SquareTrade

Samsung's 3D Plasma releases in March.

Kick that Buck Rodgers wimp to the curb; we're going the full Flash Gordon on this one.  After teasing us at CES, Samsung's 3D-capable PN42A450P plasma HDTV is set for a stateside release next month in 42" and 50" flavors. 

Now before you start planning to Skype your folks just to see their holographic images hovering in your living room, know that we're still on the old funky glasses technology, integrating DDD Group's TriDef 3D setbox into the set itself.  That still gives Samsung room to claim the PN42A450P as the first 3D flatscreen.  Now all you need is some 3D programming to watch on it.  Spy Kids 3D, anyone?

Seriously, though, if this can take advantage of all the Hollywood blockbusters getting the 3D IMAX treatment - including but not limited to the last few Harry Potter, Spider-Man, and Batman movies - it'll be worth having in your home.  Particularly as quite a few high profile directors (Spielbergcoughcough) want their flicks to premiere in that format.

Otherwise, we know the PN42A450P dishes out a 15,000:1 contrast ratio, 18-bit color processing and a trio of HDMI-CEC plugs.  And a SquareTrade HDTV warranty will cover it nicely at about half the price of a Circuit City or Best Buy.

They're not saying what it's going to retail, but you'll have to pony up $200 for two pairs of 3D glasses.  We just hope for that kind of cash, we're not talking cardboard frames.

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Post-Super Bowl HDTV Sales are On!

Now that was a Super Bowl.  Sure, it wasn't as wacko as last year's "scoring in the first thirty seconds of the game" event, and there wasn't an interception every other play, but there wasn't much doubt that both teams belonged in the Big Game, either.

And now, in the cold light day, you're wishing you'd watched it on a new widescreen HDTV and feel you should've bought one sooner, well, Circuit City feels your pain.  They've put up a number of HDTVs for a post-Super Bowl sale, but we'll just concentrate on two of the better deals we found there, both going for under $1000. 

Top of the list is a Hitachi 42" 1080i Plasma HDTV complete with anti-reflective screen that's going for only $900.  Which is crazy talk, to be honest.  But if you're one of those plasma burn-in worry warts, there's a Samsung 50" DLP Projection HDTV for $999.99.  It's only 720p, though, so you're sacrificing resolution for screen area. 

And naturally, you can get a SquareTrade HDTV warranty for either of them.  Or both, if you're so inclined.  And naturally, our 3-Year plan is less money than their 2-Year plan.  They won't match our 5-Day Service Guarantee, either.

Of course, the Patriots fans out there might not ever want to watch television again.  It's okay, guys.  If we'd gotten mugged as often as Brady did, we wouldn't have thrown too straight, either.

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More Plasma HDTV Super Bowl Deals.

Well, it's nice to see somebody's making an effort.  If Best Buy won't step up to the Super Bowl HDTV  Sale plate, how about Fry's Electronics?  Sure, they have the most annoying commercials in the known universe, but what matters that to our greed?

Just a little poking around on Fry's website (which is about on par wi th their commercials) revealed two very nice sets that will present you with a character-defining choice.  First, you've got the Samsung 50" 720p Plasma HDTV.  It's got Samsung's patented anti-burn-in technology, three HDMI ports, and a filter system to counteract bright environments.  It's fairly huge, and the picture looks pretty damn good.

Then you've got a Panasonic 47" 1080p Plasma HDTV, with twice the resolution of the Samsung, an anti-reflection coating on the screen and a built-in SD card slot if you want to show your digital photo slideshow in Hi-Def. 

Both normally go for $2000, and both are currently priced at $1400. 

Really, it's your choice on whether you want a bigger picture or a sharper one.  But either way you go, you can still get a SquareTrade HDTV warranty on it, for a lot less than Fry's or anyone else will charge.  And if you get it on or before February 3rd, you can get 33% Off on your warranty, too.  Just use Coupon Code SUPERBOWL on the checkout page.

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Deal of the Day: a Super Bowl-Ready Panasonic 42" Plasma HDTV.

Day three of Circuit City's Super Bowl-themed Deal of the Day series, and finally they've rolled out a Plasma.  That's a good thing, because usually it's LCDs that get all the love.

Today, however, is a new day, and Circuit City has kindly lopped $400 off the price of the Panasonic 42" Plasma HDTV (model TH-42PX75U).  It's a 720p entry-level set, which means it's not the top resolution and there's no anti-glare screen, but that doesn't matter if your lighting arrangement is decent.  Everything we've read on the model says it's a good picture quality, particularly for the money... and it's always nice to see a plasma panel of this size going for a cool $1000.  CC's still running their 36 month no-interest financing as well, if you're interested.  It's up for the whole of today, and gone tomorrow.

And just for laughs, here's a quick comparison.  Circuit City's 3-Year Advantage Plan for this Plasma costs $250.  We just used the widget in the sidebar to get a quote for a 3-Year SquareTrade HDTV warranty: it's only $120.  Same warranty, only ours works better.

Of course, if you use Coupon Code SUPERBOWL on our checkout page sometime on or before February 3rd, you'll get 33% Off that $120.  Just sayin'.

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HDTV Warranty Sale!

Who says we can't celebrate the Super Bowl, too?  We like onion dip and quarterback rushes as much as the next guy.

And if you need proof, we're pulling 33% Off the price of any warranty you get for any television - tube, Plasma, LCD -  no matter where you bought it from now through Super Bowl Sunday (or February 3rd, for those who don't follow the pigskin).  That takes a third off our normal price, which is normally 40% less than what you'll find at most retail stores.

Just use Coupon Code SUPERBOWL at the checkout page to get the discount.  It's good if you add any options to your warranty, too, like an extra year of coverage.

You don't even have to buy your TV between now and then... if you got it within the last thirty days, it's eligible for a SquareTrade warranty.  Feel free to use the widget in the sidebar there to get an instant quote (it won't whisk you off the page unless you ask it to), and if you haven't found the television of your dreams yet, let's just say there are a few HDTV sales out there waiting for you.

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Cheap LCD TVs for Super Bowl Sunday.

It's that time again.  Now that we know who's going to be in Super Bowl XLII, it's time to start plotting the perfect barbecue feast, which combination of chips and cookies will best complement your flame-kissed Costco burgers, and who will bring how much beer. 

And then there's the new Super Bowl tradition: HDTV sales. 

Best Buy seems to be a little reticent on the issue thus far, so we'll concentrate on the many discounts and deals to be found at Circuit City.  We took a quick peak at their sale page, and found that in addition to 36 month zero-interest financing and a free autographed football, they've chopped the prices on some choice LCD sets (no Plasmas as far as we could tell).  They're advertising up to $800 off, but we immediately found a Samsung 46" 1080p LCD HDTV for $3200... which is $900 off their normal price. 

Oh, but they do also have that $800 off set, too.  It's a Samsung 52" 1080p LCD HDTV that's going for only $2200.  Is that extra eight inches worth an extra thousand dollars?  Depends who you ask, really.  Otherwise, you'll find a good collection of Sharps, Sonys, and Hitachis (among others) generally running in the $400-500 off range.  Depending on where you live, they'll deliver it for as little as twenty bucks, or you can opt for free in-store pick-up.

Getting more televison for less money means your SquareTrade HDTV warranty will cost you less, too... roughly half the price of a Circuit City warranty for better service.  Unless you use our 33% Off Super Bowl HDTV warranty coupon, in which case, it'll cost even less than that.  You'll even be able to add an extra year of protection if you want it.

Okay, we're ready now.  Who else thinks the Patriots have got their perfect season in the bag?

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Best Buy Deal: Free Blu-Ray Player w/Plasma HDTV Purchase.

Remember that pesky format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray that had no end in sight last week?  The end's in sight.

And to celebrate, we found this little Blu-Ray player deal on Best Buy.  Essentially, you pick from a list of Panasonic Plasma HDTVs, and then you get a free Panasonic Blu-Ray player (model DMP-BD30K), which is a $500 value.  A bunch of those HDTVs in question are on sale, too.  There's a Panasonic 50" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV listing at $2400 (that's $400 off), or if you want to keep it under the 2K mark, there's a 42" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma running at $1650 (a nice $150 off).  That's two out of eight televison choices that qualify for the deal.

And because you get all this stuff at reduced cost, you can get your SquareTrade warranty for less, too.  If you want one on the no-cost Blu-Ray player, just plug its normal list price into the Quote Widget in the sidebar to calculate its 3-Year warranty price, which will cover you for the $500 you didn't pay for the Blu-Ray.  It'll be a lot less than what Best Buy will offer you, too.

So why go with Blu-Ray now?  Well, while Apple hasn't made any official decision to start putting Blu-Ray players in their Macs as rumored (and the new Mac Pro just went on sale without the option), Warner Bros. decided last week to stop making HD-DVDs and go exclusively with Blu-Ray which, due to a crafty little exit clause in their contract, allows Paramount to do the same.  If - or rather, when - Paramount jumps ship, HD-DVD will have almost no support left from major Hollywood studios.  What's the sound of one hand clapping?

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Blu-Ray Player warranty

Hitachi Ultra-Thin Plasma HDTVs are In.

It seems like half a forever ago (actually, last October) when we told you about those Hitachi Ultra-Thin LCD HDTVs that were only 1.5" thick.  Now we're hearing a that not only is Hitachi following them up with a line of equally ultra-thin Plasma HDTVs, but there's a rumor that Pioneer will crown themselves the thinnest of them all with a 9mm Plasma HDTV - for reference, that's thinner than a deck of cards - they plan to debut at CES. 

Hitachi's ultra-thins, however, are boasting a few surprises that sound awfully cool, but we're not sure the national bandwidth is there to support them quite yet.  The first may be loosing something in translation: the Similarity Based Image Retrieval System gives you an image search function on your TV, like "a movie scene or image on a camcorder," though they also mention a few law enforcement applications.  The other, Personal Video Sharing, lets you wirelessly share images off a digital camera and transmit them off your home server directly to someone else's Hitachi ultra-thin TV.  If they have one.  And if you have a home server.

But it's the dimensions that are really exciting at this stage.  Given how Plasmas are historically big and unwieldy, this could be the start of grand things.  Now that HD quality picture and sound has pretty much been sorted and television is all going digital by '09, the next big point of contention between television manufacturers is going to be who can put the best picture in the the thinnest package.  Expect everyone to start present ultra-thin televisions in '08.

And of course, they'll all be eligible for a SquareTrade HDTV warranty at an appropriately thin price for an amazingly deep service.

Oh, and Hitachi's also planning to display a concept "super" ulta-thin LCD at CES that's 3/4" thick.  We'll see how long that stays a "concept."

Ultra Thin HDTV televisions

Well-Hidden HDTV Deals at Best Buy.

It's not over until it's over, folks.  And it's not over yet.

We caught sight of Best Buy's new "All On Sale" banner for HDTVs (including flat panel, projection, and tube televisions), but frankly it was all pretty weak stuff as far as we could tell.  Until we came across the Hitachi Ultravision 50" 1080i flat-panel plasma HDTV, anyway.  Hiding in all the "forty bucks off" chaff is a real deal here: normally running for $2500, Best Buy's letting them go for only $2000.  Not bad at all.

Encouraged by that discovery, we pressed on and found they'd also clipped $300 off the price of their HP MediaSmart 47" 1080p flat-panel LCD HDTV, putting it right at $2100.  As insane as it sounds that the 50" Plasma is a hundred bucks cheaper than the 47" LCD, that's what they're listing at.  The world's gone mad.

But if you're interested, you can inject a little sanity into these proceedings with a SquareTrade HDTV warranty, and you can do it for less money than Best Buy would charge you.  And if you hurry, you can even take advantage of our special 20% Off holiday coupon code WARRANTYSANTA before it expires on January 6th.

HDTV warranty, Cheap Plasma HDTV

Special Two-Day HDTV Warranty Sale!

For two days only, you can get 33% off a SquareTrade HDTV warranty on new or used televisions, no matter whether you bought them from a store, an online retailer, or eBay, so long as you got it in the last thirty days.  Depending on the condition you bought it in and the options you decide to add, you can keep your four-figure toy protected for up to four years for 2/3 the normal price.  It's good to be the Santa.

And that's on a warranty that's already 40% less than what you'll find at retail stores, with a 5 Day Service Guarantee that you won't find at retail stores.  We fix it or reimburse your purchase price in five business days, or your warranty and the service are free.  Think we're joking?  Check out our reviews.

Just use coupon code TVSPECIAL on the checkout page to get the discount.  This offer is only good from 11/30 to 12/1, so move fast. 

Need an HDTV?  It so happens that both Best Buy and Circuit City have sales going on at this very moment. 

HDTV sale, HDTV warranty, HDTV insurance