Posted on 08/28/2009 2:02:29 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
While HDTVs have been popular Black Friday items in the past few years, GottaDeal.com expects that this holiday season will be the a significant one for HDTV purchases by the average consumer. Prices have dropped this year more than any previous year, and with the digital TV transition now complete, a large part of the general public is looking to get a new HDTV, either as a primary or secondary television, and this Black Friday should provide an large number of deals. With HDTVs, quality can vary greatly from the cheaper to the more expensive units. In many cases, the lowest-priced models on Black Friday are stripped-down models made exclusively for that retailer's sale. In many cases they lack features and the quality components used to manufacture higher priced models. That doesn't necessarily mean that these deals aren't great - it's just a case of "buyer beware" as you should not expect $2,000 performance from a $500 HDTV.
The two primary types of flat panel HDTVs in the Black Friday ads will be LCD and Plasma. Plasma HDTVs tend to be cheaper going by cost per inch, but that is not always the case as there are some very high-end, highly rated plasma models out there. The maximum resolution of an HDTV is also something that you'll see in the ads. Most HDTVs will either be 1080p or 720p. These numbers represent the maximum lines of horizontal resolution that the TV can display at once. 1080p is the native resolution for things like Blu-ray, some video games and other sources, and being higher resolution means that these models will cost more.
LCD HDTVs can come with different refresh rates. As of a couple years ago, most models were 60Hz. Newer models are 120Hz or higher. Most consumers won't notice the difference between the different rates, although on some source materials such as movies shot on film, it can be somewhat noticeable. Newer technology such as LED-backlit HDTVs has hit the market, however it will likely be another year or two before these models get the full Black Friday discount treatment from retailers.
On to price predictions. Consumers should fully expect to see 42" plasma and HDTVs in the $399 to $499 range this year. During the last few months on GottaDeal.com, there have been posted deals for 42" HDTVs for under $600 in a few cases, so it's completely realistic to expect at least one retailer to have a deal under $400 on a lower-quality model. These cheaper HDTVs will likely be 720p and will lack features found in more expensive models. Prices on 50" plasma and LCD HDTVs should also fall this Black Friday, perhaps to somewhere around $599 to $699
http://www.tvpredictions.com/samsung082709.htm
and
http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Samsung/Samsung_Rumored_To_Show_480Hz_HDTV_at_IFA/3316
With the recent cap at 200/240Hz 200 for Europe and 240 in the US the new model would double the rate of models still fresh on the market. The displays are also said to use BFI/DFI, or Black Frame Insertion/Dark Frame Insertion. With BFI/DFI, a black or dark frame is inserted between original frames, helping to eliminate the human eyes propensity for image retention.
Berlin hosts the IFA consumer electronics expo this September, and new products are to be expected, but as of this moment the new Samsung 480HZ displays are yet to be confirmed.
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So I guess we’ll all get to watch Dear Leader at an even higher refresh rate.
So glad our old (10 years at least) TVs are working just fine thank you.
What I would like to own is a high speed controller that is programmed to immediately change the channel to cooking when a certain O appears on the screen.
I utilize the Texas quick-draw....My shoulder-holster-remote quick draw is faster than 120hz.... It's my image retention I must work on.....
What is Black Friday?
I’ll be interested to see how the Bluray players do this year as well. The prices are finally dropping to a somewhat reasonable point.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, so called because that is the day that retailers have traditionally gone into the “black” for the year.
It’s usually marked by big sales for most every large retailer.
LOLOL.........oh I love it!
Remember the olden days when you actually had to get up off your duff to change the channel.
Ah yes. My mind just couldn’t make a November connection in August
The super discount mania shopping Friday immediately following Thanksgiving.
Been sleeping under a rock the last 20 years?
It’ll be here before you know it. :-)
There were also 3 channels. You didn’t get off your duff to change the channel because you already knew what the other two had on.
Heck Wal Mart already has there Halloween decorations out. I’m sure the Christmas ones will be out after Labor Day.
A couple of things. First, I don’t expect this years black friday to really put them in the black.
Second, The reason the LCD and Plasma are being discounted is because of LED. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the picture, the specs, the power consumption, the weight, the screen thickness. LCD and Plasma are hereby antiquated and will be obsolete in a year or two. They are going the way of the glass tube and will do so rapidly.
LED will replace LCD and Plasma as forcefully and rapidly (more rapidly, actually) as the electronic tuner and its companion, the infrared remote, replaced mechanical barrel tuners on TVs. They are simply superior in every way.
I’ve been using a DLP projector for years, and LCD before that. The LED’s are the first flat screen I’ve seen that motivate me to get a non-projection set.
>>Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, so called because that is the day that retailers have traditionally gone into the black for the year.<<
Yeah, and I think this year we will break from that tradition. ;)
LED? That thing must have set you back. They aren’t discounting those puppies yet.
>>There were also 3 channels. You didnt get off your duff to change the channel because you already knew what the other two had on.<<
And there were only four commercials per hour and, IIRC, two of them were 30 seconds each and the other two were a minute each.
$2999.00 on Sale.
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