Anyone here have an Akai brand TV or know how they rate against the more popular name brands. I was at Costco and they had a 42" Wide Screen HDTV for $899. I saw comparable models selling at Best Buy for $1499. Was wondering if Akai is lower-end or Costco just had a good deal. Usually Costco carries the better named products.

I've got one of their smaller sets. I think they are the same as Samsung or another company along those lines. Ours was fine for the first year, then it suddenly started having days when the color doesn't work at all.

About 14 years ago an asian friend told me that Sony owned Akai.
I don't know if it is true or not. (I doubt it.)

In any case, Akai is Japanese, whereas another company such as Samsung is Korean.
I have a strong tendency to prefer japanese made products over products products from any other country (including the US).

Sorry to hear about your bad experience Dead.
As you said Akai is not as popular as Sony/Toshiba/Panasonic/Yamaha/Pioneer all other big japanese companies...

yeah, but I doubt you'll find any of the big brand japanese products are actuallly made in japan

buy it at costco and keep the receipt. If the tv ever breaks you can return it to Costco and get all your money back.

Last week i returned my broken 21" trinitron computer monitor. I had it for 2 years and 2 months, and I recieved a full refund. Costco is great.

All,
Keep in mind that Samsung is NOT what it used to be. They have come a long way and make extremely well built sets (and electronics for that matter). Don't be fooled just because it is make by a "korean" company. Much respect to Samsung for making the strides they have.

The Akai sets are rebadged Samsungs. I have a 27" flatscreen Akai that I bought at Sam's Club in 2000 and it's still working great. Picture is better than the higher-end Sonys (IMO). It has anamorphic squeeze and the whole shebang.