Posted by lorincantrell on 09/28/05 10:06

DING! We have achieved mainstream acceptance, because you CAN buy a 32"
HDTV at Wal-Mart in that price range. I paid $647 for a 32 inch Sanyo
with built in ATSC tuner. That was at the beginning of the summer. I
was at Wal-Mart last week and the price had been dropped to $567 (not
clearance mind you, the everyday price). It may not be as
fantastically perfect as a TV built in a sterile Japanese factory, but
it's got a fantastic picture, all the current digital inputs, and feels
plenty solid for the price. I think I'll easily get 5-10 years out of
it, and by that time 70-inch plasmas will be perfected and likely very
affordable. I consider the Sanyo HT32744 to be an excellent transition
TV.

I would also like to point out that the days of the great Japanese
brands producing their products in perfect factories actually in Japan
is mostly over. I'm sure some of the highest end stuff is still made
in something that looks like it came out of a Lexus brochure, but so
much today is done in China, Korea, and more obscure places. It's
getting where "made in Japan" is as rare as "made in USA."

-beaumon

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