$800-$1000 30" HD monitor

[toenail]

I'm starting to more seriously weigh the possibility of going HD. I will probably try to sell my 4 month old Toshi 32" CRT 4:3 set to somewhat offset the cost. I've done a ton of browsing on retail sites, manufacterer's sites and A/V forums to try and narrow down a selection. The following are some of the front runners.

Toshiba 30hfx84
Panasonic ct30wx54
Sony kv-30hs420

Price aside, if you're looking for reliability and quality picture with some flexibility which makes more sense? Most searches yeild issues for each model concerning reliablity or flexibility or both, though perhaps not enough to warrant avoidance. The Toshi in it's hfx (as opposed to hf) configuration is supposedly an improvement over the problem plagued model.

[shokhead]

Got the Sony. Simple to use and has a great picture with my DVD player and Direct TiVo. Two HMDI"s would have been nice. My second one to look at was the Tos because of that but were new at the time and none to look at. Got the Sony online from Apt electrinics for $880 shipped.

[Eric Z]

I've heard a decent amount of people on this forum recommend staying away from Sony because of their poor reliability. However, I have not had that experience myself- I've had tons of Sony products and have been very pleased with them throughout the years. Now that I think of it, I don't think one piece of a/v equipment ever crap out on me. Regardless, some people who work on them, can probably tell you more about their overall reliability. I usually ask the service department of my local retailer, Abt Electronics (that might be the same place shokhead bought his TV), to see what products they see come in more than others for repair. I haven't asked them about HDTVs yet since I'm not in the market yet.

[Duds]

I read on another audio site that the 30 inch Toshibas are NOT made by Toshiba, they are made by a company called Oriaon and have had a ton of problems. The 34 inch and larger Toshibas are made by toshiba, and are of much higher quality.

[Duds]

Toshiba also has new models coming out soon. One is the 34HF85 which is supposed to be lighter and slimmer than current models, and have a better picture. I have seen this online available for pre-ordering for under $1000

[toenail]

My understanding of the Toshiba fiasco was that the 30"HF model was suspect, but that the 30"HFX model was not built of Orion components.