It is Official: I am NEVER buying a Viewsonic ever again!

[Stoudman]

Ready for the pointless diatribe about stuff that's easily fixed? Won't find it here, because the problem is simple and nothing I can fix, nor do I wish to:

The POWER SUPPLY.

Yes, it's a problem on almost any HDTV, and as of yet I've found no real way to discern which TVs have the shoddy ones that die after 6 months of use and which have the ones that last much longer. All I know is this:

I got my Viewsonic 32" 720p HDTV (N3251w) in December of 2007. 2 weeks after I bought it, the power supply went out.

Hah. We've got 2 more years to go through, folks.

Well, surprisingly the TV worked just fine after that until I had to send it in once more in either April or May of 2008, same problem -- power supply died. By this point a thick layer of screen burn in was becoming present in the upper middle portion of the screen, which I informed them of, but they only ever fixed the power supply. Great people to work with, really...so long as the product "works" in a physical sense, they could care less if the quality is diminished by something else that might cost much more to fix -- slap in a cheap power supply for under $50, send it back out! VICTORY TO THE DOUCHEBAGS!

Well, surprisingly the television worked for an entire year before dying out on me again in April/May of '09. Same old story, had to box it up and ship it out to be repaired. Told them about the extremely ever present screen burn-in that also needed repairs.....still only got the power supply fixed. It's not like screen burn in wasn't covered, either, so...yeah....that's BS. But I figured whatever, I've got my TV back, thank GOD...

and then just a couple of hours ago after playing a video game, I turn the video game off and turn around to talk to a friend only to turn back half a minute later and find...a black screen...with no light from the power source, which tells me that YET AGAIN...THE POWER SUPPLY HAS DIED....

THREE TIMES in less than 2 years....WHAT THE FRICKING HELL!!

I'm to the point where I'm done dealing with the warranty people, and I'm done dealing with this TV ever again. I am SO TIRED of lugging this thing around every time it dies on me. Yes, it's only a 32", but it's an EARLIER make of a 32" and living on the third floor of a complex means packing it up, carrying it down 3 flights of stairs, sending it out, getting it back, and carrying it back up 3 flights of stairs.

So I've come to a decision:

I'm willing to sacrifice a little quality for a few luxuries.

First off, I want something lighter, so if I should ever run into problems again I will have much less of an issue lugging it around to get it fixed. I'm thinking 26". It's for my bedroom, so it doesn't need to be huge anyways.

Second, I want to buy it from a brick and mortar store. I'd much rather be able to take the damn thing to the store I bought it from should any problem arise, and get it fixed there. Having to send these things out every time one of these incredibly criminally flimsy power supplies dies out has worn thin on my nerves, and it's a lot easier when you can complain in person than when you have to do it over the phone. Shopping online might save me hundreds of dollars, but I really don't care at this point because in this one case there would seem to be so much more of a benefit to purchasing from Brick & Mortar.

Third, I want something reliable that is known for lasting a long time, and I don't want to pay twice what it's worth just for that added "benefit". I mean, really? It should not be this hard to find an HDTV that won't freakin' crap out on me. Even Samsungs have issues here and there with power supply failure, so what am I supposed to do? How the hell do you tell the good top-rated TV from the bad top-rated TV? Because I'm really tired of falling for this "buy low, save big" gimmick that always seems to fail me in the end.

I've heard good things about a few brands I'm considering:

Vizio

Samsung

Insignia

Sony

Sharp

but I don't know what to stick with. From what I've seen the best 26" model out there seems to be a Sony, but that one costs like $450 no matter where you look. Really? $450 for a small TV that won't crap out? I mean, I know that HDTV is relatively new technology in comparison to SDTVs, and that the reason SDTVs last so long is because they've had 70 years to perfect the technology of said TV. However, is it so brazen to expect not to have to pay an arm and a leg for a new TV that will last more than 5 years? No matter what you think of it, the fact is that the problems people are experiencing the most with these TVs have nothing to do with the NEW technology, only with stuff like power supplies and speakers and all that crap. Sure there's screen burn in and dead pixels, but those don't effect your ability to enjoy the TV NEARLY as much as not being able to hear anything or even TURN THE DAMN THING ON!

Venting frustrations....venting frustrations....okay....

So my question to you, the HD Gurus of the Blu-ray.com forums is....got any ideas? I've told you what I'm looking for so I'm hoping some of you can help me find the right thing for me, but I dunno, you don't HAVE to. This post is mainly just to vent my frustrations, but any help would really be appreciated.

Please note also our family is getting a nice 40"+ new HDTV soon, so I'm not concerned with getting a big TV and at this point for my bedroom I'm looking sub 32".