THE FRONT LINE: NOVEMBER 2008
Let’s Make A Deal!
Thanks to the recession, the 2008 holiday shopping season looks to be very different from past years, and you should be able to score some amazing deals on HDTVs.
There’s no question that the economic downturn is making life very uncomfortable for retailers. Companies like Circuit City and Linens and Things are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Major department store chains like Boscov’s (eastern Pennsylvania) already have gone into bankruptcy court and are attempting to reorganize.
Even the stronger players like Best Buy have conceded that sales are likely disappoint not only over the next six weeks, but well into 2009. And it’s no wonder, with over 5 million homes now in foreclosure nationwide, consumers racking up credit card debt trying to stay afloat, and the jobless rate inching up over 6%.
With all that in mind, it’s easy to see why buying a new HDTV or Blu-ray player is the farthest thing from many consumer’s minds right now. Yet for many buyers, this couldn’t be a better time to get rock-bottom deals — retailers want to clear out their HDTV inventory in a hurry, and many have jumped the gun ahead of Black Friday.
Case in point: I got an e-mail recently from a correspondent who found Panasonic’s TH42PZ80U 42-inch 1080p plasma TV for just $799 at Newegg.com. This TV has a full retail price of nearly $2,000! I thought I was doing well when I bought one for $1,499 at the aforementioned Boscov’s right before Labor Day, and subsequently got $400 of that price refunded as part of the store’s price match guarantee.
I’ve already seen 50-inch 720p plasma TVs for $999. Best Buy’s Black Friday flyer shows the Panasonic TH50PX80U priced at $899 as a “doorbuster special,” but if you don’t feel like getting up at 3 AM to try and pick up the one or two available per store, go over to Circuit City and you’ll find the same model on sale in large quantities for just $100 more, according to their Web site.
Best Buy has Samsung’s PN42A400 42-inch 720p (1024x768) plasma TV marked down to $699 already. Back at Circuit City, you can grab Panasonic’s TH50PZ80U 50-inch 1080p plasma TV for $1,399, or LG’s 50PG20 50-inch 720p model for $1,099. Such a deal!
LCD sets are getting whacked, too. Samsung’s LN52A650 has been marked down to $2,199 at Circuit, with LG’s 52LG70 priced at $100 less. If you’re nuts enough to be up early enough Friday morning when your newspapers are being delivered, you’ve got a shot at a Samsung LN52A580 52-inch 1080p LCD TV for all of $1,499 at Best Buy, with free delivery and Geek Squad installation.
Department stores are also taking big discounts. Boscov’s has Panasonic’s TH46PZ80U 46-inch 1080 plasma for $1,299, while Sharp’s LC-52D43U 52-inch 1080p LCD TV has been discounted a whopping $1200 to $1,499. Want a Sony KDL-40S4100 40-inch 1080p Bravia LCD TV? It’s yours for all of $999.
And don’t forget the wholesale clubs! Costco is running a deal through December 15, 2008 that gives you two Sharp LCD HDTVs for $1,799 — the 52-inch 1080p LC-52SB55U, and the 32-inch LC-32SB21U. Sharp calls it the “Two Room Holiday Makeover.” (Want them shipped? That’ll cost you all of $100.) Don’t need two sets? BJ’s has Vizio’s VO47LFHDTV 47-inch 1080p LCD TV for just $999.
How about Blu-ray players? We’ve all been wondering which manufacturer would be the first to blink and slash prices to stimulate sales for an HD media format that (so far) has meet with a tepid response from the general public.
Circuit City has Samsung’s new BDP-2550 player (with BD Live) for just $299. Wal-Mart is offering Panasonic’s DMP-BD30PP player for all of $240, but even that’s been undercut by the Magnavox NB500MG9 BD player for $198, a one-day special on Black Friday. (You can also find the Memorex MVBD2511 BD player on Wal-Mart’s Web site for $177.88, although when I checked, it was out of stock.)
There are some real bargains on rear-projection HDTVs to be had. Most analysts predicted 2008 would be the end of the line for rear-projection sets, and based on market trends and pricing, I’d have to agree. Consider these prices for a moment — a Mitsubishi WD-60735 60-inch 1080p DLP for all of $1,299, and a Samsung HL-67A750 67-inch DLP set for $2,199. (The latter set uses LEDs for illumination!)
Even Mits’ 73-inch WD-73735 largest-in-class DLP rear-projector has been marked down to an eye-popping $2,299. That doesn’t bode well at all for future sales of the company’s much-ballyhooed L65A90 laser-powered 1080p DLP, which has a targeted price around $6,000, but will have to contend with even lower prices on big-screen plasma and LED-powered LCD sets in 2009.
Long story short, what are the price trends? It would appear that the very popular 32-inch HDTV screens (LCD and plasma) are heading for $500 to $600, while 40- and 42-inch HDTVs with 720p resolution should be consistently selling in the $700 to $800 range. (Add another $200 for 1080p resolution.)
46-inch HDTVs will occupy a niche between $1,200 and $1,600, co-existing with 720p 50-inch plasma (look for that screen/resolution combination to disappear from the market altogether by end of 2009). 50-inch 1080p plasma will settle in around $1,500 to $1,600 as 2009 winds on, while 52-inch LCD sets will command $1,500 to $2,000, with LED backlights getting a smaller premium over CCFLs. RPTV prices will continue to fall in 2009 as existing stock is cleared out, leaving the HDTV playing field to plasma and LCD.
Upscaling (red laser) DVD players are still selling, although not in the quantities that conventional DVD players did two years ago. If the great Blu-ray discount experiment stimulates Q4 sales, you can expect to see a $199 player in every BD manufacturer’s line by Q2 of 2009, along with a slow but steady phase-out of upconverting RL models. Frankly, that’s the only way that BD player sales will finally take off.
Happy shopping! And if you don’t like the prices you see now, wait until right before Christmas or even into January. You’ll see even bigger discounts as manufacturers try to take advantage of college and pro football playoffs, plus the Super Bowl, to stimulate HDTV sales. With patience, you will be amazed at how much money you’ll save.
