Toshiba 32A42 32 inch TV

My wife and I had a 27" RCA console TV that sat on the floor. Had it for many years with no issue, until we got 2 dogs and a now 5 year old daughter who always is in the way of the TV. Best Buy had their 0 interest for 2 year plan so we decided to go with it.

My son and I walked into Best Buy to scout out the TV's with a budget not to exceed $600. Walked in and the first TV we checked out was a Panasonic that I saw good reviews on for $530. We were not overly impressed with the picture, but in the stores you can never really tell. Looked at all the brands, and came across this Toshiba, picture looked great, had all the features I wanted except the Auto Volume Leveler (used to tone down the blaring commercials) and no picture in picture, but I would hardly use that anyway. Asked an associate about the Toshiba brand and it is labeled as a top brand by consumer reports. When my dad was looking at Sony TV's the sales person put a Toshiba next to it to compare and the Toshiba was exactly the same, but about $200 cheaper.

We were sold, went home to pick up my wife and daughter to purchase our new 32" TV, got it just before closing, went to put it in my Dodge Intrepid trunk and it would not fit. Had to take it out of the box, put it in the back seat and break down the box to put it in the trunk. First night we hooked it up on top of the old console since we did not have an entertainment center (with this TV, you will want a 36" TV entertainment center due to the width, measure before you buy), did a direct hook to the cable and instant beauty, most channels came in clear, but we have been having cable problems. Sound was decent from the speakers, but nothing like what came out of the full size speakers from the console TV.

Next day, we purchased an entertainment center, put it together, hooked up the VCR, Surround Sound (the TV has simulated surround sound(sounds better than standard, but nothing like the real thing), and the next day went out and purchased component cables for our DVD player. Incredible DVD difference with the component cables and the larger TV, I almost cried ;) So far so good, no complaints on anything yet. Overall, great quality for a "standard" 32" TV, I would buy one again (36" if I had the money)

Setup: When I got home with the TV, hookup was real easy, 1 AV connector in front with a little flip open door, 2 in the back and a component video option. Easy to figure out how to operate the TV, and went through the cable Auto programming relatively quick and grabbed all of the available channels.

Features: This set has a V-chip to block unwanted shows to be seen from children (or other adults) that is password protected, you can even temporarily disable the v-chip block. It has a total of 3 AV connections, a demo video mode, 3 preset video modes (sports, standard, movie) and a manual mode, It also has adjustable bass and treble controls and a virtual surround sound setting.

Video: The lines of resolution are a standard 480 lines, but with a good signal, the video is very good, color adjustment is a little tricky, but the preset modes are pretty good.

Sound: The sound is good for built in speakers, they beat out our 19" in the bedroom and seemed to be better than any other one there, they are set on the sides making the box a bit wider than most. Once hooked up to our home theater system, the sound was great.

Durability: Just bought it about a week ago, but no issues thus far, made it home fine and transferred from car to home fine as well.