Where?

Fancied a 32" Philips for 4200 rmb. I see the prices vary wildly for screens of the same size.

the electronics department store that has the name something like "Golo, bola, hola..", it's 4 letters, 2 vowels, 2 constanents, was having a huge sale on HDTV's, it might still be going on. There's one location across the street from BaBaiBan on Pudon Nan Lu, 2 blocks from #2 line DongChang metro stop.

Prices vary because TV's are no longer all the same, they are as complex as computers on the inside now. Picture quality, functions, number of connector and connector types, the quality of the software that compresses and decompresses various video signals, and much more determine price.

One easy thing to look for on LCD TV's (and LCD computer monitors) is the speed of the LCDs. Look for a sticker or a phrase that has a number in this format: 25ms, 10ms, 7ms. The 'ms' means milliseconds (1ms is 0.001 seconds), this number is how fast each pixel (each LCD) can change color. The lower the number better up to the point where you can't notice the difference. At 25ms or higher, almost everyone's eyes will eventually see, or learn to see over time, a shadow effect, a lag, something funny about fast moving objects on the TV screen. The slower LCDs can not change as fast as some things we watch on TV. But, below about 12ms, and it is unlikely the human eye will notice the change. The higher priced TV's will have LCD's rated at 7ms and even 5ms.

Plasma TV's do not have this potential issue.

Other things to look at, and people won't notice all these things as easily until they start comparing TV's side by side, but look for contrast ratio (1000:1, 3000:1, 5000:1 number format), brightness (500 cd/m^2, 800 cd/m^2 number format).

One does not need to choose a TV based on these numbers, but these values will help bring the cost of the TV into perspective. They can also give you an idea of if the TV will look good in sunny room vs. a dark corner (this is why TV display areas in stores are always a little darker than the rest of the store).

Make sure and ask the store to show you how standard TV looks on the TV. HDTV's are NOT designed to show show normal, analog TV shows. They are designed for HD formats. Most HDTV's will look WORSE for standard TV shows than your normal 27" Sony 'old stye' TV. The price will be higher for a TV that can show standard TV shows well. Ironic, eh?

Another test of TV's is to bring a DVD you are familiar with, it really should be a store bought, 'true' real quality 480p DVD. Never use a fake DVD5, and it is risky to use a fake 'DVD9'. What you want is a DVD with dark and light scenes, and one with very detailed backgrounds (not all in the same scene). When someone is standing in a dark alley, can you really see their face? Are different shades of black/grey visible and are they in 'bands' or do the levels of black belnd together smoothly? Can you make out the person's face, or is the whole screen dark? Same for very light scenes ("The Matrix" where they are standing in a white room and the shelves of guns come streaming across the room). Can you see blades of grass waving in the wind, or do they blend together into a 'sea' of grass.

The good news is HDTV's have had a few years to evolve and a lot of the 'old problems' are gone or minor now, but if you really look and learn, you will see the differences.

Wow, cheers for all that info, it is very useful and appreciated!

Went to the mall you described on Pudong Nan Lu this afternoon. There is another similar electronic goods mall next door it where I ended up buying the size and model I wanted. It was 400 rmb cheaper than the same model in Best Buy, Xujiahui. Thanks for the heads up Coffeehawk0!

Price keeps going down. We bought 32" TCL 2 years ago at 6000RMB, it dropped to 5k within a year and no surprise now is 4k only.