Customer Reviews

Magnavox 42MF231D 42-Inch Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I jumped out of my 37" plasma Panasonic, and into this from my local target store. It was hundreds less than other tv's of this style and ability, with HDMI ports, and all the bells and features of the Panasonic unit....

I was really worried about the technical side of this device, but the warrantee for 3 years, for $79. was well worth the money to remove that worry. I have been happy as heck with this tv. Auto adjustments for the change of the channels, it automatically adjusts from 720p to 1040i, to standard tv. on the fly. Love that feature.

The same tests I ran on the Panasonic, I do on this tv... I read someplace online, that watching the BMW commercial, where the car tires have the emblem of the blue and white rotating, and continueing to display the different colors is the best mark of a tv set. Rich colors, deep blacks. Unreal picture with Directv High Def receive and setup. I will never look back - and am real happy at this little Jem.

Remote is ok, menues take a bit to get use to, but still ok.
I am happy that about $1100 got me a bigger unit, wall mounted, and under warrantee...

I purchased this TV 2 years ago. The image started failing, basically starts shaken then the screen goes black.(still you can heard the audio). We have to turned off and on waiting at least 30 minutes on unpluggin from the power. NOT RECALLS for this item eventhough is cost around $2,000

We bought this tv in April of last year. In June it started acting up somewhat. We would turn it on and the screen would show up but there would be no sound. All we had to do was shut it off and turn it on again, simple, but it just got worse. It would happen and we would have to turn it on and off again several times before it would work properly. Soon after that the screen would not come on at all (the green light would show there was power and the screen would get a lighter shade of black so we knew it was getting power) and we would have to turn it on and off again a ridiculous amount of times. (We had newborn twins at the time so were not able to get it in to customer service right away so that is why we put up with it for so long) We thought that since it was within the one year warranty period that we would have no problem getting it fixed. My husband phoned in and we were told to take it to a repair shop close to our home and that all repairs would be covered. SO my husband took it in and he was told that yes, all parts would be covered under warranty but the charge for services would be our responsibility (about $200). That is just ridiculous! HOw can you sell a $2000 tv and have it work for less than 3 months and have the customer responsible for any cost of repairs? I am so disappointed in this company and their so called "warranty" I don't feel we should be in the least bit responsible for any costs to repair an obviously defect piece of equipment. In fact, I expected them to bend over backwards to try to resolve the problem and although customer service was helpful and friendly there was nothing they would do about incurring the service costs. We had no choice but to get it fixed but I will never buy anything from Magnavox again...ever.

My husband and I bought this tv about two years ago and it was great. Then this winter the screen went blank and all we had was sound. I called Magnavox and they were clueless. They did give me the name of a local technician. We took the tv to the technician and they said the buffers and Y (???) went out and it was going to cost me $560 to repair. Obviously this is a consistent problem and the company should have done some type of recall on the product!!! I would suggest not buying this tv. Spend a little extra to get the better quality!!!

I received this 42" Plasma HDTV for Christmas year before last...and was so excited! It was everything that I wanted in a television and worked perfectly!.........for the first year and a half! One day, we went to turn it on and after about 10 minutes of working, the screen went black...and stayed black. The sound works great but their is no picture at all. I called Magnavox for some help, but seeing as it is out of its 1 year warranty, they were no help except to tell me to unplug and wait a few minutes. After that didnt work, I was told I could have a technician come to the house (for a fee they could not predict!) I have since called a local repair shop and they have told me that they could not help me because it is a Magnavox. I was told to drive it to a Magnavox dealer and hope for help from them. (but its gonna be pricey he said) So, I guess I've got a really expensive XM Radio or a very unique table with no legs!

I bought this Magnavox 42" plasma HDTV at the end of Feb 2007, and it has been fantastic. Absolutely spectacular. The person who wrote the highly negative review must have bought a slightly different model or an earlier version of some kind, because this Maganavox has been flawless. I should also mention that I bought this HDTV after doing a huge amount of research and after a lot of weary walking around electronics stores. I also got a great deal on the price.

We had this set for 3.5 years. Used in in my hubby's man cave. One day suddenly picture was gone, but we had sound. After doing a little research found out, our set lasted longer than most, two years is average. Some even smoke......Magnavox should do a recall...........soon! stop selling crap!

My wife and I bought this TV two years ago (2008). It started to turn itself off occasionally in 2009, but the video and sound worked fine so we didn't sweat it. Then it began turning it self off more and more in 2010. Also the stereo signal would sometimes shift to mono and then come back to stereo. The latest is that the screen will go half black, either the top or the bottom, at random. We turn it off and on and sometimes that fixes it for 30 minutes or more, sometimes not. Now it's gone to full black screen, with audio. It cost around $2000 and I'm planning on taking it down from the wall in our bedroom and throwing it through the bedroom window and onto the front lawn tomorrow, and then getting another make/model. we got an LG for the living room and it's awesome and way cheaper. Do not buy this TV. Junk!!

I plead with anyone that is even remotely thinking about buying a Magnavox 42" Model 42MF231D to change their mind, spend a few extra $$$ and buy a better brand!! These units have a manufacturer defect in the Y board!! After some use, anywhere between 3 months to 2 years, you will lose your video (picture) and still have audio. The inherent cause is the Y board, which is about 300.00 bucks alone to replace, not counting labor!! Average repair costs is 400-600 dollars, depending on where you bring it. I will NEVER purchase another Phillips Magnavox product as long as I live!! Another quality producxt being sold to American that is made in China!!

My wife and I discovered this 42" at Target, looked at the price, and figured...well we wanted to get an HDTV, I guess the price is finally right. Like they say, you get what you pay for. This TV was fine for the first 6 months or so...then we started noticing that the power would ramdomly start turning on...which prompted us to use a switched outlet to stop it from wasting electricity, and wearing itself out. Since we do not subscribe to Cable or Satellite, we loved the OTA HD broadcast...at first. Then as time went on, reception became much worse...which led us to purchase a converter box. Needless to say the converter box picked up every digital channel broadcast in the Chicago area, unlike the built in tuner which seemed to have a fraction of the signal sensitivity compared to the box...basically making watching TV using the built in tuner un-watchable. About a year after we purchased the TV, the top half of the screen started going blank at random times...then it would come back. This has progressively gotten worse, now the whole screen will go blank, sometimes line pixel briefly, and occassionally we have to power down the TV and turn it back on (which btw takes about 3 minutes to shut down...)to get the screen back.

All in all, I would not recommend this product to anyone, Magnavox/Phillips products obviously are not held up to the standards of other manufacturers.