Price Paid:  $799.00

Summary:
I purchased the Toshiba 36A40 a little over 2 years ago to complete my home theater system. I have a higher end audio system and thought the Toshiba would be a reasonable interim TV until the great digital TV debates were resolved. We used the TV more for regular programming and on occasions, popped in a DVD using a Sony DVD player. Upon first use, it became clear the channel surf feature on the remote was difficult to use. Multiple steps are needed to input favorites and getting back to them, if you succeeded in programming them in, was a difficult measure at best. Having only 1 component input made connections to my AVR impossible to take full advantage of the complete system, but we at least accomplished the DVD connections. The picture and color at first were reasonable for a regular TV. However, in the last month, the color and briteness have dropped off significantly. The menu and channel information, when displayed were at full color. This is the first Toshiba I've owned and the most expensive set I've purchased. Unfortunately, it has been the least reliable of the sets I've owned. Toshiba, via their customer service email, sent a list of recommended service centers to me. Unfortunately, the unit is out of warranty and the only recourse is service. Upon disconnecting the component inputs, the red RCA jack came apart. Realize of course, this heavy set once installed was never moved nor were the cables tampered with in any way. The set is now at the service center with a minimum of $35 to open it up. I'm tempted not to bother.

Strengths:
Seemingly good picture when first from the box.

Weaknesses:
Just over 2 years before it died.

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Magnavox, Samsung, RCA, Sharp, GE, Symphonic, all in good working order.