Audio Video News

Brace yourself. Visualize a 32-inch LCD HDTV in a store. Then visualize a pricetag on it that says...$350. At least, that is what one analyst is predicting for the forthcoming holiday shopping season.

That's a lot less than current street prices, averaging $600-800. It's also close to the historical average for 32-inch analog tube TVs. "We're about at the point where the 32-inch set will be the commodity," DisplaySearch analyst David Barnes told the Associated Press.

The discounts may spark big sales. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, CE sales will rise 3.5 percent for this year over last.

But other sales indicators point in contradictory directions. The New York Times reports that Wal-Mart and BJ's Wholesale Club had strong sales in September. But MasterCard purchases of consumer electronics and home appliances were down 13.8 percent in September over the previous year. And that was before the stock market went into its recent convulsions.

In any event, there are lots of good reasons to buy a new HDTV during (or shortly after) this coming holiday season. The DTV transition is coming in February, LCD and plasma are mature technologies, there's lots of supply in the product pipeline, the run-up in energy (and therefore shipping) prices has momentarily paused, and there's plenty of economic insecurity to further depress TV prices. So peruse our buyer's guide and dream a little.