LCD Flat screen tv's

Tough call. The "unknown" brands can perform pretty well, but a lot depends on set up, etc. I think you might explore a Sony CRT, if you can find one in your preferred screen size; the last model Sony put out with the old technology got pretty good reviews. I bought a Sony LCD 40 inch and have been happy, although I paid more than your figure. Good luck.
BerkBob

I have a Viewsonic 27" LCD TV that I bought because I saw one at around $500 and I'd had very good experience over the years buying their computer monitors for my departments at work. I think it's really good right out of the box, as good as anything from other brands I'd seen in the stores, and my experience with the reliability of their other products makes me think it will last awhile.

The Olevia is highly recommended by Consumers Reports. Olevis in owned by Syntax-Brillant which is a parent company of Vivitar. Several of my colleagues have owned Olevias for 2 trouble-free years and several months ago I picked up a 37" LCD at Office Depot for $900. which subsequently went on sale for $750.
Before buying I compared it to several brand name LDC TVs and the only ones which exceeded its picture quality were the higher-priced Sonys. I am very happy with the Olevis
Olevis is a great bargain and definitely not a "low-end brand". Just relatively unknown. Do yourself a big favor and look at one at Office Depot, althoough their viewing conditions are certainly less than ideal.

I haven't shopped in that range, so I can't really comment on specifics. It's hard to go wrong with a Sony.

My one piece of advice, regardless of size or TV type, is to ask to see it with a "regular" source - ie, a normal cable or satellite feed of a channel you watch regularly. Unless this is just for DVDs and HDTV, you will spend a lot of time with regular definition TV, and that is typically a place where the difference between a cheap TV and a more expensive TV shows up. They all look pretty darn good with a high-def source.

Another option, if you're using cable or satelite as source, would be to buy a monitor vs. TV with internal tuner. I purchased a new "A" stock 32" Toshiba monitor on Ebay for my daughter for Xmas for $619. including freight. Why pay for an internal TV tuner if you'll never use it?