second said: "Thank you for placing your order with us at TheHut.com, order no: 5987392 item: Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Constantine, Space Cowboys, The Last Samurai We are able to confirm that stock for your order is due to be sent to us shortly from our suppliers. This will arrive with us towards the end of next week and once we have received it we will arrange for your item (s) to be dispatched to you as quickly as possible." I note that there's no mention of the Matrix Trilogy or Prestige in the second email...here's hoping I still get them. The Prestige was the main reason for me placing the order...

Yeah, I can't believe that they can't change it at all, considering the items haven't even shipped yet. Absolutely ridiculous - wouldn't ever bother ordering from them based on this experience. My suburb's a pretty large one too. I think I may have to sacrifice my Matrix box-set from them. *sigh* Yep, had a brain-wave and tried to correct this when I got up this morning. No such luck, unfortunately.

Unfortunately...I live in a suburb of Perth. (<insert joke about Perth being small capital city here>)

Yeah, I was thinking to myself that they surely can't have a system THAT archaic that they can't update one field. It's not like I'm even asking them to change the address altogether. It's adding ONE word to it. I tried pleading to them, pointing out that I'd lose my Matrix Trilogy from the order if I canceled, and yeah, got the message posted in my last post. Ridiculous. It's certainly a far cry from Amazon's brilliant customer service. The address isn't too different. But it's missing my street name, so instead of: "<number> Blahblah Road" It's "<number> Road" No street name. Everything else is correct - name, suburb, postcode. Just that one field. I'm just wondering if the post office can somehow figure out where it should go based on my surname, street number and postcode/suburb. Here's hoping they can...

Does anybody have experience with anything like this happening (package on the way to an address without a street name)? I contacted TheHut again, pleading for them to try to do something since The Matrix Trilogy (which isn't available) was in my order but isn't on the site anymore, so canceling and placing a new order means I lose out on an item: "I am sorry but there is no way that this can be amended once an order has been placed sorry." But then again, if it means I won't get anything, I probably should just cancel and re-order.

Just called up myself, spoke to Tim. Was informed there's been a system error with the dispatch of a bunch of XE1 redemptions, so they have to manually enter the details into the system again. They'll try to get the discs out asap....

AARGH! Regarding TheHut, somehow my Street name has been missed out of the delivery address, so it reads "<number> Road". No street name. At least suburb is included. I submitted a customer service enquiry, asking them to correct the address, and got the response of... "I am sorry but you will need to cancel this order and then reorder using the correct details." What the hell?!? Here's hoping the post office can figure out where it should go...

So is it recommended to call Toshiba up to inquire about it? I'm part of the 25/2 club, but nothing's appeared yet...

Me too.

Just checked junk/spam folders, nothing. And I placed the order about 7:30pm last night (Perth time). So it's been a while...

Is it usual to receive no emails from TheHut? I've placed an order, can log in and view details, but have not received any of the usual "Thanks for placing an order with TheHut. Your order number is ___" emails like other online stores normally send out...

I've got two dud copies of Sky Captain - one arrived, wouldn't play on my XE-1, so Amazon sent out a replacement, but it didn't work either. I tried emailing Paramount a few times, but never heard back...

They had heaps around a few of the stores a month or so ago, not sure about anymore.

I've never figured out how to use the 'Resume Play' button on my XE1. Never seems to do anything with either SD or HD discs when I press it.

Just got the email that Robin Hood was out of stock in the warehouse and has now been backordered. "One or more of the items you recently ordered from us is currently out of stock at our warehouse. We have ordered this product from our supplier and it will be shipped to you when it becomes available."

After digging around the site for ages, I eventually found it written somewhere (will find link later if needs be) - it's 4.50 per item internationally.

Anyone know what Robin Hood's like on HD DVD? I'm tempted...

Isn't it 45 business days from whenever the offer ended?

My replacement copy of Sky Captain from Amazon arrived today, but it also won't play on my XE1. So now I have two copies of a disc I can't play...