The shopping phenomenon known as Black Friday, with its “insane” doorbuster deals, comes around only once a year. While there are a couple of nuggets hidden in there, it’s also an excuse to clear stock of items people aren’t that interested in anyway.
If you see any of the following TVs for sale on the day, grab them! For our picks of the best door-buster deals, try here. But if you miss out, know that the TVs listed below are already available for affordable prices, and you don’t have to line up in the cold to get them.
To get a good TV you don’t even need to spend thousands — you can get away with a very good 40-inch TV from just $320, and it’s available at that price all the time.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
Best TV value under $500
The TCL P60 is an LCD TV with an excellent picture/price ratio, and it doesn’t look like a cheap TV. For a little bit more, you can get the excellent Samsung 51-inch E450 plasma for a palpable increase in both size and picture quality
Check out CNET’s list of best TVs under $500.
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Best TV value under $1,000
The best TV you can buy for under a grand is, at the moment, the Panasonic UT50. Although the ST50 (see below) is better, it’s almost $200 more expensive.
Check out CNET’s list of best TVs under $1,000.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
Best TV value over $1,000
The Panasonic ST50 is currently the best TV available for its price. You can spend many times more money, but you will get only incremental increases in picture quality.
When you take price out of the equation, the best two 2012 TVs are the Sharp Elite Pro for LCD and the Panasonic VT50. While the Sharp is very poor value for money, it does offer the best LCD picture we’ve ever seen. The VT50 is simply the best plasma you can currently get and a much better value at about half the price of the Sharp.