i'm in the market for a 40" lcd tv. local store has a special on a hisense 1080i (40") for $589. that's $200 to $300 less than samsung or sony. anybody have experience with hisense and their reliability or should i spend the extra money and go with a better brand. use will be for broadcast antenna reception.
ps- the samsung and sony are 1080p

I would go for the Samsung or Sony. Don't buy any off brand as you dont know what the electronics are inside - also 1080p is much better than 1080i.

Do you have an HDTV tuner? You will need that also.

You get what you pay for....

Also, cable will only brodcast at 1080i, but if you have blue-ray or some of those fangled game boxes, then the 1080p is what you'll want...

I would go for the Samsung or Sony. Don't buy any off brand as you dont know what the electronics are inside - also 1080p is much better than 1080i.

Do you have an HDTV tuner? You will need that also.

isn't the HD tuner built in? also i'm told that broadcast or network tv is only 720. )

Depends on the network.

And no - the HDTV tuner doesn't have to built in.

isn't the HD tuner built in? also i'm told that broadcast or network tv is only 720. )

If it is sold as a TV, and not a monitor, and if it was recently made, then yes, for the U.S. market, it is supposed to have a built in HD tuner (aka ATSC tuner).

By March 1, 2007 all televisions regardless of screen size, and all interface devices which include a tuner (VCR, DVD player/recorder, DVR) must include a built-in ATSC DTV tuner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC_tuner

With digital broadcasts, some are 720p, some are 1080i, and some are 480i.

I went with a name brand, and bought a Toshiba. With an off brand, you had better make sure it has a good warranty (that does not require you to pay to ship it half way across the country for repair), and do some research on that specific model. I tried a couple of off brands, buying locally from places with good return policies, and ended up returning them before I settled on my current Toshiba. It cost a little more, but only a little more, and is much better. However, I did not try the brand you mention, and models are constantly changing.

Depending on how far you sit from your TV, a 720p set may look just as good as a 1080p set. See:

http://www.carltonbale.com/2006/11/1080p-does-matter/

Just the chart:

http://s3.carltonbale.com/distance_chart.html

Or an easier to read chart:

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/assets/download/0602_tech_talk2_large.jpg

With a 40" screen, even if you have 20/20 vision, you need to sit closer than about 8 feet to see any difference between a 720p and a 1080p set (if they are otherwise equal).

Of course, there are other things to consider besides resolution when buying a TV. For example, 720p and 1080p tell you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about other picture quality issues, such as color accuracy and black levels, or about the quality of video upconversion, or many other matters that can significantly affect picture quality. If I were on a tight budget, I would be happy to settle for a good 720p TV. It is certainly far better than a bad 1080p set.

Before I bought a brand like that I would want to know who will do the service if it breaks in warranty, and out of warranty too. Some of the obscure brands have poor if any service and support. I bought a Hisense brand stand-alone DTV tuner about a year ago, and it has pretty poor performance compared to 2 other (Zenith) DTV boxes and 3 DTVs in the house, a Sony, Samsung, and Viewsonic. Their tuners greatly outperform the Hisense.