By Carl Laron on February 4, 2010 in
Traditionally, the week before the Super Bowl is one of the busiest TV shopping seasons of the year, as football fans use the big game as a good excuse to spring for a shiny new set. Though it's not exactly Black Friday, retailers traditionally use Super Bowl week to offer some attractive deals to lure TV buyers into their stores. Significant sales on the best performers are few and far between -- especially at bricks-and-mortar retailers. However, for shoppers willing to settle for less than the very best picture quality, we spotted a few tempting TV offers.
If you're looking for a gigantic screen at a bargain price, Walmart and Target are offering the 55-inch Vizio VF550M for a buck or two under $1,300. This TV won't compete with the best sets in similar screen sizes, though it also costs hundreds less than those models. Like most "value" TVs, black levels are a weakness, but picture quality is otherwise very good in both HD and standard definition. Advanced features include 120 Hz signal processing (to reduce blur) and SRS TruVolume, which evens out the sometimes startling differences in sound volume between commercials and other programming. Professional reviews are good and user reviews at Walmart.com and elsewhere are largely positive.
If you can get by with a smaller screen, Walmart is also offering the 46-inch Sony Bravia KDL-46S5100 at $778 and the 40-inch KDL-40S5100 at $668. Though neither set is an outrageous bargain at those prices, you'd also be hard-pressed to find it for less elsewhere, including online retailers. The price for the KDL-46S5100 is particularly attractive, as it's hundreds less than what the same TV regularly sold for a few months ago, and is essentially equal to or less than what the essentially identical Sony KDL-46S504 sold for as a Black Friday doorbuster. You won't find many features in this 40-inch Bravia, but picture quality is very good for this price category, with better-than-average black levels. User and expert reviews, including one of the KDL-40S5100 at TelevisionInfo.com, are generally solid.
If you're looking for a big-screen TV at the lowest possible price, Target's $499 offer on the 42-inch Magnavox 42MF439B might be enticing. The Magnavox is light on features, though, and the relatively short 90-day warranty on labor is nothing special ( you get one year of parts coverage). We couldn't find any expert opinions on this TV, but user reviews, while not especially plentiful, are mostly (but not completely) positive. The biggest accumulation of those is at Target's web site.
The 40-inch Dynex DX-L40-10A is another bargain-basement big-screen HDTV available this week. Priced at a penny below $450 at Best Buy -- the only chain that carries the Dynex brand -- it's $50 cheaper than it was back on Black Friday, when the DX-L40-10A was a doorbuster special. Unfortunately, like all sets in its class, the DX-L40-10A won't win any awards for picture quality. Experts take issue with both black levels and color accuracy. Proving that experts and users sometimes see things differently, owner-written reviews at BestBuy.com are pretty good, however, with well over 90 percent saying they would recommend the DX-L40-10A to a friend.