iSymphony LC42iF56 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV, Black Review

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(More customer reviews)Last edit: 08 Feb 2011
I've waited to post a review for a few days to avoid writing something that just reflects the afterglow of upsizing from a 32 to 42 inch screen. The BF lightning deal price was just AWESOME. Thank you Amazon for saving me from standing in line in the 20-degree rain at Target!
The bottom line: while there are a few shortcomings in this TV compared to higher end models, it is a functional entry-level screen.
Pros:
- Gorgeous color and detail - an immersive experience from 8 feet away. Well-lit scenes are its forte: to my eye as good as any other screen. The first movie we watched was Up, at only 720p through VGA from my laptop but it seemed almost 3D at times compared to our previous 32-inch Vizio (E320VL). Blu-rays look GREAT as well, no problems connecting. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
- Menus are well organized and aesthetically well-designed.
- Channel tuner works great. Found everything my old tv did, and a few more!
- Included remote has all the options you want to be there, and is pretty forgiving about where you point it (30 degree window on either side of straight on). Separate buttons for every input, buttons to shuffle through picture and sound profiles, CC button on the remote (unlike Vizio where you had to dig in menus). Very well-designed remote, and I love how slim it is.
- TV speakers are as good as any other I've heard (not real high quality but functional).
- Lots of types of inputs.
- Matte screen reduces glare.
Cons:
- As others have mentioned, blacks on 1080i HD channels through the coaxial (antenna) input are REALLY dark sometimes. I should note that this doesn't affect 720 or 480 channels from the antenna, DVD, HDMI or VGA inputs; those black levels are fine, if not as dark as higher end models. I need to play with the picture options more to see if I can fix this...
EDIT: I am now much happier with black levels. I have Contrast and Brightness in the 70s, with the other settings still at 50 (I take Sharpness down to 20 for filmed Blurays because of the standard grain issues). This seems to be the ideal compromise. By trying others suggestions and not seeing good results, I wonder if each TV may be a bit different - certainly viewer's eyes are. But the good news: black level problem largely fixed by adjusting the picture!
- A bit of over-redness sometimes through the VGA - I deal with it in the short term by setting Color to "Cool". This only happened with one movie one time, and I'm not sure why... maybe didn't have the VGA hooked up completely.
- Only 2 HDMI inputs may be a con to some.
- Menus lack some options in higher end models, but enough to play with.
- Unit gets pretty warm - power consumption is 300W (150 is more average for this size in leading brands). But it's only $19/yr. more in energy costs if the TV's on 3 hours a day average (way more than we use). Decided I can live with that.
- The connection method of the base won't support side-to-side movement of the monitor very much - gotta be careful to set it down square when you move it.
Responses to others' cons:
- Like a cheap plastic toy: There are no pieces of extra plastic on the edges of my unit, and it's glossy, smooth, elegant, and solid. The only weak area is the base connection.
- Packaging is poor: Other than the box being a little more plain than others, it is packed very securely and well. Not sure what some people were referring to.
- Backlight leakage at corners of the screen: I turned off all the lights in the room and do not see this at all... seems fine to me!
EDIT: Okay, I've seen the "corner leakage" now, but have to have all lights off and be displaying a completely black screen (noticed while watching credits of Jurassic Park)- it's faint in the upper corners. Actually though, I don't think it's backlight leakage, as by changing your viewing angle it moves around a lot, and even inverts to darker black. There is also a light sheen or cloudiness randomly distributed across the screen that shifts as you move around. It seems to be the matte surface of the screen is not completely flat, and in a dark room it becomes apparent as a little bit of light from the LCDs leaks through and catches the matte texture. Something to be aware of, but no noticeable effect on picture quality in almost all viewing conditions. It's least visible when you are watching straight on to the screen.
- Bug in remote buttons: The channel changing buttons on the remote are sensitive. It seems to have a quick-scan feature that quickly switches over 2 channels, then two more if you hold it down too long. I don't see this as a bug though, just don't hold down as long and problem solved :-)
Additional tidbit: I somehow unlocked the Tint control! It may have had something to do with accidentally unpluggling a VGA cord while TV and computer were running. It's after that I noticed the change. TV still works great in every way. Good news: the default "0" setting it was frozen at before is about the best anyway - leaving it there.
Owner's manual now online at iSymphony's website: [...]
For someone on a budget the $300 price tag was awesome, though I'm not sure I would buy it at the $449 price when you can do much better for just a hundred or two more. I grabbed a 3 year warranty from Squaretrade since this is a totally unproven brand. 40% off with code SLICK. Let's hope it lasts!

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The iSymphony LC42iF56 is a 42-Inch 1080p HD LCD Television. The TV has 1920 x 1080 native resolution and wide-screen (16:9 aspect ratio) for a complete home theater experience. The super high picture quality has been realized by VIORE engineering with high brightness for a vivid and brilliant picture and with high contrast for deeper blacks and brighter whites. The ATSC TV tuner is integrated for over-the-air HDTV broadcast reception. HDMI input is provided so that the digital signals for both video and audio will be transferred without any degradation from Blu-ray Disc Player, DVD Player, Game Player, or Cable/Satellite Box. A VGA port is also provided so that you can use the TV as a computer monitor.

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Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 4GB HDMI Dual Core Laptop Review

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(More customer reviews)I did copious amounts of research and comparison shopping before buying this laptop. Overall I'm very satisfied with my purchase, and hopefully I can share some advice regarding this machine's peculiarities.
When I started shopping for laptops, I was looking at laptops that were upwards of $2000. Then I thought I could get the laptop of my dreams for under $1500, but as I looked around, I realized that if I kept shopping I could save a lot more money. My last laptop was $1000, and though it was a very nice laptop, the wear and tear it showed in a few short years made it seem like a bad investment.
Compared to other laptops in its price range, this laptop has some better features you should be aware of. These features are becoming standard on most machines now, but I looked at countless laptops that was missing one or more of them:
* 14" screen (aka not too large)
* LED backlight
* Greater than 720p resolution
* DDR3 (4GB, not 2 or 3)
* HDMI
* Wireless N (300mbps, 2.4ghz)
* GIGABIT ETHERNET (uncommon on most laptops)
* USB power when the laptop is suspended/plugged in
* eSata
* ExpressCard slot
* SD card reader
* Security lock
* Webcam with built in mic
* Strong performing CPU and GPU (it's no i3, but the GPU performs better than expected and the CPU is desktop-worthy and not too hot!)
* Stylish chiclet keyboard (lol)
You can expect to find nearly all of these in a good $800 laptop, but you start losing them the lower in price you go. This was the absolute cheapest laptop I could find with all of these features.
Things this laptop has that I wasn't expecting:
* Multi-touch touchpad
* In-keyboard mouse nub and additional buttons below space bar
Also, as you would expect, it has the always useful VGA port. I was specifically looking for HDMI, and initially I looked at laptops with DisplayPort, but VGA+HDMI gives DisplayPort a run for its money because it covers most video output scenarios sans having to purchase/use an annoying dongle.
Next, there are things this laptop doesn't have that I wanted, but proved to be acceptable trade-offs, usually with the goal of lowering cost significantly. This would be the perfect laptop if it had these features. These are the trade-offs and my response to them:
* 5400 RPM drive - I wanted 7200, but HD upgrade is an easy upgrade and can be done cheaply in the future. Also, I can accept 5400 performance easily without being bothered by it, as it's quite standard. There is also the possibility for SSD upgrade, and I would assume that a lower RPM means power savings.
* Bluetooth - Really convenient because I use my Bluetooth headset for VoIP, but it's usually the first thing to go on laptops, and most people don't need it. I have a $5 USB Bluetooth adapter that easily works around this issue with just a minor inconvenience, thus saving a ton of money. Also, not having this feature saves power.
* Blu-Ray - This is the one thing I really wanted and that this laptop should have had. It wouldn't have had to be a Blu-ray burner, but since this laptop has an HD screen (better than 720p) and HDMI out, the ability to watch my Blu-ray movies would have been awesome, and this machine is practically designed for that as the Radeon HD 4250 is made to decode HD video, Blu-ray specifically. It seems silly to design a system that accommodates Blu-ray playback and not include the drive. Since Blu-ray is the new standard optical media, it is a forward-looking upgrade that will save you headaches when the day comes that you are forced to open a Blu-ray data disk. A burner would have been a great luxury and provided a real lasting quality to this machine. However, these days optical drives are of waning importance due to increased network delivery of apps and data, and if needed an external drive can be purchased later. I'm hoping that there will be a chance of finding an internal drive for this machine in the future, but I'm not really expecting it to happen. Another issue that might affect some people (and might also explain the low cost of this model), is that the DVD burner is single-layer only.
* Dedicated video - The extra video performance would have made this laptop suitable for gaming, but the money and power you save by going integrated are impossible to ignore if you are searching for a low cost and portable solution. The 4250 GPU in this machine is surprisingly good, and it trounces the integrated Geforce found in my Athlon II desktop. It also outperforms Intel graphics standard on faster i3 laptops, a refreshing advantage. I'm not a gamer or graphics power user, so this is actually the fastest GPU I've ever had. I play games that are a few years old, and of course they run beautifully.
As you can see, the features on this laptop are very strong, and the caveats are few and reasonable. I found this laptop on sale for $499, so it was impossible not to buy it. The price went up shortly after I bought it, but it appears to have come back down again. The features this laptop lacks helps to make it very affordable and have a positive effect on size, power consumption, heat production, and weight. It's not an elite, fancy pants laptop, but it's a robust worker that will serve all but the most demanding users with flying colors. It's light and small enough to be portable, and it's powerful and large enough to use for several hours without fatigue or use as your primary system.
If you have decided to buy this laptop, this is where you need to pay careful attention, because these are the things I didn't notice before actually getting the machine in my hands and using it:
* This laptop also feels sturdy and well made. HOWEVER, at the same time, it feels plastic-y and cheap, which some users may dislike. This was the first thing that surprised me about this laptop, because in my head I was thinking "Thinkpads are very fancy." You can tell this is a budget machine, and it looks a little goofy. However, it's certainly not ugly (hey, it's black), and the silver lining is not as annoying as I thought it was going to be. My last machine was a more expensive machine, so at first I was a little disappointed, but I got over it quickly as the overall design does have an enduring quality that will not age. It's better than having a very stylish laptop that starts to look foolish over the years when it starts to become a last-gen machine.
* Another thing that surprised me was the screen. I was expecting a slightly better looking screen; on this one you can barely make out little lines between the pixels. When I first turned on the machine, it was glaring, but it seemed to lesson over time, and my eyes are accustomed to it now. Overall the display is satisfactory and not a problem, although it is certainly a low-cost LCD. Compared to my old laptop, this was another thing I needed to get used to. On the plus side, the screen feels nice and big--somehow roomier than my old 14", plus it's a higher resolution as well.
* This laptop has practically no LED's, and the ones it has are not that useful. There is one power LED that shows if it's on or off. It's in a weird spot, but it gets the job done. Then, it has a second, pretty much useless LED that lets you know whether the laptop is plugged in or not, but gives no indication about charge! You can't tell whether the laptop is charging or not. Alongside the fact that there are no indicators for HD, caps lock, or num lock, that makes this the most annoying thing about this laptop that I wasn't expecting. At the end of the day you don't really need these indicators except the charge indicator, but the latter thing I'll just have to live with (I usually leave it plugged in to charge for a long time, so I don't need to monitor charge unless I'm actually using the laptop, which I only use on battery occasionally). People who hate LED's might actually love this aspect of this machine, so it could turn out to be a plus. Anything you need to know about the machine's state can be shown on-screen. The only scenario that you are really screwed in is if you are waiting for the laptop to charge fully and you are in hurry, so you'd have to turn it on to check the charge, but then having it on would make it charge slower.
* The keyboard on this laptop is kind of funny. The chiclet keys feel fine, but they don't feel quite as good as the ones I've used on more expensive laptops. I'm a touch typist, and I type fine on this keyboard--the keys are adequately sized and spaced for me to operate at my full capacity, although perhaps because of the spacing, the keyboard feels slightly bigger than what I'm used to, which makes some reaches difficult, particularly the combo "ba". I adapted to this quickly and don't notice it anymore. Also, some users have lamented that this keyboard is one of the few Thinkpad keyboards that has no back-light. Since I touch type I don't really care. Also, this keyboard has now keypad overlay that you can switch to (there is no num lock). I'm OK with that since typically it is an annoying feature to switch on and off, although sometimes I do really want to use a keypad to touch type on (if you're not a touch typist it won't matter to you). Secondly, the F keys are the reverse function, where the laptop media keys are now the primary function, and you have to hold "fn" to press F5 or F4. This can be switched in the BIOS, so I wouldn't really consider it an issue. At the end of the day, it is on par with a standard keyboard and not difficult to type on; it's just unique. Also, I thought the mouse nub in the center of the keyboard would annoy me or hinder my typing as it does on my friend's Dell Latitude, but this one really...Read more›

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Toshiba 32CV100U 32-Inch 720p LCD/DVD Combo TV (Black Gloss) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was wary of getting a Toshiba for a TV, since it seems they're not a high seller. But I wasn't pleasantly surprised with the features on this TV. If my math is correct, you're essentially paying an extra $100 for the convenience of having the DVD player built in to the TV, which is not a bad deal if need that.
To sum it up, this is a good LCD high-def TV with some surprisingly nice added features. I noticed that whiter flesh tones appeared a little too red and couldn't seem to correct this with the color adjustments, but that was the only downside.
We bought this TV for our kids' play room and wanted the convenience of the built-in player, so as to eliminate all the cords dangling from the TV.
Details....
DVD - it's important to remember this is a DVD player, and NOT Blu-ray. However, if you're like us, you already have a large DVD collection for your kids, so it's not really a waste.
I was surprised at the quality of the DVD player, which seemed to upscale nicely. (DVD's are formatted for older, standard definition televisions, so the image has to be converted to HD, which has more pixels (dots) to display.)
Blu-ray: I did not test out any features for playing back blu-ray discs, so if you really care about this you should read the manual of maybe other reviews. What I've learned so far on another HDTV is that you'll want control over "judder", which allows you to choose a setting that makes scenes with motion clearer. I'm not sure this Toshiba has those settings, so you may be stuck with what you get. Check the manual.
Power-up and Getting Started: this TV does seem to take a bit longer to power up, I think because it has to check the DVD player first, which slows things down. The getting started guide was great and easy to follow.
I did have one bug - I'm using broadcast HD. That's right, television stations are now broadcasting HD signals for free. Of course, it's not at all close to the number of cable channels, but who cares - it's free! And it's HD.
So you have to tell the TV at setup time what system you're running - and for some reason I couldn't really pick the Antenna setting. However, after the first setup, I simply followed the instructions for re-scanning channels for antenna, and it all worked fine.
Antenna usage - this TV has some great antenna features - it will show you signal strength for each channel. Very nice.
Picture Quality - very good. Again, the only problem I noticed was flesh tones turned out too pink or too red on some channels. I played with all of the color settings but couldn't quite get it right. Movies seemed to be fine.
I did not watch any Blu-ray movies on this, since I had no blu-ray device connected, but DVD movies and broadcast channels looked great. 32 inches is actually a small size for HD TV's, and you'll notice this for a lot of channels, since they still broadcast in the old standard.
KQED here in the Bay Area looks fantastic on this thing (they broadcast often in 1080i, which is very good).
Audio - the sound is good, but not great. Still, you'll be able to understand dialog in movies, so I think it's good enough. In most TV's now, it seems, they don't put the speakers pointing out towards the user, they point down, which is simply never going to sound as good as direct sound.
Other - the TV is small and light and mounted easily to a TV mount I bought off of Amazon. There are a few standard sizes used in standard mounts, and the screws fit right in.
All in all, Toshiba did a very good job with this TV.

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Attractively designed and offering 720p high-definition viewing, the feature-packed, affordable 32-inch Toshiba 32CV100U LCD HDTV (31.5-inch diagonal screen size) is an all-in-one entertainment package that's great for any room in your house thanks to its integrated, side-loading standard DVD player.
Perfect for use as your main television, the CV100U Series features Toshiba's DynaLight dynamic backlight control for deeper black levels, and two HDMI digital inputs for simple high quality connection to cable/satellite boxes, DVD players and more. It's also a great choice for kids and family rooms with the CV100U's Gaming Mode, which offers reduced game control delay and improved reaction time. And the Photo Frame capability with Auto Slide Show is especially useful in bedrooms, dens, and kitchens.
Boasting a slimming tapered bezel and attractive front panel gradation, the new Horizon design creates a more modern, elegant appearance that also matches Toshiba's black glossy Horizon-designed laptops. Other features include MP3 playback via the integrated USB port, a PC input, and a removable stand.

Key Features
720p HD resolution (1366 x 768 pixels)
60Hz screen refresh rate
CineSpeed LCD panel with a fast response speed necessary for cleaner high-action home theater images. A wide viewing angle ensures that you'll have the best seat in the house.
Integrated slot-loading DVD player on the side (compatible with standard DVD discs as well as content burned onto DVD-R/RW, Audio CD, CD-R/RW, and VCD media--including both MP3 and WMA digital audio files)
DVD playback controls include digital picture zoom, fast scan, slow motion, and multi-camera angle selection.
DynaLight Backlight Control utilizes advanced image processing to monitor the brightness of each video frame, and adjust the backlight intensity accordingly. This precision creates seamless transitions with deep blacks for increased detail and depth analysis.
Photo Frame capability allows this HDTV to act as both a TV and a digital photo frame. You can showcase your favorite memories as a clear, crisp slide show on the high-resolution television screen--all controlled with just the TV remote.
Gaming Mode takes the gaming experience to a new level by reducing game control delay, thus giving the player improved reaction time and a more realistic playing experience. This is great when used with popular gaming consoles, or with PC games using the TVs PC Input.
Built-in ATSC/NTSC/QAM digital tuning allows for tuning of standard cable channels as well as off-air digital broadcasts, in addition to digital "cable-in-the-clear" broadcasts.
Native Mode restores the size of the picture by the 3-5 percent that is generally lost during the normal over-scanning that occurs on traditional sets.
Cinema Mode 24 fps (3:2 Pulldown): This HDTV performs 3:2 pulldown detection and reversal, too--a handy feature for watching progressive-scan movie programs in their native 24-frame format. To adapt 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video, frames in the original movie must be duplicated; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this duplication by removing the redundant information to display a frame-accurate picture.
Color Temperature Control enables you to adjust white balance to achieve the best television picture possible in any viewing environment, or simply adjust the picture to suit your personal tastes. The "Warm" setting delivers a redder image that is ideal for display in a dimly lit room, while "Medium" and "Cool" provide a progressively bluer image for the best picture as room light levels are increased.
Three TheaterWide modes are ideal for displaying HDTV signals as well as enhanced for widescreen television DVDs.

TheaterWide 1: Letterboxed image is digitally expanded 33 percent horizontally and vertically. Useful for reproducing Academy Standard (1.85:1) formatted software.
TheaterWide 2: Letterboxed image is expanded 33 percent horizontally and 42 percent vertically. Particularly of use when viewing narrow letterboxed images originally filmed in Panavision or CinemaScope.
TheaterWide 3: Letterboxed image is expanded 33 percent horizontally and 24 percent vertically. Can be utilized when displaying letterboxed images that incorporate narrow bands at the top and bottom of the picture.


MP3 audio and JPEG image playback via USB port on the side.
REGZA-LINK (HDMI-CEC) allows peripheral AV devices such as a DVD player to be controlled by the remote control.
Bottom-mounted invisible speakers integrated into stylish Horizon bezel design (20 Watts total power; 10W + 10W).
Channel Browser allows you to easily scan through the last 32 channels you have viewed, with screen images for the last five channels displayed, by channel, by favorites, and by input, at the touch of a button.
Channel Labeling allows you to put station call letters on the screen along with the station numbers, so you always know what channel you're watching
Input labeling enables you to name the individual inputs to denote usage, such as "DVD Player" (instead of having them display as just "HDMI 1" and "HDMI 2").
Removable stand for wall mounting (100mm x 100mm VESA mounting pattern)
Tri-lingual onscreen menu (English, French, Spanish)
Energy Star qualified
Warranty: 1-year limited warranty on parts and labor


Toshiba 2010 REGZA HDTV Comparison
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Gateway NV55C30u 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)Have had the Gateway NV55c30u for two days now. Lots of performance for the money. Everything works as expected or better out of the box. Wireless connection is at full strength where my other laptops are marginal. I had no issues removing the bundled trial software I didn't want. I bought it to do CAD work and database development and it is quick in both areas. I would by it again!

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Blending premium performance with trendsetting style, the Gateway NV55C30u 15.6-inch laptop offers the smart performance of the Intel Core i5 processor, impressive graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium, the new Microsoft Office Starter 2010, and on-the-go connectivity so you can multitask with ease, keep up with your social networks and enjoy all your digital media from the comfort of your PC. It also includes a Blu-ray Disc drive for viewing movies in crystal-clear HD resolution, and the Blu-ray drive offers an integrated SuperMulti drive for creating your own DVDs and CDs.
The Gateway NV55 laptop with 15.6-inch display and artistic Satin Black case design.

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Sylvania NB530SLX Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)This player does all the important stuff very well. I was able to have it entirely set up in about 5 minutes. The picture quality is great, and I'm especially pleased with the upconversion of my DVD library. It does not have a remarkable number of outputs, but it has the HDMI and Coax outs that I need. The downsides are the cheap-feeling remote, the time it takes initially to load Blu Ray disks, and the fact that higher-end players have higher-end features.
Pros:
-cheap (especially since I got it free with the Amazon deal!)
-has the necessary features (mute HDMI audio, picture settings)
-great picture.
-Really easy to set up and use.
Cons:
-The remote is rather sad and pathetic.
-Long load times of Blu Ray disks (does not appy to regular DVD)
-Lack of high-end features.

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High Definition Blue Ray DVD Player, with HDMI output,1.1 profile with Bonus view.HDMI output,1080P upconversion,progressive scan,HDMI 1.3 version support,deepcolor processing,Dobly Digital output.Dolby digital plus,Dolby true HD,DTS,DTS HD,LinearPCM. Advanced user interface,Vitual surround sound and Screen Saver.Parental Lock,Trilingual OSD,SD Memory Slot.

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