I want my HDTV

I’m sure I could come up with a few cheesy lines for a spoof of the Dire Straits’ song, but I’ll resist the temptation. Right now I’m drooling over the prices of HD televisions. They seem to be dropping faster than I can keep up with. I did a little basic math today and figured out my price point for each of the reasonable sizes. They haven’t dropped enough yet to meet my price-per-square-inch cost, but they are getting really close.

There have been a few sales on no-name brands, but I want a name brand. I don’t want some third tier, second rate TV that will die after 2 years. I want a name brand that will last for 10 years – so I’ll feel like I got my money’s worth. I’d really like a Samsung, LG or Sharp, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford those premium brands. Sony is out of the question. They make good products, but I refuse to pay for their name. Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba, JVC and Phillips all have some good products out, but it’s a matter of finding the right price for the right size and features.

I’m having some difficulty finding what I want because they all seem to be moving to glossy screens. A glossy screen won’t work well in our living room because of all the ambient light. That’s the main reason I’m looking at LCD and not Plasma. With a glossy screen, I might as well go plasma for the faster response times and deeper blacks. A DLP would work if I weren’t concerned about the viewing angles (our living room isn’t huge). The size of our living room also means an overhead projector is out of the question.

For now, I keep watching the prices and wondering when I’ll be enjoying big screen, high-definition in my own home. Until I can get my own HDTV, I have converters so we won’t get left out in the cold come February 17th, 2009. I got in on the government coupons before the program ran out of money, so that’s good. At least I won’t be in a panic because I can’t watch TV – not that I would anyway.