Super Bowl season delivers the year's best TV deals, and savvy buyers know exactly when to strike. Retailers like Best Buy and HH Gregg are slashing prices on 55-inch 1080p sets to $500 and Ultra HD models approaching $1,000, driven by post-game inventory fears and sluggish first-half sales forecasts. With 65-inch 4K sets already hitting $1,500 and further discounts expected before kickoff, the window for serious savings is open right now.
Sharp's deal to license its brand to Best Buy for a line of budget LED TVs raises serious questions about brand equity and retail strategy. Best Buy gains a tier-one label for low-end sets while Sharp risks devaluing the very name that commands premium prices. Sharp executive Jim Sanduski faces a near-impossible balancing act: protecting the Aquos brand, reassuring existing retail partners, and convincing shoppers that 'Bharp' TVs somehow outperform Best Buy's own Insignia house brand.
This 2013 HDTV buying guide covers screens from 24-inch 1080p 60Hz LED sets starting at $178 up to an LG 55-inch OLED at $8,999, with picks organized by size category to match different budgets and use cases. Standout recommendations include a Sony 55-inch 4K Ultra HD model with HDMI 2.0 and TRILUMINOS display at $2,998, and a Sharp 80-inch Quattron 240Hz Smart LED 3D set at $3,688. Readers comparing last year's prices will find modest savings in smaller sizes but premium pricing holding firm at the high end.
A 2013 AV receiver buying guide covers six models across three price tiers, from the Sony STR-DH740 at $275 with 4K pass-through and four HDMI inputs to the Sony STR-DA5800ES at $2100 featuring nine HDMI inputs, a four-port Ethernet switch, and Control4 automation support. Mid-tier standouts include the Yamaha RX-A2020 with YPAO Reflected Sound Control and the Denon AVR-X3000 with Audyssey Gold calibration and seven HDMI inputs. Readers can use the tiered breakdown to match receiver capability to budget and speaker investment, avoiding overspending on processing that outpaces their speaker system.
Autostereoscopic 3DTV remains technically unrealized, but converging technologies point toward viable mass-market deployment within five years. Key enablers include the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard with native 3D support, HEVC compression at 4:4:4 sampling and 10-bit color depth, Light-Field Camera systems capable of correcting stereo depth cues that cause eye strain, and nanolens display arrays that attach multi-element optics to individual RGB sub-pixels to create unlimited glasses-free viewing sweet spots. For consumers, this means the cumbersome glasses requirement that helped derail the first wave of 3DTV could be eliminated by the end of the decade.
Speaker sensitivity, measured in decibels at 1 meter with a standard test signal, is a key efficiency metric where scores above 90 dB are considered excellent and indicate less strain on your receiver or amplifier. Impedance, typically rated at 8 ohms, determines how much load a speaker places on an amplifier, and connecting two speakers in parallel halves that impedance to 4 ohms, which can damage underpowered receivers. Understanding these specs alongside frequency response and power handling helps buyers make more informed decisions without relying solely on listening tests.
Plasma TVs deliver superior black levels, contrast ratios, and color saturation compared to LED LCD displays, with edge-lit LED panels frequently exhibiting backlight uniformity defects such as clouding, halo, and flashlight effects that are absent in plasma panels. Plasma's per-pixel brightness and hue control produces richer, more saturated color that mid-tier plasma sets match against higher-cost LED competitors, while In-Plane Switching (IPS) LEDs improve viewing angles only at the cost of contrast. For buyers prioritizing picture quality in a controlled-light environment under 65 inches, plasma remains the stronger value proposition despite its weight and image retention considerations.
Cox Communications launched ESPN 3D channel 896 for Cox Advanced TV Plus customers in Virginia, delivering stereoscopic Masters Golf Tournament coverage from April 11-14, 2013 using 6-9 dedicated cameras with 3D-specific graphics and commentary. Viewers require a 3D-compatible television manufactured March 2010 or later, Cox HD service, and an HD/DVR Trio receiver with HDMI output to access the channel. Customers without 3D hardware can still watch full Masters coverage on standard ESPN, making the 3D tier an optional upgrade rather than a replacement broadcast.
The ATSC A/104 Service Compatible Hybrid Coding (SCHC) standard, approved December 2012, defines a 3DTV broadcast framework using MPEG-2 for the base view and AVC/H.264 for the additional view within a single 6MHz terrestrial channel. Europe's Sisvel Technology offers a competing approach via its 3DZ Tile Format, which encodes dual 1280x720p eye images plus a depth map within a single 1920x1080 MPEG-4 frame, leaving roughly 230,400 pixels for auto-stereoscopic data. Both systems prioritize backward compatibility with legacy HDTVs, meaning viewers can receive 3D broadcasts on existing sets without a channel change, though a firmware or hardware update to MPEG-4 set-top-boxes is required for full 3D decoding.
Lionsgate and Samsung announced a partnership at CES 2013 to convert and distribute popular theatrical titles in 3D for home entertainment, using Samsung's proprietary 3D image processing technology, with GAMER, CRANK, BANGKOK DANGEROUS, and THE DESCENT as the initial releases. The initiative coincides with a tripling of 3D-enabled Blu-ray Disc releases in 2012 versus 2011, and a near-doubling of 3D television households from 3.5 million to an estimated 6.4 million. Owners of Samsung Smart TVs stand to benefit from an expanding library of premium 3D content converted from existing 2D catalog titles.
Panasonic's 2013 Smart VIERA Plasma HDTV lineup spans 16 models from 42-inch to 65-inch class, with flagship ZT60 and VT60 series featuring a Dual Core Hexa Processing Engine, 3000 Focused-field Drive producing 1080 lines of image resolution, and a Studio Master Panel rated for up to 100,000 hours of panel longevity. The ZT60 achieves DCI 98% Color Space via a newly developed pure red phosphor and eliminates the air gap between front glass and plasma panel to reduce crosstalk and double images. Buyers evaluating premium plasma sets will find THX-certified 2D and 3D modes, ISFccc calibration support, built-in Wireless LAN, DLNA, Bluetooth, and the new Swipe and Share 2.0 feature for seamless Android and iOS content transfer across the full ZT60, VT60, and ST60 tiers.
Epson's PowerLite Home Cinema 750HD is a 3LCD projector delivering 3,000 lumens of both color and white brightness at 720p resolution, with active shutter 3D support priced at $899. The projector features Bright 3D Drive Technology, RF 3D glasses with a three-minute quick charge lasting up to 40 hours, and an E-TORL lamp rated for up to 5,000 hours of life. For buyers seeking a versatile home theater solution, its broad out-of-the-box compatibility with Blu-ray players, game consoles, and cable boxes eliminates the need for a separate format converter.
Stream TV Networks debuted its Ultra-D 2160p glasses-free 3D display technology at CES 2013, showcasing 31.5-inch and 60-inch 4K panels alongside the SeeCube real-time conversion set-top box, which converts 2D and glasses-based 3D content to glasses-free 3D at resolutions up to true 2160p. A proprietary optical system exploits inter-image disparity to produce output resolution exceeding the source material. Consumers can feed virtually any content source - including Blu-ray, cable, and streaming services - into the system without requiring dedicated 3D glasses or restricted viewing angles.
A CEA study on advanced HDTV features reveals that over one in five U.S. adults owns a smart app-enabled HDTV, with 90 percent actively using built-in apps and 61 percent streaming video content directly through their televisions. On the 3D front, unit sales of 3DTVs are projected to reach 5.6 million in 2012, representing 18 percent of total TV sales, and 42 percent of 3DTV owners watch five or more hours of 3D content weekly. For buyers planning a new HDTV purchase, built-in Wi-Fi and Internet browsing rank just below audio and video quality as top purchase factors.
A curated 2012 receiver buying guide spans three price tiers, from the Pioneer VSX-1122-K with 7 HDMI inputs and AirPlay at $486 to the Yamaha RX-A3020 9.2-channel AVENTAGE at $2000, which features a cross-member anti-vibration frame and a dedicated fifth dampening foot. Mid-range standouts include the Yamaha RX-V673 with 4K upscaling and bi-amp assignable amplifiers at $550, and the Denon AVR-2313CI with DLNA 1.5 and Audyssey processing at $900. Readers shopping across budgets will find concrete performance benchmarks and feature tradeoffs to guide a well-informed purchase.
