With only nine shopping days until Christmas, the set makers have pulled out all the stops. Final pre-holiday dealer incentives on 3D HDTVs are driving prices down on their top models. You say you’re really aren’t very interested in a 3D TV.  You should be. Even if you don’t intend to watch a single program in 3D. You’ll still want a 3D capable set. Why? Because 3D TVs make the best 2D picture! Check out the reviews. Time and time again the highest rated sets are 3D capable. Making a 3D image requires sets to have better performance than is needed with a 2D only display. We scoured the Internet to find the greatest discounts on top brand HDTVs. With typical dealer margins of around 25% these sets are selling way below their original cost. We drew the line at a minimum discount of 40% and came up with 16 models with screen sizes from 32 to 55 inches. Want more, read on.

All of these 16 HDTVs are 1080p, full featured with Internet streaming, 120 or 240Hz refresh LEDs or plasma. More still? All prices are from Amazon Direct with free shipping. Want it faster? If you are an Amazon Prime member you will get your set in two business days free. If not, you can subscribe for $79.

Toshiba 32TL515U 32-Inch Natural 3D 1080p 240 Hz LED-LCD HDTV with Net TV Retail $1000 Now $587.98-41% off

LG 42LW5300 42-Inch 1080p 120 Hz Cinema 3D LED-LCD HDTV with 3D Blu-ray Player and Four Pairs of 3D GlassesRetail $1200 Now $689.99- 42% off

Sharp LC40LE835U Quattron 40-inch 1080p 240 Hz 3D LED-LCD HDTV Retail $1600 Now $799.99- 50% off

Samsung UN46D6400 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz 3D LED HDTVRetail $1600 Now $966.96- 40% off

LG Infinia 47LW5600 47-Inch Cinema 3D 1080p 120 Hz LED-LCD HDTV with Smart TV and Four Pairs of 3D Glasses Retail $1700 Now $999.00-41% off

Samsung UN46D6500 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz 3D LED TV Retail $1800 Now $1045.00- 42% off

For the rest of the list click to  go to our sister website HD Guru 3D 

We recommend and affiliate (we may earn a small commission on referred sales) with Amazon because they have among the best HDTV policies in the industry including a 14 day low price guarantee and  30 Day returns with free return freight. They stand behind their sales. Note: prices are correct as of posting and may change at any time, please verify with our links; Most states do not collect sales tax on Amazon orders [with the exceptions of [CO, KS, KY, NY, ND & WA]. You always must pay sales tax when buying at any brick and mortar store. Should you buy an HDTV from on-line or from a retail store?  Learn all the pros and cons in our article here.

Have a question for the HD Guru?
HD GURU|Email

Copyright 2011 HD Guru Inc. All rights reserved. HDGURU is a registered trademark.

HD Guru received an advanced copy of Amazon’s Sunday Dec 4th newspaper circular. It features five HDTVs from Panasonic and Samsung along with deals on a 3D Blu-ray player, digital cameras and more. Here are some of the hot items that are going on sale.

Panasonic VIERA TC-P60ST30 60-Inch 1080p 600 Hz 3D Plasma HDTV List Price $2099.95 Now $”click link for latest price”

Panasonic TC-P65VT30 65-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma List Price $3999.95 Now $2799.95

LG 47LK520 47-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV List Price $999.99 Now $742.89

Top Holiday Deals

HDTVs On Sale

Blu-ray Disc Deals From $5.49

Big Markdowns on 3D TVs

Samsung UN55D8000 55-Inch 1080p 240Hz 3D LED HDTVRetail $3599.99 Now $ “click link for latest price”

Sony BRAVIA KDL-40BX420 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTVRetail $699.99  Now $575.00

Pansonic DMP-BT210 Integrated Wi-Fi 3D Blu-ray PlayerRetail $199.99  Now $129.99

Canon PowerShot SX230HS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with HS SYSTEM and DIGIC 4 Image Processor (Black)Retail $349.00 Now $199.95- 43% off Click  link for latest price.

Fujifilm FinePix F505 16 MP CMOS Sensor and 15x Optical Zoom Digital Camera with 4 GB Class 10 SD Memory Card (Black)Retail $399.95 Now $199.99

All items are sold by Amazon direct and TVs have 14 day price protection.

We recommend and affiliate (we may earn a small commission on referred sales) with Amazon because they have among the best HDTV policies in the industry including a 14 day low price guarantee and  30 Day returns with free return freight. They stand behind their sales. All listed models have free shipping by Amazon direct. Note: prices are correct as of posting and may change at any time, please verify with our links; Most states do not collect sales tax on Amazon orders [with the exceptions of [CO, KS, KY, NY, ND & WA]. You always must pay sales tax when buying at any brick and mortar store. Should you buy an HDTV from on-line or from a retail store?  Learn all the pros and cons in our article here.

Have a question for the HD Guru?
HD GURU|Email

Tonight, at 1159:59 PM over 400 of the 1796 U.S. television stations will permanently shut off their analog signals.  If you currently receive broadcast television from a cable or a satellite TV provider, your reception will not be affected.  However, if you are among the 5.8 million households (source Nielsen) that receive broadcast TV signals via an antenna, and stations in your market are shutting off their analog transmitters, you’ll need to have a digital tuner converter box or a TV with a built-in digital tuner to continue to get receive free broadcast TV programs.

Tonight’s shut off affects many small market stations, but also includes more populated areas including San Francisco and San Diego CA.  For the complete list of the TV stations shutting off their analog transmissions today, use this link .

If you are in one of the affected markets using an antenna for TV reception, you will need to purchase a DTV converter box.  They sell for around $40-$60 each and are available from a local stores including Radio Shack, Wal-Mart and Best Buy.  The government offers a program that will provide up to two $40 coupons that may be applied towards the purchase of (up to two) converter boxes per household.

The program recently ran out of funding, a problem that was rectified in the economic stimulus bill signed by President Obama today.  To learn more about the coupon program, go to this link.  Of course, it will take several weeks to receive your coupon.

Which Converter Buy Should You Purchase?

The HD Guru tested five converter boxes.  They are the Zenith DTT901, Apex DT250, GE 23333, Digital Stream DTX9950 and the Dish Network DTV Pal.

All the boxes tested came with remote control (w/batteries) and a coax cable.  All picked up at least 5 local stations using a Silver Sensor (by Philips) indoor antenna and 15 with a rooftop antenna.  All produced outstanding crystal clear video, except the GE, which produced some visible video noise.

The two outstanding performers were the Zenith and DTV Pal. Both had the excellent on-screen menus and top overall performance.

Once you connect your converter box to your analog TV and scan the tuner for all the digital channels in your area, you may discover one or more of your local TV station’s digital channels do not appear.  This is indicative that your present antenna is not up to the job of receiving the digital versions of your local stations.  Perhaps your old rooftop antenna is bent, needs to be re-aimed, or the connections have rusted.  You can go to antennaweb.org to learn more about choosing an adequate antenna for your locale.

They’ll Keep A Light On For You

In the markets where all of the four major TV network affiliates (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX) are dropping their respective programming tonight, one station has been picked to keep its analog transmitter functioning.  However, instead of broadcasting programming, there will appear a scroll telling viewers that they need to tune to the station’s digital signal to receive programs.  The FCC refers to this as Night Light service.

When Will The Rest of The Analog Stations Go Off The Air?

All remaining analog TV stations must permanently sign-off by June 12, 2009 with the recently enacted DTV Delay Bill.

Copyright ©2009 All rights reserved. HDGURU is a registered trademark. The content and photos within may not be distributed electronically or copied mechanically without specific written permission. The content within is based upon information provided to the editor, which is believed to be reliable. HD GURU is not responsible for errors or omissions.

In addition, Shawn Strickland, VP of Video Solutions Verizon FIOS, (in a letter to subscribers) wrote, by the end of 2008 Verizon FIOS will have more than 100 HD channels as well as 1,000 HD Video-On-Demand titles per month. Current FIOS HD subscribers will see new channel numbers assigned to many of its existing channels beginning July 23, though not all of the new HD channels will be immediately available.

In the NY metro area, FIOS will continue to offer the seven major local HD network broadcast channels bringing the total available to 51 HD channels.

Copyright ©2008 Gary Merson/HD Guru™. All rights reserved. The content and photos within may not be distributed electronically or copied mechanically without specific written permission.

In a report by CBC’s Erica Johnson, three HDMI cables were rounded up for testing and supplied to Maxine Caron, a CBC production engineer. The group consisted of a well know brand name cable ($216 Canadian), Best Buy’s house brand (Rocketfish $110 Canadian) and a the generic 15 ft. HDMI cable obtained via the internet for $6 plus $6 shipping (BTW Canadian dollars are currently exchanging around 1:1 with the US dollar).

Caron compared his source HDTV test signals to the output of each HDMI cable being tested at CBC’s test facility. The findings, all three HDMI cables tested reproduced every single pixel of the HDTV source. Caron commented that all three cables reproduced exactly the same image, including color quality, sharpness and black level. There was no performance advantage using the higher priced HDMI cables!

There may be differences in construction quality of the most expensive HDMI cables as compared to the cheapest, and perhaps if you plan to disconnect and reconnect the same cable dozens or hundreds of times, expensive cables will hold up better. However, the HD Guruâ„¢ has been using a number of inexpensive HDMI cables including ones made by Philips (about $20 at amazon.com) that have been disconnected and reconnected to different sources and displays dozens of times. To date, there has been no product failure.

One final note, buying a cable capable of passing a wider bandwidth (also referred to as speed or expressed as Gbps) than required, provides no image improvement.

You can see the CBC report at

http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/marketplace/packing_the_deal.wmv

Copyright ©2008 Gary Merson/HD Guru™. All rights reserved. The content and photos within may not be distributed electronically or copied mechanically without specific written permission.

The CEA has responded and disputes Cablelabs statements, claiming “HD Guru is quite accurate in his description of the situation” and “Any assertion that the CE industry CHOSE to implement one-way devices is blatant revisionism”.

You can find the Cablelabs complete response as it appears in the comments section of the April 15 post at

http://hdguru.com/how-the-cable-industry-plans-to-cheat-

10-million-hdtv-owners/233/#comments
as written by Michael (Mike) M. Schwartz, Senior Vice President, Communications, Cablelabs.

Brian Markwalter, V.P. of Technology and Standards for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has written its response.

Below is a copy of the complete CEA statement, followed by a reprint of Mr. Schwartz’s comments.

The CEA writes:
“HD Guru is quite accurate in his description of the situation. Any assertion that the CE industry CHOSE to implement one-way devices is blatant revisionism. Despite the fact that CableCARDs were two-way capable and standards had been written to use them that way, the cable industry refused to allow the CE industry to make use of the upstream capability for simple interactive services like VOD. Digital Cable Ready (CableCARD) TVs are one-way because of license terms and not lack of foresight by the CE industry.

CEA believes that HD Guru writes from the perspective of the consumer and got it right. More than 10 years after the law was passed, consumers still cannot buy a TV at retail that competes on equal terms with a middle-of-the-road set top box.”

Mr. Schwartz placed his comments within a copy of the HD Guru text. Here are his words from the comments section in its entirety.

“As of March 19th, the total number of actual subscribers using CableCARDs with retail products is only 347,000 units based on reports by the ten largest cable operators who serve 90% of the cable subscribers. http://www.ncta.com/DocumentBinary.aspx?id=717

Actually, nothing is being “disabled”. These sets were never intended or designed to receive content that requires a two-way connection. Content available on cable networks is changing all the time. New services are added, some are redesigned and others are removed.

Actually, this SDV technology is designed to expand the range of services offered by cable operators, not reduce them. This new technology will enable cable operators to add a virtually unlimited number of new services – services that are very specialized or designed for niche audiences. These services will include both HD and SD programming. Unfortunately many CE companies chose to implement receivers that lack the necessary circuitry to provide a full two-way cable experience with the CableCARD. Since those unidirectional receivers are not able to support many of the advanced features and services available on digital cable systems today, the FCC had enough foresight to mandate that the manufacturer properly label the product accordingly so that consumers of these products are not disappointed. If the consumer is dissatisfied with he limited functionality of those sets, they should complain to the manufacturer. [CFR Title 47 part15.123]. The other option, available to all CEs, is to build a fully capable tru2way device that will ensure subscribers can receive not only today’s cable services, but also tomorrows innovations.

Not exactly. It really happed like this: In response to the 1996 Telecom Act, the FCC required the Cable industry to offer removable security cards available for subscribers who requested them for retail devices built to the CableCARD standard. The FCC was specifically mandated NOT to prohibit Cable Operators from being able to also offer their STBs. The cable industry defined and delivered the required removable security CableCARDs (at the time called POD modules) by the July 2000 deadline after investing millions in the project. However since there was no mandate by the FCC on consumer products, there were no retail products produced to make use of CableCARDs.
Notwithstanding the lack of precedent in the 1996 Telecom Act, the FCC moved to ban the use of “integrated” security in Cable operator set-top boxed in the name of “common reliance” (which phrase does not appear anywhere in the law or regulations); Cable Operators would have to use separable CableCARDs instead. This requirement was enforced as of July 2007, forcing the cable industry to pay over $600 million to redesign their set-top-box products in a way that offers no benefit to subscribers. The cable industry met this requirement and in the 9 months since has successfully deployed over 4,184,000 operator-supplied set-top boxes with CableCARDs (recall the CE industry has only produced about 347,000 units to date). Now that is some “common reliance” insurance policy.
The same CableCARDs are used by both consumer products and operator-supplied boxes. The CableCARDs have always been capable of providing two-way services, but the manufacturers of UDCP products chose to design and sell products that lacked the two-way features needed to fully support advanced digital cable services. The first fully two-way cable-ready consumer product was certified by CableLabs in August 2005. [Press Release]

Perhaps the Guru asked the wrong questions? No product was ever originally designed to work with this new Tuning Adaptor including the exiting Tivo UDPC products. In order for them to work, they will need new firmware to connect to this new device. Think of this new firmware as the installation of a USB driver. Since consumer products don’t use Microsoft Windows, they don’t have plug-in drivers. Instead a new firmware update is needed to include the necessary driver controls to interact with this new external device. Makers of any existing UDCPs that already have a USB port (there are many) are just as able to provide new firmware as Tivo, if they chose to do so.

Q2 includes a portion of “this summer”.

Instead, complaints should really be directed to the manufacturer of the products that lack the necessary two-way circuitry to fully interact with advanced cable systems. Instead consumers should look for products identified as to ensure they will be able to get all the new and advanced services their digital cable systems can deliver.”

Copyright ©2008 Gary Merson/HD Guru™. All rights reserved. The content and photos within may not be distributed electronically or copied mechanically without specific written permission.

Ultimate accessory for your HDTV
Easiest way to search, record and watch shows in HD
Record 20 hours in HD (or up to 180 hours in SD)
Replaces your cable box and works with over-the-air antenna*
Download thousands of movies directly to your TiVo box**
TiVo Service features
Schedule your favorite shows online
Control cable TV with record, pause, rewind and fast-forward in HD
Automatically record every episode of your favorite show.
Play mp3′s and view digital photos on your TV**
What-you-need
Phone line or broadband connection
Program source:
Digital cable service (requires up to 2 CableCARD™¹ decoders from your cable provider )
Digital antenna
Video output modes include: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i
Note: Not compatible with satellite. Also supports basic cable (non-HD) and analog antenna (non-HD)

*Cable service required to receive cable channels. TiVo does not provide cable service.

**Broadband Internet connection required

¹CableCard is a trademark of CableTelevision Laboratories, Inc.

Not all TiVo Service networking features are currently available on the TiVo HD DVR.

Note: Early termination fee applies, along with terms and conditions of TiVo® Service Agreement and TiVo® Service Payment Plans at www.tivo.com/policies.
Questions?Get answers here

Monthly Plans Offer Details
$16.95 per month
1-year monthly plan
$14.95 per month
2-year monthly plan
$12.95 per month
3-year monthly plan

Prepaid plans Offer Details
$179.00
1-year prepaid plan
$299.00
2-year prepaid plan
$299.00
3-year prepaid plan. Special offer – 1 year free!
Service plan: $16.95
Box fee: $299.99
Subtotal: $316.94

Copyright 2007 HD Guruâ„¢ All Rights Reserved

Sony showed two new HDTVs and a number of prototype displays at the 2007 CES. Technologies included LCD, SXRD and OLED.

Bravia LCD

Sony showed two BRAVIA LCD flat panels at its booth. The first will be available this spring, its model KDL-70XBR3. It is a 1920 x1080 progressive 70 inch panel with a 120HZ refresh rate, 10 bit processing and panel (1024 levels) and uses Sony’s Triluminos LED backlighting for better dynamic range (7,000:1) and a wider color gamut. Sony’s name for this is x.v. Color and is said to be used in conjunction with the wider gamut coming available in future Playstation 3 games using HDMI 1.3. The set is (ridiculously) priced at $33,000 making over twice as expensive as the currently available LG 1080p 71” plasma ($15,000)

Sony again showed a not ready for prime time 82” LCD Bravia flat panel. No price or availability was given.

It also displayed an unimpressive LASER driven 55″ 1080p SXRD rear projectior with about 10″ depth. The promise of LASER, really bright images, wider viewing angles and outstanding color were not seen by the HD Guru during the demonstration.
Most impressive were the 2 OLED (organic light emitting diode) prototype displays. The was a 1080p (1920 x 1080) monitor with around a 1/2 “ depth. The contrast, brightness, color saturation and viewing angle were outstanding, far exceeding Sony’s best Bravia LCDs. OLED technology has always had a useable life issue and Sony representatives did not say if this problem has been solved.

Looking closer to mass production than the 27″ model were 11” panels with a 1024 x 600 resolution. This units were wafer thin measuring about 1/8” depth. Again no lifetime numbers or possible availability was given.

Sony also announced coming this summer would be its own proprietary internet downloading of content including HD directly to your Sony TV. This capability will be available on most of its yet to be released 2007 Bravia flat panel LCD by purchasing an extra cost download module (price to be announced later).

Copyright 2007 HDGURU (sm) All rights reserved

Philips broke the big screen plasma 1080p price barrier with its 63” 63PFP7422D panel available in June at just $5499. This panel has been widely reported to cost $3500, due to an incorrect press release. The Philips PR department today confirmed the new panel is priced at $5499. Philips will carry over its 2006 63” 768p plasma, model 63PF9631D at $3500.

Philips announced a new line of Ambilight flat panel LCDs. All new 42” and larger models have 1080p resolution, new LED Ambilights and three models will have Hot Cathode Fluorescent backlights that operate at 120HZ, greatly reducing motion blur found on all 60 HZ LCDs.

32PFL7332D 32″LCD 60 HZ 768p $1199 March

42PFL7432D 42″LCD 120HZ 1080p $1999 April

42PFL9832D 42″LCD 120HZ 1080p $2999 June

47PFL7432D 47″LCD 60HZ 1080p $2499 April

47PFL9732D 47″LCD 120HZ 1080p $2799 June

52PFL7432 52″LCD 120HZ 1080p $3599 September

The HD Guru