Oct 29, 2006 Europhile     Needed the ability to PLAY EUROPEAN tapes/DVDs in PAL format in Canada. This HDT...

My Experience: Needed the ability to PLAY EUROPEAN tapes/DVDs in PAL format in Canada. This HDTV is great for really good reception of HDTV/SD, excellent w/any source, including PC graphics. I do not like the limited aspect ratio control (only full, panaorama, 4:3)but a scaler provides more aspects. Build quality looks fine. The remote is ackward. Bought it at Radio Shack on sale for $899.00. Good value, really good picture (similar to Samsung 320). Service may be a question and anyone conemplating buying an Akai must first see if they are close to an Akai service centre. They're in the USA and Canada, but tend to rely on 3rd-party service stations. A good value for the Europhile.

Problems: Maing up my mind after seeing negative blogs on the web about AKAI older models. This one was released in April of '06. After seeing the unit, I am condident that I've made the right choice when I could not afford to pay for a Sony multi-system machine costing at least $1000.00 more.