Posted on 10/19/2011 3:32:49 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
Washington, D.C. (October 19, 2011) -- It's been a tough year for TV makers and a TVPredictions.com poll and other surveys suggest it could get even tougher this holiday season.
Asked if they planned to buy a HDTV this holiday season, 60.7 percent of our readers said no in an online poll taken here last week. Only 21.7 percent said yes while 17.6 percent said they weren't sure.
The dismal numbers follow an equally depressing survey result last week from the Ipsos organization. The company found that 45 percent of consumers plan to spend less this year compared to the 2010 holiday season. Only 11 percent said they would spend more.
While the survey did not specifically address consumers' plans for HDTVs and CE products, the overall numbers would suggest that people will keep a tight grip on their wallets this year.
Of course, for TV makers, this is just an additional topping of bad news. Thanks to the sluggish economy -- and consumers' lukewarm reception to new 3D TVs -- sales of new HDTVs have been flat this year. In the first quarter, sales of LCD sets even fell, albeit by 3.5 percent.
TV makers, and their CE retail partners, have been hoping that the holiday season would help turn the year around. But if the surveys reflect reality, that may not happen.
Consequently, I think you'll see TV makers slash prices even further than expected during the holiday shopping season. And, if they are smart, they will continue to downplay the 3D features of new sets and focus instead on how great the HD picture is.
Almost 18 percent of our survey respondents said they are not sure if they will buy a new set this holiday season; the TV makers better give them a good reason why they should.
Plasma’s got a better lookin’ picture, screens last longer than they used to, price is so low, profits are low, production scaled back. They’re a huge bargain.
Also, I took the advice from that website, and it eliminated the “soap opera effect”. Granted, there should be an easier way to do than have to bury it within a couple of menus, but you can get around it. That was my only complaint. Otherwise, great television.
We had a big ten 40” CRT that weighed a ton, and it died back around 2003...we just never got another television after that, and watched movies on the laptop like you for the most part.
We don’t have cable, and I don’t watch television anymore anyway (Except NFL) but I sure did miss watching movies on a big screen.
I have the Samsung...it sure looks good to me, but that must be taken with a grain of salt, since I wasn’t watching large screen for many years.
I hope you aren't planning on using the fireplace with that TV above it?
LOL...we use it maybe once or twice a year at the most. I think it would survive it...:)
Good for you - nice timing...
What’s “Fry”?
Over 1 in 5 people say they are going to buy a TV and that is a low number?
How often do people buy TVs?
Same here. We were all set to buy last year, then several thousand dollars in unexpected expenses came up and we decided against splurging. This is shaping up to be a good year to buy.
That was true just a couple of years, but no longer. The absolute best is now LED. Kind of misnomer since it's really an LCD with LED backlighting. Plasma can't hold a candle to a full matrix LED set.
Plasma is cheaper than typical CFL LCD now as well. LCD matured, Plasma just got old.
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