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Report: 'Stunning' pre-holiday HDTV price drop

A PirceScan report entitled "LCD TV Prices Fall Fast in Advance of Holiday Shopping" finds just that.

David Katzmaier Editorial Director -- Personal Tech
David reviews TVs and leads the Personal Tech team at CNET, covering mobile, software, computing, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on what gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.
Expertise A 20-year CNET veteran, David has been reviewing TVs since the days of CRT, rear-projection and plasma. Prior to CNET he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials
  • Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
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David Katzmaier
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A PriceScan report entitled "LCD TV Prices Fall Fast in Advance of Holiday Shopping" has found that prices for 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTVs fell 12 percent in the third quarter of 2008, including eight percent in September alone.

According to Jeff Trester, PriceSCAN Co-CEO and Chief Economist, "This is a fairly stunning drop in the price of state of the art high-definition televisions of a size sought by many households. One would have to consider 40 inch 1080p LCD televisions a bellwether of the consumer electronics market, so this current accelerating price decline may be indicative of the economic slowdown and financial crisis affecting the retail sector."

With price drops this drastic happening well before the holiday-shopping season, the question for customers considering a new HDTV concerns how low holiday prices will eventually go. A report by PriceGrabber found that, despite the financial crisis, three-quarters of online shoppers who don't already own a high-def TV plan to purchase one within the next year. The Consumer Electronics Association, for its part, also predicted that TV sales will remain strong this holiday season. When you consider the DTV transition, signs seem to point to a healthy market for HDTV shoppers, even if dropping prices shave profit margins even thinner for manufacturers.

Forget about the numbers for a moment: What do you think? Are you eyeing a new HDTV now and just waiting for the price to drop into your target range? Or is the shaky economy scary enough to make you put off your holiday HDTV purchase? Let us know in comments.