hdbrane
01-22-2007, 12:12 PM
I wanted a cheap HD set just to get me into the 21st century with the understanding that the price of the 1080p sets will be coming down in a year and I could hold out until then.
With that in mind I found this Haier 37” set for under 800.00 and I couldn’t be happier.
For those looking for inexpensive HD-LCDs you have to understand that of course you are getting a set that should not be expected to perform as well as or have as many options as a set costing twice as much. If you are spending 800.00 and expecting the image to rival that of a 2000.00 sharp aquos you are just fooling yourself.
That being said I think everyone’s main concern in a set is image quality and I have to say that this thing delivers. Seriously. You would have to be a major videofile to get bent out of shape over the quality of this set. I should mention that I'm a cinematographer that shoots HD and so I do have discerning tastes when it comes to visuals-- (although I don't geek out over every little advancement that seems to happen on a daily basis in the business..)
The PS3 and BLU RAY looks great through the HDMI cable and there are no issues with the response times that I’ve seen yet- and some of the games I've played move seriously fast. No ghosting or trails or any of the other issues that some inexpensive sets get complains about.
And I get over the air HD through a radio shack indoor UHF antenna and the images look no different than my friends with a cable box. I get every HDTV from cbs, abc, fox, public broadcasting, wwor.. etc… all of the broadcast shows.
I imagine that it could potentially look even better with a cable box delivering digital HD directly via an HDMI cable, but I can’t justify the 80.00/month for cable if I could pull in this good quality for free.
As far as some of the cons with the set- as I’ve said you’d have to be incredibly discerning to get bent out of shape but here are the main issues:
-very little control over image settings: there is brightness, contrast, tint, color, sharpness and digital noise reduction as well as color temperature. These settings are on a sliding scale, but are rudimentary. If for some reason you are unhappy with the quality of the image right out of the box, don’t count on the settings adjustments to make up for it in any big way.
-angle of view: the angle of view is fairly narrow with the results being that the image starts to appear slightly washed and flatter out as you move away from dead center. It’s fine in front of a wide 3 person couch but as you start to move much further away than that, the image suffers, but still not to an unwatchable degree.
-the remote: the remote is clumsy and cheap feeling. Plus the response time with the remote is slow, so you may press the buttons a few times while searching through menus only to find that the cursor jumps a few spots. Also I have found no way to input a decimal point on the remote to access the digital broadcasts manually. The HD broadcasts are on channels 2.1, 4.1, 4.3, 5.1, 7.1 etc… you need to have the TV automatically scan for them first before you can access the channels on the remote.
-1 HDMI input. Most people have a cable box plus will be getting an HD DVD or BLURAY player or PS3 or whatever... If this is the case you need to pick up an HDMI switcher or an A/V receiver with multiple HDMI inputs that serves the same purpose.
I do not use the stereo speakers built into the TV so I can’t comment on those.. In fact I haven’t even turned on the volume of the set because I use an A/V receiver for all my audio.
HELPFUL HINT: If you purchase a UHF antenna for over the air HD, you should go into the channel settings choose “AIR” for the input and then click the “AUTO” button for the set to find all of the channels automatically it takes about 5-10 minutes. This is the only way for it to find the digital broadcasts. If you ever move your antenna to tune the stations you should click the auto search function again to program the channels. For instance I wasn’t getting the PBS broadcast in HD initially so I would have to move the antenna around and again choose the “AUTO” function for it to search through available channels. If it didn’t find it, I would have to move the antenna and start again until the tv found the station… once the stations are found though you can manipulate the antenna to find the sweet spots. Also.. you have to let the tv search through all 70 possible channels for setup- don’t cancel the search early or you’ll miss out on the digital broadcasts.
Overall: I’ve pretty much said it all I think… it’s a great set that is highly competitive. don't expect sharp aquos or sony bravia quality (these are the best sets I've seen), but you will not be in a rush to upgrade the HAIER anytime soon. If you have any questions, fire away.
With that in mind I found this Haier 37” set for under 800.00 and I couldn’t be happier.
For those looking for inexpensive HD-LCDs you have to understand that of course you are getting a set that should not be expected to perform as well as or have as many options as a set costing twice as much. If you are spending 800.00 and expecting the image to rival that of a 2000.00 sharp aquos you are just fooling yourself.
That being said I think everyone’s main concern in a set is image quality and I have to say that this thing delivers. Seriously. You would have to be a major videofile to get bent out of shape over the quality of this set. I should mention that I'm a cinematographer that shoots HD and so I do have discerning tastes when it comes to visuals-- (although I don't geek out over every little advancement that seems to happen on a daily basis in the business..)
The PS3 and BLU RAY looks great through the HDMI cable and there are no issues with the response times that I’ve seen yet- and some of the games I've played move seriously fast. No ghosting or trails or any of the other issues that some inexpensive sets get complains about.
And I get over the air HD through a radio shack indoor UHF antenna and the images look no different than my friends with a cable box. I get every HDTV from cbs, abc, fox, public broadcasting, wwor.. etc… all of the broadcast shows.
I imagine that it could potentially look even better with a cable box delivering digital HD directly via an HDMI cable, but I can’t justify the 80.00/month for cable if I could pull in this good quality for free.
As far as some of the cons with the set- as I’ve said you’d have to be incredibly discerning to get bent out of shape but here are the main issues:
-very little control over image settings: there is brightness, contrast, tint, color, sharpness and digital noise reduction as well as color temperature. These settings are on a sliding scale, but are rudimentary. If for some reason you are unhappy with the quality of the image right out of the box, don’t count on the settings adjustments to make up for it in any big way.
-angle of view: the angle of view is fairly narrow with the results being that the image starts to appear slightly washed and flatter out as you move away from dead center. It’s fine in front of a wide 3 person couch but as you start to move much further away than that, the image suffers, but still not to an unwatchable degree.
-the remote: the remote is clumsy and cheap feeling. Plus the response time with the remote is slow, so you may press the buttons a few times while searching through menus only to find that the cursor jumps a few spots. Also I have found no way to input a decimal point on the remote to access the digital broadcasts manually. The HD broadcasts are on channels 2.1, 4.1, 4.3, 5.1, 7.1 etc… you need to have the TV automatically scan for them first before you can access the channels on the remote.
-1 HDMI input. Most people have a cable box plus will be getting an HD DVD or BLURAY player or PS3 or whatever... If this is the case you need to pick up an HDMI switcher or an A/V receiver with multiple HDMI inputs that serves the same purpose.
I do not use the stereo speakers built into the TV so I can’t comment on those.. In fact I haven’t even turned on the volume of the set because I use an A/V receiver for all my audio.
HELPFUL HINT: If you purchase a UHF antenna for over the air HD, you should go into the channel settings choose “AIR” for the input and then click the “AUTO” button for the set to find all of the channels automatically it takes about 5-10 minutes. This is the only way for it to find the digital broadcasts. If you ever move your antenna to tune the stations you should click the auto search function again to program the channels. For instance I wasn’t getting the PBS broadcast in HD initially so I would have to move the antenna around and again choose the “AUTO” function for it to search through available channels. If it didn’t find it, I would have to move the antenna and start again until the tv found the station… once the stations are found though you can manipulate the antenna to find the sweet spots. Also.. you have to let the tv search through all 70 possible channels for setup- don’t cancel the search early or you’ll miss out on the digital broadcasts.
Overall: I’ve pretty much said it all I think… it’s a great set that is highly competitive. don't expect sharp aquos or sony bravia quality (these are the best sets I've seen), but you will not be in a rush to upgrade the HAIER anytime soon. If you have any questions, fire away.
