2. Televisions

By Rachel Rosmarin

Panasonic Viera 50" 720p Plasma HDTV

$899 at Best Buy, according to Blackfriday.info

Though Best Buy’s circular didn’t specify exactly which 50" Viera model it would sell on Black Friday, odds are it’s this one, an extremely popular and well-reviewed economical model with a 1366x768 resolution, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and an SD card-slot. For people who have found themselves drawn to the deep blacks and great viewing angles of Plasma technology, Best Buy’s price for the venerable Panasonic Viera brand can’t be beat. The TV is only 720p, but you won’t find a 1080p 50-incher for under $1,000. Keep in mind, however, that this is one of Best Buy’s door buster items, so show up to your local Best Buy early to get one of the limited $899 models, or you might be stuck paying the current sale price of $999. If you’re willing to buy a slightly less well received 720p 50" plasma, you might consider Wal-Mart’s door buster: a Samsung with two HDMI ports, selling for $798 (see Blackfriday.info). These are the cheapest reputable 50" Plasmas we could find.

Sharp 42” 1080p LCD HDTV LC42SB45U

$779 at Dell.com, according to TGIBlackfriday

Dell made clear exactly which model it will be selling for $779—it’s the rare LC42SB45U model it currently sells for $799! Dell’s current price is still one of the cheapest around—Amazon sells the same TV for $998. Log on to Dell.com early on Friday morning for the best chance of staging one of these for $20 off the current price. This model isn’t sold at most mainstream retailers, so not many reviews are available, but with 3 HDMI units, and lots of other ports, plus the general quality assured by Sharp’s fantastic Aquos brand, this TV is definitely an excellent buy for this price. It may not match the quality of a Samsung LCD 1080p LCD, but for this price, it doesn’t have to. It was the cheapest 42-inch 1080p LCD we could find (a sweet spot with shoppers), except for another Wal-Mart door buster: a Polaroid TV with the same specs, selling on Friday for $598 (according to BlackFriday.info). But do you really want to buy a Polaroid TV?

Vizio 26" LCD HDTV VA26LHDTV10T

$380 at Sears

For bedrooms, kitchens and dorm rooms, a 26" HDTV is plenty big. Sears’ offering is the cheapest HDTV you can buy at this price, and it isn’t even Vizio’s lowest-end model. It’s got all the right ports: HDMI, component, composite, S-Video, Audio and PC, so it could double as a computer monitor, too. Vizio is a brand that’s new to the U.S. market but it has quickly made a name for itself by selling some of the most affordable yet reliable LCDs and Plasmas available. Sears currently sells this model for $429.

Magnavox Blu-Ray Disc Player NB500MG9

$128 at Wal-Mart, according to Blackfriday.info

Holiday 2008 marks the first time that Blu-Ray players are finally coming down in price to below the $200 level. That’s good news for consumers, so we scoured the Web to find the cheapest Blu-Ray player out there. What we found is Wal-Mart’s door buster deal to sell this Magnavox player for $128 (according to Blackfriday.info)—normally it sells for $198. It’s not a bad machine with a resolution at 1080p and a frame rate of 24 fps. It doesn’t have all of the fancy trimmings of newer models that can receive updates via an Ethernet port on the back (this one has no Ethernet connectivity, and who knows if Magnavox will ever provide a software update through a disc), but it will let you watch Blu-ray movies on your television, and that’s the point. Other retailers will sell Blu-Ray players for around $170, so keep an eye out if you’re picky about what brand you buy and what upscaling chip your Blu-Ray player uses.