Wal-Mart is getting their Black Friday bargains started a little early with a sale on November 8. They will have a Sanyo DP46848 46″ 1080p LCD HDTV for $798. The Sanyo has not been professionally reviewed, but there is a small discussion thread about it over at AVS Forums (link).
Wal-Mart is also are bringing back a previous bargain: a free $100 Wal-Mart gift card with purchase of a Sony Playstation 3 ($399). If you’re know you’re going to spend $100 on something (e.g., groceries), and it’s available at Wal-Mart, the gift card essentially knocks a $100 off the price of the PS3.
There are a few important details:
The deals are only good at 8:00am at a Wal-Mart store. (Online store will have its own specials.)
There is a limit of 1 per customer, but they are stocking at least 10 of each item at each store.
The 55-inch Sony Bravia KDL-55XBR8 ($6,999) couldn’t knock off current overall HDTV champion, the Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-111FD plasma, but as far as LCDs go, the Sony rules the roost, or at least according to CNET’s latest review.
They gave the Sony, which has the new LED backlight technology, an 8.7 out of 10 (the Pioneer has a 9.1), stating that the set has deepest blacks of any LCD they’ve tested, very accurate color reproduction and grayscale, superior dejudder capabilities, and comprehensive inputs (4 HDMI and one PC).
They only cons are that it’s “mind-boggingly expensive” and that it showed some blooming in areas of high contrast. They also didn’t like the unremovable speakers that jut out from the side.
Vizio will be releasing a new 52-inch 1080p LCD soon, rumored to arrive sometime in August 2007. If you’re considering the GV47LF and can afford to throw a littlle more cash toward a television, it might be wise to hold off until you see some technical specs for the GV52L.
There are rumors on the AVSforum that the 52-inch will not be much of a step forward. Of particular note will be whether the 52-incher improves upon the GV47LF’s 800:1 contrast ratio (its base, or “typical,” ratio). If it does not, I would recommend going with the much cheaper 47, or even look elsewhere for a TV with deeper blacks.
Also arriving in late August to early September will be Sony’s 50-inch SXRD, the KDS-50A3000 for around $2499. It will have much deeper black levels than current Vizios, and all-in-all, looks like a pretty sweet television for the price. However, these kinds of televisions require a lamp replacement every 8,000 hours or so to the tune of $250. Probably not a television for the bargain hunter in you. (See picture of the SXRD below.)
