PHOTO COURTESY OF SONY    SONY 34-IN. KV-34XBR910   Suggested Retail: $2,500   www.sonystyle.com

DIRECT-VIEW CRT
Size Range: 13 in. to 40 in.
Price Range: Free to $2,500

What you've grown up thinking of as a television, direct-view CRT still offers one of the best pictures out there. Trouble is, the cathode ray tube that gives it its name weighs a ton, so anything over 40 in. is just plain impractical. CRTs come in either curved or the nicer flat-screen models, not to be confused with the "flat-panel" TVs discussed below. And no, we don't know who's giving away free TVs, but we're sure some relative of yours has a clunker they'd like to have taken off their hands.