The Full HD (1920 x 1080p) Viewsonic VT2730 27" LCD Television with its 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 300 cd/m² brightness produces the kind of vivid, true-to-life images you wouldn't expect in such an affordable set.
It's got an ATSC tuner so you can receive digital broadcasts and it also has an NTSC tuner, especially useful to our Canadian and Mexican friends, who won't be going digital until 2011. It also has a QAM tuner for watching unencrypted cable without a cable box. But you can do a lot more with your VT2730.
It's got three HDMI inputs so you can plug in a satellite or cable box, a gaming console and still have one left over to plug in your digital camcorder. And speaking of gaming, how about that 3.4 ms response time? That's the kind of speed you need to play fast moving action games with no smearing or blurring of the picture.
The sound will be great whether you're watching TV or playing a game thanks to SRS TruSurround HD Audio. If you're using a home theater audio system pipe the audio through it via the VT2730's SPDIF optical audio output to deliver a pure digital signal for the best possible sound around.
If you prefer computer games to console games or just want a really big display to go over that spreadsheet, plug in a VGA cable (available separately) from your PC or Mac into your VT2730. If your computer's video card can pump it out, this set can actually handle a 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz signal. That's gaming (or working) on a grand scale.
Of course the VT2730 can display closed captioning but it goes the extra mile here too. It can display all four closed captioning channels as well as all four text channels from programming sources that provide CC.
Feature for feature and dollar for dollar, the Viewsonic VT2730 provides real value for money. If a 27" set is in your future, it should be on your short list.