| Very good HDTV picture, poor DVD picture |
I really wanted to like this television, given that I purchased it at such a good price, and it appeared to have all of the features I wanted. The picture quality on hdtv channels is very good - not quite as nice as my Sharp, but still very nice and certainly acceptable.
I wish I could say the same about the DVD player however. I was really disappointed with the picture quality from the dvd player and as a result this unit will be returned. I tried tweaking the picture settings to improve the picture, and while I could get it better, I just couldn't get to a level that I desired. Not to mention that it seems that you cannot have different picture settings for the different inputs, which is a big shortcoming, as the settings that provide a very good picture on the hdtv channels provide a very washed out image from the dvd player. There are 3 other preset picture settings, but none adjusted the dvd picture to a level I was happy with, and having to reset the settings based on dvd vs hdtv would be very cumbersome. Perhaps there is a way to save the settings for each input, but I couldn't figure it out, and the settings never adjusted the dvd to a good enough level anyway. I assume that the DVD player is not progressive scan like you can get on many competitors' models now.
I also must agree with others - the dvd startup is shockingly loud, irritatingly so. I also disliked that there appears to be no program info from hdtv channels being received, which I get from my years old Sharp. One other thing, small but very annoying, is the procedure to add a channel to you favorites. You have to go through several menu screens just to add a channel - a very tedious process. While this should be a one-time setup, it is so easy to wipe out the favorites list since the channel program button is mapped to one of the buttons on the remote normally used for the DVD player and can be easily hit by mistake.
Pros:
-Very good picture quality from HDTV channels
-Very affordable (when I purchased at least)
-Built-in DVD player
-Every connection that one could ever want
Cons:
-Relatively poor DVD picture quality (no progressive scan)
-No program info for HDTV channels
-Resetting the channels is much too easy, which wipes out all of your favorites, which is a very tedious process of entry
-Very noisy DVD upon startup and whenever going to DVD menu
All in all, an okay product if you are looking for a combination tv-dvd and this fits your price point. However, if you plan to use the dvd player anything more than occasionally, I suggest looking for a combination unit that includes a progressive dvd player, since the quality here just doesn't match the quality of the hdtv broadcasts, and there seem to be offerings around the same price point as this unit that offer the progressive scan. |
3 Rating
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