HDTV Reviews

The set developed serious color quality problems within the first year. The nearest authorized service is a two hour drive away from my hometown of Sedona, Arizona. That service company declined to drive to Sedona on a service call because of the four-hour round trip. Panasonic has not responded to my e-mail after two weeks, and my attempts to reach the Panasonic service area by phone simply lead to a phone maze without a real person to which I can complain. If you do not live in a city the size of Phoenix, I strongly recommend that you look at another product.

We were happy with this TV at the start. After our warranty ran out--so did the TV. One day the TV just would not turn on even after several attempts to unplug and plug it back in which only resulted in pop, snap. die! We have been waiting almost four weeks for parts to repair it. Panasonic has not sent the parts needed as requested by our repair shop. We have been given several excuses about what had caused the problem and why it hasn't been fixed. From "the power supply" to "acid leaking on the board" to "waiting for parts from Panasonic". From day one this TV had an arch across the bottom of the picture when viewing widescreen. We were willing to put up with this first problem. But after waiting over a month for this major repair we are in the process of now purchasing a different brand of TV. We would highly recommend that you think twice about purchasing this Panasonic lemon.

I think this television is excellent and worth every penny. I did not however go to a store and spend a lot of time looking at the others.I read alot of reviews and this was the best pick.
If you like to watch DVD movies this is great with a nice player. Images do look very real and the colors are brilliant.
I have been watching it for 3 days now and have no complaints except that it doesn't recognize the anamorphic widescreen for 3 4 pulldown on my old Aiwa XD-DV370. It does work on my Pioneer PDV-LC10 with no problems. Nice remote control. The reviews were helpfull and I'm happy with it.

Never another Thompson product for this consumer. After a $400+ earlier repair, TV again went out, took 10-12 weeks to determine part not available. Still waiting 7 mos later, after multiple toll calls, hold, runaround...and advised prorated refund will be sent in another few weeks since model no longer available. TV left my house in January and I'm still waiting for a check - only saving grace - not a Thompson credit!

I have had this TV also a year and have not had one problem. I feel sorry for those of you that had many issues. The picture quality isn't the absolute best when viewing regular channels (but I don't care). HD Channels are the best I have ever seen. Yes, the fan runs 24/7..but on my set I can barely hear it (it's in a cabinet and the back of the cabinet has been cut out). I can't even begin to explain how heavy this thing is. Let's just say it's a challenge for TWO large guys. VERY, VERY dissappointed in the fact that there are NO outputs on this TV...the designer of this TV should be fired!!(I really mean that) Who doesn't put outputs on a TV????? I guess any electronic purchase is a gamble but I do believe as one person mentioned in their review, that it all depends on whether the manufacturer is willing to stand behind their product. Where are you RCA?? Help all of these people...fix your rep. I purchased the extended warr. I am praying that I don't have to use it. Not real happy that the PIP doesn't work with Digital channels but is there a TV out there that can?? Really, is there? I really hope that RCA reads these reviews because I used them to make my decision on buying this TV... The positive reviews don't outweigh the bad by many. As for the remote, it's not bad. It does everything I need it to do. When is someone going to make a remote that either completely lights up or all the keys glow in the dark. In all I hope this TV lasts a while because I am not looking forward to the time when I have to haul this thing out of the cabinet. I would almost choose to buy another house and leave it. ha
I hope those of you that have had problems get some sort of resolution.... good luck to all of you !

The reason I bought the RCA over the other Brands that pushed flatscreens and projection plus other tech options was the picture. Natural warmth as close as you can get to film quality.It has a slight curve to screen but very close to flat. It was the only way they could produce this type of tube design. It does not effect screen displacement.

Set up is very straight foward, just read the book. It's a real plus having the satelite receiver built in, also 2 antenna inputs for cable and HD local stations.

One thing to be aware of is the weight, It takes 2 plus to lift because it's still CRT technology and get the stand made for the this model(optional base). It has pegs that go in to bottom of
TV so it won't shift forward in a Earthquake. Always get an
extended warranty with so much technology inside the set.
The TV has been going 6 hours a day seven days a week since September with no problems. It was purchased new at a much higher price then currently priced at now!

Bought this TV last year. Now it is two weeks after the one year warranty has expired and the TV is dead. Like the two previous reviews entered, I also have a problem turning on the TV. Certainly didn't have a power surge problem because I have redundant power surge protection. This suddenly occured today.

The symptom is: When I try to turn on the TV it gives that inital sound as if it where going to turn on but a second later it just powers off without the screen actually coming to life. Then I would attempt to turn it on again by pressing the power button but no response at all. After unplugging the TV and plugging it in again, the same thing would occur after I attempt to turn on the TV where it would just power off before the screen comes to life.

This is definitely a flaw that has to be addressed by Panasonic with this particular model. Ofcourse being among the first to report this problem, I will probably have to eat the loss of either having it repaired or throwing it out depending on the estimated repair cost.

Panasonic if your reading this, please address this problem because it will most probably be a recurring complaint on this model.

In general I was very satisfied with the clarity and performance of this product.

Oh my God. I just read the review by a person who owns this set and is having power problems. MY SET HAS STARTED TO DEVELOP PROBLEMS, TOO. I have contacted Panasonic, and several authorized dealers. They seem to be stumped, so now they just ignore me. One day, I pressed the "on" button on my trusty remote control, and nothing happened. I tried the power button on the set, and still nothing. I finally went to my circuit breaker box, and flipped the circuit breaker on and off, and for some reason, it worked. This happened a few more times, so I paid an electrician $120 to replace the circuit breaker. No problems for about a month, and then --- it happened again. I don't know what is causing the problem, but I suspect that the set needs the power removed (as in unplug it) to be initialized, and then it will come on again. I do know there is a huge power surge when you turn on the set. What a bummer. The set is under one year warranty, but have you ever tried to move a 175 pound set that is sitting 7 feet up in an entertainment center console? What a disappointment.

I bought this set, had it delivered, watched the High Definition broadcasts in amazement. I then thought that I didn't need to spend so much money on just a tv and returned it and had a Sony 32" HDTV delivered. Let me tell you...no comparison. I called the store (who at this point thinks I've lost my mind) and asked them to bring the Panasonic back. The clarity of picture is due to the high resolution screen which isn't found on any other brand and only on the two tube-type widescreen HD televisions from Panasonic. Another plus is the two tuner input capability (not available on any Sony...which renders PIP inoperable when using a cable box) that allows me to use my Picture in Picture while running my hi def cable box. I currently have 9 high def channels and all are beautiful on this television although, as another reviewer mentioned, the darks...particularly on CBS...are very dark and I can't seem to fix that issue. But when a high def broadcast comes on that has been filmed with a high def camera, you would swear that you were there. Most people who have been in the house when the tv is on literally sit and stare. I can't tell you how many times that I have found the plumber/handyman/kitchen contractor just standing in my living room mesmerized by the picture. I have it hooked to a home theater system and a Panasonic DVD player. However, the set has pretty good speakers without having to use the home theater. But the 5.1 sound capabilities with HD broadcast are really good. The only cons have been that I don't think that the remote has the functionality that it should have. It was unable to learn the codes for some of my equipment. I haven't had the power problems that two of the reviewers have had so that's a plus.

So, if you want mind blowing picture clarity for high def broadcast, get this tv. You won't be disappointed. Just be warned...you may never watch tv alone again with this set in your house...the company just won't leave!

Straight out of the box this unit kept on crashing and hanging up. Very poor design. Gives false reception information. It is hard to imagine that a company would actually sell a hi-tech component that is so defective at such a high price. Don't waste your money and time on this.

The promise of this device is never quite met. When it does work, it switches channels slowly, and the machine easily freezes while compiling the electronic programming guide (they mention this "feature" in the manual). But the real deal breaker is the fact the the machine freezes any time it gets a signal it can't handle. My first unit simply halted with the annoying "HELLO" message on the front panel. It did not respond to any remote or front panel buttons. Power cycling did no good. The second unit, when it encounted a bad signal would go into a reboot cycle, taking 10-15 seconds to recover. I guess that was suppose to be an improvement. When it finally locked up, I was able to coax it out by flipping the resolution on the back of the box. This definitely would not make for an enjoyable evening of channel surfing in my house! I sent back the second unit as well and am shopping for something better.

This is currently the top-of-the-line product in its category (HDTV receivers). It has three capabilities of interest:

(1) reception of digital over-the-air television broadcasts
(2) scaling of VCR, DVD, satellite, or cable signals to either HDTV 720p or 1080i
(3) FireWire output and recording control to D-VHS VCR

The first capability (reception) is well-implemented. The receiver was able to pick up all the digital channels in my area (not to mention the legacy analog channels) through its auto-detection capability, and provided a channel list editor to allow me to knock out the channels I didn't want, such as analog channels that duplicated digital channels, home shopping channels, and analog channels where the reception was too poor to be of interest. For the digital channels, it also includes a signal strength meter, which is useful for finding the best antenna position and angle. Overall, as a digital broadcast receiver, I found nothing to fault in this product. Before buying, however, you should do research to determine what digital channels are currently available in your area. The web site ...is excellent for this purpose, showing not only what channels are available, but also those that are scheduled for future availability, and finally the signal direction and strength. It may seem strange to go back to over-the-air reception, especially after satellite and cable have made picture quality such a selling point, but digital over-the-air television, even for non-HDTV programming, has better picture and sound quality than cable or satellite (including digital cable and satellite - both over-compress their signals to squeeze in more channels and degrade picture quality), and its free. As for the HDTV programming, well, its just the best quality picture available - much better than even DVD

The second capability (scaling) is an attractive bonus capability. The receiver can scale from 480i, 480p, 720p, or 1080i to either 720p or 1080i, the two standard HDTV resolutions, and output them to either RGB, component, or DVI. What's interesting about this is that it can do it not only for the broadcasts it receives, but for video signals from other sources such as VCR's, DVD's, satellite, or cable, through either compositve, S-Video, or component inputs. The quality of the scaler is quite good; by running my other sources through the receiver, I get better picture quality for all of them than I did by running them directly to the television. For 4:3 source material, it supports full (for anamorphic sources) conversion, zoom ( for letterbox sources) conversion, and letterbox (centered with sidebars). My only gripe is that the sidebars it adds are gray. Now for some types of televisions (CRT, plasma) gray bars are useful for avoiding picture burn-in (uneven where to the display). But for other types of televisions (LCD, DLP) burn in is not an issue and gray bars serve no purpose. The receiver should have included an option to replace the gray bars with black. That said, for me the scaler alone would have justified the price.

The third capability, D-VHS recording control, works, but just barely. There are quite a few issues here: (1) FireWire recording ties up the device; you can't watch one program while recording another, which precludes use of the scaler while recording. (2) The timed recording feature does not support repeated events - it can't be programmed to record every Tuesday at 10:00; it has to be re-set for each individual recording, (3) the timed recording feature only works if the receiver is turned off - if the receiver is accidently left on, the recording will fail, (4) the timer depends on the time broadcast by the stations themselves - it can't be set manually - and many stations do not bother to broadcast the correct time (I have been trying to get the stations in my area to fix their time broadcasts, and have had some success). With regard to compatibility, I have the JVC HM-DH3000L D-VHS deck and have not had any inter-operability problems. Over the FireWire connection I could control, record, and play back digital video and audio successfully and without loss of picture quality.

Product ease of use varies with the features used. The reception capability is pretty simple. Anyone who can hook up a VCR or cable box to their television should be able to hook this up to their television. The scaler capability is a little harder to use, but probably within the reach of a lot of people. The D-VHS recording capability is not particularly easy to get working; unless you are into home theater, you shouldn't try it; there are just too many limitations in the current generation of hardware.

The Phillips 27PT643R is the worst television ever based on over 10 televisions I have brought in the past decade. This television craped out on me in a 2 1/2 months prior to the factory warranty expiration of 90 Days. The tv auto shutsoff in 10 minutes. Took 10 days to schedule an appointment with a Phillips Technician. When onsite, Phillips Technician was unable to repair it. So he brought it back to the Factory Store. It's over 3 weeks and the television have not been repaired. I called every 3 days and they told me that it's 'in transit'. Since I got my Television on November 29, 2003, half of the time is in the shop. As of now, I still have not gotten my television back. Just today when I call in, the customer service rep told me that the parts is in back order. It's not in transit. Go figures. First Phillips Television. It will be my last Phillips Television. Stay away from Phillips Television if I were you!

Color, sound and picture on this television are very good. I am in the process of joining the 21st century so I made up my mind to buy a TV that looks like it was made after 1987 and a surround sound home theatre system. This Philips was the first purchase. I am very cost conscious when it comes to audio visual items and the price was very competitive.

I am very pleased with the three video inputs (in addition to regular cable coax input). They are easy to access and clearly labeled for very quick setup. In particular the presence of both S-video and component video (note both are on same video input) was a key feature. The component video coming in from a DVD player is quite good.

Picture is very clear. It can be dark for some of the preset modes but at least two "sports" and "multimedia" are amply bright and of course you can personalize the settings. I find the "theatre" setting in a dark room does give a movie theatre feel. Plenty large screen for a small room, particularly with the flat screen.

Remote control is easy to use but is limited as a "universal remote". It works with my VCR and my DVD player (power on/off play,forward,reverse etc.) but can't access any of the advanced features (for example direct access of menus on the DVD) so you won't be using this remote to toss out any of your others. It does good channel management. Several quick pick buttons that can have several channels associated with each.

The TV has no clock. Not something I looked for but since I have now switched from the VCR to the TV as the primary tuner (I used my old TV only from VCR, DVD played through VCR as well) its something I miss.

The TV is bigger than it looks. The flat screen and side speakers make it very wide at the front and requires a little more room left to right than other 27" televisions.

My favorite feature is the sound. As I said in the beginning I had planned to buy a surround sound system but I am going to wait for a bit and enjoy the excellent stereo in this TV. Unlike other stereo TV's I've owned or listened to the left/right separation is clear. Bass response is very good. Sound too can be customized.

In summary you get an awful lot for the money. The Philips RealFlat is priced at a level you still see other brands regular tube 27" units.

This tv was a great buy for the price... even a great buy if it wasn't the reasonable price. The picture it has is truly amazing. Watching movies that I've already seen now feels like seeing it for the first time. The sound is wonderful, and from what I can hear there are no problems with buzzing. Philips also seems to care about their customers since in the manual there are numerous ways to contact them if any problems do arrive. (but they won't) Great tv.

I purchased in 11/01, worked fine until 2/17 and hasn't since and still can't get a straight answer from Sony. For the money I spent, you'd think I'd get alittle service but can't, even calling every other day. One day they say paper work is being processed for a replacement, now they say a technician will be out to service, although that same technician visited 2/22 and found it "not repairable". If you do alittle more research than I did, you will find that people who have had problems, can't get them fixed, and I suspect the people who haven't had problems, well time will tell! Don't bother with Sony product.

i have been having problems from day one. One of the biggest mistakes in my life was buying this TV.

I purchased it from Westchester County NY, "The Listenening Room" in Scarsdale NY.

I have had this set since Jan 00, one of the firsts delivered. Performance spectacular especially with HDTV from DirecTV. People continue to be amazed at the picture quality with over the air HDTV, DirecTV and D-VHS prerecoded movies.
This is a sophisticated unit and you should not trust anyone but the Sony Factory Repair in Home service if you have a problem. All new TVs are getting to be too complicated for the local shops and furthermore they cannot afford the sophisticated test equipment necessary to repair a unit if it fails.

I bought this VCR for Hi-Def video editing (export HD footage to D-VHS tape) and as DV backup storage (store several miniDV tape contents to one DVHS tape).

In both applications this deck fails miserably. It just doesn't talk to the computer via FireWire, noway. JVC tech support didn't help one single bit - all they said was "it's a driver issue", but they don't release the driver for their device...

In short, if you just want a VCR that may take input from a camcorder through FireWire - maybe it's OK. If you want to output video from your computer (from Adobe Premiere, Ulead MediaSturdio Pro or VideoStudio, Microsoft Windows Movie Maker) - just forget it. Doesn't work at all. I can't express my disappointment strongly enough.

This VCR may follow the laserdisk in being something that only serious video enthusiasts use but that never catches on in the general population, this time because of DVD, whereas VHS was the nail in the laserdisk's coffin. While DVD provides higher resolution than traditional VHS, (as Laserdisk did over VHS) the convenience, durability, and availability of DVD have almost sounded the death knell to anything VHS, even VHS in High Def. Even though D-VHS provides higher resolution than DVD, due to the perception in peoples' minds formed by enduring years of low quality VHS tapes, it is likely this format will not catch on.

Is this a good VCR? You bet. Despite a fairly confusing manual (see others' comments below for elaboration on errors in the manual), the set has a good build quality, is fairly easy to use, and records and produces stunning images in High Def. I have also used its normal VHS recording ability and it is an excellent recorder and player there as well (you can record and play standard VHS tapes but the machine will not normally allow you to tape HD content onto VHS or S-VHS tapes). Finally, the built in tuner (for watching either analog or the digital signals) is also excellent, producing a picture with even better contrasts than the tuner built into my HDTV (A Samsung DLP).

Some things to note:

It has only one way to receive High Def signals: IEEEE1394 or Firewire (also called i-Link). Firewire is cheap and seems to get around some of the copy protection built into DVI, so this is a good thing. Currently, there is only one set-top box--the Samsung SIR-TS165 that can pulls in the free over-the-air (OTA) HD signals that all of us are not getting and can output them to Firewire. Other boxes, both Satellite and OTA are sure to follow. My advice: buy yours now before the major studios pressure manufacturers not to output to Firewire. This VCR can also function as a regular VCR with standard AV inputs from your TV or a cable antenna.

Why should you buy this VCR? Because this machine is the FIRST to allow you to record in High Definition, and given the speed of decision-making regarding formats, it will be a while before High Def DVD (HDDVD) arrives, and recordable high def DVD without all the legal hamstrings of copy protection may never happen. So, while the major corporations argue over a single standard for HDDVD, you can tape all the OTA high def content you want, and on nothing pricer than a good VHS tape.

*Which brings me to the title of my review. Yes, you can easily modify a good S-VHS or VHS tape (use only high quality broadcast-grade tapes--a bad tape means data dropouts and can damage or wear the tape heads) instead of the very pricey D-VHS tapes that JVC and others sell. Optinally, you can also modify the machine to accept all tapes as D-VHS tapes. Am I going to tell you here how to do it? No. But if you look hard, you can find out for yourself. There's no earthly reason to spend three times as much on a D-VHS tape that is materially no different from a good S-VHS tape except for minor differences in their cases. Best of luck. . .

I have one of these units (I've had a D-VHS since 1998, although not capable of recording HD). I have to say that the amazing quality of the D-VHS format is wonderful. The argument that HD-DVDs are coming soon is a powerful one: despite what one review here says, D-VHS tapes *DO* degrade over time, like any other tape format. The bad thing with digital is that once the oxides flake off the tape, the picture is unwatchable, not just fuzzy like analog. That said, it will be a long time before HD-DVD can record off air like this VCR does; it's unlikely that today's HD programming will be available soon on DVD, so recording off the air is the only option for preserving these first HD programs. And the fact that you can tape dozens of hours of programming on one tape is wonderful for those of us who travel - a great alternative to the PVR with no extra monthly fees.

Let me begin by saying this is a beautiful TV with wonderful picture.

I bought this TV from Best Buy and arranged for it to be delivered. It was finally delivered on a Friday and on Saturday evening (very next day!!) I tried to turn it on, the green power light came on but nothing on the screen. It then powered itself down and the red standby light flashed (5 times) and it shut down. I returned to Best Buy and they setup an exchange (new unit) for the following Tuesday.

The television was delivered on the Tuesday and 1 week later same problem!! I am disgusted with this television and will be returning it to Best Buy for a refund!! (second unit was manufactured March 2004, didn't check the first)

DisillusionedSonyFan

My experience with this tv has been great. It is extremely easy to work (menu, picture mode, 2 tuner pip, memory stick) and looks great! I only have one complaint and that is the fact that the memory stick program can't read mp3's from the memory stick and the tv doesn't provide music for slide shows (some sony tv's do just that). It is still a great tv and I am very happy with my purchase.

I received the set in early March, after waiting for SONY to correct the circuitry problems. It has been working superbly since that time (5 months). No issues with any aspect of its function. Exceptional picture quality in HD and with DVD's. Comparable picture and cheaper than plasma. I dont recommend the SONY stand since it has shelves which are too narrow to accomodate large sound components.

Similar failure with my RCA pojection TV. Had a power outage and now the TV will not turn on. I had it plugged into a proper surge protector.

I have left it unplugged as is suggested by others for an hour and no luck restarting the TV. It is too bad a $2000 TV doesn't last. If you check with Consumer Reports you'll find RCA, (really Thomson Electronic Products of France) projection TVS have the W O R S T repair record with a 22% repair rate. Sony is best at 9 %. Should have bought a Sony.

This is the letter I sent to Thomson/RCA

To whom it may concern, June 19, 2003

Although I am writing this note to whom it may concern, it appears that once you have my money no one is concerned anymore. On April 4, 2002 we were delivered a RCA HDTV Model D52130. It was purchased 7 days previously at [local store] in Mayfield, Ohio. Three months after the set arrived the sound from the speaker system started to intermittently crackle. When the repairman tested the sound we could not reproduce the crackle. I ended up purchasing a surround sound system to avoid the intermittent crackle. Two weeks ago the TV would not power up. So we called Thomson to schedule a repair. The serviceman reported that the "powerbox wasn't working and that it would have to be brought in for servicing." This set is 14 months old. I paid $1899.00 for a [poor product]. I will have it serviced to the tune of $412.00. And I don't expect that you really care about satisfied customers since my wife just got off the phone with your Expert resource Assoc... and he claims that there was nothing that could be done since the 1 year warrantee had lapsed 60 days ago. All of my business associates and all of my friends and all of my family will be hearing about this wonderful experience. I will be logging on to all of the product review web pages and scorching the RCA HDTV D52130 as loud and as often as my Adelphia powerlink will let me.

A very dissatisfied customer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gene Shimandle
CEO and Co-founder
The American Institute for Resuscitation

330-995-9288
This will not be the last you hear from me!
To Amazon readers:{Thomson is the only authorized service center for RCA. The $412.00 service price is a set rate for any repair that needs to be brought into be serviced.}

I was surprised at the others' comments. I've had my RCA for almost 3years and I've never experienced a single problem with my TV. Color and quality are exceptional. Not one problem with powering up, display or sound. As far as customer service goes, I have no experience. But, I've taken care of my product and I'm sure not to abuse it and I'm completely satisfied with my purchase. It's unfortunate to hear everyone else's stories.

I have read a lot reviews, and surfed a lot of feedback about this product. Most is negative, but how many people write about something that is good? First you must be technicaly inclined. Second you must understand BASIC electronics. Nothing is as advertised!

I purchased the dst300 in may of 2001; just for hdtv. GREAT! (with a good antenna) then I got greedy, and subscribed to Directv. (Just for hdtvnet. [cable [stunk] anyway]) Great also! I've had no major problems with this unit whatsoever. Maybe it has something to do with your particular set. I have a Pioneer hdtv set, but this unit may work perfect with a Toshiba; being a Toshiba. Yes, it has it's ups and downs, but as stated earlier who writes when it's good? I'm sure they've sold tens of thousands of these units, but only thousands of negative reviews! 4 stars instead of five, because of only 1080i hd reception (which is AWESOME!!!) but ABC and FOX broadcasts in different formats (grow up). CBS, NBC, PBS, HBO, SHOWTIME, HDNET, and sometimes wgn broad cast in 1080i which is the best format so far.

I've got all 3 DirectTV satellites, cable and a Terk HDTV antenna all connected to the box and it works great!

Two things that I really like, (much better than the RCA DTC-100 it's replacing), was the fact that it has component video out and the channel guide has all of the satellite, cable and local reception on one guide --- including descriptions etc. for the local cable and broadcast stations.

Again, unlike the RCA, I don't have to do any input switching to go from one source to another. I can select 24-1, (the local NBC HDTV broadcast station), and then select "206", satellite ESPN and jump back and forth hitting the "return" or "previous channel" button without any steps in the middle.

The picture is, of course, tremendous on HDTV, great on satellite, variable depending on what cable station, and extremely good on all local broadcast stations coming off the Terk TV-35 antenna.

I had some problems setting up the local stations initially, (that's why the "4"), but was extremely happy with the tremendous customer service Toshiba gave me.

I've used this unit for over a three years. I have both component video and composite video set up to my Hitachi 36" HDTV (non-widescreen.) It was simple to setup for the 4:3 aspect ratio with either a choice of black or grey bars when viewing 16:9 programming (I prefer black and have had no burn-in problems.)

I generally run the output in standard mode (480i), except when viewing a good quality HDTV program; even in that mode the quality of the HDTV broadcast vs normal broadcast is good. The Hitachi supports 1080i mode and I can easily toggle between the two modes if needed (running in 1080i disables composite output so you can't record to a VCR in that mode.)

The one complaint I have, which is why I pulled back from five stars, is that viewing non-HD signals (e.g. local cable, non-HD DirecTV channels) in 1080i mode is not as clean as 480i mode. The output is a bit fuzzy and appears to be stretched a bit, primarily showing up in sports broadcast where any text (e.g. scores) at the fringes of the screen get cut off a bit. I assume this is an up-convert issue with this box (from 480i to 1080i) as the straight HD signals look great in this mode.

I like the fact that it has NTSC/ATSC tuners as well as the DirecTV capabilities. I was considering the soon to be released HDTV DirecTV Tivo unit but it appears to lack an NTSC tuner so I'll stick to this unit as long as I must rely on cable or over-the-air non-digital signals for some local programming.