TV Reviews

this is sick...first of all the tilt problem..that you CANT correct will drive you crazy. All they did was take an analog tv and stamped an Hdtv logo on it....hahaha this is not even close any hdtv 36inches and under including Zenith, Samsung, and Hitachi have a sick tilt problem. The the best picture out of all of them is the zenith...but hey ive takin back 7 tvs in a matter of 2 months..maybe im just picky.

I admit I do not have a lot of experience with consumer HDTVs, even though I am a video engineer. I saw the Daewoo set at NAB 2003 last week (4/10/03) and it attracted my attention because of the high quality picture. As I investigated further, I discovered that the set had the ATSC digital receiver built in! Up to now, this seemed to be an option on all the sets I'd seen. I was told that the set was obtained for $1,600! This is 1/3 the price of the nearest equivelant product I'd found! Since then, I have found this set for as low as $999. A bargain at twice the price! In all respects, for the price, I would rate this set very highly! Four point nine out of five at the least!

I bought this on clearance at Target B&M. I hooked it up and put it in my truck for my kids to enjoy. My children (5 and 3) can use it with ease and it does not take up too much room but it will drain your battery if you do not unplug it or have it on a switched accessory port. I did not read that part of the manual so it is partially my fault but I have another TV/VHS player in my other vehicle (another brand) and I don’t have to unplug that one. Overall I think it is a bad design and I will read manuals more carefully in the future. If I would have known this I would have returned it.

if you are going on a long trip with kids? then you need to get this...i got this just before we took 8 kids on a trip to hershey park,pa.we didnt hear a peep from those kids until we got there,a good 61/2 hours later...i love this,and i got it...on clearance..what a buy...

The unit is really nice, well constructed and performs very well.
The only problem is when viewing the TV mode, it is true, you cannot correct/lower/adjust the color saturation. You can do this when on the computer (PC mode) and are watching TV through the PIP mode. The sound is good, the connections are good, the clearity is fine, and there is little "poor response" due to the fast processing of information. There is a nice remote, instructions and easy to use buttons on the front of the panel.
The built in swivel base adjusts both side to side and up and down. There is S-Video connections, Composite, DVI inputs as well as PC connection. This is an HD READY system and accepts all other types of inputs such as DVD, VCR, Camcorder.
This product is limited in availability presently but for the money and overall quality, this is a winner.

Very nice new technology. I have only used it as a video monitor so far. Biggest complaint is NO color level adjustment on video!! and the level seems to be too high. Adjusting brightness & contrast somewhat changes the color levels but at the expense of over compensation. Sound is poor.

Can't say enough about how handy and convenient this little box is! I was recently transplanted to Georgia...where even a "dusting" of snow makes everyday life grind to a halt. This past winter (99-00), northern Georgia (and much of the rest of the NE coast) got hit by a severe ice-storm. In the suburban Atlanta are where I live, downed power-lines left more than 500,000 homes without power for as long as 3 days! Mine was out for about 36 hrs. My little GPX 5" portable became the focus point of my house for the next day and a half! Loaded up with batteries, it let my son and I keep abreast of how the repairs were going and have tv entertainment in the evening. Now, my son uses it when he wants to sleep out in his backyard tent. Picture was sharp and clear with good contrast and little interference considering that it was receiving on it's internal telescoping antenna. Battery life was surprisingly long...I think we ran it for about 6 1/2 hours all togethter and we didn't run out of juice. And the thing is so lightweight that you can prop it on your tummy in bed and forget that it's there. Very happy with this little unit...and I'd recommend that everyone should have one stashed in a closet "just in case!"

I have one of these at home, and it is a pretty good little TV for the price. I recommend it for secondary uses around the home. And like I said in my title- the reception is pretty nice.

The Hughes HIRD-E11 DirecTV receiver is about as basic as you can get. It is extremely limited with only a 36-hour program guide and it is very difficult for anyone who wants to record a number of different series every week. You must remember to set your VCR to tape off the receiver PLUS remember to set the program guide so the VCR will record the right channel.

If you order DirecTV from a local provider and they give you this box, ask if they can do better with one that has more functionality.

This is a very nice addition to my collection , but after seeing what this is capable of I threw out all of my others. I think that one should invest in this fine piece of technology.

Where to begin? It's a nice set, don't get me wrong, but I had problems with it. Good for gaming, but not great.

It has an aspect ratio of 4:3, but the rounded screen defeats the purpose of this (most annoying in games where information can be displayed there). It has two sets of Stereo AV jacks, but the AV channels can only be accessed by remote (unless you want to fiddle with the menu).

The screen is not very bright (only corrected if you plan on cracking the thing open and fiddling with the insides, thereby voiding the warrenty). My biggest peeve, if you shut the TV down on a AV channel, when you turn it back on, it will start on a TV channel (especially annoying considering I bought this set just for games).

The unit I received also had the screen itself off-center (from the opening in the case), obscuring part of the picture (I corrected this myself, but I don't reccommend anyone else do so).

Konka is the biggest TV manufactuer in China. China as the biggest TV market in the world is also the most competitive market with all the Japanese and domestic TV makers fighting over it. Konka made their name in China with quality and price, winning customers back from Sony and Panasonic and Toshiba and JVC, going from a tiny outfit ten years ago to one of the biggest company in China, and now they are in the US! It's a exciting fresh force in the US TV landscape. But because of its novelty, and lack of promotion, not much American people know it. But trust me, they sell tens of millions of TV sets in China every year, they are famous and big, and they can be trusted.

Picture quality of this 13" Panasonic TV is good, not great. If you want great, get a Sony or Toshiba. From what I have seen at the stores, the Panasonic's picture quality is approximately equivalent to an RCA, and is better than several other brands, including GE, Philips, Sharp, and Sylvania.

The audio on this TV could be better. The single small speaker positioned at the lower right on the front of the chassis does not sound as good as my previous 10" Panasonic TV. However, it does sound better than other small TVs which have their speakers on the sides.

The menu system for set-up is laid out nicely but is somewhat confusing to use due to inconsistencies in the keying for the "enter" command. Other TV brands I own (Sony, Mitsubishi) do this a lot better.

On the positive side, the Panasonic has the necessary controls for adjusting video quality, is straightforward to use (after set-up), looks attractive in a kitchen setting, and has a reasonably small foot-print. If you are looking for a small TV with a good picture, this might be the one for you.

We have this TV in the kitchen. The white color fits in well with our all white room. The set has a good picture, and the price is right. The only negative on this TV is the sound. The audio is mono, (one speaker) so one has to crank-up the volume
if there are other sounds in the room.If the audio on this TV was in stereo, I'd give it 5 stars. Even with that said, it is a good value. It even comes with a second, smaller remote that has a magnet, so you can stick it to the fridge.

The PANASONIC CT-32D12D is a good value for the money if you just have to have a larger screen than the run-of-the-mill 27 in. models that are so ubiquitous. The major drawbacks is a a profound shortage of input jacks. The rear of this television only has two sets of input jacks, video one and video two. For a person that has just a satelite dish and a DVD player, this may be just fine, but what about a place to plug in a VCR or even a game console. Of course this set does have a video three input in the front of the set, which comes in handy for plugging in a game console whenever you want to play, but I am the kind of person that prefers a permanent connection to from my PLAYSTATION 2 to my television, I really hate to drag the whole thing out of a shelf and hook it all up everytime that I want to play a game. Two video inputs are just not enough for this video age that we live in. The only other complaint regards the factory settings of the set. It takes a lot of time and energy to calibrate this set to display a picture that is pleasing to all of the viewers in the family, but once you get it dialed in this set does offer a better than average picture.

I still spend many weekends window shopping video components and Televisions. There is something new coming out every day and you really have to keep up on what's out there. PANASONIC and SONY still manufacture the best tube televisions from what I have observed. When entering into the tube TV market (20 inches and above) your best bet for uniform picture quality and consistent performance is PANASONIC and SONY. Both of these manufactures stake their reputations on this market. Both manufacturers also have a loyal following of satisfied customers who return time and again to their Televisions. I used to sell audio and video products. A returning PANASONIC customer settles for nothing but another PANASONIC television. A returning SONY customer settles for nothing but another SONY television. That's the way it was. From my point of view PANASONIC and SONY still make the best television sets utilizing a conventional picture tube. Price range aside, my criteria for choosing a set is simply how well the picture looks to me. I look for picture definition, sharpness and color consistency. Personally I found SONY to have a slight edge over PANASONIC in picture definition and sharpness. PANASONIC televisions offer great definition with a slightly softer looking image than SONY. However, I do find that PANASONIC has better control over color consistency. A color picture is made up of Red, Green and Blue signals. Reds are the hardest to reproduce and control because they have a tendency to over-saturate and "bleed." From the many sets that I have observed PANASONIC controls this "bleeding." PANASONIC keeps the Red signal at the same level and consistency of the Greens and Blues, which is more pleasing to the eye. In order to compare sets I always use the same video source, which is usually, a DVD player (I use the same player as well as the same software). My point is that I still see a discernable difference in the PANASONIC 32-inch sets compared to Sony's 32-inch sets. PANASONIC is still very much consistent on these 32-inch sets on the several that I viewed and compared. They still have the market on the 32-inch set from what I have seen. The Panasonic CT-32D12D 32" Television set is excellent.

The TV is very nice, the picture quality is excellent, The remote however is lacking. In this day and age most of us need to control at least a VCR and cable box along with the TV. The panisonic comes with a remote cabable of doing this.It has a feature called a "Multi" button that with one click turns on all the functions programmed. Otherwise you have to turn on and off each component separately.This feature DOESN'T WORK CONSISTENTLY.It usually will control 2 of the 3 components. Panasonics technical people have no answers or explanations and pretty much disassociate themselves from the remote.

For someone looking for maximum performance from a low-mid priced TV, I would highly recommend this TV set from Panasonic.The ultra-black background from the "Panablack" picture tube enhances the contrast of colors seen on this set,especially when viewing something formatted on DVD.The only negative aspect of this set is the absence of more than one S-VHS input and a "component" video input that can be used with most of the DVD players on the market now.With the exception of this,the picture output on this set blows away many other sets at the same price level.I especially enjoy the remote controller as it enables me to run everyone of my other "home theater" components without having to juggle around 3 or 4 remotes.

I owned this TV for about three days, as a replacement for an old TV that died. The picture on this set in the store and at home was truly beautiful. It stood out from all the non-HD models near it and it was exactly the same picture when I got a copy home. The setup couldn't have been easier. The remote was slightly cheezy, but everything else was first rate: picture, sound, setup menus, features.

Here's why it went back: this TV, like every TV larger than 27" to be found at all of the big box stores near me is silver. It would be better to say SILVER. This TV is very obvious, screaming at you as you pass by: hey, lookit me! I'm SILVER. ::sigh:: It's even distracting (or I found it so) when you're watching it: the silver frame distracts from the picture.

I desparately wanted the black cabinet model, which you cannot get. I ended up with the JVC I'Art in the same size. Not nearly the equal TV, but it was the ONLY black cabinet left anywhere.

In any case, if you want an outstanding TV and don't mind the plasticy silver box, this is the one I would stear you to. It's glorious, but...

Had experience with a Pansonic 20" Tau Set. That one was excellent, a 2001 model, CT20SX11. This one is new. Picture is very good for a non HD TV and considering the size of the tube.
Have an antenna for input. Have no cable TV. The tuner does not receive a good stereo broadcast signal, so, when the set is set to stereo, the sound is distorted/scratchy. Had to set it to mono to receive broadcast TV. Not happy about that but viewing DVD and VCR tapes the sound is great as the stereo signal is received and sent out of the TV. There is no adjustment of stereo signal i.e. Stereo/mono/sap from the alternate sources (DVD/VCR).

The set really shines viewing DVD's with component cable connections...excellent picture considering not an HDTV Tube.

The set is very heavy (161lbs.) and bulky to lug in and set up.

Overall quite pleased with the set as it replaced a dying 27" sony set.