You should read your own links Ricky. The first link - from the bunch I read, over half the people agree that Walmart sells cheaper TV's .. because - they are cheaper.
'Most of the time, manufacturers will offer the "bare bones" features on the Big Box (Wal-Mart, Sams, Costco) units.
To justify a price increase, better electronics, more inputs, etc will be added to the National Chains, and then the bells and whistles will be added to the Regional Specialty stores.
It's not that any of the TV's go from "suck" to "better" to "rule", it's the amount of inputs, technologies, picture processing, and other factors that each retailer targets as what their customers want.
A customer who wants a cheap TV with maybe one HDMI input for the kids room, or someone on a really tight budget is going to buy that at a discount store like Wal-Mart.
A customer who wants a good TV for the office, but that also might have a PC input so he can use the TV as a computer screen - but might want to stay within a reasonable budget - ALSO might buy it at Best Buy or Circuit City.
And the customer who wants the best TV he can purchase will buy the top tier at a Regional store (Tweeter, Good Guys, Showcase, Ultimate Electronics), and pay a slightly higher price for the best picture processing, three HDMI slots, built for future technologies, and all the bells and whistles.
Are the panels different? The design? The quality? Not really. The differences in LCDs in, say Wal-Mart and Best Buy are obvious - contrast ratios, response time, color gamut - those specs are slightly higher, but they aren't dumbed down BY electronics, they are improved through adding electrionics, which cost money - thereby justifying the added cost.
All of the models will have a different model number as you change tiers, but the Nationals (like Best Buy and Circuit City) will often carry the same model numbers. The best advice I could give a consumer is to go on the company's website, check out the features by model, and see what you need, and then find the model that best suits you, regardless of where you get it from.'
Do discount stores (walmart, etc) sell lower quality electronics? - Ars Technica OpenForum