Toshiba 27A41 27" TV
Great value for this price and category of TV.
Given the price and category of this television (27&quot; non-flat tube, analog), I have been extremely satifsied with the Toshiba 27A41 during the first six months of use. I would highly recommend this television (or its successor when Toshiba discontinues this model).<br />Compared to my ten-year-old 26&quot; TV which it replaced, the 27A41 has much better picture quality when watching cable TV broadcasts, with high detail and good colors. This good picture quality is a result of the good digital comb filter. In an electronics store, I compared the visual quality of this 27&quot; non-flat TV with a 24&quot; flat-screen TV (which costs a little more) and could not see much difference except for potential glare problems on the 27&quot; non-flat TV. But after choosing a good location in my living room, the 27A41 gives me no glare problems at all. A 24&quot; flat-screen would have been too small for this room. So if you can find a good location for your television, a flat-screen TV is probably not worth the extra cost or smaller size.<br />The built-in stereo speakers are typical for speakers that are not side-mounted: they are small and don't sound very good at very high volumes. For casual viewing in small living rooms, the sound quality is adequate. When I need good loud sound, I connect the 27A41's stereo audio outputs to my portable stereo's audio inputs and blast the sound through external speakers. I'm not an audio expert, but the sound quality through my stereo seems very good to me. It should sound even better through a real non-portable stereo system with an audio amplifier.<br />The 3 sets of A/V inputs (2 rear, 1 front), S-video input, and ColorStream inputs (component video) are very useful in this age of VCR's, DVD players, camcorders, video game consoles, and satellite TV. I'm currently using a stereo VCR for the primary rear A/V inputs and a Playstation 2 for the secondary rear A/V inputs. Switching between the two is a snap using the 27A41's remote. It's also good to know that I have an open set of A/V inputs in front for convenient temporary connections (like for a camcorder). Although I haven't used the S-video or ColorStream inputs yet, it's good to know that I can use them to get the best picture quality possible from a DVD player or modern video game console.<br />Some might think this is unimportant, but the TOSHIBA brand name is a comforting feature to me. I know some people will disagree with me, but a big-name Japanese brand gives me a sense of quality and reliability. My family's previous television was an early-90's 26&quot; RCA that started going bad two years ago (flakey cable/antenna input). After reading past issues of Consumer Reports at the library, I found out that RCA, GE, and Zenith (all American brands) were the most repair-prone brands of televisions. The big-name Japanese brands, including Toshiba, were rated as more consistenly reliable. Toshiba also offers very good prices compared to the other big-name Japanese brands.<br />Miscellaneous: The remote is medium-sized, lightweight, and easy to use. Programming the remote to control my JVC VCR was easy, but it lacks the buttons to control the VCR's advanced functions. The remote can also control a cable box. The owner's manual is thorough and easy to understand with clear illustrations where needed. The manual's illustrations are especially useful for figuring out how to connect multiple devices (e.g. two VCR's, DVD, cable box, camcorder, satellite, audio amplifier) to the television using all those inputs and outputs.<br />Overall, I give the Toshiba 27A41 5 stars because it gives me more value than I expected for the price I paid. For this price, you should not expect a glare-resistant flat-screen TV or huge built-in speakers. But the potential glare problems or inadequate sound can be made up for by choosing a good location and attaching an external stereo system.