Ultimate TV buying guide

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Ultimate HDTV buying guide

Ultimate HDTV buying guide

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Updated February 13, 2009

Televisions are expensive beasts, but they fall into a few distinct price categories. Here's a cheat sheet that will help better align the set of your dreams with the reality of your bank account. Note that these prices reflect the latest street/online price as of this writing. To sort TVs in CNET's database by price range, check out this list...

Your budget range

Pricing parameters
Televisions are expensive beasts, but they fall into a few distinct price categories. Here's a cheat sheet that will help better align the set of your dreams with the reality of your bank account. Note that these prices reflect the latest street/online price as of this writing.

	What you'll pay				What you'll get
	Less than $300				CRT: up to 27 inches LCD: up to 24 inches

	$300 to $500				LCD: up to 32 inches

	$500 to $800				LCD: up to 42 inches Plasma: up to 42 inches Rear-projection: up to 61 inches

	$800 to $1,100				LCD: up to 47 inches Plasma: up to 50 inches Rear-projection: up to 61 inches

	$1,100 to $1,700				LCD: up to 52 inches Plasma: up to 50 inches Rear-projection: up to 67 inches

	$1,700 to $2,700				LCD: up to 52 inches Plasma: up to 58 inches Rear-projection: up to 67 inches

	More than $2,700				LCD: up to 108 inches Plasma: up to 103 inches Rear-projection: up to 73 inches