Customer Reviews

Magnavox 19MD357B 19-Inch LCD HDTV with Built In DVD Player

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This TV has an excellent picture in both SD and HD modes, with cable, antenna, and DVD. It is an outstanding value for the price. I would have rated it 5 stars, but I deducted 2 for the screen size. The screen is 16" x 10". (I got one extra inch free.) Why Magnavox would do this is a mystery. I contacted them, and actually reached a support person in a reasonable time, but their only answer was a replacement, so obviously they did not understand the problem. Instead of a 16:9 ratio, it is 16:10 aspect ratio. A standard def picture is 4:4 ratio instead of 4:3. The TV automatically adjusts to fill the screen. This is not defeatable. In HD, 16:9 (or really 16:10) is the only selectable format. So everyone in HD always looks tall and skinny. I may or may not keep this set after I research to see if I can find anything close in value in the proper 16:9 aspect ratio. I'm getting used to it. Jay Leno looks like an athlete.

I actually won this TV during a party about 2 months ago. I was initially wary that the people who bought it probably got it as a bargain deal, but after looking at other sets I decided to stick with this one, and I was glad I did. At first, I was using a 5 year old 25' coaxial cable to hook up the TV to my cable, and received 74 analog channels, which was what I expected. However, I was out shopping the next day and noticed a coax cable that was "optimized for HD TV's." Again, I was wary of anything that looked high quality but would end up being worse than that cable I had. However, after shelling out 15 bucks for the cable, the effect was immediate on the TV. Every channel was clear, and it now picked up 57 digital channels, including HD versions of ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and about 30 digital music channels. The best part is that the QUAM and ASTC tuners are so sensitive that the TV picks up On Demand signals from neighboring houses when autoprogrammed at the right time (I am not saying that this will work for everyone, but it is pretty cool.) The DVD player is of standard quality. Truthfully, if I would have actually bought the TV, I wouldn't have let the DVD player influence my buying decision. That is what standalone DVD players are for, and they would give a higher quality signal anyway with and HDMI cable. I have not had any troubles getting the DVD player to read any DVD's, even a DVDR- that was burned from my computer. It is true that the ratio appears to be 16:10 instead of 16:9, though there are multiple settings that alleviate the problem. The stretch is unnoticeable at most times, and when it is I change the video settings (This cannot be done on HD channels, however.) Overall, I give the TV five stars because although there is a slight stretch on HD channels, the TV is of superb quality otherwise. Screen resolution, colors, and sound are all of great or excellent quality. The TV is perfect for a dorm, bedroom, or kitchen. I would not let the DVD player influence your purchasing decision, because the primary purpose of the TV is to be a TV, and it does that job admirably.

I purchased this TV at a local merchant (not Amazon), but it is the same model. New item, unopened box. I found the picture to be very grainy for an HD TV (my input was a standard RF cable input, not an HD line, but I guess I expected more). Played for quite a long time with the settings, and the picture did get a bit better, but still was a bit disappointed with the quality for the price. Tried the DVD player, and it would not work! Either ejected the DVD on its own, or kept giving "disk error" message. I tried with 4 DVDs - none would work (and yes, they were inserted the correct way and were scratch/fingerprint/oil free). I returned the unit to my merchant; they also found the same error. The customer service rep told me that there was another one of these in the return bin from that day! Another rep at the counter also indicated that the built-in DVD LCD TVs tend to have more problems than most. Nice design, perfect size, but apparently Magnavox has quite a few of these units with "bugs".

I bought this item and loved the TV part. Unfortunately, the DVD is very poor. Items like zoom and slow motion which are standard on even the cheapest of DVDs are missing from this product. Worst of all, the DVD player locked up after about 20 min when the pause was selected. The DVD continued to randomly lock up. The only cure was to unplug the unit for about 5min. The Magnavox customer service line had no suggestions or software updates.

This LCD TV looks like a good deal price wise, but the model I bought (not from Amazon, but the same model) had a lot of defects, and after ~100 days, past the brief 90-day warranty it had broke. TV started to turn on and off randomly for no apparent reason while getting interrupted by the (basic) built-in DVD player. It could not hold a signal to the TV. It may cut off TV signal to black or the audio would mute, pop, or it could also reset randomly. And it blasted a high-frequency tone each time at maximum when it cut off the picture, and then continues the loop over and over (the volume blasting will make you jump in your seat). The TV's ATSC/Qam tuner must of broke, and after a week of tolerating its problems, of turning on and off and blasting, it was thrown out.

Purchase the newest model "/37" and you'll find vast improvements over previous model. Best quality/components by far for price range for this combo style. Shop around for pricing as this model is being agressively marketed by some "big" retailers this Christmas season.

I bought this TV/DVD combo exactly 1 year ago to use in my bedroom. It was a fairly easy set-up and the picture quality was fine. However, this TV has a very annoying feature: EVERY time you change the channel, a pop-up menu shows up, and there is NO way to get rid of this. (I checked the Magnavox website to make sure.)

About a week or so ago, the TV started acting up. Right after turning it on, it would make a loud blaring noise, sort of like the severe weather alert on TV stations - but louder - and then shut off. Usually the picture quality went bad, too. Then the TV would turn itself back on.

Over the past week, it has gone through this shut off-come on cycle more and more, sometimes taking about 5 cycles before it would stay on.

After googling this issue online, I see it's a common problem with Magnavox TVs, so I've now ordered a Toshiba. Once that arrives, I'm just tossing the Magnavox in the trash. What a disappointment.

I too had problems with this TV. It would never play any of my DVD's even new ones. After about 3 months, the picture just suddenly died. I can still get sound but no picture. I would never buy another Magnavox.

I purchased this Magnavox TV/DVD 6 months ago and am pleased with the picture and sound quality. I'm using a roof top antenna and pickup several HD channels and many more digital channels. It's great...except the screen size. It's not 16:9 as HD TV is broadcast, but 16:10. The picture is stretched to 10" high instead of the 9" it should be, so everyone is tall and thin. Magnavox should offer a software upgrade to correct this problem or offer replacement TVs. I would not have bought this TV if I was aware of this design problem.

Hi. I read the reviews here before I bought, and learned about the 16:10 aspect ratio problems. However, I went to the Magnavox web site and read the manual first, and saw that the TV "should" support 5 different display modes... so I went ahead and bought it. I incorrectly assumed that the 5 display modes would be available at any time. This is not the case!

The reviews are right -- for some HD TV stations (ABC, NBC, CBS), the TV defaults to 16:10 and there is no way to override it. Everything is tall-and-skinny. Even wierder -- sometimes these same stations will switch to a commercial, and the TV will change to display the commercial in a proper aspect ratio (4:3); then when the TV program comes back on, the TV goes back to tall-and-skinny again (16:10). This is really frustrating!

Some non-network TV stations (like our local PBS and ION/PAX/QUBO), allow you to change the aspect ratio to any of the five modes. Same with the DVD player -- you can easily switch the aspect ratio to your favorite setting.

Other than the 16:10 aspect ratio problem -- this is a GREAT TV! I bought it to replace an older 15" Sylvania LCD TV, and there is no comparison -- the Magnavox LCD screen is AWESOME! Very bright, and crystal-clear. The ATSC tuner seems to be good quality, too -- our Sylvania could only find 25 DTV signals, while the Magnavox found 36! We no longer suffer through signal dropouts, like we did with the Sylvania.

Most important to me -- the DVD player plays all the homemade discs (VCD, SVDC, DVD) that I have burned over the years. You can even put a regular computer CD in, and play MPG files directly from the Windows folders. You will need to be careful inserting discs -- push too hard, and the loader will surely break or jam. I wouldn't let kids put in their own movies! But that is the case with any slot-loading DVD player.

So, bottom line -- if you need a TV to primarily watch network TV, you'd probably be happier with a different brand/model. However, if you primarily watch DVD's (or don't care if your TV stations are tall-and-skinny), then this TV can be a good bargain.