Confused? Check out the HDTV Buying Guide!

Mar 23, 2012 john c     My Sylvania tv. a 42 in. model lc420ss8 lasted 1 year 28 days. Service dept. sai...

Apr 12, 2010 Joshua     DONT BUY THIS TV I bought this tv at sears for 500 dollars for christmas last y...

Feb 8, 2010 Patty     If you want to pay $700.00 for a tv that will be dead in one year and from a com...

Dec 23, 2009 Frenchie     I have had this set for almost a year. I have been pretty happy with the pictur...

Nov 30, 2009 NJM&CLM     UPDATE! Needless to say, nothing has changed with the Sylvania company. But si...

Sep 26, 2009 NJM&CLM     I found it to be an "average" flat screen. Nothing better or worse than others ...

Jul 8, 2009 Kristi     It was love at first viewing. I bought this tv at the end of December, my Chris...

May 18, 2009 Debbie     Bought three of these units at Sears in Augusta,Ga because I thought it was a gr...

Dec 3, 2008 otisbagotis     We purchased this TV 6 months ago and have not had ONE issue with it. I've read...

Aug 6, 2008 JohnnyB     Just Bought the LC420SS8 for 688.00 from brandsmart and this TV is very simple t...

May 9, 2008 tojomor

Jan 31, 2008 Joe     I am very happy with this set. Tha 1080P channels are almost 3D ! And for under ...

Jan 9, 2008 SgtBaxter     Received this as a gift, and initially was excited to see a 42" 1080p set. I was...

Dec 2, 2007 UK from Boston MA     i have only had it for 2 weeks but its the best deal ive had in a while. crysta...

Nov 26, 2007 Robert     I just purchased this LCD and i love it. It has an excellent picture, great feat...

Nov 26, 2007 Khypher     If your looking for a high quality HDTV for a reasonable price, you might want t...

Nov 25, 2007 Paul     purchased this for $300 off its retail price of $1100 but am disappointed in it ...

Nov 10, 2007 UrbanTexasCowboy     I've only had this for a few days, but WOW! Picture is beautiful! Called Sylva...

My Experience: Received this as a gift, and initially was excited to see a 42" 1080p set. I was planning on purchasing a set around May, and was glad I wouldn't have to spend the money. However, after using the product a few weeks I'm far less than impressed. This is a very basic set and only average image quality despite being able to display a full 1080 image.

Most notably the blacks suffer, and lighting is uneven across the screen. Also if you aren't directly centered on the screen colors wash out severely. There is no 3:2 pulldown, and motion is often jerky. Also not very bright.

As far as features, only the most basic features are included. The "wide" setting distorts a 4:3 picture so severely it's pretty much unusable, you either have to settle for stretched look, or sidebars. The Wii with component cables and 16:9 setting looks good however. Also I had to install an amplifier on my antenna to receive more than 2 HD channels (I do live in rural area however). Neighbors Toshiba receives more than this set with no amplifier, and same antenna so I believe the tuner isn't the best either.

Problems: I have an issue with the set emitting a very high pitched squeal while in standby mode. My wife can't hear the frequency, but to me it's like a painful dog whistle and I unplug the set. I know this can be an issue with some LCD sets, but to me it sounds like a bad capacitor.

Come May I'll be purchasing a better set and relegating this to a spare room. I'd advise to look past the low price and spend $600 more for a decent 1080p set. You really do get what you pay for.