I have been happy with Anna-Lena V3, the 32'' RCA HDTV that I got handed down from my brother. Great picture quality and support for PAL format pictures, but there is one random issue that she has that I'm afraid may be getting worse.
Once in awhile, she randomly shuts down and restarts as if the internal protection circult activates. At first, it happened infrequently enough that I can play a game or watch TV for a few hours without it happening. Now, it appears to be getting somewhat more frequent. It's still not enough to make the TV unuseable, but I'm afraid that in the near future, that will indeed happen, or worse, Anna-Lena will refuse to turn on.
The TV is nearly seven years old, mostly cared for by my brother so it's otherwise in great shape.
If I do need to get a new 32'' HDTV, I have several options. First choice would be a "Sansui" brand set. They are basically a third-tier brand these days, but they don't have all the fancy picture processing that the name-brands have, and thus, input lag is so minimal that I can still play my Wii/PS2 games without any issues, at least with my old Sansui TV, Max. He was my first HDTV I got back in 2008, and he still works fine.
But, there are the name brand sets, which tend to come with better support and tend to last far longer than off-brands. One name-brand I may go for is a Sony... or the most basic Sony I can find. I have no need for built in WiFi or Netflix. I just need a basic, bare-bones set that I can watch my stuff on. There are basic Sony HDTVs that I can get for less than $300, but one thing I worry about is possible input lag on component, which is what I use for Lars and Elsie. A possible deal-killer is lack of PAL support. True PAL support isn't really a necessary feature, but it is nice to watch my R2 DVDs in their intended picture formats without any sort of on-the-fly conversion. Anna-Lena v2 and her current form both support PAL video over AV/Component connections.
As for brands to avoid...
I know that LG sets can induce horrible lag on component connections, as attested to by David and Quetzal III I believe, who is an LG set. For me, LG is a brand to be avoided because of this.
Another brand I need to avoid is Vizio. They look like great TV sets, but I heard that they tend to crap out within a short period of time because of a poor quality power supply or firmware issues. There are many complaints about Vizio sets and their warranty services. I do know my old friend did get a Vizio HDTV. I wonder if it still works?
I also read that Samsung TVs tend to induce horrid input lag as well. I could be wrong.
So, if I do need to get a new HDTV, I have a lot of choices, and I will have trouble deciding. Do you know of any name-brand sets that work well for TV and gaming?