Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest TV events of the year, and people are always interested in buying a new set for their house party, recession or not.
They are just more careful about the value of their dollar this year. As a result, retailers and manufacturers are getting together to bring plenty of good last-minute offers, including sales by as much as 45% off, like a couple of Sharp TVs we found online. Most of the sales we've monitored this week, however, are coming in between 20% and 30%. That's not too bad.
According to TV company reps, part of the motivation to pick up a new set this week is to also avoid problems with the upcoming DTV transition, but we don't believe that at all. A big sports event supercedes any sort of concern people might have about that, and most people who are buying a TV for a SB party have previously upgraded to an HD feed. Often, they’re just trying to man up to something bigger and better.
Samsung, in particular, is trying to take all of the attention during the run up to the Super Bowl. Having paid a huge chunk of change to have the honor of being known as the "Official Sponsor" of this Super Bowl, they're offering a $200 gift certificate on any TV bought over $1000 at Amazon.com.
This deal (and others online) might prove to be a Shipping Impossible Mission, what with the game coming in only 48 hours, but we've heard that many of the retailers are honoring online deals at their bricks & mortars. Even against offers of their competitors. So that means you should take your iPhone, G1, or Netbook with you to show the salespeople the competing offers and hassle with them for 15 minutes until they give you the appropriate discount. Believe me, they want to sell you that TV. This is not the time to turn away customers.
Check out some of the top TV deals we found that are available right now (above), and then check out our Google Docs spreadsheet with the larger list, right here. That one includes more big box retailers (so you don't have to deal with the shipping nightmares) and we'll update it throughout the day. Also, please let us know if you find out about any deals that are better than these in the comments below or by email, to jferm80@gmail.com.
And here are a few important tips you should keep in mind before making a purchase:
- Do account for the number of people attending your party. If it will be less than ten people, consider buying a set at 40 inches of less. You don't need a monster set, just sit a bit closer together.
- Do consider the viewing angle of the set. The larger the angle, the more people should be able to crowd beside the set. But the angle should not be a priority ahead of resolution, brightness, and image processing speed.
- Do stick with LCDs for their durability and power savings. That is, unless you pick up one of the 'Ultimate Black' Kuros from Pioneer (with their ridiculous contrast ratios), or one of the Mitsubishi Laser TVs. In that case, you probably shouldn't be checking out any posts that feature 'deals'. But if you are really sticking to your price points and want to maximize size, there will be some, older good Plasmas available.
- Do try to pay for your TV straight-up, without buying into any interest deals. As the Wall Street Journal recently noted, many of the 'no interest' multi-year payment plans become horribly one-sided against customers the moment you send in one late payment. Please don't be that guy.
- Don't buy any high-end HDMI cables while at the store. They will pitch them to you, with ridiculous, cross-eyed, teeth-shattering lies. You don't need any Monsters in da house, just the TV. And some some chips. And guacamole. Skip the peanuts this year.
- __Do __figure out the best seating arrangements before the game starts. HDGuru came up with a great list that defines the optimal viewing distance for each size of a television. The main rule is that you should measure the distance in feet that you (and your friends) prefer to sit away from the set. Then, multiply that number by four to get the number of (diagonal) inches of screen you need. Check out the full (PDF) list of distance measurements right here, or after the jump.
- Do calibrate the TV to produce the best picture quality possible. Associate Editor Joe Brown recently noted during a video of his winter [outing at the Wired Store](https://more-deals.info/video/gadgets/gadget-lab/1745181318/calibrate-the-blues-away/4569448001)that calibrating displays is a key to get the best out of any TV. Often, big box retailers will amp up the contrast, brightness, and color levels on in-store TVs in order to stand out in the high-ambient light conditions.
See also:
Gadget Lab 2.0: Jose Fermoso's Twitter feed; Gadget Lab on Facebook.
