Funny coincidence... My girlfriend's parents had some kind of 2000-era POS 27" Wal-Fart set with a terrible picture. Not surprisingly, it crapped out.
A friend gave me a Mitsu set that sounds exactly like the one you describe, which I handed off to her parents. The picture was easily twice as sharp, with better color and sound than the Chinese shit-box that came before it.
Her older brother (who is the type of tool that must have the latest gadget, biggest truck, etc.) saw it and immediately started complaining about how "old and crappy" it was because the cabinet was actual wood, rather then "modern" silver plastic. I asked if he'd be stepping up to the plate to get them a new one anytime soon. It quieted him down for a while.
Later during a family get-together, he began to complain that the Mitsu set was broken and they needed a new one. "Mysteriously", someone had selected the wrong video input. He sure looked sad when I "fixed" it by pressing a button on the remote.
He doesn't even live at home, but kept badgering his parents to buy a new TV (they can ill afford one). They eventually caved-in and bought a "Digital Lifestyles"-brand flatscreen HD in a size that's ridiculous for the room. (Has anyone heard of this brand?) Needless to say, this also required an upgrade to digital cable. $$$
Now they have an enormous set, purchased on credit, that required a cable upgrade, which is so huge in a small room that you can practically see individual pixels.
Ain't technology great?
