Summary:

When shopping for a big screen many of the pictures look different but you need to understand the the cable splitters in the stores do not give you the best picture. I had two to pick from in the store for Hitachi and this had the best picture. My parents had a 46" Hitachi and never had a problem so I went for it. When I brought it home I sent video to the ant. in and then an s-video in: both from the same digital cable box. WITH S_VIDEO THE PICTURE IS AMAZING, Far above the ant. in which can be grainy. If you cant send S-video send RCA. The picture is great. HDTV is too early and too expensive. No DVD on the market sends 850 lines of resoulution anyway. You might get a little better color saturation with HD but no way is it worth the price. I love this TV. With DVD it blows me away. Facing the screen you get good viewing coverage from far Right and left at eye level. The remote is easyy to use but the top part does not light up like the bottom. Oh well the light from this tv should get you going. Make sure when you get this home you learn the convergence feature. It aligns the beams and makes a huge difference in the picture when you tweak it perfectly. This tv has an AI indicator which automatically adjusts for light in the room and adjusts the color. I played with this and manually set everything and the Automatic color feature works great in adjusting brightness and skin tone etc. The audio is very good although I do not use it as I have a dolby digital receiver. It does not havea screen protector but I notice on a brigght Saturday wathcing tv I have no glare from the windows and the picture is fantastic in bright daylight. Use S-Video, learn the convergence and this picture will blow you away. The manual is hard to locate things but explains them easily. 5 stars

Strengths:

Great Picture/great value/nice sound, not too bulky, remote is easy to use and light up well for the most part. Menu is clear and easy to use. The convergence is easy. The A/I Auto Intelligence color feature is great

Weaknesses:
Top section of the remote does not light up. Does not come with a screen protector. Hard to find things in the manual