Toshiba 40RF350U 40" LCD TV

Bought this at Circuit City about a month ago, on sale at $1,299.00. What first attracted me was the very compact width for a 40" set. I thought I would only be able to fit a 37" in my home theater cabinet, but the Toshiba fits with a little room to spare. More importantly, the picture quality is outstanding. If you look at the technical specs for the screen and the picture processing, they are pretty much identical with the Sony XBR series, which is considerably more expensive. You are basically getting top-of-the-line Sony quality for a lot less money. With a high quality signal input, the color saturation, contrast, and sharpness are just incredible. Running BluRay DVD's from my Sony PS3 produces a 1080p image that looks almost three dimensional. I'm still trying to get used to the unbelievable picture quality. Even regular 1080i HD on cable is truly impressive. Standard 720p and 480p picture quality is very, very good. No complaints. In addition, it's a beautifully styled set and it looks great in my cabinet. The sound quality from the built in speakers is very good. I have it connected to my stereo system, but there is one catch -- the only disappointment-- the remote will control only the sound level of the internal speakers. You have to adjust the external stereo level separately. It's a minor inconvenience for me since I usually leave my external stereo speakers off. I use them only when viewing a movie or a music concert. Regular TV programming sounds fine with just the internal speakers. All in all, this is an excellent TV, especially for its moderate price. Consumer Reports ranks Toshiba reliabilty as among the best. I recommend this TV without reservation.