HDTV Reviews

almost any HGTV looks good....until something goes wrong. Mine is less than two years old, and the only color on the screen is now green....no red, no blue, etc. Panasonic referred me to a local "certified repair shop" so far, that has cost me $205, and the repair lasted less than one hour. They are coming back to try again. Note the only thing Panasonic will pay for after one year is a picture tube...and so far, that isn't the problem as DVDs work well and the color is good.

I am disappointed with the quality of this TV. I had a 27 inch Panasonic that received a much better picture. There is a line running vertical through the center of the TV, about an inch thick, which distorts the picture. When I increase the volume, white noise becomes very apparent. I am forced to run the TV sound through my stereo system to compensate. I have a service man coming out today. Hopefully, these problems are covered by warranty, otherwise, I will be looking at a $300 service call (estimated), and then the cost of parts. I have always liked Panasonic products, but this TV set was quite a bit of money, and I wish I had made a different choice, even if it would have cost more.

I actually ordered this TV from Amazon and used the Eagle Freight delivery. The process went surprisingly smooth considerig I have not had very good experiences with freight delivery companies. The item took a week and a half (as estimated by Amazon) and was delivered promptly at the appointed time.

First of all, as people have mentioned, this TV weighs a ton. It took three guys to bring it up to the second floor and set it on the TV stand.

The TV quality is very good. I have a Hughes E86 HD DirecTV receiver and off-the-air HD singal and you can instantly see the improvement on HD movies/shows. It was a treat watching the superbowl in HD especially the half time show. :)

I have to say though that this TV does not seem to handle non-HD programming too well. Sometimes, it looks worse than the 25" TV it replaced. However, I have not yet calibrated the TV so that could be a big part of it. The PIP is a cool feature and very easy to control including resizing, moving, freez framing, etc...

The number of AV connections are plentiful with 2 component videos, 1 digital, 4 composites. All of them with audio inputs. I used to feed all my AV signals into my Yamaha receivers but with all the connections available on the TV, I now have them all connected directly to the TV.

The remote is pretty awesome and can control pretty much all of my components. The one thing I could not get it to work was the ASPECT button. I have to navigate through the menu. I have a call in to Panasonic support. Also, the TV does not seem to remember the ASPECT ration setting. The component selection always seem to default to 16:9 even if I set it to 4:3. This may be an oversight on my part but if there is a way to keep the setting, its not very obvious.

Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the audio since I have all the audio fed into my 6.1 receiver.

Overall, its an excellent TV and certainly worth the $ especially since its few hundred $ cheaper than the equivalent Sony. The only reason for a 4 star is the issue with the screen ASPECT as mentioned.

BTW, I hear some people recommending a 16:9 HD TV over a 4:3. After having this TV for about a month now, I'm glad I got this TV. If you watch local HD channels, you'll get a good mix of HD and non-HD programming. I think for this type of viewing, 4:3 actually works out better. Of course for DVDs and HD movies, I usually change the setting to 16:9.

Has anyone purchased this amazing 63" Plasma at unbelieveable low low and extremely low price !!
C'mon how can it be 10 times cheaper than the original value.
And besided the seller has not yet been rated :-(
Best of Luck to those who buy this and dont forget to write me a few lines....:-)

this plasma is good-ish. Not-ish because it is big and flat, whcih causes owie-zowie headaches. happy AND not-ish plasma consumer..by the way, consumer sounds like you're eating dairy products or something. But plasma is a good TV source but a little bit pricy.

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone else has seen frequent postings for used models for unbelievably low prices? Has anyone successfully purchased one from these sellers? I am in the market for a plasma and found the deal to good to be true...

Thanks,

RB
rxb2138@hotmail.com

It looks good but their support is terrible. The TV arrived with a bad tube. It sat on the shop for repair for 3 weeks before Samsung gave any answer. They finally said that they wouldn't send a replacement tube. I then had to ship it back to the dealer at my cost. Don't buy Samsung products. Your may save in the front end but you loose in the back end !

Yea why dosent any of Samsungs HD-ready tube televisons even the high quality tantus series not support 720p. These tv's are great for DVD veiwing but if your a video game player like me then you should check out the Toshiba 30" HD ready tv. it has a smaller footprit than samsungs 26" 16:9 TV and supports all HD signals it also is the same price. so if you are not a video game fanatic then Samsung HD Tube tvs are great, nice price for size but still no 720p support.

I spent six months looking at small HDTV sets for my living room before settling on the Samsung TXM3098, which was replaced by the TXN3098. It is a wonderful set in many ways:
- Beautiful, vivid picture with an HDTV signal (I use RCN cable) or with DVD input (I am using composite input for DVD)
- Very good picture with a standard signal (much better than my old set, with four screen size options)
- Terrific sound for a stand-alone set
- Easy-to-navigate menu system

My major complaint is service: I am suffering from geometric distortion with some signals, and Samsung shows absolutely no sign of being willing to return my call or stand behind their product. This is very disturbing.

Had no problems with this unit until i HAD a problem.I bought mine 1/16/02 & have been pleased with the performance till early in December when the screen went black and liquid started spilling out the bottom !!!! It has been setting in my living room for 6 weeks now ( black screen, liquid dripping etc).
Atechnician came by about a month ago, charged me $63 & said he could fix it but could not warranty his work.
Long story short; I've been getting the runaround for over a month now since it became apparent that the unit needs to be replaced. Looks like i'll have to rely on small claims court to get Toshiba to honor the warranty. BEWARE

I chose the Toshiba 43H71 projection TV after researching and viewing competing brands at local stores and on the Internet. The Toshiba offered the best combination of features, picture quality, size, and price. Although I was apprehensive about having a TV of this size shipped from a distance, it arrived in perfect condition. The delivery person removed the packing material and placed it in my family room with no problems.

The TV has a very sharp picture with almost invisible scan lines. The picture brightness will decrease somewhat as you increase your viewing angle away from center, but the picture quality does not suffer. Since I could not locate a TV stand for this unit, I purchased a Sony model for a 43" TV which is a very good fit. Hitachi also makes stands which should fit as well. This raises the TV approximately 14 inches, which helps with the viewing angle, as well as storage for a VCR and DVD.

Some pixalation was noticed when viewing digital satellite signals and Playstation 2 games. This may be a function of the larger, higher quality picture making any signal flaws more visible than my old 32" set. One slight problem has been observed for which I am seeking warranty service. The set will momentarily turn off and then back on again, with no input from the user. This only happens less than once per day, and hopefully is not an indication of future problems.

Overall, I would highly recommend this TV. As a first-time projection TV owner, I am very pleased with the picture quality and features of this model.

bought on amazon.com received new condition phenominal tv! Incredible resolution, and very smooth transaction.

The price obviously was fairly convincing, however, upon receipt, the display surface looked as though it were a very used product. It lead us to be believe that maybe we had received a refurbished unit. Additionally, the picture was distorted over half of the viewing area to the point where once you try to adust it, it equally distorts the other half of the picture. I also expected a much brighter picture with Plasma as I've seen with other units I've seen in stores, however, even with it brightness maxed out, it was only 50% as bright as those on display in stores. Tech support was of very little help to us to solve any of the problems we exprienced. However, the begged and pleaded with us not to return it as it that's all they've been dealing with-obviously a trend with this company. There was just too many serious issues with this product to accept and it has since been returned. We purchased a 30inch LCD-TV which draws a lot less power and has a much brighter picture.

I'm not an expert so I'll just say it how it is. This TV was 1600$ off for a Boxing Day sale and cost me 2999$ CAD. When I got home with it and plugged it in, it had a hard time recognizing the component hookup. But I believe it to by my “monster cable” cables. The picture as some other said was a bit dark but I have brightness and contrast set to about 90% and it's perfect. One thing to keep in mind I found that when I plugged in the s-video cable for some reason it would make the screen darker...not sure why myself. I have it on component and then plug in S-Video...goes darker. Anywho I don’t use S-Video because I feel its garbage:) What I also love about the TV is the remote. The setup is nice and the lighting on it is great! It's a VERY bright red and you can easily see what buttons are what when watching your movies in the dark. What don’t I like about the TV? I think the quality could be a bit better but when I was looking at them in the store I ranked it higher than the Sony one sitting beside it. The colors are very nice but slightly more pixilated than some of the other brands. The hookups in the back are nice and well labeled. Also the stand it comes with and the look of the plasma screen itself are very nice. I feel that if you slapped a Sony label on this and jacked up the price 2000+ people would still buy it. (Maybe not the experts, but the avg Joe would just dive for the name) To summaries it all off, I saved myself an easy few 1000 dollars by buying the Norcent, and very happy about it. If you want plasma and want really good quality TV viewing, this is the one that let you do that without taking out a second mortgage:) Plasma screen = Cosmetically nice and visually VERY good as well Connectors = nicely placed connectors Options/remote = Got all your esencial options but not as many if you pay 3000$ more. Remote very nice in the hand well placed button and wonderful bright red light that light up all buttons. 4 stars just because the picture could be more solid and could have more options. But if you want to rank it based on its cost it gets a definite 5/5 if not more. I paid 2300 USD for it and when you sit back and relax...it's picture perfect.

Along with the Norcent Home Theater, it's an awsome addition to our game room.

My Panasonic PT-51HX41 broke in just over 2 years. It is $500 to fix and the repairman says that the problem with the amplifiers and resisters on Panasonic TVs are common. Why no recall? Avoid big screen panasonics!!!!

Only but a buy a big screen panasonic if you like throwing your money away. After the warranty expires, tv breaks, on mine dp board went out. Repair cost $1000.00. Customer service [bad], quality worse. Listen to someone who knows buy another brand.....any brand but Panasonic. Oh yeah, if you do buy one, forget about their "independent authorized repair centers" they are a bunch of twerps also

I shopped around for months and I found this TV to be the best bang for the buck. You can't go wrong with this one. It had a sharper picture than the Toshiba and the Sony TV's in the same price range. You really won't be dissapointed.

The Toshiba 36" Flat Screen HDTV - 36HF73 has major bowing issues. We purchased out original set at the end of Aug. 2004. It is now the end of January 2005 and we have gone through 3 bad tubes (all bowing) and even a new set which Toshiba sent us which also has the same severe bowing problems. The bowing is on the top and bottom of the picture in any wide screen picture either from regular television shows or movie mode. We have had our local service representatives out numerous times and have been in contact with Toshiba trying to resolve the issue of the television being defective due to the bowing. We are currently seeking a refund through Toshiba and are appalled that it took this long to resolve a problem that they are apparently having with this model. With having paid full price we expect a perfect picture and this is not a quality product.

Amazon did a good job of getting this television to me. However, the picture set up is not good. The pictures bows from the center to the edges. A straight line towards the top or bottom of the screen noticebly bends to the corners. It becomes even more noticable in the HDTV 16x9 mode. I have had it serviced by one Toshiba authorized repair shop. The service technician told me there was nothing he could do after bringing it into their shop. I will try other repair shops, for $1400 the picture should be perfect. If I had purchased locally I would return the TV, but Amazon does not allow returns on large TVs.
The final word from Amazon customer service and Toshiba: I have spoken with the Toshiba technical support and they have informed me that this is a normal occurance and that the bow affect you are experiancing is a common in this type of TV and that it is within their specifications.

Therefore, the Toshiba 36HF73 36" Flat-Screen HD TV is not defective and we will not be able to offer further assistance or allow the TV to be returned for a refund.

If you are looking for a good intro to HDTV, this is it. I shopped for 2 weeks online to find the best TV to replace my 10-year old Magnavox. After lots of searching, I narrowed it down between the Toshiba and the Sony. Both were 36", and that seems to be the size limit for a regular tube (CRT) flat screen. Any bigger, and you'll have to switch to plasma or LCD (and big $$$). The Toshiba wins out over the Sony for expected life-span, but the Sony gets better marks for picture quality according to many on-line experts. So, the Sony is more, but better picture. The Toshiba is a little less, and the picture might not be perfect. Personally, I looked at both and couldn't detect a difference. HOT TIP: I found the Toshiba 36HF73 at Costco for $999. (...)

Set up was very easy, and it interfaced with my DVD, VCR and satellite (Dish DVR) no problem. The picture on regular tv (non-HDTV feed) is really good, and on DVD it is totally fantastic. Menus are intuitive, and overall the tv functions great and didn't have that "why can't I get this to work?" frustration period I frequently have with other high-tech items.

I am very pleased with this new tv, and I would be surprised to find someone who has a serious problem with it. As far as the other reviewer's problem with the curved horizontal line, I have not found this on my set.

My only negative on the tv is the weight. This sucker weighs 200lbs. Make sure you have an adequate stand and have plenty of beer on hand for the help you will most certainly need wrestling it into place.

I looked high and low, and I could not find a better rated 36" CRT flat screen, and the price is nice too.

I purchased this TV from Best Buy...mistake number one. It broke after only 2 years. The quality of the picture is nice and clear. But I would not recommend the purchase of this TV.

I am very happy with this purchase. The picture is fantastic, the sound is great, and the remote is pretty easy to use. It has six inputs, including 2 colorstream, which come in handy. Sports, movies, and video games really bring out the best in this TV, especially when the surround sound is on. I have only had it for four months. I am giving it four stars just in case it breaks down.
Otherwise, top-notch all the way

I just purchased this TV, and after a lot of homework, I think it's the best deal for an HDTV. You get every major feature that's offerd for a set in this price range. My parents and sister both have Toshiba TV's and never had a problem with them. The picture quality, at least in my opinion, is the best. I compared it side by side with Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Sony, Panasonic, and Samsung. The only brand that produced a better picture was Pioneer, but for a lot more money. Hope this was helpful....

Samsung is not being very understanding. Getting the run around from Samsung (saying the opposite of what the local Authorized Samsung Repair tells me)

Buy Samsung ONLY if you want a DISPOSABLE TV. They do not stand behind their products.

Just got mine today. Took a bit of fussing to make things work the way I wanted them too. Hooking this puppy up is definetely NOT for the timid. The only problem I have is that it has such good resolution that regular analog cable looks more grainy than it did on my old regular resolution TV (even with the digital enhancement feature turned on). DVDs viewed in progressive mode are stunning! This TV is the most customizable TV I have ever used. Minor issues: switching between video input sources is kind of cumbersome as you have to repeatedly press the button to cycle through them and the cycling is unnecessarily slow. Also: the TV makes this really annoying test tone when you turn it on. Overall I am very pleased.

This 27 inch HDTV is just awesome! Its internal line doubler upconverts NTSC signal to 480p flawless, so it outputs a great flicker free image, even with a non-progressive DVD player or a VHS. It also has 2 broadband component video inputs,I'm using this TV with an XBox & a PS2, and it produces an excellent image (it reproduces exactly the progressive scan picture of the XBox & it upconverts the interlaced output of the PS2 at 60fps). Its line doubler is far superior to the DRC in the Sony Wega HDTV (and I have seen the TVs side by side). The set also have 3:2 pulldown and supports the 16:9 anamorphic format, so is great for movies.The sound is loud & crisp,and the subwoofer adds a lot of bass. I have this HDTV for 2 weeks now and I can't be happier (I only wish I could have bought it cheaper (I paid $$$$ for it, but at the current price it's a steal!)

I selected this TV because of the size. This set is designed to be less wide than most 32" sets so it fit perfectly into my cabinet. Delivery was great. The scheduling was easy and two guys delivered it into the house and down the stairs (this baby is heavy).

Be sure you can use the DVI interface for input to this TV. When I first hooked it up to my high definition cable box via component video the HD channels were a little wavy around the edges. Not bad, but noticable. Once I purchased a DVI cable (100 bucks!) and hooked it up via DVI the picture on this set was pefect. Looks fantastic.

One thing to watch out for is that the only S-Video input is on the side and if you have the set in a cabinet you can't access it.

I bought this set from Amazon and am overall pleased with it.

The Good: The picture is unbelievably good even compared with Sony's 32 inchers. The low price makes this set a steal.

The Bad: I originally was interested in this tv because it is the only 32 incher that was narrow enough to fit in my entertainment center. After I got it, I went to hook up my DVD and realized the set's only S-Video connection is on the SIDE of the set- there was not enough room for me to hook up my DVD player.

The Ugly: Shipping took 11 days from order date to in my living room.

The picture and sound are awesome on this TV. Many of the reviews here are copied from an older model, the TXM3298HF. The new model TXN3298HF, released in the first half of Jan 2004, remembers all of your settings when turned off. (How did that ever get into distribution?)

Also notice the unfair skewing that rating the dealer has on what people actually have to say about the TV. I bought mine elsewhere, and have no complaints.

The DNIe image enhancement engine, and automatic conversion of signals to higher quality mean that I don't see any improvement by switching my DVD player to progressive scan. Might sound like a complaint, but it just means the TV's doing a great job cleaning up incoming signals.

The S-Video input is still on the left side, making accessing it difficult for those of you who need it. I don't, so it's no big deal.

My complaints about the TV are very minor:
* The velocity scan picture enhancement does a nice job of improving the picture, but has a very subtle effect of making the low-contrast details of an image swim after the high contrast portions. For instance, if somebody jiggles their head, the eyes, mouth and other high-contrast portions of their face move quickly, but the subtle lines on their forehead move very slightly slower. My wife doesn't notice it, so maybe you won't. The digital noise reduction should only be used on bad signals: it blurs good ones.

* Pushing the quick-access settings buttons on the remote produces two different effects. Some buttons display the current setting, others immediately change it. If you have a regular, one rca cable signal on one input and a component on another, you may have to push one button four times to change to the rca input, and another button two times to switch to the component. If you have a universal remote with macros, it's not a problem. If all of your inputs are s-video, digital or component, you can use one button to switch between all inputs.