For those who do have some discretionary income to use on a spiffy new TV, or maybe have saved up to make the switch in time for the DTV transition, today’s pricing certainly makes buying an HDTV pretty enticing.

Hoping to cash in on that, and market even greater affordability, display products provider EQD has announced its entry into the LCD HDTV market with its Auria line.

The company will have piano-black LCDs ranging from 16 to 47 diagonal inches (though for now the largest it lists specs for seems to end at 42 inches), and resolutions of 720p and full 1080p.

There’s no pricing listed yet, but EQD says its products will have prices “as low as 20 percent less than its closest competitor” and a 2-year warranty, to boot.

As a bonus, the company has pledged to done a portion of its profits to the Armed Forces Foundation and Miracles for Kids charities, so give ‘em points for that.

On the specs side, for a sample we looked at the 42-inch model EQ4288F and found:

• 1920 x 1080 resolution
• 2,000:1 contrast ratio (8,000:1 dynamic)
• 6.5-ms response time
• Viewing options of full screen, letterbox, zoom, panorama, no scale, normal
• Two HDMI ports, two component video inputs, one VGA input
• NTSC/ATSC/Clear QAM integrated tuner
• 40.3 x 30.5 x 11.6 inches dimensions

So no, we’re not expecting it to be too groundbreaking in the world of HDTVs, but as a value proposition it sounds interesting. Look for the debut in March/April, the company says, from retailers such as Amazon, Buy.com, Newegg, PC Mall and PC Connection.

Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!