Toshiba 32AV500U 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

Quick delivery. Well packed. Easy to install. Good color and clear pictures for TV this size.

TV was nice for a year and a half. The video board burned out which in turn blew out the lcd screen. Was only used about 4 hrs a week. Repair shop said it would cost as much as a new TV to fix. The tech also said it's poor design by Toshiba making the video board and screen as one part. Be careful, it's cheaper than the higher quality for a reason. My Sony has been around for 7 years, no problems.

I had extended warranty and they refunded me the entire cost of the TV instead of bothering with fixing it. That was surprising, so it must be a known common problem with Toshiba.

I went to my local electronics store, planning to buy the Sharp LC32SB24U rather than this Toshiba. The sales person suggested, before buying, I do a side by side comparison view of the Toshiba 32AV500U and the Sharp LC32SB24U. The Toshiba was $40 more than the Sharp, and I figured it would be the typical upsell.

But comparing the image quality of the Sharp and Toshiba, the Toshiba won hands down. The Sharp definitely had a more "washed out" look, while the Toshiba picture was more vibrant with blacker blacks and greater contrast. I doublechecked that both sets were tuned to the same HD source, etc. Anyway this demo was enough to (up)sell me and I bought the Toshiba. It has been great.

This unit is for the bedroom and I don't regret getting the 32" instead of a 26".

I didn't know much about QAM tuners before buying, but what that means is that I can connect my Verizon FIOS cable directly into the TV (no converter box) and receive digital TV channels, some HD channels, and all the digital music channels, all without needing a converter box. Obviously with a converter box you get a better user interface (onscreen interactive program guide) and many more channels, but for the moment I am happy using the TV with direct cable connection (no converter box) and saving a few $ per month.

HD picture quality is so much better than regular digital TV -- if you go to the expense of buying an HDTV (like this one) you really need to hook it up to receive HDTV or you are missing a whole lot.

I am not a videophile or audiophile but have to say that I would recommend this Toshiba very highly to anyone looking to spend between $600 and $700 for a 32" HDTV.

got this as a gift 4 my daughter,she loves it,says it has a great picture

I've had this TV for about a month now. I watched the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in HD a few weeks ago, and it was probably the sharpest sports broadcast I've ever seen. Colors look great and the blacks are pretty close. The built-in speakers are acceptable compared to some other off-brand 32" models, and are not too tinny or fake. The warm-up takes 5-7 seconds and the lag between channels is about a second. I have analog cable tv so this may vary with your results.

The only problem I've had with this is the VGA input from a computer. Depending on your use, this could be a big trade off. I have a Sony SZ laptop, one of the best ones they make. If I input the signal from the Sony, I can see a square develop in the upper-right corner of the tv that's about 7 inches wide and 4-5 inches high, which will disappear after a few seconds. This happens frequently if I play an AVI movie fullscreen, but if I burn that movie to a disc and play it on my Philips DVD player through the composite inputs, it looks fine with no squaring. It should be noted that I played 'Gears of War' (PC game) and it didn't exhibit this problem. I also see it if I scroll vertically through a webpage quickly, but only for a split second.

In summary, I'd give this Toshiba 3.5 stars overall, and round up to 4. I really don't watch much tv which will probably be its intended use among purchasers here. The VGA problem is extremely annoying, but I mostly use it for stock trading/reading articles on the internet. Also I plan on giving the tv away to a relative when I leave the US later next year, so no big loss. But if I had to do it over again, I'd probably pay a little more and get the 32" Samsung. I did a search and found two other people with this same problem, so I don't think it's an issue with my PC or its configuration. If I had an HDMI or S-Video output on my laptop (I don't), I could try those instead.