New Sanyo 27 inch HDTV with integrated HD tuner for $395.

[Smokey]

Was at Walmart yesterday and the picture on this TV look awesome. They also have Sanyo 28 inch WideScreen TV for $459, and 32 inch HDTV (HDMI input) for $569. They all have Dual Integrated Analog (NTSC) & (ATSC) Digital Tuners aboard, so no HD decoder box needed to receiev local HD channels. Very tempting :)

Here are the specifications:

http://www.sanyo.com/entertainment/televisions/digital/

[edtyct]

From a pragmatic point of view, I'm thrilled that HDTVs with all the basics are available at these prices, but the skeptic in me shudders a little at the potential performance issues. How good is that OTA tuner, given your location? If it won't pull in stations with the antenna of your choice like a stand-alone model or a TV with better components would, then some money has been wasted--maybe not much. Does it do the kind of justice to HD that other TVs that cost a little more do, or do the high frequencies roll off too much? Is the color decoder locked in such a way that skin tones, reds, and greens are incapable of adequate adjustment? When the TV is out of torch mode, does it wash out at the low end or the high end? How good is the geometry, overscan, deinterlacing, scaling? Does it need a better DVD player to compensate for poor progressive scanning? Is the velocity scan modulation defeatable?

The specs really don't mean anything. The price of these TVs may be tempting, but they cost that little for a reason. Even TVs acknowledged to be of high quality tend to skimp on video processing. How do the Sanyos compare in this respect? Some people think that being a CRT automatically gives a TV a leg up on the competition. It ain't true. CRTs below the bar can leave lots to be desired. They are in no better position than those no-name discount LCDs that turn up in the big stores for short money. Some people will be satisfied; others will suffer buyers' remorse in a heartbeat.

[Eric Z]

even though these may be inferior tv sets, it's a good sign hdtv is being marketed to the average person.

[Smokey]

Does it do the kind of justice to HD that other TVs that cost a little more do, or do the high frequencies roll off too much? Is the color decoder locked in such a way that skin tones, reds, and greens are incapable of adequate adjustment? When the TV is out of torch mode, does it wash out at the low end or the high end? How good is the geometry, overscan, deinterlacing, scaling? Does it need a better DVD player to compensate for poor progressive scanning? Is the velocity scan modulation defeatable?

Those are legitimate questions, and might be hard to answer unless somebody run the TV thru its paces. There are couple of review for these TVs on the net and they seem to be 50/50 positive and negative. But Sanyo seem to be more reliable (in term of hardware) than no name brand TVs with no history.

Of course buying from Walmart (which have a very liberal return policy) mean one can take TV back long after 30 days standard exchange policy other stores strictly enforce :)

[ericl]

Oh Geez, here comes my long story I've been trying to forget.

These aren't new. They've been around a while, but Walmart has lowered their prices. I used to have the 32" model.

It was nice enough. Plenty of features - my favorite was the QAM tuner which allows you to get HDTV stations from your cable line without a box. Much better the OTA. It was my first HDTV so I was happy with it.

I had this thing almost a year. Eventually the component inputs died on it. I took it back - walmart tried to deny me a return because it was past their 90 days, but Sanyo had a one year warranty that walmart was obligated to honor. They fought it tooth and nail. Gave me the run around for hours, looking for any reason to deny me the exchange.

Finally I got a replacement set. Took it home (a 90mile round trip drive, mind you, and i had to borrow my bro's truck). It was DOA. I'd spent 6 hours of my day dealing with this, to get a dead set. great. I should have been clued in by the box damage, but I figured it would be fine.

My brother was motivated, so he said, "let's go back!" we did, and after another hour of stalling, they said they didn't have any more sets. They sent us to another Wal-Mart. After an hour or more of waiting there. we got another set. It was 8:30pm by this time, so I didn't bother to take it out of the box, turn it on, check it, like i should have. I figured, "what are the chances of this one not working too??" famous last words. Get it home, take it out, and nothing. DOA. again.

That monday i went back and *****ed at the manager until he gave me my money back. What a nightmare.

[Smokey]

That is a nightmare scenario especially considering how back breaking job is to move around one of those monsters. Thanks for sharing.

Consumerreports have always ranked Sanyo high in term of having a good repair history, but it might not be the case anymore. I saw an email from TV technician mentioning that all parts inside Sanyo TVs have Philips label on them. Not a top quality brand.

[Eric Z]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, Eric- I think I remember that story from a previous post- I'm sure it brings back bad memories for you. At least Walmart gave you the money back- even though you needed to be so persistant. The odd thing with warranties is the store can tell you to go directly back to the manufacturer. My wife used to manage a retail store and they knew the value of taking the returns in the store and dealing with the companies themselves. Too bad all companies didn't work this way.

[gsi00154]

Long story short. I have a 32 inch version of this tv. The HD channels look great but the analog channels are pretty bad. However, for the HD programming you cannot go wrong for the price.