This is kinda a long story, and it doesn't necessarily serve a purpose, other than to say "SWEET."

Ok, as some of you may or may not know, I've been working for CompUSA for the last 1.5ish years. In an announcement 2 months ago, CompUSA decided to close down roughly 50% of it's stores, including mine.

So I'm losing my job next Sunday, gotta look for a new one (even though I've known for 2 months :P).

Anyhoo, the prices has been gradually going down and down. 10% off, 20 % off, yada yada yada. Nothing was a great deal; usually they'd advertise 20-40% off and the only thing that's 40% off are crappy cellboost (disposable) batteries for ipods. In the last week, we've made the jump from 30-50% off (mind you, computers aren't included, they're always 20% max) to (today) 60-80% off, because we HAVE to get rid of the inventory in the last week.

So people are scrambling.

Two days ago, we hit 50-70% off on everything. They see "50% off" and they start buying TV's up the wazoo.
My store sold 30+ TV's the DAY we announced 50% off. I worked for 3 hours, bought a nice pair of demo model Logitech Z-10 speakers, a nice upgrade from my crappy 8+ year old junk speakers. They were retail 149.99, and I got them @ 74.99 + tax (80ish).
E-bay had them for no less than 84.99, and online it was no less than roughly 120 dollars. They're AWESOME by the way.

I get home, tell my mom "wow, we sold 30+ TV's, it's a zoo."
she says "Are there any left?" (we don't have any Hi-def TV's)
I say "Mom, I have class in 45 minutes and I have a half-hour drive on the free way"
she says "call someone you know and have them hold it"
we argue and I finally call a guy who works in TV's.
he tells me theres a few left that can do 1080p.

I know they can't hold anything because we're closing, so I show up (I'm late for class), and this guy's interested in the one I have my heart set on. R---, the guy I called, says "Are you buying this sir? If you are, you ahve to do it in the next 5 minutes because he *points to me* is interested." Luckily I'm wearing jeans and a "trucks are a man's best friend" T-shirt. V-----, a streets-smart guy who works there, walks up and says "oh I'm sorry sir, this one's sold." I look at V-----, I look at R---, then I look at the guy. "Sorry, we gotta take this into the warehouse, it's sold." Internally I'm jumping for joy, externally I'm walking away like I'm disappointed. I don't feel that bad because we're all losing our jobs in a couple days. I even saw the store manager open a piece of $300 software and said "it's defective" and gave it to our tech manager the same day.
So I got the Sony KDS-50A2000 for 1200 + 100 dollars Tax. Retail was 2400, online it looks like it's roughly 1600-1700 cheapest.
1080p, hi def.

My family loves it. I've got an HDMI cable coming in the mail so I can use my PS3 for blue-ray and gaming in High-definition.

Anyway, I'm learning a bit about all the different types of High-def cables, although I already knew a little bit from working at CompUSA. I guess the Xbox360 doesn't work with HDMI yet, only componant. Still looks awesome when I plug it in.

On that note, does anyone know if VGA would be better than componant for Xbox 360?

/end

Component vs. VGA on the 360 really seems to vary by display. Some people report a better picture with one, some with the other. Honestly if component looks good to you I'd just stick with that.

As for HDMI, the new Xbox 360 Elite (just launched) has it, but Premium and Core continue to not.

Congrats on the TV, sounds like a damned good deal. Too bad there are no Circuit City's CompUSA's here, I'd like to buy a HDTV soon.

psst CompUSA

and thanks

The 360 Elite is the only 360 with HDMI capability.

Component still holds its own in my opinion though, and I run in 1080i on my HDTV downstairs.

My Local Comp-USA has degenerated into a yard sale, and they're still ripping people off even though they are a few days from closing.

Example: I just shook my head at seeing a VERY old laser printer (parallel port only, no USB) that had obviously seen EXTREMELY heavy use in some back office somewhere. They were still trying to sell this piece of crap for $50 (you can get a low-end laserjet NEW on newegg for less than a hundred) , and there was no promise that it even worked.

Whoops, yeah, CompUSA. We don't have Circuit City here either (though CC did buy Radioshack, so all locations are now "The Source by Circuit City").

Pagewizard, you'd be surprised at how stuff still sells when it sucks. People will buy it if it's missing a cable or a battery or if it has a scratch... or they'll wait till it goes down in price, and if its stil there, they'll buy it. If not... then someone else bought it :P.

i'm taking a crap in a compusa right now.