Sylvania 6615LE 15 Inch LCD TV

Rating:
Summary: Good small LCD TV for the money
Review: For around $300 this is a good deal, and probaly the bset small cheap LCD TV you will find. This little TV is now in my kitchen, and the picture quality is pretty good considering it is hooked to my cable and not my satellite, the latter of which has a superior signal. The viewing angle is OK and the darks are a little to light. Now the biggest problems are (1)the remote, it is huge, considering this TV has no major extra features and the remote has only the most basic features why is it so big? I mean it is larger than my Kenwood audio receiver remote and it has proabably 50 buttons, I am going to replace it with a small basic universal remote. (2) The other major "bad" with this set is the stand, it is like a picture frame stand so the TV always will have to lean back somewhat, it can't stand up straight like do most LCD TVS and LCD monitors. All in all a good buy though not without it's faults.

Rating:
Summary: Great TV for the money
Review: Pros:
Extremely lightweight (even lighter than most 14").
No Power Brick! Attached cord plugs directly into wall.
Can accept a 'standard' 100mm wall mount.
At $299, an absolute great buy.
Not bad sound at all.

Cons:
Extremely bulky and clunky Remote.
So-so black levels (not great contrast/brightness levels)
Poor viewing angle (especially vertically)

Okay, so I don't know much about LCD TVs. I first saw this one on display at Best Buy. It was in an array of 20 or so TVs. For some reason, this little guy stood out as having a great picture. Even so, the viewing angle was not very good - when all of the TVs were viewed from an angle (to the right or left), most of the screens turned milky - including this one. Keep in mind that many of the $1500 TVs also milked out as well. This one suffers from vertical angles as well. If you look dead on, it looks great. Crouch down and look at, and the screen has faded halfway to black. By contrast, the LCD monitor I am looking into right now is outstanding from all angles. Expect to spend 20 minutes or so adjusting the picture. There are no presets (i.e. movie, sports, etc.). Finally, there are three backlight settings.

Best Buy had it listed at $399 (plus tax). Amazon has it for $299. The next lowest 15" is currently well over $400. In my opinion, that makes this a good deal for now.

The thing that really stands out about this TV is the light weight and the lack of a power transformer. I'm telling you, this thing is light enough to hang from a nail in drywall (not that I recommend it). It was BY FAR the lightest TV on the Best Buy display rack; every other TV (even the 14-inchers) weighed at least twice as much. Add to that the fact that most 15" LCDs require a power brick. If you are planning on wall-mounting an LCD or Plasma, the last thing you want to have to do is cut a hole in the wall to recess a transformer. The integrated power supply is a strong Plus for this TV.

The datasheet lists the speakers at 1W per channel - extremely underpowered. However, I was surprised at the sound it delivered. No chest-pounding bass by any means, but not tinny. This TV was never meant for serious A/V viewing anyway. There are no treble or bass adjustments. You get Stereo or Mono - that's it. There is decent stereo separation, but don't compare it to your 32" with surrpond.

The overall thicknes of the TV is just under 4". If you wall-mount it, you will not have any surprises. None of the connectors point out the back of the TV; they all point out the left side. They are far enough away from the left edge so as to accomodate cable dressing; no right-angled connectors are needed.

The inputs are everything a mid-range TV has:
75 Ohm coax
Component
Composite
S-Video

For outputs, there is a Headphone jack, but no video or audio RCA out.

The TV has a picture-frame type stand (arm that angles out to hold the TV up). Most LCDs have a stand that keeps the TV perfectly vertical, allowing slight angle adjustments. This one is a little more manual. You can adjust the vertical angle by extending or retracting a metal extension. The arm is not removable.

If you are looking for an inexpensive LCD, this is a great bet at $299. I wouldn't pay anything over $325 for it, though - certainly not $399 as Best Buy suggests.

Amazon is offering a 17" SVA for $299 as of this writing. I am wary of any PC monitor that has a built-in TV tuner. I would stick with the dedicated LCD TV like this one.

By the way, I purchased two of these for Christmas 2004. Amazon got them here well within their gauranteed delivery time. If you are buying one as a surprise, they are shipped in the actual manufacturers box (not in plain cardboard), which lowers the surprise factor...