The Specs look good, but the set is actually small. With viewing area dimensions at 36.6" horizontal x 20.6" vertical; 42.02" diagonal that is a small picture, assuming you are changing out of anything bigger than 32". If you are watching anything in a natural 4:3 ratio it will make a screen size of about 32". I personally can't stand stretching the pic to fit, everyone starts to look like Barney Rubble. If you are going to buy a 9:6 ratio TV (and try to find anything else these days) you need to find at least a 50 inch one (52 = 42 in 4:3). So, a 42" wide screen TV = a 32" TV in "Old style", but you get many more Bells and Whistles. At least that is my opinion.

http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-6307377-1.html

That said, The price is Great considering MSRP is $1799 US
Dave

It's the same size as any other 42" 16:9 LCD.

I'm upgrading from a 27" Panasonic CRT, so anything is an improvement.

Quoted from cooke

It's the same size as any other 42" 16:9 LCD.

Oh sure, Point that out!!  

Dave

http://www.retrevo.com/s/Viewsonic-N4285P-TVs-review-manual/id/6333ci473/t/1-2/

Couldn't find any reviews on performance/longevity but it's hard to argue with the price.
I guess if you're nervous you could always purchase and extended warranty.
I see on their website that you can upgrade up to 3 years for approx $280.
http://www.viewsonic.com/index.htm



All-in-all Mrhide would seem to be the one on the know as he already owns one.

Adam

I will be the first to admit that I am not a technophile. I still like older TVs and thought they worked fine. In July of 2006, after we officially sold our old house, my wife and I decided to treat ourselves and bought a Samsung 42" plasma TV. I was all excited about getting it...until I started watching it. I have Starchoice satellite at home and I thought that the picture SUCKED. The black images were always blotchy... to the point that 80% of the time I went to watch TV on my old Sony 27".

Well, I got an HD receiver from my father-in-law for Xmas and plugged it in tonight with an HDMI cable to watch the hockey game...



1000 times better!!! Holy crap!!! I was amazed by the image when switching from regular to HD on the plasma. NOW it looks fantastic. But I wish I was told this earlier... I would have held out on buying the plasma until I got an HD receiver. They don't tell you this in stores...

My opinion is if you are not going to get an HD signal for your TV or don't watch many DVDs, stick with a standard resolution TV and save yourself the money. HD big screens are great... if you actually have the proper signal going to it...

I'm with you Ian

I went out on Boxing day and picked this up:

http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/tv/lcd/lnt5271fxxaa.asp

I'll have to take a picture of it, but regular cable looks like absolute crap on it, but then again I don't watch TV so it's not a big deal.  But my PS3 I got for Christmas looks INSANE.  I couldn't be happier with the picture and since I plan to use it for pretty much only playing PS3 and watching Blue Ray movies it works great for me.

It did come with a promotion from rogers where I can get a Free HD box and programming for a year but I have to see if there are any strings attached.  If there are I won't be going that route as I don't watch enough TV to justify paying the HD prices for cable.  

Quoted from Vengeance

It did come with a promotion from rogers where I can get a Free HD box and programming for a year but I have to see if there are any strings attached.  If there are I won't be going that route as I don't watch enough TV to justify paying the HD prices for cable.  

I got the same deal, and signed-up for it.

It "sounds" like a legit deal  :  Free HD and set-top box for a year with no penalty to discontinue after 12 months.

I'm waiting to get the box by courrier today...

I'll let you know how it works out.

cheers,
Steph

It is a trap. I got HD two years ago and once you get to enjoy the quality of HD, there is never going back.

I find myself scanning through the HD channels and if there is nothing good, I go play pinball. Watching regular TV on a HD TV is just plain bad, might as well keep your old CRT TV.

I don't watch TV very much so I don't think I'll have an issue.

I can only think of mabye 3 shows I watch on TV, House, CSI, and Survivor I don't need to see those shows in HD.  I don't watch any sports mabye the odd football game if I'm really bored so as long as I can cancel it at the end of the 12 months I'll take it.  But I can see how if you watch allot of TV and Sports trying to go back from HD would be very difficult.  

the viewsonic is great with of course hdmi connections ( from addison at 15-20$ a cable ... don't be stupid to buy *any* cables at the "big box" store ) to an HD source.

of course Videotron and satellite can *only* do 1080i ! not 1080p ... for that you need blue ray or HDDVD or a laptop with HDMI ( which I have ) and you download (big) content  from the web. Looks amazing.

my regular DVDs never looked so nice so I'm happy with then for now and don't see really see the point of getting an hddvd  yet since I don't really buy movies anymore, the bay is fine for me.