Whatta deal
Pros:
Price on sale below $2000, Color good out of the box
Cons:
Screen sizing, cropping, letterboxing not always automatic, Audio outputs not controlled by volume control
The Bottom Line:
Good picture, enough plugs for most
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
So far so good, for a beginner. This was a decision of the chicken before the egg. My Satellite is promising more HD soon, and the big box store had a sale. Not that I bought it there, but the local RexTV has a price match policy. Color was good right out of the box, have not touched it.
The shiny screen has not been a problem. The viewing angle in the room is good, not limited like other television types. The stand is one piece with posts that stick up into the set to hold it very stable. There are holes in the back for wall mounting. The plugs are recessed in the back, but they still point rearward. Two people can carry this unit. It's lighter than my old 32 inch tv, and the base footprint was smaller, so I could set it on the old stand.
When getting an HD signal from my DirectTV box on HDMI cable it seems to kick it to the best picture, but not all HD is widescreen and not all widescreen is HD, and you may get boxes and bars around your non HD/widescreen program. You can set the stretching and cropping on the television AND the satellite box, and sometimes you got to spin through both of them to get a full picture.
There are 2 HDMI inputs, 2 composite or S-video inputs in the back, 2 component inputs. There is an input in front to temporarily plug in another composite device and your SD camera card.
There is a coax input for off air reception, both regular and HD. I got some HD reception with a piece of wire strung around the room, but the wife wasn't going for that either. There is more local HD programming going on than what my satellite is giving me so a proper air antenna is recommended.
I plugged in my old dvd player with the 3-color component wires and it looks good. I went through the THX video optimizer on the "Cars" video and it seems to see all the subtle grey and color scale charts like it's supposed to.
There is audio and video outputs in the back, but the audio does not vary with the volume control. I have it plugged to my simple surround system, and I have to keep that remote nearby, too, for when the phone rings or the commercials get too loud. My old set had variable outputs, so volume changing was a 1 button operation. The speakers are ok, they are on the bottom facing front. My wife refused to look at speakers on the sides.
