Is it time to buy that 50-inch plasma TV? Prices have steadily fallen on HDTV models with new brands and increased production
By Keith Reed, Globe Staff
Should you or shouldn't you this holiday season?
New brands, deep discounts, and increased production are pushing prices of high-definition television sets even lower this year. Consider: Circuit City is offering a 42-inch Samsung plasma for $2,700, slashing $800 off the regular price, and Best Buy is peddling newcomer Maxent's 42-inch, HD-ready plasma for $1,800. And last month, Fujitsu of America rolled out rebates of $500 or $1,000 on each purchase of its high-end plasma models.
"There's more players in the market, there's more display technologies, and if you look at most of the manufacturers' lines, we're seeing less standard definition and a lot more high definition being produced," said Joni Blecher, an analyst at technology and consumer research firm Jupiter Research in New York.
Since HDTV technology hit the mass market in the late 1990s, the average cost -- especially for lightweight, flat-panel models -- has fallen by several thousands of dollars. Last year, the average sale price of HDTV sets dropped to $1,416.90, nearly 11 percent less than in 2003 and 55 percent cheaper than in 1998, according to Consumer Electronics Association, an Arlington, Va., trade group. Analysts say HDTV prices have continued to decrease considerably this year.
Twelve percent of American households had at least one high-definition television at the end of last year, but that is projected to double to more than a quarter of US homes by the end of 2006, according to Jupiter's latest report on the topic. Much of the growth, the report said, will be fueled falling prices.
And prices don't have to go that low for people to take the HDTV plunge. Among consumers who plan to buy a high-definition set in the next 12 months, the largest chunk -- 42 percent -- said their budget for the purchase was between $1,001 and $2,500, according to Jupiter data. Twenty-two percent planned to spend between $500 and $1,000, and only 4 percent planned to spend more than $5,000.
No wonder HDTVs will account for more than 70 percent of television sales by 2010 the study estimated.
Another reason: Congress intends to shut off traditional analog signals in 2009, forcing broadcasters to transmit in a digital format. HDTV is by far the clearest and most popular of digital standards.