Audiovox VE1020 Slim 10.2" Widescreen LCD Drop-Down TV / DVD Combo with Built-in NTSC Tuner

Rating:
Summary: Good w/ annoyances
Review: Got this for my wife's christmas present. In general, it all works rather well. DVD, TV and Radio (phone part untested) all work well and look good. Sound is decent. However, there are some things Audiovox ought to improve upon:

1. IR remote control reception is too finicky. It appears there are two IR receivers on the unit. One on the main unit and one below the TV screen. If you don't aim the remote control exactly perpenticular to one of those two receivers, the remote control isn't picked up. It could be the remote control shipped with the unit is weak. I can be only 5 feet away from the unit and the remote won't be picked up.

2. MP3 playback mode is weak. While it does play MP3s, it will only shuffle within folders. Also, it doesn't read the ID3 tags of the MP3 files. All you will see is the file name (which is truncated way too short in my opinion). It also isn't easy to get the CD in shuffle mode (lots of button clicks).

3. Tough to get disks in/out. You have to be in DVD mode to get a disk (CD,DVD,etc) in/out of the unit. Something you can get used to but why not allow disks to be inserted/ejected while you are watching TV or listening to the radio?

4. I have not found a way to program a TV channel in or out of the channel lineup. When the unit first powers up, it does an autoscan of all channels you can receive. It appears you can't take out any channel it decided the signal was good enough for. Same for adding a channel.

5. You are unable to use the remote to jump memory presets. For instance, if you preset a radio station (it has 4 presets), you can't use the remote to jump to that preset (same for the TV). You have to go to the main console buttons to do it.

6. The viewable screen angle range isn't too hot. For the most part, you want to be viewing the screen on center.

It is possible some of these can be circumvented, but the accompying manual is extremely terse. Still, considering the bredth of media this player can deal with, I think it was a good purchase.

Rating:
Summary: Won't show color
Review: I got the 10.4" (which is discontinued)as a present for my Dad and it was impressive right out of the box. However the picture wouldn't display with color after the unit was warmed up (DVD picture was fine - just problems with the TV picture). I had the cable company check the signal just in case but the problem was in the set. Also the clock wouldn't set right. I've reordered the 10.2" so I'll try again.

Rating:
Summary: The best christmas gift!
Review: My husband surpirsed me with this for christmas. Since I spend so much time in our kitchen this is the perfect gift for the chef in your home. The sound and the quality of the picture are great. I think the dvd quality is much better than watching the tv. I highly recommend this! The size is also perfect, it is not to obnoxious in the kitchen. It is very sleek and discreet.

Rating:
Summary: Top Notch!
Review: Very compact, excellent picture and sound. A key feature is the ability to change the screen configuration; the default is widescreen (16:9), but you have the ability to change the proportions for a normal television picture or utilize the widescreen for DVD's.

We also found that it plays DVD+R and DVD+RW, even though that's not in the tech specs. I'm not sure about the DVD-R/RW.

My only negative is that when not viewed the screen locks only with the screen facing down toward the countertop, which isn't optimal in a kitchen. It will close in the opposite direction, but not lock.

Other than that, a terrific find!

- MDT