[Maflynn]

Looks like its the end for Circuity City, news is starting to break that they'll be "liquidating"

Can't say I'm all broken up about it, I can't remember the last time I was at a circuity city store. I do feel bad for the folks who work there, but I can't say that I'm surprised. Especially given the fact that last year or the year before it they fired off all of the experienced staff and hired new staff because they didn't want to pay the salaries of people who worked there and were knowledgeable..

[Big Mac]

I didn't think liquidation would happen. A bit disconcerting.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/16/news.../circuit_city/

I guess the big winner here is Amazon.

[Maflynn]

I think it will be Best Buy, most people who bought stuff at circuit city will now probably go to BB

[Dakar V]

Time to get some **** on the cheap.

[starman]

The only time I walked into a CC in the last year was to find cheap Blu-Ray discs. I won't miss them.

[Laminar]

Ooo, right as I enter the market for a nice LCD TV. I don't know which one to get, though, so I'll probably start a thread on it. Also, I will most definitely get the Circuit City three-year warranty.

[Dakar V]

If I see the right deal I may pick a second HDTV up for the bedroom.

[Cold Warrior]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Ooo, right as I enter the market for a nice LCD TV. I don't know which one to get, though, so I'll probably start a thread on it. Also, I will most definitely get the Circuit City three-year warranty.

Are you sure you want to purchase a warranty from a company that may not even be around in three years to honor it?

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by cold warrior 

are you sure you want to purchase a warranty from a company that may not even be around in three years to honor it?

Joke!

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

If I see the right deal I may pick a second HDTV up for the bedroom.

To compliment the mirrors on the ceiling and the vibrating bed?

[Gator Lager]

just read this. I'm going tomorrow.
DEAL OR NO DEAL

Are Circuit City’s extended warranties affected by the liquidation?
• No. Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans® (extended warranties) have
been backed by third-party independent companies for more than 15
years and as a result, are not impacted by Circuit City’s closing.
• Currently, all Circuit City Advantage Protection Plans are fully backed by
the Assurant Solutions companies. Assurant Solutions operates as
Federal Warranty Service Corporation, Sureway, Inc., and United Service
Protection, Inc. Assurant Solutions is part of Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ),
and its extended service contacts are backed by an Assurant insurance
subsidiary rated A “Excellent” by A.M. Best Co.

http://newsroom.circuitcity.com/announcement.cfm

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

To compliment the mirrors on the ceiling and the vibrating bed?

Giggity.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Gator Lager 

just read this. I'm going tomorrow.
http://newsroom.circuitcity.com/announcement.cfm

Now what happens if I financed a TV over three years but they went out of business? Is that handled by a third party too?

*Disclaimer: I'd never actually finance something that trivial.

[osiris]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Now what happens if I financed a TV over three years but they went out of business? Is that handled by a third party too?

*Disclaimer: I'd never actually finance something that trivial.

AFAIK a third party will buy your agreement - that's a money maker.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

To compliment the mirrors on the ceiling and the vibrating bed?

I read that kind of backwards first time round, and wondered momentarily why on earth anyone would want a vibrating ceiling in their bedroom.

[Laminar]

I'm sure there's some sort of "painting the ceiling" joke I could make here.

[osiris]

If I drink too much the ceiling vibrates. And the bed spins.

[scottiB]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Now what happens if I financed a TV over three years but they went out of business? Is that handled by a third party too?

*Disclaimer: I'd never actually finance something that trivial.

Circuit City's credit card is through Chase. I've purchased many items from CC interest free over the past 10 years.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Ooo, right as I enter the market for a nice LCD TV. I don't know which one to get, though, so I'll probably start a thread on it. Also, I will most definitely get the Circuit City three-year warranty.

The warranty will likely be handled by GE and other suppliers, so it really wouldn't matter.

[Rumor]

I have a CC close by. Guess I'll be keeping an eye on it.

[imitchellg5]

They've been out of here for about 2 months now.

[turtle777]

RIP. You will NOT be missed.

-t

[Big Mac]

Come on guys, CC may have not be the best, but I think we can all agree it's better than Best Buy.

[rickey939]

RIP or RID?

(Rest in Debt)

[Cold Warrior]

Originally Posted by rickey939 

RIP or RID?

(Rest in Debt)

Their shareholders probably won't come out so hot either.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

RIP. You will NOT be missed.

-t

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

Their shareholders probably won't come out so hot either.

Get the paddles! CC is flatlining!

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Come on guys, CC may have not be the best, but I think we can all agree it's better than Best Buy.

Huh ?

-t

[OldManMac]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Come on guys, CC may have not be the best, but I think we can all agree it's better than Best Buy.

I've done product marketing and demos in several Circuit Citys, and I occasionally shop in a couple of Best Buys, and I'd have to strongly disagree with that statement. Of course, we usually disagree on most things anyway.

[ctt1wbw]

The last time I went into a Circuit Shitty I was kicked out. Seems they had a massive sale with the sale stickers planted over the actual price tags. I started peeling the sale price sticker off and loe and behold, the sale price was the same exact price as the normal price. I told some people that they were being had, and I brought it up to the store manager that something fishy was going on and he told me to leave.

I wasn't that impressed with the store to begin with. This has been about 10 or 12 years ago. And ChumpUSA wasn't any better, either. If you could get a human being to acknowledge your presence in that store inside of 20 minutes you were doing good.

Now there's Best Buy, which is kind of a lie. There's almost always a few thousand people in the store and no one to help you out. And then there's the Geek Squad. I've dealt with them a few times, and only met one person who knew his stuff. I had Ubuntu dual booting on a laptop and when he booted it up, he said that was awesome that someone was using Ubuntu.

[Eug]

Anyone know what's happening with The Source in Canada? They're owned by Circuit City.

I assume they're being liquidated too which is no big loss because they royally suck, but nonetheless it'd be good to get confirmation that they're not be being bought out or whatever.

EDIT:

Wha'?

I guess the Canadian arm is doing reasonably well... which surprised me. From that linked article in the second post:

Circuit City also operates about 765 retail stores and dealer outlets in Canada. The company said its Canadian operations, which employ 3,000 workers, will continue to operate.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by ctt1wbw 

...Circuit Shitty...ChumpUSA...

[Cold Warrior]

Has anyone gone to one since the liquidation was announced? I read that sales could start as soon as today and run through March.

[Laminar]

I might stop by tomorrow afternoon.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by ctt1wbw 

The last time I went into a Circuit Shitty I was kicked out. Seems they had a massive sale with the sale stickers planted over the actual price tags. I started peeling the sale price sticker off and loe and behold, the sale price was the same exact price as the normal price. I told some people that they were being had, and I brought it up to the store manager that something fishy was going on and he told me to leave.

I wasn't that impressed with the store to begin with. This has been about 10 or 12 years ago. And ChumpUSA wasn't any better, either. If you could get a human being to acknowledge your presence in that store inside of 20 minutes you were doing good.

Now there's Best Buy, which is kind of a lie. There's almost always a few thousand people in the store and no one to help you out. And then there's the Geek Squad. I've dealt with them a few times, and only met one person who knew his stuff. I had Ubuntu dual booting on a laptop and when he booted it up, he said that was awesome that someone was using Ubuntu.

Tip about Geek Squad: The guys/gals with the cars know their stuff. Very well. Linux/OS X/ Windows, multiple versions of each.

The guys in the store rarely know much.

When I worked for Best Buy, and people were applying for the Secret Agent (or whatever it's called, the one with the car) position, the guy that passed the test came from media. Not the tech desk, not computers. Media.

[shifuimam]

Best Buy isn't exactly immune here. There's still a decent population of consumers who don't know that a USB cable can be found on Newegg for $5 and will continue to pay $30 at BB, but the bottom line is that these stores will not be able to indefinitely compete with online pricing.

Stores like Crutchfield provide an excellent level of service and expertise at lower prices - and many times with free shipping and extended warranties. The age of being able to charge unbelievably overinflated prices for electronics may be coming to a close quicker than anticipated...we'll see.

It's not the same with other markets, like grocery stores and discount big box stores. People are still going to want to try clothing on before buying it, buying food at a store won't be going out of style for a long time, and discount stores are cheap enough that the same products online generally cost the same and sometimes end up costing more. But with electronics, it's just a different story.

Also, to those interested in the extended warranties from both BB and CC - make sure you read all the fine print before signing your soul away. Best Buy's warranties are pretty horrible; I bought a used DS Lite from a friend and discovered the extra year of warranty coverage he'd purchased would be automatically voided as soon as I used it for anything. Not exactly worth the extra money, if you ask me.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I might stop by tomorrow afternoon.

Just kidding. I got bored today and decided to trek to the nearest Circuit City, which Google Maps told me was about a half hour away. It led me to an abandoned warehouse district outside of a nearby town, with no CC anywhere nearby. You win this one, Google.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Best Buy isn't exactly immune here. There's still a decent population of consumers who don't know that a USB cable can be found on Newegg for $5 and will continue to pay $30 at BB, but the bottom line is that these stores will not be able to indefinitely compete with online pricing.

Stores like Crutchfield provide an excellent level of service and expertise at lower prices - and many times with free shipping and extended warranties. The age of being able to charge unbelievably overinflated prices for electronics may be coming to a close quicker than anticipated...we'll see.

It's not the same with other markets, like grocery stores and discount big box stores. People are still going to want to try clothing on before buying it, buying food at a store won't be going out of style for a long time, and discount stores are cheap enough that the same products online generally cost the same and sometimes end up costing more. But with electronics, it's just a different story.

Also, to those interested in the extended warranties from both BB and CC - make sure you read all the fine print before signing your soul away. Best Buy's warranties are pretty horrible; I bought a used DS Lite from a friend and discovered the extra year of warranty coverage he'd purchased would be automatically voided as soon as I used it for anything. Not exactly worth the extra money, if you ask me.

IIRC, handheld gaming devices use a PRP (Product Replacement Plan), which is transferable. The original purchaser needs to sign the back of the pamphlet, as does the new owner.

[Stogieman]

I'm going to stop by my local Circuit City today. Hopefully they have some good deals on 360 & PS3 games.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Just kidding. I got bored today and decided to trek to the nearest Circuit City, which Google Maps told me was about a half hour away. It led me to an abandoned warehouse district outside of a nearby town, with no CC anywhere nearby. You win this one, Google.

Looks like they're closing down real fast...

-t

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by macfantn 

Ooo, right as I enter the market for a nice LCD TV. I don't know which one to get, though, so I'll probably start a thread on it. Also, I will most definitely get the Circuit City three-year warranty.

Properly attributed™

[starman]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Best Buy isn't exactly immune here. There's still a decent population of consumers who don't know that a USB cable can be found on Newegg for $5 and will continue to pay $30 at BB, but the bottom line is that these stores will not be able to indefinitely compete with online pricing.

That's partially true. Someone made that very same argument to me the other day with respect to HDMI cables, saying that the $4.99 ones are the same quality as the $49.99 ones. Not true.

http://i.gizmodo.com/268788/the-trut...keep-upusually

"2) At longer distances, cheaper cable tends to choke up. A 720p signal will make it, but even today's standard 1080p signal can fry out inside of a long cable that isn't built as well."

[Montezuma58]

I stopped by the Huntsville, AL store today. The place was mobbed like I had never seen before. But I have no idea if they had any good sales. The only items marked with prices were floor models for some TVs with God knows how many hours on them. Even the price they had on those weren't that great. The DVD's and Blu-Ray discs just had their normal high prices on the stickers with no signs of additional % off or anything. Every other product had the price removed from them (well from the shelves anyways since they never put price stickers on most products). I didn't want to bother waiting in line for price checks on a couple of items I was interested in.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Best Buy isn't exactly immune here. There's still a decent population of consumers who don't know that a USB cable can be found on Newegg for $5 and will continue to pay $30 at BB, but the bottom line is that these stores will not be able to indefinitely compete with online pricing.

Often it costs more to wait 24-48 hours to get a cable or toner online, time is money and sometimes I just can't wait. In those situations, I love B&M stores.

[Jawbone54]

I went to the local Circuit City today. The place was a madhouse.

It was also crap. The so-called "sale" offered great deals like 10% off of Orange Box for PS3, which is $19 at Best Buy, but $60 at Circuit City. I didn't find anything very enticing.

[powerbook867]

Yeah, in KC both the CC's closed and the liquidation folks raised all the prices to MSRP and then set the clearance price.. which ended up being no cheaper than Newegg, Amazon, etc.. in most cases. I'm not saying there aren't potential deals to be had, just check online before you buy..

[powerbook867]

Oh, and good riddance. Poorly managed, terrible customer service and mediocre pricing. Survival of the fittest...

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Anyone know what's happening with The Source in Canada? They're owned by Circuit City.

I assume they're being liquidated too which is no big loss because they royally suck, but nonetheless it'd be good to get confirmation that they're not be being bought out or whatever.

EDIT:

Wha'?

I guess the Canadian arm is doing reasonably well... which surprised me. From that linked article in the second post:

Circuit City also operates about 765 retail stores and dealer outlets in Canada. The company said its Canadian operations, which employ 3,000 workers, will continue to operate.

I think it is because the canadian ones are just Radioshacks that they took over and are small boutiques not large stores. They also still sell all those little radio shack bits and pieces for those who build their own time machines or whatever at home.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Railroader 

Properly attributed™

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

I think it is because the canadian ones are just Radioshacks that they took over and are small boutiques not large stores. They also still sell all those little radio shack bits and pieces for those who build their own time machines or whatever at home.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

I think it is because the canadian ones are just Radioshacks that they took over and are small boutiques not large stores. They also still sell all those little radio shack bits and pieces for those who build their own time machines or whatever at home.

Yeah, but one of the reasons I said Radio Shack sux is because they don't sell good bits and pieces either. Most of the time if you really need something specific you end up having to go to a real electronics supply store anyway. That said, you're right in the sense that in some areas there are no real electronics supply stores, and the local Radio Shack/The Source is better than nothing.

Originally Posted by starman 

That's partially true. Someone made that very same argument to me the other day with respect to HDMI cables, saying that the $4.99 ones are the same quality as the $49.99 ones. Not true.

http://i.gizmodo.com/268788/the-trut...keep-upusually

"2) At longer distances, cheaper cable tends to choke up. A 720p signal will make it, but even today's standard 1080p signal can fry out inside of a long cable that isn't built as well."

A little problem with that article is they don't actually specify what exact cables they used. For example, Monoprice sells several cable gauges with similar names, and we don't know what gauge they tested.

Anyways, I have experienced this first hand.

For 25 feet cable:

Monoprice 26 AWG (Chinese made tin-plated in-wall rated cable): With my system 720p, 1080p24, and 1080i were fine. 1080p60 was problematic with certain equipment, but not all equipment. For example, with my (firmware updated) Panasonic PT-AX200U and Sony BDP-S350, 1080p60 menus worked fine. However, with my Toshiba LCD and Insignia NS-BRDVD, 1080p60 menus would sometimes give me white flashes (but 1080p24 movies played perfectly fine).

Blue Jeans Series 2 - 24 AWG (Chinese made silver-plated cable): Works fine in my system including for 1080p60.

Other people have had good results with Monoprice 24 AWG tin-plated in-wall rated cable, but I've never tested that.

---

Given my personal results and from stuff around the net, my general rule of thumb for 1080p60 video (24-bit colour depth) is:

10 feet - 28 AWG
15 feet - 26 AWG
25 feet - 24 AWG
50 feet - 22 AWG

Other people have had good results even at 1080p60 with smaller gauge cables for those distances, but I'd prefer to err on the conservative side, especially since some equipment combinations are more problematic than others. Also, it does depend on the quality of the cable itself too, as some 24 AWG cables are better built than others.

I originally bought Monoprice 26 AWG cable mainly because of its bendability. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the Blue Jeans Series 2 - 24 AWG is still relatively bendable, and its diameter is still less than 1 cm (as it has no net jacket).

I think for most people 24 AWG is reasonable to work with in terms of ease of installation. 22 AWG is considerably stiffer however.