Gadget Guy: Buying Affordable HDTVs

Has the high price of high definition television kept you from making the plunge into HDTV? The prices are coming down, but you need to be careful about what you get for the money.Walk into any TV showroom and there will be big screens in all price ranges. One growing segment caters strictly to the budget conscious.A lot of companies have cropped up to make discount televisions, said Ryan Brown with Magnolia Home Theater. Personally, I found a lot of those to be somewhat problematic or at least a compromise.Still-- you can get a good picture at a good price-- about a thousand dollars for a 42-inch screen. And, if you can accept a much smaller picture, sets that use conventional picture tube technology can give you a pretty good HD picture for hundreds less. Those TVs have always been less expensive but retained a picture quality that is very high, Brown said.