With flat-screen TVs (LCD and Plasma, mainly) being THE hot category in retail electronics these days, the bevy of brands, selections and formats has never been quite as...confusing. The sheer number of brands alone is staggering. But then this is just what happens any time a consumer electronic product gets hot.

When the ubiquitous iPod came onto the scene, names you've never heard of (and may never again) began offering their versions of "digital music players. Same goes for digital cameras a few years back.

Now digital TVs -- HDTVs to be exact -- are entering that same buying frenzy economists and marketers call the "tip of the product cycle." With the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) starting soon, makers of everything from HDTVs to credit card-sized camcorders to earring MP3 players (?!) will be showing their wares and signing deals with distributors and retailers. They will help clog up the supply pipelines of Best Buy Co.,Inc. (NYSE:BBY), Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE:CC) and other retailers with plenty of selection, price points, features and....other things most consumers could care less about (except price).

I've been studying Vizio, a company that came out of nowhere a few years ago to take the plasma TV scene by storm by selling very decent-quality flat-screen TVs at prices that make Sony and Samsung shudder (even today). Are we going down the product lifecycle pricing curve now? Expect 2007 to be a definite answer to that question. We'll check back a year from now.