Viewsonic N2700x 27" NextVision Flat Panel TheaterWide LCD TV

Rating:
Summary: A clunker
Review: Bought this TV on sale, but it has been one long headache. As another reviewer has reported, the TV has a very noisy power box which sounds like a loud whirring....I, also, called the company to complain, and they said they would send another box. A week later, they sent another of the same box. After calling the company, they had no advice. They realize that this is a design flaw, and have taken this TV off the market and discontinued it. So those who bought it, on sale, got stuck with something Viewsonic knew was a lemon. The noise is so loud at times, that you can hardly hear the TV. I will be returning the TV, but am very upset about Viewsonic's knowingly selling these off, discontinuing them, and leaving no recourse. I will be forced to buy a more expensive TV from a major manufacturer.

Rating:
Summary: No S-video, flaky with closed captions, locks up
Review: First of all, let me say that the image quality on this monitor is terrific, at least with HDTV/component input. With analog input (cable TV or composite), the picture is grainy. The pixel response time is also not as fast as models that have come out more recently.

My main complaint is the lack of an S-video input. It is inexcusable for a TV that costs this much to not have an S-video in. It also only has 1 set of component in, whereas most HDTV's have at least 2. All of the other Viewsonic TV's in this series have S-video, why not this one?

My #2 complaint is the fan noise. This thing has an external power supply brick (the type used with laptops) which has a fan inside the brick that runs continuously when the TV is on, and sometimes when it is off! The speakers on the TV are so weak, that you can hear the fan over the TV sound almost all the time.

Before purchasing an HDTV, you also must realize that a monitor of this size will make a poor PC monitor, no matter what. Even HDTV resolutions are nowhere near the typical PC monitor resolutions, and trying to use a device that is primarily designed to be a TV as a monitor will produce poor results.

Last, the TV has issues displaying closed captions. When trying to display closed captions from a DVD, for example, the whole picture became scrambled. Plus, it sometimes "locked up" and wouldn't respond to the remote. At first I thought the problem was the remote, but it wasn't; the TV literally required a "reboot" in order to start responding again.



Rating:
Summary: Image skewed and scrambled with subtitles OR anything bright
Review: I bought this TV a week ago and I liked the looks, price etc. etc.. It worked fine with my computer, cable and the regular coax antenna. The problem started when I conneted it my DVD player through component input. I have a good DVD, which shows crystal clear on my CRT. But when I playe the same movie on the same DVD and cables, this TV just doesn't work.
The acknowledgements at the begining of the movie had some text on a white background - the whole image was scrambled - no clue of text or anything. Whenever there was something bright or shiny the screen flickers/scrambles in that area.
Worst was when I swithced on the subtitles, whenever there were two lines of text, the image will get skewed and scrambled in the subtitle area.

For this problem I had my TV exchanged, but unfortunately the second one which I got was a returned set for some reason(the only available at the store). I was assured that this didn't had any problem but sure it had the same problem and was worse in some cases.

I am surprised how two different sets can have the same problem. Has someone experienced this ... or can suggest a solution.. 'cos the same DVD, player and the cables work perfectly with my CRT.


Rating:
Summary: The fan noise is louder than the TV...
Review: I have had this thing 2 days. A loud fan noise was emitting from the TV. After calling Viewsonic customer service they explained it was coming from the power supply, and yes, it is very noisy. They had no remedy, The power supply is integrated into the power cord. I cut a hole into the back of a very substantial dresser we have it in and it still sounds like the heater in the house is on. The odd part of this is they do not use this in the 20 inch TV beneath it or the 30 inch TV above it. I suspect they have a serious design problem and are well aware of it. When I asked what would happen if the fan clogs from dust, failure or otherwise, the tech explained he "doubted" it would overheat enough to cause a serious problem. Rather it would just cause a failure to the transformer. Which after a year could be a serious problem. Both for safety and cost. At least if it fails it would be so quiet in the house you would probabky know it.
The remote on this (we think) is also defective. They are sending another to determine if it is that or the tuner. All in all this looks to be a real problem now and in the future. If you don't mind the sound of a turbine fan or the possibility of overheating causing a failure in who knows what then this might be for you. It is not for me and I am going to take steps to relieve myself of it.

Rating:
Summary: Great TV. Recommended
Review: I needed a new TV and computer monitor. I purchased this N2700w at a superb price and it has been great. The TV is a good size for a small room and provides great picture clarity. I hooked it up to my computer no-problem via the VGA cable that is provided. It also has a DVI input which I have no cable for yet. Of course you will need a video card with a DVI input. This thing is superb when watching in HDTV. The clarity is unbelievable and as sharp as the HDTV's that you would see in electronics store. You will need to get an HDTV receiver from your cable company or a standalone receiver and antenna to pull in over-the-air channels. Cable TV doesn't look too great but DVD's look fantastic. I can switch to my computer or cable with a touch of a button, which is very convenient. You can also use the computer and use the PIP to watch tv at the same time.

The other user who had trouble connecting to the computer may have had some kind of software conflict, or needed to resize his desktop to the native resolution and reduce font/icon size. Images will be "fuzzy" if this monitor is not running at the native resolution, which is an inherent problem in all LCD's. I too experience a different conflict when I attempted to install DAO/MDAC from ATI, resulting in a "rainbow" image. I immediately uninstalled and did some tweaking which restored compatibility to my monitor. This may have been a situation unique to me though. This LCD is definitely compatible with a computer so this shouldn't be a deterrent.

The power supply is a little loud but not annoyingly so. It has a built in fan that goes on and off, and is not heard unless there is dead silence. The bad part is that the fan seems to go on/off even when the TV is not in use. I contacted Viewsonic and they said that this is a normal occurence. I'm not happy about it but choose to live with it. This can be remedied by turning off the surge protector, which may or may not be a good idea.

I do some gaming on this LCD and am quite happy with the results. The native resolution is 1280x720 and I only have a few games, such as Farcry and UT2004, that support this resolution. However, resolutions can be changed for other games, and I run Call of Duty at 1024x768 with great results. The response time is rated at 25ms overall which I think is a little slow. However, the gray-to-gray response time is 16ms which is a more important indicator of real world applications. Ghosting or trailing seems to be very minimal and all my games are definitely playable. The only time ghosting was noticeable is when a black object is moving against a white background. I suspect the pixel transition from black to white is a little slower than the reverse (Tr>Tf), though I haven't done any extensive testing. Need for Speed Underground is incredible with this tv and no ghosting was apparent to my eyes. This LCD is pretty good for gaming but not the best due to response time.

If I had the money I would consider the Sharp Aquos or a Samsung because those look absolutely perfect. I didn't get a chance to compare this model side-by-side with the aforementioned. However this LCD is more than adequate and I'm very happy with it. All-in-all, if you're a hardcore gamer you might want to find an LCD with a better response time. If you find this on sale at a good price, like I did, then I would absolutely recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: WoW, cant get any better than this!!!
Review: I've gotten this as a gift and am using it as a computer/tv in my bedroom. The picture quality first off is amazing. I didnt set up the HDTV yet but on new dvd's the picture is awesome. With its widescreen format i can use the computer and and set up a web page or any application on the left side and have the tv PiP mode on the right side with plenty of room. the PiP can be either 6 or 12 inches in diagonal, and sound source can be from the tv as well, so you can watch espn while surfin the net or writing a paper. When in regular full TV mode the picture is set right in the middle with two black lines to fill up the screen. if your watching a wideformat film on TV you can press the WIDE button and it zooms in the screen to make it fuller, although it doesnt get it perfect, but its still helpfull. After pressing the WIDE button 3 times it become a 4x zoom mode. The sound quality is pretty good, the only thing that is it doesnt really get too low,it goes from zero to 50, but when i'm at 1 or 2 it sounds just like its at 5, but thats no big deal. Currently i have my cable, computer and PS2 hooked up to it, all within a touch of a button i switch in between either three. Oh yea, and all my friend looovvveeee it, i dont want to say they are jealous, but they get this look in their face like ooooooohhh.

Rating:
Summary: Appearances Can Be Deceiving
Review: The "PC Connectivity" of this monitor is a joke. I wanted to get an immediate refund. Windows XP is NOT compatible with this sleek hi tech monster. All I could eventually get was HUGE type that was still blurry. BUY A TV MONITOR, NOT THIS MESS.
It would make a nice TV as it is portable and seems to pick up vibrant and bright color. Frankly, the Sharp Aquos series is far better--it's a really beautiful set and picture. It does NOT claim any PC ability. At least Sharp is honest.