camera direct

Overall Rating: ( 1 reviews )

1. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Mar 7 2008

   I got this camcorder for last Christmas and it is awful. If you do decide to purchase it, you need to get some kind of light attachment because without it the video quallity is awful. The flash is too bright for pictures (another reason why an attachable light is required)and if used, pics will come out as a white flash or either blue tinted. An attachable mike is also useful, because the camera only pics up the voice of whoever is recording. Go with a different camera, this one is worthless...

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Overall Rating: ( 5 reviews )

1. ( 2 of 3 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jun 14 2006

   I purchased a Toshiba 34HF85 from Sears to replace a 15 year old Mitsubishi that I had installed in a custom cabinet. I selected it because of the low price and because it fit the existing cabinet. After installing the tv and a new Dish Network 411 receiver, I was extremely dissappointed in the quality of the picture. This was my second HDTV. My other tv is a Samsung 50" DLP, about two years old. The Samsung is in a totally different league. It's picture is dramatically better, sharp, clear and bright. I guess I was spoiled by the Samsung picture. The Toshiba seemed to get a worse picture than my old Mitsubishi. I called Sears and discussed the problem. They suggested that I schedule a Sears technician to try to tune the tv. The technician arrived and looked over the set. He told me there were no improvements that could be made by tuning or setup (as I suspected). After comparing to the picture on my Samsung, he said if he were me he would immediately return the set to Sears and trade for something else. He said that under these conditions they would probably give me full credit (it was only two weeks old). He helped me pack up the Toshiba, in the original box. Upon returning the set to Sears, I was informed that they have a new policy that any tv returned for any reason will have a 15% restocking fee, even if traded for another item. Sears has initiated this policy since combining with KMart. I was disgusted with Sears, but bit the bullet and paid the 15%. I plan to keep the tv quite a while and don't want to live with a lemon. I won't be buying a major item from Sears again. I purchased a 42" Samsung DLP from TV Authority. I was able to shoehorn it into the cabinet with some modificaton. It gets a great picture like my other one.

2. ( 6 of 8 found this review helpful ) Posted: Apr 21 2006

   When we found out that the Sony HDTV that we wanted was no longer in production because all the models were changing out, we were talked into getting the Toshiba 34HF85. The price was good, it seemed to have good reviews, (although the sound system was nothing special), so we bought it from Sears. We immediately noticed problems with the HD channels: intermittent vertical green and red lines, very dark areas on close-ups, and waves of light rolling up the screen. Since this was our first HDTV, we assumed it was a cable problem. Comcast came twice to the house, replaced the cable box, installed an expensive HDMI cable, and finally told us the problem was the TV. We called Toshiba and got the name of the authorized repair service in our area; they picked it up and spent 2 weeks trying to fix it, but Toshiba tech support couldn't figure it out. We got the TV back, brought it back to Sears, and their repairman worked on it. He failed also. They had one of the Toshibas left and let us take the new one home. Out of the box, it had sound, but no picture! Sears repair came to the house, decided to replace the entire circuit board. We waited a week, the piece arrived, still no picture! Back to Sears, we found that they had just gotten one new Sony HDTV 34XBR970. It was going to be their floor model. They felt so bad for us, they sold it to us at 20% off. It is fabulous! Very uncomplicated, gorgeous picture, great sound. During the time we had the 2 Toshibas, I found that I really hated the set-up menus. The Sony is much simpler and clearer to understand. The only drawback is that the Sony is about 3 inches wider because the speakers are on the side, so it hangs over the TV stand we bought. But buying a new TV stand is a small price to pay after 2 months of misery. BTW, the people at Comcast and at Sears were wonderful. Thank you, Sony!

3. ( 4 of 7 found this review helpful ) Posted: Mar 20 2006

   Even though CR gave this HDTV a poor rating I decided to give it a try anyway ... unfortunately I was very disappointed. The previous ratings mention that the picture is acceptable after considerable adjustments were made ... what they don't mention is that you have to adjust the set for literally every source--hd, dvd, standard analog broadcasts, etc. In my opinion this is unacceptable, for that reason I returned the set and purchased a Sony LCD with which I'm very pleased with . Additionally, the Toshiba set I received had a flaw in the tube where the top 2" of the tube was constantly brighter than the rest of the picture. BTW I would have purchased Sony's 34" HDTV, however at 200lbs it's just too heavy, hence why I opted for the LCD.

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