Looks like no CableCard equipped TV's in the 19"/20" size. Ok, fine.
Well I decided on giving a Samsung LNT1953H a try. Big mistake. The deinterlacer/scaler in this TV is just terrible. Jaggies on 480i, 720p, and 1080i content. I expect 480i stuff to look bad on an HD monitor, but there's no excuse for 720p and 1080i to look bad. In the kitchen I have a 3 year old Dell 17" LCD TV (hardly state of the art) that looks way better than this Samsung. The Samsung's contrast is way overblown, and color tint is near impossible to adjust to look decent. Everything seems too warm or too cool. I figure I shouldn't have to hire a professional calibrator for a little TV in the home office.
It's too bad, because it's a nice looking set with a good set of features, and the only one I found in the 19/20" size that has seperate ATSC OTA input and a cable/QAM input. It found all my local OTA DTV stations and clear QAM channels no problem. Unfortunately the PQ sucks.
On another note, I'll probably never buy a TV from newegg.com again. I use them all the time for corporate computer stuff, and was familiar with their strict LCD dead pixel/no return policy. They used to clearly display this policy right under the price on the main product description page. Since I didn't see this notice on the Samsung TV description page, I figured they must be more generous on TVs. Wrong. They've hidden the LCD "no returns" policy under a new "Rebates/Returns" tab. When I called to RMA it, the customer service rep was willing to give me a refund without the restocking fee, but had to "check with a supervisor" routine and give me a lecture on how they normally don't do this. Fortunately I've ordered thousands of dollars of computer equipment from them for the past few years, so perhaps they were more accomodating. Others might not be so lucky.
Also I noted to the CSR that the remote was missing from the box, and the box appeared to have been re-taped. All the parts bags inside were sealed and looked new and untouched. Weird.
So now I'm looking at the LG 20LS7D, or the Toshiba 20HL67. Possibly the Sharp LC-19DV22U, but it has no QAM.
