TV Screen Protection

As parents of two young kids me and my wife are constantly on the look out for their safety as well as the safety of the things around them. My worst nightmare would be to find my big screen TV's LCD screen damaged. There have been plenty of close calls already which have made me very nervous. My kids make it a point to constantly keep us on the edge by bouncing things very close to it. So it almost feels a disaster waiting to happen.

It will be unjust to claim that only younger kids pose a problem. I remembered the news a few years back where Wii controllers slipped out of players hands and damaged the TV screen. Nintendo I believe has released numerous versions of the straps used to attach the controller to gamer's wrist to avoid this.

Fearing the safety of my prized TV (no kidding, I spent a small fortune to get the top of the line Sony 52XBR four years back) I started looking around for the various solutions that are available out there. Here are some of them that came up in Google Search:

• http://www.tv-armor.com
• http://www.tv-protector.com
• http://www.crystal-wall.com
• http://www.vizomax.com

For the 52 inch LCD they would cost around $150 and they are all being sold online, could not find a local store that carried them.

Then there was this website that provided instructions on how to build your own. Immediate question that comes to the mind is the saving over the commercial ones. After doing some costing of the parts at a few home improvement/hardware stores the cost is about $80 for a decent clear shield. This does not account for any tools and expertise required to complete the task. This wasn't encouraging, I was hoping to spend no more than $40 if I have to build on my own.

So, now the question becomes which is the best value for money out there? I would like to know if anyone else had any experiences good/bad that will help in making a decision. I am a little worried about the whole picture quality with the shield in front of the TV screen.