Viore LC24VXF60PB 24-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV, Black
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on February 8, 2010
CHEAP Viore LC24VXF60PB 24-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV, Black
I picked this TV up this morning at my local bait and switch shop. It wasn’t on fifth or seventh avenues….if you live in the NYC area, you know who I am referring to. They had it for a bit less than you see on here, but to be honest, I was looking to get it today.
The salesman there mentioned that a lot of people are having issues with this TV and cable boxes. I guess Viore is new to the scene and not a lot of cable box universal remotes work with the Viore TV’s. The salesman was gracious enough to show me another, higher priced TV that he knew would work with local cable boxes. I hate when they do that. And that is why I am writing this review.
I got this TV to work with my TiVo using the Samsung remote codes. How did I know to do this? I did some searching on this TV before I headed to the stores. I saw a few people write online that this TV uses a lot of Samsung parts. I have no idea if Viore is a division of Samsung, or some kind of partner, but if they use similar parts, maybe they use the same remote codes. On my TiVo, it had one code for Viore, which did not work. However, there had to be a dozen codes for Samsung. The third one I tried worked, I think it was 0092.
If I got it to work with the TiVo using Samsung codes, I would bet it can work with other companies boxes too.
Now, about the TV. It has a nice, bright picture. This is not one of those super thin (2″ or less thick TV’s). It is about 3″ thick. It is also really lightweight, maybe 10-15 pounds. I have it sitting on top of my TiVo in my bedroom. The picture is good. I have a Sharp Aquos and Sony Bravia in the house to compare it to, so maybe I am being harsh saying it is just good. For a bedroom, it is going to be great. I have read elsewhere that a lot of the cheaper LCD TV’s have tinny sound quality. I would bet that this is part from the TV’s getting so thin. The small TV’s cannot generate good bass cheaply in a small cabinet. This TV sounds pretty good. I turned the bass and treble up to about 75% for each and it sounds good. It is not tinny at all.
This TV has one HDMI, component, and a 15 pin VGA port to use it as a monitor. The manual is really sparse. This is a value priced TV, so I didn’t expect much in terms of documentation.
Overall, I think this is going to be a nice TV for my bedroom. Would I buy it for my living room? No. But as a small TV to catch Conan before I head to sleep, it will be just fine.
Available at Amazon
Viore LC24VXF60PB 24-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV, Black Feature
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on February 5, 2010
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 30, 2010
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 29, 2010
Panasonic VIERA C12 Series TC-L32C12 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 23, 2010
CHEAP Panasonic VIERA C12 Series TC-L32C12 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
The Panasonic TV I ordered was out of stock, so I was upgraded to the newer model 2009 Panasonic TCL32X1. This was a Xmas present for The Girlfriend. First experience with HD. Very lightweight TV and perfect for the right space: since viewing distance in this case is only about 10 feet, the 720p screen was fine with no real need for getting a 1080p set. The instructions were clear and it was pretty easy to set up. Very cool feature: the iPod dock, which allows you to park your iPod, see your playlist on the screen and play you music through the television set. For the money, this seems to be a terrific TV.
Available at Amazon
Panasonic VIERA C12 Series TC-L32C12 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV Feature
Toshiba 32RV525R 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 17, 2010
CHEAP Toshiba 32RV525R 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
I got this item on a Gold Box special, so I ordered quickly with no reviews posted. Then I saw a lot of negative comments in the Gold Box section, especially regarding the sound quality. I have had the TV for less than 24 hours so I am not going to be able to provide an in-depth review, but I will say my fears were unfounded. For 9, no shipping charges, I could not have done better. The sound is fine. The picture is beautiful. The TV is attractive and not heavy. The remote is difficult to program and we are still working on that. We are not yet able to get all of the info on shows we got from our original Dish remote, but we are down to one remote rather than the two we had previously.
Several others asked about computer usage, and I have not tried to do this although it looks like it is equipped for this use. I don’t have any reason to believe that picture-in-picture capacity exists, but who knows?
My point in the quick posting is that there is a lot of negative reaction to this product, and I wanted to report a positive experience. The most common comment was that the sound got garbled after a few hours use, and this has not occurred in its first day of performance. My old set had lousy sound, so this is a major improvement.
Good luck! And, by the way, I ordered it on Fri morning and received it Sat night…on Super Saver Shipping…bravo!
Available at Amazon
Toshiba 32RV525R 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Feature
Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-L32S1 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 13, 2010
CHEAP Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-L32S1 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
I started out on my venture to purchase a new gaming TV (mainly for my PS3). My old set was a 27″ Samsung CRT that had some really bad coloring and geometry issues. I finally got fed up and decided to start looking around for a 1080p LCD that would fit into my existing entertainment cabinet. After reading a bunch of reviews online, I discovered this horrible affliction that all LCD TVs experience – Input Lag. Generally, if a TV has a good/great picture (Sony and Samsung), it has more input lag. If you want a TV with low input lag, the picture won’t be as good. As mainly a gaming TV, I decided to try to find a TV set with great input lag numbers with a good picture. After hearing how well previous Panasonic models were for gaming, I decided to get this TV.
Well, I couldn’t be more satisfied with my purchase! Not only is the input lag very low but the picture quality is quite good. The colors are very good, but the blacks aren’t as good as a Samsung or Sony. Mind you, I haven’t had much time to go diving into the color/service menus to fine tune the display. Also, I cannot rate how well it handles SD signals as everything I’ve used it for have been 1080i/p native. Yes, the sound volume from the TV is pretty bad, as most reviewers have mentioned. But this is a non-issue if you have a receiver to hook it up to.
PROs
Excellent input lag
Good picture quality
Great price (Thanks Amazon!)
Great input select menu (press input and then hit 1-8 to immediately go to the input you want)
Very attractive design with a non-gloss screen
Lots of input options including 3 HDMI
CONs
Weak speakers
Only 1 component input*
*I had my PS2 and TiVo HD hooked up through component on my old TV. On this TV I had to go buy another HDMI cable just to have them both hooked up at the same time.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with this TV. If you are reading this and are looking for a great 32″ gaming TV, do not hesitate to buy this TV!
Available at Amazon
Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-L32S1 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Feature
Samsung LN52B550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 11, 2010
CHEAP Samsung LN52B550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color
This reviews contains the stuff I would have wanted to know before paying for a TV of this size.
I recently upgraded to a Samsung LN52B550 1080i 60Hz HDTV from a 32 inch Samsung 720p HDTV. I liked the old Samsung set but it is kinda small by today’s standards. The picture on this TV is awesome. At first the 52″ screen looked too big for the room but now after viewing several movies, its perfect. (My distance from the set in the room where I use it varies from 10ft to 13ft away.) Definitely not too big – I see new details in movies that I never saw before and the big screen experience really makes watching your old favorite DVDs like they are brand new movies. (Do get a DVD player that upscales the DVDs to 1080i resolution – they are just to cheap not to get the clarity that gives you… better yet get a Blue-Ray since prices have come way down)
The TV arrives in a large carton. Putting the stand on it is easy. The TV is not so heavy but it is big and therefore cumbersome to move. It will take two people to lift it up the stairs and onto the table surface or whatever where you will set it down. I did not wall mount it but if you want to do so you could purchase a mount for probably 0 bucks. Hooking the TV up is a breeze if you use HDMI cables – probably buy two six footers – and probably buy them on the web for the best price because they are overpriced in most stores.
If you have a receiver, use HDMI cables to run the sound of this TV through it. The TV sound is nothing special but running it through your receiver it sounds great. There are other options like RCA cables, Composite video connections etc. but HDMI is just so easy because it carries the picture and the sound and retains the best possible picture resolution and sound sampling rates without having to worry if you could be doing better by hooking it up differently. It does have the ability to hook up to your computer but I did not try that yet.
My question when purchasing this unit as opposed to some other model, was whether the 60Hz screen refresh was good enough in light of all the talk about 120Hz and even 240Hz speeds. The higher Hz is supposed to help keep the blurring down in fast motion scenes – and I am sure it would – but it comes at a hefty price (0). Here is my rationale: Consider that the movies themselves are blurred in fast moving scenes. Don’t understand what I mean? Watch a movie then pause it during an action scene. When paused, you are seeing a single frame. It is blurred because the camera took the photo that way – not because your screen refresh rate can’t keep up with it. Try the same thing with a Pixar movie (which is NOT created with a camera). The illustrators deliberately motion-blur frames to get life-like action results. Maybe the 120 or 240Hz makes more difference with sports, but with football games the picture is stunningly crystal clear and I have never noticed any blurring. So anyway, I opted not to pay that extra price and accepted this TV’s 60Hz speed.
The contrast ratio is another thing that is much greater on more expensive sets but the end result is just not worth paying extra for. Perhaps an exception could be made for gamers, where effects are often for the gaming experience rather than realism. However those extreme contrast and computer created lighting effects do not have a realistic look. If movie makers were to use them in production, they would look weird. So, do you need a TV with a really high contrast ratio (where the blacks are really blackest)? I did not see that as worthwhile.
I liked the sets I looked at with LCD backlighting because of the consistent brightness even into the corners, but you are not likely to notice that difference with typical viewing of movies. The manufacturers are really proud of the LCD backlighting feature, but the extra price you pay for the LCD backlight is extreme – very low bang for the buck. This set does not have LCD backlighting – just the standard florescent.
Feature-wise, this model has all the typical menu based settings, channel guides and source options, so really no big pluses or minuses in that department. Like all LCDs, the screen has a matte finish so the reflections from windows or lamps in the room are not very noticeable. (Plasma screens can have a lot of glare so I prefer LCD unless the TV is in a room with no windows.)
This is not a new TV design by any means, but it is at the best price point if you want to upgrade to a really nice TV and don’t care about bragging to your friends about the latest and greatest techie stuff you got.
By the way, I don’t have cable! (If I like a movie I buy it or rent it & I don’t care about the shows…) So, this TV is hooked up to the same roof mounted antenna I have had for 20 years and the picture is great. Just use the shielded coaxial cable you can get at Lowes or Home Depot. I understand there are Hi-Def antennas out there but I have not needed to try one.
Bottom line: the 52″ size seems big at first but is really good for the average living room – worth the cost difference from a 46″. The 60Hz refresh, 6 millisecond response time; 70,000:1 contrast ratio and standard backlighting are all sufficient for really great 1080i resolution viewing of DVD or Blu-Ray media.
I purchased this unit for 19 in December of 2009 & I am very pleased. If I had it to do over again now after having it for several weeks & seeing the after Christmas specials, I would still get the same one.
Available at Amazon
Samsung LN52B550 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with Red Touch of Color Feature
Samsung LN26B460 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 10, 2010
CHEAP Samsung LN26B460 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV
BOUGHT THE SAMSUNG LN26B460 @ MY LOCAL BEST BUY , BROUGHT IT HOME AND OPENED IT AS IF I WERE AN 8 YEAR OLD ON CHRISTMAS DAY (I’M 45). HOOKED IT UP , TWEAKED IT AND HAD IT RUNNING IN LESS THAN 20 MINUTES. FIRST THING I DID WAS TURNED ON MY SLIM PS3 , INSERT THE MOVIE “UP” FROM DISNEY BLUERAY AND AS SOON AS THE MOVIE STARTED I ALMOST CRIED! IT WAS IF I WAS LOOKING @ A FULL 1080P ON A PLASMA. THE PICTURE WAS CLEAR AND THE SOUND WAS AMAZING!! I HAVE IT HOOKED UP TO MY LOGITECH Z5500 VIA OPTICAL. DISH NETWORK HD LOOKS GOOD ALSO AND CAN’T WAIT TO SEE MY FIRST SAN JOSE SHARKS GAME ON IT!! ONLY DOWNSIDE IS THAT I GOT THE BLACK BASE AND NOT THE SEE THRU ONE AS PICTURED ON BESTBUYS WEBSITE. BUT OTHER THAN THAT I WILL BE WATCHING ALOT OF BLUERAYS ON THIS BABY!! IF YOUR LOOKING FOR A 26IN. HDTV THIS IS THE ONE , TRUST ME ON THIS.
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Samsung LN26B460 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV Feature
Samsung UN55B8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on January 5, 2010
CHEAP Samsung UN55B8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV
The clarity of this glossy-screened LED-backlit TV is stunning. HD movies off blu-ray look fabulous, and HD broadcasts through satellite (DirecTV) look absolutely fantastic. Watching a silly sitcom, I felt like I was in the studio audience. Yes, I could reach out and almost touch Sheldon, Leonard, Raj. It was like looking at the actors through a window.
I could go on about how great this TV is, but here are a few nitpicks for the discerning audio-videophile:
(1) AutoMotion sucks. We had this smoothing feature turned on by default out of the box, and it caused frame stuttering! The frame stuttering was so bad while I was watching a few sample shows that I started to get a headache. We at first couldn’t figure out why the picture was stuttering so noticeably, but once we turned off AutoMotion, the stuttering ceased.
(2) LED backlighting is edge, not from behind. When you look at a black screen, you can SEE the edge backlighting. During normal watching this setup doesn’t bother much, but for dark dark movies like Aliens, Star Wars, etc., you have to turn it way down or you can actually see the edge backlighting.
(3) Gloss is a pro and con. The screen reflects light like mad. You have to turn off or shutter any light behind you before viewing, or you will see those tiny slivers of sunshine from behind the blinds. This was not the case with our previous HDTV; its screen was simply not glossy, it was quite matte-like and absorbed a lot more light.
Available at Amazon
Samsung UN55B8000 55-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LED HDTV Feature
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