LG 42LH30 42 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Gloss Black

LG 42LH30 42 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Gloss Black

The LH30 series is an entry-level full 1080p LCD HDTV series featuring invisible speakers that give the LH30 a slim panel design. The LH30 series includes Smart Energy Saving technology for better energy conservation and a USB port for access to digital music and videos without the need for a PC. It’s Full HD in a stylish and economical package.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars LG TV
The TV works great and was delivered as promised. I was extremely easy to set up and I was watching it witin 15 mins after takng it ot of the box. NO dead pixels either. A great buy from a great vendor!

5 Stars Great easy-to use LCD TV and I’m the first to get it!
I searched Amazon and the internet to find something new in LCD TV’s. You can’t get much newer on March 23rd (date of this review) than a March 17th intro date. This is my first LCD TV and it was easy to set up… just plug it in and go. Or be adventurious and hit the menu button and tweek it to you own liking.

The 50,000:1 contrast ratio is the best for any LCD now on the market. It also has a built-in speakerless surrond-sound system (part of the LCD frame) No one but LG has that yet.

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Vizio VA26L 26 Inch 720P HDTV LCD TV Accessory Bundle

Vizio VA26L 26 Inch 720P HDTV LCD TV Accessory Bundle

Vizio VA26L 26 Inch 720P HDTV LCD TV.

Wicked Prey

Wicked Prey

Danger stalks Lucas Davenport at work and all too close to home, in the superlative new thriller by the #1 New York Times’ bestselling author. For twenty years, John Sandford’s novels have been beloved for their “ingenious plots, vivid characters, crisp dialogue and endless surprises” (The Washington Post), and nowhere are those more in evidence than in the sudden twists and shocks of Wicked Prey. The Republicans are coming to St. Paul for their convention. Throwing a big party is supposed to be fun, but crashing the party are a few hard cases the police would rather stayed away. Chief among them is a crew of professional stickup men who’ve spotted several lucrative opportunities, ranging from political moneymen with briefcases full of cash to that armored-car warehouse with the weakness in its security system. All that’s headache enough for Lucas Davenport – but what’s about to hit him is even worse. A while back, a stray bullet put a pimp and petty thief named Randy Whitcomb in a wheelchair, and, ever since, the man has been nursing his grudge into a full head of psychotic steam. He blames Davenport for the bullet, but it’s no fun just shooting him. That wouldn’t be painful enough. Not when Davenport has a pretty fourteen-year-old adopted daughter that Whitcomb can target instead. . . .And then there’s the young man with the .50 caliber sniper rifle and the right-wing-crazy background, roaming through a city filled with the most powerful politicians on earth. . . . Rich with his brilliant trademark suspense and some of the best characters in suspense fiction, Wicked Prey is further proof that “Sandford is one of the most consistently entertaining crime writers working today.” (Booklist).

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Wicked Prey
I don’t care about the Kindle price at all. What irks me about this book is the author’s inability to keep his political opinions to himself. This has become a pattern with Mr. Sandford and I complained about it directly to his web site regarding a previous book. His webmaster told me thar t it was Mr. Sandford’s book and he could put what he wants in it. Well, after I pay sixteen dollars for the book it becomes mine and I don’t want to read the author’s political opinions. I can get plenty of political rhetoric on FOX and CNN included with the price of my cable service without paying for it in a novel. I like Mr. Sandford’s writing and I would like to be able to enjoy the books without being reminded of the reality of our crappy politicians.

1 Star This is a new frontier and we must act…
If, years and years ago, record companies had had an online review venue where people could have directly endangered the sales of overpriced CDs by complaining about their cost as relative to other formats, then the record business might not be in a shambles right now. They might have adapted and understood that format changes can be game changers. Digital delivery is the biggest game-changer yet.

This is our chance to explain to Amazon and to authors and distributors that charging $1 less for an electronic version of a book is not acceptable. Either you lower the electronic price or you raise the paper price, no alternative. One star till then.

5 Stars Another Blockbuster!!
I read this book on my Kindle and LOVED it! It was well worth the price. I’ve read all the books in this series and will anxiously await the next one. Keep them coming Mr Sandford!!

1 Star mudda stevensville mi
i would like to read something written by this author but am not willing to pay the inflated price of amazon. who loses the author

5 Stars A great addition to the series
Sandford is one of the few authors that can sustain a series with quality books even when he is at #18 or #19! Lucas Davenport confronts danger both on the home front from a pimp and thief who feels Davenport put him in a wheelchair and also faces danger during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

The book contains Sandford’s usual complex, tightly woven plot. Lucas Davenport just gets better and better with age!

It is well worth reading. And by the way, all of the one star reviews are ignorant Kindle owners who HAVE NOT read the book, but are protesting the price! Instead of reviewing the book, they have chosen to punish the author for the price.

IGNORE THEM. READ THE BOOK–you won’t be disappointed!

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Philips 42TA648BX 37 42 1080p LCD HDTV

Philips 42TA648BX 37 42 1080p LCD HDTV

Full HD LCD display, with a 1920x1080p resolution

The Full HD screen has the widescreen resolution of 1920 x 1080p. This is the highest resolution of HD sources for the best possible picture quality. It is fully future proof as it supports 1080p signals from all sources, including the most recent like Blu-ray and advanced HD game consoles. The signal processing is extensively upgraded to support this much higher signal quality and resolution. It produces brilliant flicker-free progressive scan pictures with superb brightness and colors.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Best price for great 42″ LCD
For the price of $750 you will unlikely find a 42″ LCD that has as great quality as this Philips! I had a Vizio 32″ prior to upgrading and saw a remarkable difference in the picture, sound and overall appearence!!!

5 Stars price vs. performance
“I bought this tv a few weeks ago for our kids to use for their viewing. (XBOX 360/ WII, ..etc.) The XBOX 360 graphics when using HDMI are incredible.

Sound is good enough. FWIW, the headphone jack is a nice feature for use w/ wireless headphones. i.e. The kids can put on headphones and “voila!” peace and quiet.

HD channels are very crisp/clear. Standard def is pretty good also. (standard def depends alot on signal strength from your cable provider.)

Overall I gave the tv a 5-star rating b/c of the low price and reasonable performance ratio. This is not a high-end Sharp or Sony so I am not considering that in the review. It is however several hundred dollars less that the high end.”

4 Stars This thing is amazing
I purchased this product on Black Friday as an early Christmas gift. It’s my first flat panel HD TV. I bought it on the specs, the Philips name and the price.

Set up was a snap. It took longer to get it out of the box than to get it operational. The remote is intuitive. The on screen menus are simple and straightforward.

For me coming from a traditional TV, the picture is outstanding. Colors are rich and lush. The blacks are black. The detail is amazing. You can see the pores on news anchors’ skin. The screen is viewable from multiple angles.

Speakers are hidden within the unit’s case. Sound quality is excellent.

Setting up other devices (DVD player, game console) was simple. It has more connectors than I expect I’ll need (at least for now).

This unit provides a lot of value.

5 Stars GREAT TV!!!
So far, so good! We love this TV. It is perfect for our family…the sound & picture are great. It’s great for our games and movies too!

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Sony BRAVIA XBR KDL 32XBR9 32 Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV

Sony BRAVIA XBR KDL 32XBR9 32 Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV

31.5″ screen (measured diagonally) * widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio * high-gloss black finish * built-in digital (ATSC) tuner for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) * built-in QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without a set-top box (cable service required) * 1920 x 1080 pixels * 2 component video (one is selectable component/composite) *

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars MUST READ – A step in the wrong direction for SONY KDL-32XBR9
MUST READ – A step in the wrong direction for SONY KDL-32XBR9

I bought two of these TVs a week ago and just set one up a couple of days ago. I am a true sony fan since the WEGA editions and have stayed true to them. My largest screen 46″ is the an XBR5 model and I have loved it since. So when it came time to buy TVs for my bedrooms, I naturally thought the latest XBR would be just as good. How wrong was I?

PROS:

Picture quality is very good, one of the best. Glossy finish is classy and the sound quality is as best as it gets for this size TV.

CONS

OK, last year’s model the XBR8 line used LED lighting which is supposed to be much better (read the reviews). Why did we go backward with the new XBR9 models?

The TV takes 30 seconds to come on from the time the power button is pressed! My old Sony comes on instantly ….what is wrong with this TV and why did Sony put it on the market with such an annoying flaw? This slow response also happens when you cycle between inputs, not just when you turn the TV on. So fi you press the input button to change inputs from your TV to your Blu-Ray/DVD player, expect to wait another 30 seconds before you can see a picture …go make you a cup of coffee!

The video inputs are on the side of the TV. So expect cables to be visible from the side of the TV unless you spend money rewiring your AV with L cables. Also be warned, if you currently have two separate devices using S-Video and composite video (yellow), then you’ll have to find a converter or adapter for one device because on this TV, Sony decided to place both inputs on the same video channel! So you can only use one or the other and there is only a single audio connection on that channel! I have an old home theater system for my bedroom with uses S-video and I love it (it’s one of those things you buy with low expectations and it surprises you)! I also have surveillance security cameras using composite video. Now I have to buy an adapter to convert one input or lose it!

Also you cannot press the input button multiple times to cycle between inputs. When you press input key multiple times, you can cycle through the top -> button inputs list but you cannot cycle back around to the top unless you use you up/down arrow keys to change/select the input you want. Expect to wait an additional 30 seconds to see a picture each time you change inputs! This makes switch back and forth between inputs a time consuming annoyance!

Finally, don’t let anyone fool you that the changing contrast on dark scenes is a minor issue. When watching regular TV, recorded TV, DVD/Blu-Ray, or HDTV, it takes about 15 seconds into a dark scene then all over a sudden the TV realizes it’s a dark scene and instead of compensating by brightening the scene for better clarity … it makes it darker! So when watching dark scenes, be prepared for them to get darker and this is drastic and very visible. Then when you return to a bright scene, the Tv does the reverse and brightens the scene. This is also sudden and visible…not to mention annoying! This, feature has no menu options to disable. I have gone through my entire TV menu and disabled all the advanced picture enhancements and it’s still annoyingly there! Trust me, this is a deal breaker for me!

FINAL TAKE:

If you watch HDTV or use AT&T U-Verse, make sure you go to your receiver’s Menu>Options>System Settings>Aspect ratio and change your TV size to 1080i for optimal picture.

I wish I could suggest going back to the XBR6 model but I will loose 120Hz refresh rate plus I will get a TV that is about 2 -3 years old already …doesn’t sound right.

I will be returning these TVs back to the store and replacing them with the Samsung LN32B650. I feel so sad and betrayed by Sony. It’s like realizing that someone you have loved and been loyal to just betrayed you and you don’t want to leave but you know that you have to; for your own sanity! So long Sony …welcome Samsung…and you better act right!

5 Stars Let me clear up some misconceptions…
This is a great HDTV. Hands down is one of the most beautiful displays in this size. You can buy a fancier ultra-thin 32″ TV from Samsung right now but it’s almost twice the price!

Pros: The blacks are black! When you start it up, the Bravia logo appears on a black background and it’s as black as when the TV is off! People say that edge LED lighting will make the blacks truer with less backlight bleeding but this TV is already great in this aspect. The colors and settings are very good out of the box for a few of the styles but need adjustment like any TV. The nice thing is that when you change your input, the TV remembers all the settings for that input! So it’s like you never have to re-adjust your settings unless you plug your stuff in differently.

The motionflow frame interpolation technology is astounding! 120HZ with the motionflow is worth every penny for bluray and other high-def sources. That’s why I waited for this over the XBR6. I however prefer the lifelike “soap-opera” look, but that’s me (I have to say PE or the Pirates movies look stunning with it on!). You can turn it off or have this appear more more subtle (the default). The motionflow is basically a side-effect of the necessity to combat blurriness and the staggering “judder” effect inherent to LCDs. It adds one or more frames in between each frame of your source by interpolating entirely NEW frames that were never there by the TV’s processor. technology is amazing, isn’t it? You have to see it in person to get exactly what this looks like. Other companies are following suit but I find others like the 32 TOC Samsung have more motion artifacts (basically errors ie grabbing parts of the audience behind a fast-moving player in a sports event and dragging them along for the ride). Sony’s Bravia processor is second to none. For upconverted sources not originally in 1080 and compressed 1080 cable, the motion technology is less noticeable. So the overall effectiveness depends on how clear the material is.

This is important–with the game mode on, which turns off most processing, there is almost NO LAG. I am one of those demanding gamers who is very sensitive and complains about miniscule things like how much play there is in a joystick. So I can tell you that there is still a little lag but the game mode makes fast games like Smash Bros and shooters play like my CRT. So losing the motionflow in the game mode might seem bad, but it’s only a small difference especially on something like the 480p Wii. And Wii games with anti-aliasing like Metroid Prime 3 still look AWESOME in contrast to what most say. The PS3 does look AMAZING either with or without motionflow anyway!

Cons: Not many but the sound is tinny. What do you expect from such small speakers? If you spent this much on a 32 TV and don’t have speakers then you should not complain.

There is no headphone jack. I use a mixer with a control-room out to get around this and it works fine.

The autodim is annoying but mainly happens for me when the room is VERY dark. In normal light I do not see it. And you cannot turn it off but with as many people as are complaining about it, all Sony has to do is release a firmware update to allow the switching on and off of it (Sony, are you reading this?)…

CLARIFICATIONS—–

Here are some points that I thought were incorrect in some other reviews so I felt compelled to make this clear to potential buyers.

Okay some people just don’t do their research in TVs. Sony’s top line of HDTVs is the XBR line. The XBRs are split into the standard and then two higher end levels. Last year we had the XBR6s (standard XBR), XBR7s (larger fancier models) and XBR8 (larger still fancier models). This XBR9 IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR XBR8!! It replaces the XBR6 and the XBR8 was WAY more money and there was not even a 32″ one available! The reviewer who complained about there being no LED backlighting is wrong in getting upset because the XBR6 never had LED lighting and the XBR8 is a higher end unit which is different that the XBR9s. Sony will undoubtedly release an XBR10 and XBR11 or something to replace those two higher lines. Maybe in the next few years Sony will add edge LED lighting to the standard XBR line unless something like OLED takes off…

Next the TV takes about as long to start up as my over 10-year-old Sony Trinitron 32″ XBR CRT does. Some models take longer some don’t but it certainly is not 30 seconds! That reviewer must have gotten a problem unit or need a firmware update or something. Also, to change input, all you have to do is push “Input” then push that arrows up or down and that’s it. Wow if that is too much for you, then technology is not your thing. Maybe you should hire someone to push the buttons for you so you don’t have to. Come on.

The thing has many inputs and, yes, some are on the side. On bigger TVs this would probably get covered up so on this one you can see some cabling if you have a thick cable that cannot bend easily. If you are clever you can use the cord-management strap to clean this up but my thick Monstercable does not bend that easily so I do see it. Oh well. So with thinner types of cables that bend back easily you should be fine. It’s common knowledge that you get the same quality in a $5 HDMI cable as a $200 one because it is digital; getting a cheap thin one should solve the side cable-view problem. I wanted a more durable cable though.

This is a relatively high-end HDTV that means it’s designed to be used primarily to view HD content over a HDMI cables. That’s why over half it’s inputs are HDMI. So if you have a ton of stuff in composite or component, sorry, but Sony is trying to cater to the people who utilize the TV primarily for what it was designed for. Get a splitter/switcher or upgrade your cables to HDMI because, again, no matter how crappy your HDMI cables are, there is NO signal loss. There’s an advantage to update anyway.

Also contrary to popular belief numbers across different manufacturers ARE NOT EQUIVALENT. So comparing Lg to Sony to Samsung is not at all accurate. Think of comparing HP numbers in cars–measuring at the flywheel or tire gets you VERY different results and this often misleads consumers. Trust your eyes on a calibrated set with the same source. I can tell you this TV has more than enough contrast and is improved over last years model.

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So far I have not had any problems with the TV and it looks amazing. I would recommend this to anyone and if you are internet savvy and find a good company to work with, you can find it for only slightly more than the closeout or last-year’s KDL32XBR6 model–about $850 (or less, as in my case)

EDIT: Thanks to other posters for mentioning this–Sony has released a firmware update that apparently makes the menus easier to navigate (faster?) and FIXES THE AUTODIM PROBLEM! I am trying to figure out how to install it now…

5 Stars Great set
Received Sony Lcd in a short amount of time. No problems after was hooked up. Just will have to get used to the short screen as compared to old style TV.

5 Stars Great Picture – Convenient Size
Latest and greatest release – has the 120Hz scan rate so you get less of the stuttering from film conversions. Fairly wide viewing angle w/ great coloration – not overly saturated with cartoonish tinting.

Lots of available adjustments, though works great out of the box.

Doesn’t seem to pass 5.1 sound from cable input through the optical connection to Sony’s HTIB BDV-IS1000, though most people will probably use a sat or cable box and send the audio from there.

Bravia Sync with the remote to other Sony boxes takes a bit of fiddling with to get the results you expect.

Beautiful modern TV that fits in traditional size furniture!

4 Stars New or Return Unit?
We bought this for our master bedroom – my wife loves the picture, thinks the sound is fine and doesn’t mind waiting for 30 seconds or so for the TV to “boot up” as she believes that following the Energy Star guidelines is the right thing to do.

The one issue we had is that this unit had clearly been opened previously. Although the box was sealed and it was delivered by the outfit Amazon uses in our area, when I opened the box, it was clear that this was probably a return unit. The packaging was not sealed with blue tape that you often see on Sony products and the screws for the stand were missing. I called the Sony hotline and they were very nice and willing to send me the four screws, but it would take about a week or so. So, I asked the agent for the size of the screws or the part number which took her only about 2-3 minutes to retrieve. She didn’t know the size, but when she told me the part number, it was obvious that the 4 missing screws were metric (M5 X 12). So, a quick trip to ACE yielded replacement screws for 19 cents apiece and I was able to attach the stand and set the TV up.

This experience has made me wonder about how carefully Amazon is monitoring its vendors. This was clearly not a factory-sealed item – so one immediately jumps to the conclusion that there might be other ways to sell items for less than just volume buying. However, I must say that our general experience with Amazon has been outstanding, so this could just be a one-off, isolated incident. Anyway, if you end up needing the correct screws to attach the stand, now you know to purchase M5 X 12.

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