As much as I love high-octane performance and cutting-edge features, I’d be silly not to acknowledge the importance of ultra-cheap TVs — especially once the holiday shopping season rolls around.

This year, if you’re looking to get a jump on Black Friday and Cyber Monday TV deals and your goal is to limit your spending, you’re not alone. Nearly all of the reader emails I get around this time of year are about TVs under $500.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of my top picks in this all-important category. Black Friday is still a few weeks away, but there are already plenty of early TV deals under $500. We haven’t tested all of these models, but they’re the sets I’d recommend to people who want to save as much money as possible and who don’t mind compromising in order to do it.

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