Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby ket on 22 Jan 2010 23:56

Title says it all. After a lot of sniffing around I eventually decided on THIS, so I went and grabbed one from my local Tesco for £180.

Main Features:

Built-in DVD & Freeview
Wall mountable
Tiltable
1x SCART
1x VGA
1x HDMI
S-Video Port
RGB Ports
CI Port
VGA Audio in
Component Audio in

It should be noted this LCD TV is NOT full HD but with a resolution of 1680*1050, its very close. Which explains why it still has a HDMI port. Default and preset picture and audio settings are... abysmal to say the least. Fortunately the TVs saving grace is the ability to fine tune your own screen and audio settings, once you have done that picture quality is very good (3rd DVD now, gave it a good exercise with Transformers, Ice Age 3 and Outpost).. I'd say a 8/10. With custom audio settings its passable for the majority, 7/10. Using the TV is also very easy, one button press here and there gets you to where you want to go. Overall for all the ports, features and screen size it just scrapes its merit of £180, and I do mean JUST. Due to all of the faffing about required to get a decent picture and audio out of the TV, I would of preferred it if the TV cost £160. Finally, a note on the audio and screen quality issues. Here are the current settings I'm using, but I do feel they both need tweaking slightly still.

Video:

<Personal>
Contrast: 40
Brightness: 55
Colour: 40
Sharpness: Sharp
DNR: Mid

Sound Settings:

<Personal>
Bass: 45
Treble: 55
Balance: Of course, 50


The Good:

- Almost everything

The Bad:

- Tad expensive given the dreadful audio and screen presets and time involved correcting this
- Slightly beefier speakers would of been nice
- Full HD would of been nice.. but your really not going to see the difference between 1050 and 1080.

As you can see I'm really trying to find faults and nit-pick, but bottom line its actually pretty good for £180. Overall I would give the TV a solid 8/10. Maybe a 8.5/10 if I can tweak the image and audio a little more.

If anyone else happens to have this TV or gets it, let me know your screen and audio settings for the sake of me being a perfectionist with my own settings.
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Re: Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby Balious on 23 Jan 2010 00:05

Wow thats the same one I have. I can tell ya mine is great :D
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Re: Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby 3040Krag on 23 Jan 2010 00:39

We finally broke down and bought an LCD over the holidays, our big present to ourselves.

Got a good buy on a Philips 42" 3000 series, $600 US at a local store so no shipping. http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/telev ... 98/prd/sg/

I'm getting an itch to hook my PC up to play STALKER on it!
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Re: Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby ket on 23 Jan 2010 02:10

Yep its a good TV, but for £180 I do feel it should be a bit more polished around the edges with full HD support even though your not going to see the difference and decent preset screen and audio settings. Its because of those 2 things I think its £20 over what its worth. Anyone tried the HDMI out paired with a PS3 and can comment on picture quality? It might just be me but when I use the PS3 OS the screen doesn't seem very good.. kinda "scratchy" and "blurry", regardless of how I change picture sharpness and DNR.
Mobo: MSI X570 Tomahawk
CPU: R7 3700X @ 4.4GHz 1.3v
RAM: 2x16GB Klevv BoltX 3600MHz 16-20-20-35
GPU: Powercolor 6800XT Red Devil
Sound: Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-E, Realtek ALC1200
HDD: 250GB & 500GB nVME 3.0 M.2 drives, 2TB Seagate Barracuda, Sata3 64MB Cache, 250GB Hynix SL301
Opticals: DVD-RW, Blu-Ray
PSU: eVGA 1000w G2 Supernova
Case: NZXT Phantom 530

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Re: Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby Balious on 23 Jan 2010 12:20

I only tried the HDMI part with my computer. It was good but it seemed to of caused me a few problems so I reverted to the normal settings. Im planning on trying it for my xbox 360 soon and I see if it does it with that too.

I was given mine for my last birthday :D So I can't complain or find out how much my parents brought it for.
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Re: Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby ket on 23 Jan 2010 15:29

Ah well hopefully a HDMI cable will cure my woes. I'm only using a scart cable atm as it worked perfectly on my old TV and still does work perfectly on the main TV downstairs. Will report back later with the HDMI cable results :salute:
Mobo: MSI X570 Tomahawk
CPU: R7 3700X @ 4.4GHz 1.3v
RAM: 2x16GB Klevv BoltX 3600MHz 16-20-20-35
GPU: Powercolor 6800XT Red Devil
Sound: Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-E, Realtek ALC1200
HDD: 250GB & 500GB nVME 3.0 M.2 drives, 2TB Seagate Barracuda, Sata3 64MB Cache, 250GB Hynix SL301
Opticals: DVD-RW, Blu-Ray
PSU: eVGA 1000w G2 Supernova
Case: NZXT Phantom 530

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Re: Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby ket on 23 Jan 2010 19:27

All is now well the new TV just sucks with anything running off scart.
Mobo: MSI X570 Tomahawk
CPU: R7 3700X @ 4.4GHz 1.3v
RAM: 2x16GB Klevv BoltX 3600MHz 16-20-20-35
GPU: Powercolor 6800XT Red Devil
Sound: Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-E, Realtek ALC1200
HDD: 250GB & 500GB nVME 3.0 M.2 drives, 2TB Seagate Barracuda, Sata3 64MB Cache, 250GB Hynix SL301
Opticals: DVD-RW, Blu-Ray
PSU: eVGA 1000w G2 Supernova
Case: NZXT Phantom 530

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Re: Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby Nightwatch on 24 Jan 2010 21:07

Alos the panel that was used on the Tv could be of a cause for this problem, as well as the Scart connection. When I was considering my new monitor, I had written some notes on TV/Monitor panels on the relevant thread "Help with choosing a Monitor" on this same Hardware Corner section. Please check out my post, 3rd on the 2nd page, the link should go direct to the page:

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=201&p=4296#p4296

Panel quality is very important on LCD TV/monitors as you know, and if you're not happy with the purchase you may consider returning it before the return times are expired, if you come to the decision that it is the main cause.
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Re: Got my new LCD TV, figured I would do a mini review

Postby ket on 25 Jan 2010 12:51

I was careful in my choice to make sure I didn't pay over the odds and still get something good as I know essentially LCD TVs use the same technology as monitors so I wasn't prepared to pay £200+ for something I know should only cost £150~ ;) With it all said and done the TV is fine now, HDMI cable got the picture quality to what it should be, and a option I initially missed on my PS3 would likely get the quality as good as HDMI through scart. Yesterday I spent the whole day playing GTA4, and what a fun day it was :d
Mobo: MSI X570 Tomahawk
CPU: R7 3700X @ 4.4GHz 1.3v
RAM: 2x16GB Klevv BoltX 3600MHz 16-20-20-35
GPU: Powercolor 6800XT Red Devil
Sound: Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-E, Realtek ALC1200
HDD: 250GB & 500GB nVME 3.0 M.2 drives, 2TB Seagate Barracuda, Sata3 64MB Cache, 250GB Hynix SL301
Opticals: DVD-RW, Blu-Ray
PSU: eVGA 1000w G2 Supernova
Case: NZXT Phantom 530

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