I was able to score a great deal on this TV - online, for $800 on Thanksgiving. It took me four weeks to actually have it show up at my house (note that this wasn't ordered from Amazon.com), but its been worth the wait. Out of the box, the TV is very sleek and attractive. I have it hooked up to my DVR Cable Box via HDMI, which looks fantastic. The HD channels are absolutely amazing to watch - I've watched NFL games, NBA, Dexter on Showtime, etc and they all look great. Non-HD channels vary in quality - some are pretty ugly. It helps to actually turn down the brightness / sharpness when watching regular TV. Unless you're very close to the TV, thoguh, its not like its unwatchable.
I also have a Sony Up-converting DVD Player hooked up through the second HDMI. So far, I've used this to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2, and Cars. I watch Pirates first - the menu screen was awfully ugly, as was the movie itself. For a few minutes, I was getting terribly disappointed - but its all a matter of playing around with settings. Once I had the TV and DVD player set up correctly (which took about 10 minutes of trial and error) I found the right settings, and WOW. Pirates looked absolutely INCREDIBLE. You'd never know it was a regular DVD and not HD programing. Ditto for Cars - so just a heads up, you DEFINITELY need to play with the settings on both the TV and whatever is outputting to the screen to make sure you have the right display settings. I hooked the DVD player to my Sony surround system using a Digital Optical cable - the sound is great.
Attached to the surround system are a PS2 and Nintendo Gamecube. The surround system is hooked up to the regular A/V on the TV. Playing videogames on this TV, even "last gen" games, is not a problem at all. The graphics still look great - really it depends on the game's resolution more than anything. A second digital optical cord runs from the TV to the Surround system, so any sound coming from the TV is muted and sent to the surround. This is great, as it means everything I have hooked up will always play out of my surround speakers (cable TV, videogames, DVDs, etc).
Finally, I have an Xbox 360 hooked up via the Component cables. One of the reasons I wanted this TV is that Gamestop uses Samsung LCD monitors in their stores, and the 360s running there looked fantastic. This TV has a "Game Mode" - and its awesome. I was already playing Gears of War every day - now I can hardly put it down. To say the graphics are incredible is an understatement. To anyone who felt the 360 wasn't really "next-gen" enough, you need to play the games on an HD screen to really appreciate it. The 360 also has a $199.99 HD-DVD add-on, which I couldn't pass up once I got the tv. It comes with King Kong, which I thought was so-so as a film. The HD-DVD itself is a great player, but I wasn't as "Wowed" by the video quality as I expected. I need to try it again with a movie I like more, I suppose - V for Vendetta, Batman Begins, Superman Returns, and Serenity are all available for HD-DVD and I expect they'll look awesome. I have to say though, if you pick up this TV, definitely pick up an up-converting HD-DVD player - I strongly recommend a Sony with HDMI capability, because it looks incredible and only set me back $100.
I couldn't be happier with this TV. In a few years, once 1080p TVs are cheaper, I'll upgrade and mount this one on a wall - this TV is very light by the way. As its LCD, its relatively hassle-free - no worrying about burn-out or break-in periods.
However, I have two small disappointments with this TV, both of which I expected due to the LCD format. The viewing angles on this TV, compared to my old 32" Flatscreen TV by Toshiba, are definitely not as good. Don't get me wrong - they're not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but just not as good as my old "regular" TV was. In addition, this TV definitely won't display dark, "rich" Black like a Plasma TV can. When watching a Widescreen DVD, the "black" bars aren't quite as Black as I'm used to. Its an issue with the LCD format, unfortunately - that's the price you pay for being able to leave your TV paused all day without concern.
All told, I'm VERY happy with this purchase. When doing my initial set-up, I had some issues getting the TV to detect my cable - just a heads-up, this TV can be a little cranky at times when it comes to detecting inputs if its already turned on. Just turn it off and turn it on again if you've plugged or unplugged anything, and it'll catch them. I called Samsung and didn't have to wait at all for customer service - they were great.
If you're looking to pick up a mid-size, quality LCD HD TV, I can't recommend this thing enough. Just be prepared to spend a little extra dough on HDMI cables and an up-converting DVD player.
ViewSonic's 32" N3235w widescreen LCD HDTV brings impressive high-definition pictures to life. Fast video response, high brightness and contrast ratio combine to deliver crystal clear, fast action movies, videos and games. Advanced clearpicture electronics, enhance contrast, define details and boost color. Enjoy maximum versatility, connecting DVD players, game consoles, HD set top boxes and more with the full range of inputs including HDMI with HDCP, S-video and even PC connectivity.
32 inch tv
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