By Carl Laron on November 19, 2010 in
With Black Friday circulars from most of the major retailers now leaked and posted online at sites like BFads.net, it's time to step back and see what's in store for shoppers hoping to put a new HDTV under the tree for the holidays. Looking through the ads, we were struck with a sense of déjà vu all over again (with apologies to Yogi Berra) as we saw many identical sets at retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Sears being offered at nearly identical prices. At the same time, we saw a handful of deals just good enough to lose a little sleep over. As you might expect, the sets with the best performance and best features are only seeing modest reductions, if any at all. On the other hand, you can save a stack of greenbacks if you're willing to accept a TV from a lesser-known maker and put a greater premium on value than on getting the absolute best picture quality. Here's what we found.
Bargain basement TV buys
Target's 40-inch Westinghouse VR-4085DF for $298 plus a $10 gift card that we blogged about earlier remains one of the biggest Black Friday bargains for an HDTV we've spotted this season. That price is more than a $250 savings over what the TV sells for normally, and just about the lowest price we've ever seen for a 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV. Feedback on the set is limited -- just one very positive user review is all that we found -- but we doubt that the picture quality is competitive with the top-performing TVs from the likes of Sony, Samsung, LG and other top-tier makers. Still, at under $300 it's very hard to see how you can go wrong.
If you want a smaller screen, you can put the 32-inch Funai-made Emerson LC320EM1 into the same category. It's being offered between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. at Walmart at just $198, about $130 off of its regular selling price. As DigiTimes.com reports, that's not much more than what the LCD display panel itself costs TV makers.
The LC320EM1 doesn't have many features and only limited connectivity (including just one HDMI input). The resolution is only 720p, but most experts say that at this screen size, that resolution is more than enough at typical viewing distances. No professional reviewers have weighed in, but the LC320EM1 has amassed quite a bit of feedback at Walmart.com. While there are a few negative comments, by far, most owners are pretty happy with the TV and especially with its value (and that's at the regular selling price).
For those searching for an HDTV for the kitchen counter or a dorm room, the cheapest offer comes from Menards -- a hardware/home improvement chain located primarily in the upper midwest. Details are sketchy -- there's not even a model number provided -- and you'll need to deal with a $100 rebate to get to the final price, but the store is offering a 22-inch, 1080p, LED-backlit Sansui LCD TV for just $99.
Can't get to a Menards store or don't want to deal with a rebate? Walmart is offering the 19-inch Sansui HDLCD19WB for $98. However, aside from a smaller screen size, that TV uses a conventional backlight and offers only 720p resolution -- neither of which is a big deal in a 19-inch screen size. What might be more of a concern is that the little information gleaned from the ad (this set is nowhere to be found on the Internet) seems to indicate that there are no HDMI inputs, which could be a deal-killer for some.
Better TVs, smaller savings
While the savings are nowhere near as large, shoppers looking for better picture quality and/or a better-known brand of TV have a few choices to ponder, and many places at which to ponder them. While these TVs don't have the features or picture quality of the top-performing, top-priced HDTVs, they provide solid picture quality at what, to most, is a more palatable price.
One example is Sony's KDL-EX400 series. As noted in our report on LCD TVs, sets in this series have built up a solid following among owners, with many complimenting picture quality, ease of use and, surprisingly for a budget set, sound quality. On Black Friday (or the day after, in one case), several retailers are offering the 46-inch Sony KDL-46EX400 for about $698, give or take a couple of bucks; around a $75 savings over its everyday price. Offers for the Sony TV include $698 at Walmart on Saturday (only) starting at 6 a.m., $698.99 at Best Buy, and $699.99 at Sears.
A number of manufacturers establish a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) for their products, and that causes some headaches for sellers looking to offer even more attractive prices to lure buyers into their stores on Black Friday. Right on cue, every year we see some TVs suddenly appear with strange yet familiar model numbers -- just in time for the holidays, no less. That's the case with a couple of Samsung TVs we've seen at a host of retailers. Models include the 46-inch Samsung LN46C600, which is being offered on Black Friday for $798 at Walmart and $797.99 at Best Buy. The story is similar for the 40-inch Samsung LN40C500, sold for $498 at Walmart and $497.99 (as a door buster) at Sears (with the added bonus of $25 worth of buyer loyalty points).
So, are these TVs good buys? Details are hard to come by; Samsung doesn't appear to admit that these TVs even exist at all on its website and there's no user or reviewer feedback at all. However, a reading of the available specs, coupled with the aforementioned sense of déjà vu (yes, all over again, again), leads us to believe that for all intents and purposes, these TVs are similar to basic LCD TVs in their corresponding series -- i.e., the Samsung LN40C500 is similar to the LN40C530 while the LN46C600 is similar to the LN46C630. All of this "inside baseball" aside, that makes these LCD TVs pretty good deals, as the LN40C530 typically sells for $625 or so while the LN46C630 normally retails for around $900. Both TVs have gotten good user and professional reviews, especially the LN46C630, which we cover in a bit of depth in our LCD TV report.