| Pros Very compact, full feature set, good audio and video quality. Cons Washed out picture in bright sun, relatively low resolution compared to analog picture. The Bottom Line Good second set for any home. |
| Full Review |
| For years, my wife and I have wanted to be able to watch movies from our bedroom. And since we use Netflix, we also wanted a DVD player. The main detriment has been the lack of space in our bedroom. It's small to begin with and, after furnishing it with a queen-sized bed, an armoire, two side tables and a bureau, there was no room for a standard television and DVD player. We were in an electronics shop one day and we came across the Sansui LCDVD200. It was exactly what we needed. At a mere 23 1/2 inches wide, 17 1/4 inches tall and 8 1/2 inches thick, including the integral DVD, and speakers, it fit nicely on top of our armoire. The 20" flat panel LCD has a good, if not remarkable, picture with 640x480 resolution. The Digital Dolby sound is very good with DTS digital output for external processing. And the built-in DVD player handles standard CD'(DA) and CD-R/RW (MP3) formats. Features The viewing angle of 80 degrees horizontal and 70 degreesvertical allows you to see the image from just about anywhere you'll probably want to. Additionally, the screen tilts 15 degrees back and 5 degrees forward to increase the effective viewing range. The included stand is sturdy and doesn't take up much room. It also helps manage cables with a built-in cable channel. There are a wide range of options for both picture and sound, all controlled by the remote. (Power, volume and channel selection are also controllable from the set itself.) Along with the standard brightness, contrast, color, tint and sharpness, the set offers: * Closed captioning, * V-chip, * Channel memory so you can skip the shopping channels while scanning * Set a sleep time * Freeze-frame * Second audio program (SAP) * Bass, treble, balance and Surround sound * Dynamic range control * Aspect ratio selection (16:9, 4:3 Letterbox, 4:3 Panscan) Performance We really like the set. The picture is acceptably sharp and bright. It's especially suited to our use which is almost completely at night with the lights out. We find, however, that the picture washes out considerably in direct, bright sunlight. It's not unviewable, by any means, but it is less than optimal. The DVD performs admirably. Nothing earth-shattering, just good solid performance as you expect from any quality A/V gear. The set plays nicely with other equipment. The Video/S-Video inputs allow you to plug in your camcorder, VCR, external DVD, etc. There are also Digital Audio out and RF input jacks. Summary We really like this set. It takes up very little room, offers a wide range of controls and viewing options and is easily configured using the on-screen menus. It suits our needs perfectly. It's also quite portable. We had a Super Bowl party and hung the set on our living room wall for extra viewing capacity. It was a breeze and took no time at all. Having said that, I wouldn't replace my analog set with this one. The picture just can't stand up to a good, old-fashioned cathode ray tube. Additionally, HD sets have come down in price enough to make this non-HD TV a bit of a dinosaur. |
Go to Modal Music Theory for some cool stuff.
1 comment:
fg
Post a Comment