Worst LCD on the market - 1 Year Update

I've had this for about 1 year now, scroll to the very bottom of this review to get an update as of Feb 7, 2005

Do not...and I mean DO NOT waste your time or hard earned money on this oversized, ugly, ineffective paperweight. I am so disappointed with this TV that I have since moved it to the bedroom wall and purchased a real Plasma TV (50") from a real company. Firstly, Dell does not manufacture this POS and I refer to it as a POS because I simply cannot justify calling this thing a "TV" - it is manufactured by some unknown "large cap" company as Dell's support team so aptly put it. The technology, parts, even internal cabling is substandard and are merely generic. Regardless, Dell is so proud of their LCD that they still sees fit to put a 1" by 2.5" DELL logo right on the center of the panel and a huge DELL (and I mean HUGE as in 1 foot across by half foot high) logo on the back. While this has nothing to do with the quality of the system, it certainly makes it an ugly thing to look at. People still keep asking me if it’s a computer monitor…sigh. Dell is obviously very proud of this POS - I am not. The TV has 1 HDTV input, 1 composite, 1 component and 1 S-video input. Seems like enough right? WRONG – S-video and composite inputs both share the same audio inputs so if you are using this POS's speakers – you’re out of luck, you will have to purchase an RCA switch box to use say a Playstation and composite input or switch the audio inputs manually. Terrible. That's not all - if you manage to find component cables that actually fit the back (mine keep popping out because the holes on the input on TV are too large), you will see very poor black contrast - very very poor to the point where it is grey or even light grey.

About the sound, and this is VITAL so read carefully: There is something very odd about the sound. On digital channels, the sound and the lips of the people on TV do not match. The sound is about half a second delayed…so basically you’re watching a “dubbed” film where the soundtrack is off by 0.5 secs. Some notice it, some don’t. It doesn’t bother me all that much sometimes, but then I think about how much I paid for this POS and it really upsets me. This may not happen if you use a home theatre system since your receiver would process the sound and this POS would process the “image” – if you can call it that. I have an old sony system but I’m far too lazy of a man to bring it out of storage to test it. I’ve done some research on the net about this and have found that it is common across cheap LCDs – go figure.

HDTV? Yeah right. HDTV input can ONLY be used with an HDTV output - on most HDTVs, you can use this HDTV as a second component, but not on this DELL. From my research, this is a 60 or 80 O input and only specific boxes transmit in that frequency so you're again out of luck. If you have an HDTV box connected to this (like my DVD is), you will see pixelized and very sharp picture - not in the good sharp though but as in the sharpness you get when you maximize your sharpness on your tv and it's just way too sharp...like that. I’ve tried playstation on this input only to find it looks like crap. So I have an HDTV that is supposed to be the “best HDTV on the market” – but I don’t use the HDTV inputs since they don’t work.

On the picture quality - it is horrible on any input. Maybe I'm too picky, but I have the top of the line Harmon-Kardon DVD player with premium output. I paid over $1000 for this DVD alone and it sends the clearest pictures on any TV...except for the Dell. COAX- It does have a Co-ax input - but this is so bad, Tv's not even worth watching on co-ax cable...what are we, cave-men? For those who enjoy CNBC or CNN or Headline Sports or any channel with writing on the screen - forget it - this POS is so terrible that often times the words on the screen are illegible. For those who can picture a low quality JPG text with pixilization, that’s what it looks like. Watch sports at all? Not on this POS. The lousy refresh rate on this paperweight means the goal has been scored by the time the POS catches up with the actual game. It is pixel city on fast moving objects - car chase scenes suck, can't watch baseball or hockey, and even worst, Simpsons or Family guy (or cartoons in general) have an outline around everything so it looks like an out of focus film. :( Customer support at Dell is even worse. I'm not trying to be offensive - but support in India for a TV they've never seen just doesn't work. When someone you are talking to has no idea what the difference between a component input and HDTV input is - well - that's just pathetic. It gets worse but I've rambled on long enough.

Playstation is decent - but I think this POS is not a TV but a 30 inch computer monitor - for that purpose - it's fine. If you want to buy a $2000 computer monitor - well you may want to get this. But personally - for TV, DVD, Video, Direct TV and even HDTV - don't waste your money. Spend the extra $500 and get a real LCD. The bargain is not worth the sacrifice. I wanted to return this to Dell the moment I got it but Dell "lost" my paperwork, then "lost" my return authorization file and I had to literally pull long distance records from ATT to prove to Dell I called their returns department (which has 4 people working there just so you know - 4 people) so I ended up eating this POS and like I said, bought a Plasma that blows this Dell away. Even regular TV is better on this Plasma. I am so disappointed - I was an unfortunate idiot to buy this when it first came out so I paid the highest price for it. Now it's substantially cheaper but that still doesn't make this worth the purchase. I would be hesitant in paying any amount over $1000 for this as it is simply a decent computer monitor - no television or video. Also, you'll notice that Plasma prices are falling like crazy, now you can buy a 50 inch Plasma for the price I originally paid for this 30 inch paperweight. Wait for after Christmas...you can buy a Plasma or LCD in high quality (Sony, Samsung, Phillips - the best, or Panasonic) for less than this Dell. All I can say is it's a good thing Dell doesn't earn its bread and butter off TV's because I think Mikey Dell would be living in his parent's basement at this point if they did.

Updated: February 7, 2005

Well I've had this thing for about 1 year now and gone through a few changes so I thought I'd note them for prospective buyers. I stand by my original statement which is NOT to purchase this item from Dell as it is severely substandard. Having said that, I have been able to somewhat enjoy it since I wasted so much money on it. I recently acquired the DCT5100 from motorola, which is a HDTV cable box with a built in recorder. I subscribed to the wonderful 6 channels of HDTV we get in Canada and sat back. I am rather happy to say that when in HDTV, this POS resembles a TV. Picture is crisp and clean and bright...until the picture actually starts to move. Imagine that huh? A moving picture. Thanks to the lousy refresh rate (alreay griped about above), there is severe pixelization so you get boxy images. I tried to watch the superbowl on here and since Fox went crazy with the animation, the Dell unit was barely able to keep up. I can swear I heard the unit start panting and gasping for air by halftime. How sad. Back to HDTV though...some channels, despite being "HDTV" still appear crunched in and have about 1.5inch black lines on each side. I assume this has something to due with the fact that this unit only has 1 resolution and cannot switch back and forth. Sigh. Even in HDTV, there are 2 channels that appear decent. PBS (I actually started watching PBS more as a result) and 1 movie channel which is still playing "About Schmidt" and "Something About Mary" so I've pretty much memorized the lines to those. Oh well, cognative dissonance and a half, I'm still paying for this unit in spirit. I just purchased a new laptop...NOT FROM DELL LOL. I will NEVER purchase from Dell and just to drive the point home, I voted against the renomination of all board members of DELL and then promptly sold my Dell shares in exchange for another. As we say in Canada, good riddance to bad rubbish.