I am in the market for a new 40 - 50" flat panel TV, but in no big hurry, I just want to have it by late summer/early fall. Is there a time between now and then that usually sees the lowest prices of the year, or should I just wait as long as possible?

(i.e., are these Super Bowl sales prices the best we will see until late fall/winter?)

bump

The superbowl prices this year are not nearly as good as years gone by, because the Thanksgiving holiday saw such a drastic decline in prices nearly 30%!

You may see some sales after super bowl as 2006 stock is cleared prob end feb/early march. The next awesome deals won't be till Next Nov.

Many e-tailers have rock bottom pricing on sets (see forum sponsors). But that comes with the inconvenience if there is ever a problem with the set.

Prices have declined a lot and I don't foresee them falling dramatically like they did last thanksgiving any time soon. You may be able to save a little between now and the summer as old stock is cleared, but thats many months without a nice HDTV.. would you pay $25/month from now until july to have a 50" HDTV? I would :)

Well, I think prices are starting to rise. My example is the samsung 4273 I bought. The cheapest it seems was between thanksgiving and xmas. It went up a little after xmas so I bought it. I just checked Fry's who had a special price on it for $1600 but the special is gone and it's now $2300.

Manufacturer's have been running a lot of rebates and other promos for retailers, which is usually passed on to shoppers. When those rebates end, or when the stock bought up during the promo period is gone, the prices can bounce back up.

I'd imagine when the new largely-1080p, better-black plasmas & LED-backlit LCDs with 120Hz come out this summer, existing high-end stock will be flushed through at significant discounts. However, one must keep in mind that high-end stock is commonly sold for a lot lower than MSRP & those retailers aren't likely to discount as heavily, if at all.