Tim @ Mar 15th 2006 5:09PM

Well about 8 months ago I was shoping for a new display per my wife's (!!!) request. We were looking for something in the 32" - 44" range We looked around a lot at the local stores and I did quite a bit of review research.

We live in a 1912 house and due to layout didn't really have room for anything much bigger than a 37" as it turned out. Ultimatley after price shopping and comparing product (albe it in less than optimal "show room" conditions) we ended up going to Target online and buying a Syntax 32" Panel for around $950 shipped. (I have seen it even cheaper since).

Anyway the major drawback to this purchase was a leap of faith in that there wasn't anywhere where we could see the TV before we bought it, but after looking at several $2500-$3000 models, we could not justify the 2X-3X increase in price over the lower cost Syntax.

So how does it perform? We are exteremly happy. On the black levels it depends on what input you are using. I have found the VGA input to have a lot of issues with this TV (and Syntax was no help). As for inputs, I haven't maxed them, out yet. You get:

1 VGA
1 DVI
2 Component
3 Composite/s-video
1 CATV

Not bad. I like to watch Sin City on DVD to check black levels because it is such a dark movie. I would rate the black levels as very good. Are they the best ever? No. Is there room for improvemnt? Yes. But this panel is so much cheaper than everything else.

I also have an HDTV tuner hooked up to the TV and HDTV OTA broadcasts look outstanding. DVDs look excellent as well, both played over the DVI input on my HTPC and through my standalone DVD player on component inputs.

Overall I am very happy with the purchase. None of the higher price displays can beat the value. As someone who took the ~$900 LCD route, I cand say it was a good move and we saved THOUSANDS of dollars.

The other reason we decided to go this route is the flux with HD-DVD and Blu-ray and the HDMI/HDCP issues. I wanted to let the dust settle a little before droping mad cash on a display. This 32" panel will be headed to the bedroom when/if we decide to upgrade.

Now I wouldn't call myself a videophile per se, but ANY kind of video artifact I will notice and will eventually drive me crazy. I haven't had any video quality issues with this display (excpet the VGA input).