Cheap LCD TV Buying Guide For 2011

Cheap LCD TV Buying Guide

Seeing as how the holiday shopping season is now fully upon us, I figured this would be a good time to post a guide on how to buy a cheap LCD TV.

With all the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all the sales that lead up to Christmas, one just about every store that sells electronics will do is have some very cheap LCD TVs on sale.

Many of them are brands you’ve never heard of (TCL) or brands you didn’t even know made TVs (Acer) and for the most part I’d avoid buying them, but sometimes the deals seem too good to pass up and if you’re buying a TV that will go in a bedroom or some place where having the best possible picture isn’t a big deal, then these TVs may serve you well, but for those who want to get the most bang for their buck if they’re going to buy a TV, this guide is for you.

1080P or 720p?

Pretty much every TV these days is a full 1080P TV but for many smaller TVs (40″ and under), you don’t actually need it. 720p would be just fine in those cases. For anything 42″ and up, definitely go with 1080p, though.

LED – LCD – Plasma

While any sub $500 television is going to be an LCD television, things get a little more complicated if you have a budget of $1000 or so. You’ll find edge lit LED and Plasma TVs in the mix.

So which one do you choose?

While Plasma may appear to be the best bargain in this price range, keep in mind that the TVs tend to be heavier and user 3-4 times as much electricty. If you watch a lot of TV, we’re talking an extra $200-$300 a year just to pay for the electricity to keep your plasma on.

LED TVs tend to be the most energy efficient (though there isn’t a big difference between them and LCD TVs from a practical standpoint), but tend to run $100-$200 more than LCD TVs for the same size screen.

If price is most important to you, get an LCD as it’ll be the cheapest, but keep the next two points in mind…

Contrast Ratio

This is one of the biggies I’ve seen on the super cheap LCD TVs on sale frequently – they have terrible contrast ratios. I’ve seen some that have mere 10,000:1 contrast ratios – that’s not good, not good at all (for anyone purchasing a TV in 2010 and beyond). While I recommend going for at least 100,000:1, if those TVs are too expensive, don’t purchase anything with a contrast ratio of less than 50,000:1.

Refresh Rate

Many discount TVs will have a 60hz refresh rate. While that may be just fine if you’re watching a soap opera or a romantic comedy, it just isn’t going to cut the mustard for sports where there tends to be a lot of motion. A decent refresh rate is 120hz though many higher end sets now clock in at 240hz and new high end LED TVs have appeared sporting 480hz refresh rates.

Stick To Brands You Know

If you’re looking to get a bargain, do be mindful of the brand you’re getting. My two favorite discount brands are LG and Vizio and even Samsung has some nice entry level choices these days. You tend to get a lot of value from each and both have been around long enough for you to know that if you need support in the future, the company will still (likely) exist.

Insiders Note: After talking to a service tech at a local electronics store (not one of the big box stores) I was told that LG is very easy to work with from a customer service standpoint. Yeah, you’ll pay a little more for an LG Tv than one of the super discount brands like TCL but you’ll likely end up with a better TV and better support should you ever need it.

In The Store or Online?

While your local store may be offering great prices on LCD TVs in their weekly flyer, keep in mind that they may not have very many in stock. The big online stores like Amazon, NewEgg, and Buy.com tend to offer just as good of prices, free shipping, and they’ll save you the time and hassle of waiting in line and customer service tends to be much better with the online stores than the big box stores these days.

Here are a couple of my favorite cheap LCD TVs: