[Jeffhs]

I wouldn't be that quick to say all HDTVs are "crap" these days; some of them are darn good, IMHO, as I am about to explain. I have two Insignia HDTVs, both of which are working very well. I started with a 19" set that lasted well past the warranty, and is still working to this day. The only reason I replaced it just over a year ago with a 32" set was so I could see the picture better from 10 feet away (the distance between the TV and my easy chair). The 32" set still works every bit as well as when I bought it; I expect it to last as long as my 19" TV.

Insignia is a house brand of Best Buy; however, the actual manufacturer of their TVs is anyone's guess. I read somewhere (maybe here) that BB's HDTVs are not made by just one manufacturer, but several; that is, some of the components may be, say, Toshiba, while others could be from any one of a dozen manufacturers.

The days of television sets being made by just one company are just a memory now. Your big flat screen may be branded RCA, but a look inside the cabinet will tell an entirely different story. The brand name on the front of the set and/or on the remote (in the case of RCA, Magnavox, etc.) is simply being used by a Korean, Chinese, etc. company under license. RCA, for example, has been a well-known brand of home-entertainment gear for decades, so it makes sense that the former RCA's name and logo would be used on today's HDTVs; the same goes for Magnavox. The reason many HDTVs go bad so early after they are purchased probably has more to do with manufacturing defects, not necessarily "shoddy" parts, than with the brand name itself (in the case of sets made by Toshiba or any other offshore company).