Actually, I am not. I am describing the prices and conditions that led to the current day. Here's a quote from Sound and Vision from July 2006 describing a Samsung Plasma HDTV with an MSRP of $3500. "Spotted online for as low as $2,800, the HP-S5053 appears to be a ridiculously good deal for a 50-inch flat-panel HDTV".

If you want to see the high end, google the price the Pioneer 50" Kuro Elite FD111 from 2008. Or you can search the forums to see Outlaw selling its refurbished Sony OO6 Qualia's at $6K down from $13K.

If what you stated is true, we would not be at our current price points. It was plenty of sales at "astronomical" price points that led to manufacturers building more glass fabrication plants and ultimately lower prices (supply and demand).

As for beyond100's point, I don't think it has a lot of credence for two reasons. One, there are still TV's selling for above 1500 even at the high volume dealers like Costco(and this is at the end of the model year). Two, I don't think the bottom end ever drives the market. If that were the case, we would all have black and white CRT TV's. Nor would Apple be the world's highest valued company.

In either case, I don't think consumer's will drive this any more than then it was consumer demand that led to 3D TV's becoming available. It was manufacturers thinking that they could increase profits by offering this feature. I am sure it will be the same with 4k.