9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Good for a 2nd TV
Date of Review: Jun 7, 2005
The Bottom Line: I suggest this TV as a 2nd or 3rd TV, not something as a main living room TV.
When searching for a TV, I was looking for a 19"-25" flat panel that had S-Video input, was silver, had good reviews, and a good price. This is what I came up with.
Startup - The first thing I thought when I turned on this TV was "Oh no, the tube is busted already. It makes a loud "BZZZT" when hitting the power on. You then need to wait about 5 seconds and the full picture appears (no fade in).
Sound - When the TV is on, I hear this high pitched ringing. Is it in my ear? It's so high that you'd think only a dog could hear it. Also, when watching, it seems like one of the speakers goes in and out, maybe it's the stereo sound actually doing what it's supposed to, but from what I noticed, it almost seems like one of the speakers doesn't come on until watching for 5 minutes.SEE UPDATE BELOW. Other than that, the sound itself seems pretty good. The remote has different sound pre-settings as part of your "quadra-surf", where you just hit a colored button once to cycle through your settings & favorite channels – I don't see ever using this feature.
Inputs – You've got all the inputs in the back, A/V inputs, S-Video, CMYK. I was surprised to also see inputs on the right side, towards the front, and thought that it was dumb to even have them there. But after about a week, I wanted to hook up my camcorder, and that was a heck of a lot easier than pulling the TV out. Plus, I feel that they look better on the side rather than sticking out on the front.
Picture – I believe that the picture on this TV is superb. It's rare to find a TV in this price range with such a great quality picture. The flat screen shows great crisp, colorful images. This is what you buy a television for, and I am very impressed with the quality.
Look – As stated before, it does come in handy to have A/V inputs on the side, but it can be an eyesore. I was shocked to see the power cord to come from only a couple inches from the front on the left side, this seems to serve no purpose and should be on the rear with the rest of the cabling; fortunately, it is hidden well with like colors. I wanted to get a silver TV, and much to my surprise, it's just a silver front, the rest of the TV is a dark grey color. I hung this TV on a wall mount, but it sticks a decent amount out from the wall due to the depth.
UPDATE - I turned off an automatic setting that adjusts the sound levels for you while watching and I now no longer have sound issues.
