I bought this set last november. I did so because I was looking to enter the HD arena and given my budget ($700) I had decided upon the 32inch XBR CRT (after a month of research). I was at Sam's one afternoon and this tv was in the open box area and I went home to do some research before my impulse buy. It met the minimum specs I was looking for in a tv, but the price made up my mind.
At the time, the TV retailed for 1300 and I picked it up for 700. I would not have paid 1300 for it, but I think 700 is a fair price.
Picture quality is what you would expect for the price range (that I paid). I am not ecstatic but neither am I disappointed. Analog video is ok, I think the manufacturer skimped on video hardware for analog display.
HD picture is beautiful, one of the best I've seen. The OTA HD tuner does a good job, I pick up all the local stations without an antenna. My xbox360 looks phenomenal After playing the same games on a friend's SD/ED Trinitron CRT, I will never leave HD.
I have not yet hooked up any digital input yet but I plan to do so soon. I will write back on this.
It definitely has the wow factor even when off. The contrast of the dull-slightly polished black screen to the matted/brushed silver of the frame makes the tv look almost as good off as on.
I like the tv and it is pretty.
I am pleased with the sound quality of the speakers as I can tune into the QAM digital radio stations from my cable company. But as mentioned it does not support digital audio... save thru the HDMI.
It has many video format settings. It also has an automatic setting which automatically changes the display format to what format the content is in (14:9, 16:9, widescreen, etc). My friends are a little annoyed by this because while a show or movie will not change, commercials vary from one to the next and I always get asked, does the screen keep changing size, or is it just me?. I have been watching it for a while and am no longer affected by it. In fact, I have come to finally appreciate many commercials I would otherwise be annoyed by. Because the screen will shift to the format that the commercial was meant to be viewed in, I can start to see the composition clearly and the director's intent becomes obvious in some cases. One of my favorites believe it or not is how beautiful the cinematography in that Priceline commercial where Shatner seduces the hotel desk-clerk. Silly comment by me, but it is nice to be able to view the artistic merit in commercials that I might just otherwise flip past.
As noted by tipstir the brightness is on the low side and this does manifest itself from time to time. But you can tweak that setting. Unfortunately you can have only one user-programmed video setting.
The settings menu looks nice but is not completely intuitive to navigate. But I've heard that it is better with the firmware update.
Speaking of firmware update, It is done via USB. I could never get mine to work and I assume that is why it was an open-box item. I can live with a non-functioning USB port.
Setup was easy and fast.
I am annoyed by the remote. It has very limited range and the remote functions are barebones and the paint is wearing off already. I wonder if this might not be the real reason it was returned? If you imagine the total space in which you can operate the remote is represented by a cone, with the vertex being at the receiver, the height of the cone will be something like 10 ft with a base diameter of about 6 ft. So you have to be basically in front of the tv to operate it. Sux huh? Soon, I will be building an HTPC and using a Bluetooth remote, like a phone
To Sum up:
Looks nice. ED from DVD is good. Analog signal is acceptable. HD picture is brilliant. Sound is good. Lots of neat features. Lots of connectivity. Remote sux. Lacks DVI or VGA. Firmware can be updated. This is the subjective/ evaluative info. For objective info see tipstir's post, the spec's sheet is also available from Magnavox's site.
All in all I would buy it again. I would not pay $1300 for it or the $1000 they want now maybe up to 800. For 1000 I have heard good stuff about Vizio if all you want is an inexpensive entry-level tv.
