It Met My Expectations

I’ll admit it. I became exactly what I claim to loathe—for a few hours on one chilly morning I became nothing more than a bargain hungry maniac, willing stand out in the cold just to save a few bucks. You see, the day after Thanksgiving, I was one of those lunatics in line at Best Buy at six o’clock in the morning when their doors opened. I am not alone in my insanity—there were a couple of thousand other fools shivering along with me. I figured that as long as I was crazy enough to go without sleep and stand in the check out line for an hour and a half, I might as well grab as many bargains as I could –one of those bargains was the Casio TV-980. After all, how could I not use a “tv to go” (the slogan written across the packaging).

For my thirty-some bucks (after a mail in rebate), I really did not expect too much from this little handheld television, and I was not disappointed. That statement says a lot more about my low expectations than it does about the quality of this product.

The Appearance and Size

When glancing at the Casio TV-980, it is a rather attractive looking gadget. It is made out of navy blue plastic. The plastic is surprisingly light (and flimsy). When I took the little gadget out of the packaging, I was shocked when I held it in my hand—it weighs just a few ounces (6.9 ounce without the batteries). The four AA batteries that I put into it weigh just about as much as the television itself. I have not tested this, but the plastic unit feels as if it would break if it were dropped (even if it were only dropped a few inches—although I suppose that any television, regardless of size, would break if dropped).

I really do appreciate the small size. The unit measures about 4.5 inches long by 3 wide and 1 inch deep. If it were just half the thickness, it would be about the same dimensions of most PDAs. I find that I can slip the handheld devise into my coat pocket quite easily, but there is a bit of a bulge.

The Controls

The controls on the television are simple enough for any idiot to pretty much figure out. On the front of the television are two tuning buttons for changing the channel. An annoying aspect about this television is that there is no way to know what channel you are watching. Just underneath the screen, there is a listing of the VHF and UHF channels available on the television (VHF goes from 2-13 and UHF is from 14-69). I was expecting the channel number that the television was on to light up—nope (the numbers are just painted on, apparently as a decoration).

On the left side of the unit there is a switch which provides three choices: off, VHF, or UHF. Underneath the switch there is a plug for an AC adaptor (an accessory which can be ordered from Casio for $20 plus $7 shipping and handling).

On the top of the handheld television are two plugs. One is for an external antenna (3.5mm plug—the manual explains that a “b type” antenna can be used). Instead of an antenna, an adaptor can also be purchased so that a video camera can be plugged into the little screen. The other plug is a headphone jack (more will be said about that later).

On the right side, there are two knobs. One controls the volume and the other the brightness of the screen.

My favorite feature is on the back of the unit. There is a plastic piece that pops out to be used as a stand (just like a picture frame). This works great when I want to sit the little TV on my desk or a table.

The Reception

The reception is surprisingly good (I was a bit worried because I read complaints from others with portable Casio televisions). I live just outside of Los Angeles, so my area does have pretty good reception in general. I get all of the local channels perfectly. There is a two foot, telescope antenna on the upper left side of the unit—it works better than I expected. Even when I don’t pull the antenna out, the quality of the reception is still decent. The instruction manual warns that reception quality may go down in a car or train, but I have not had a problem.

The Picture

I expected very little from the little 2.3 inch color screen—and my expectations were met. I know of no better way to describe the picture other than adequate. It is decently bright, and it is decently clear, and the color is decently vivid—nothing great, but adequate. I was surprised by how grainy the picture is. The pixels are not as dense as I expected (my PDA’s screen is much better than this one). The technology used for the screen is super twisted nematic high quality passive (TI-STN) technology with anti-glare coating and back lighting. The anti-glare coating really works—when watching television in the sun, there is no glare (although a bright sun makes the picture look a bit washed out). The backlighting works great in the dark.


The Sound

By no means is the sound great, but it is definitely better than I expected. There is a small speaker on the top of the unit (personally, I really don’t think that was a wise placement decision since the sound is launched away from the viewer, but it does work surprisingly well). The sound is mono, not stereo. If stereo headphones are plugged into the unit, most headphones will just have the sound coming out of the left ear. Personally, I find this unacceptable, so I will not be using headphones too much.

The Battery Life

The four AA alkaline batteries will last about four hours (although the instructions claim the unit gets four and a half hours off of batteries). Casio sells both an AC adaptor and car adaptor as optional power sources (about twenty bucks each), but I am only familiar with using the handset with batteries.

Final Thoughts

There are several things about this unit that I am a bit disappointed with:
• The grainy picture
• The mono headphone jack that produces sound only out of the left earpiece

Other aspects of the portable television I am really pleased with:
• The small size
• The reception

Overall, I am content with my purchase. This may not be a good choice for those planning on spending several hours a day watching television on this devise, but for those of us who just want to be able to watch the news or get some occasional entertainment when we are on the run, it’s a great little gadget.