Customer Reviews

Memorex MLT3221 32-Inch Widescreen LCD HDTV

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I wanted to write a review because the only other reviews were very negative. I've only had the TV for a week, I will try to keep you updated if anything changes. So far it's been fine. Is it the best picture I've ever seen on a 32"? No. I'm watching it with an analog signal using a S video cable, and the picture is just fine, especially for the price. I haven't hooked up my PS3 to check out the HD, I have it on a larger TV. I bought this TV for $379 + tax, and I couldn't be happier at this point.

Do not buy this LCD! I purchased this TV from Office Depot this week and assumed like most new electronics it would have a one year warranty. Turns out the warranty card, which is Spanish only (a friend had to translate it for me), says the one year manufactures warranty is only valid in Mexico. No warranty + very few reviews online + questionable brand = very shady. If you don't care about the warranty you may as well get a cheap refurb. At least you'll get 90 days.

I purchased this TV about 3 months (November 2008) ago at Office Depot and at the rock bottom sale price of under $380, plus tax, California Recycle fee, and extended warranty, and think it is a good value. I think it has a decent picture, can produce fairly good sound through an external audio system, but has marginal quality sound through the built-in speakers. Like many items on the market there it has some good features while lacking in other features. Memorex is now a division of Imation Enterprises Corporation, and it appears the set could be manufactured by an outside firm, and branded as Memorex. My set was assembled in Mexico. I have seen look-alikes that have a different brand.

Digital TV suffers from a different set of problems than does the analog broadcast signals. Whereas with a weak signal the analog signal would produce a picture with "snow", and often sound, the digital picture does not, but rather either drops a group of pixels leaving a checkerboard pattern on the screen, or gives no picture at all, leaving a "no signal" message. Digital also allows "multicasting", that is it can broadcast up to four programs at once, which produces in effect, four channels rather than one. Each of these four channels can also carry extra information, such as a program guide.

The Good:
(1) The picture Quality is quite acceptable as long as the signal strength is reasonable. I am in a metropolitan area (San Diego) and am using my rabbit ears to receive 8 digital channels as well as 8 analog channels before the February cutoff.
(2) Both analog and digital signals can interchangeably be viewed without altering TV setup.
(3) The TV may be controlled (including setup menu items) from either the TV set or the remote.
(4) It can select nine modes of input: TV signal, side input RCA jacks, rear input RCA jacks, S-Video, two component video input sets, two HDMI inputs, and a VGA input. These are clearly shown in the User Guide.
(5) It has a pretty good on-screen program guide, seeing several days programming in the future, of course this is depending on what the station provides. Not all tuners do equally as well.
(6) A user guide is downloadable from the web. www.memorexelectronics.com I always like to have an electronic copy. The copy that came with the set appears to be a later revision than downloaded as it contains additional instructions not found in the downloaded version.

The Bad:
(1) The set has no video outputs, except the screen. This means, for instance, you can not record a TV program with your VCR without an external tuner. For a VCR, this might be remedied for digital channels by connecting the AV outputs of a digital to analog converter box for older TVs to the recorder. Be sure to understand a converter's operational features before acquiring it, as this may not solve the issue for analog channels.
(2) Sound from the built in speakers is marginally low quality; somewhat better than what one would get off of a 1940's radio. There is very little base and treble through the built in speakers. It is OK for a news broadcast, but expect to route through a good audio system for any music. Audio outputs are in Dolby digital stereo, which are reasonably good quality, but lower volume. I had to fiddle with the TV's external "Audio Out" volume setting in the setup menus, locking it at maximum, to almost match the volume from the FM radio signal of my audio system.
(3) Digital channel sound and picture do not perfectly synchronize. I believe the sound lags the picture by a fraction of a second on digital stations only. I am not sure if this is an attribute of this set, or if it is a generalized digital TV issue. It is quite apparent on news broadcasts. I did notice that what you see/hear on digital reception lags what was received for the same material on the station's analog channel by a second or two.
(4) The cursor on the setup menu is light in color and difficult to see if you do not know what you are looking for. For selecting between different menus, it does not show at all. Once you understand how it works, with good vision, navigation is possible.
(5) Memorex has a website which you can register the product. I did do that and asked for an English copy of the warranty (Only Spanish is supplied) as comments when completing the registration. I received back an email saying that my store receipt is my 1 year warranty. When I wrote back I would like them to send a copy of the warranty that includes the terms and conditions of the warranty (which is not in the owner's manual or other supplied documentation as English language), they replied they would look for such, gave me a case number, and contact phone number. That was about six weeks ago, and they have not replied further. Because I read that others have had this set go bad, I also bought an extended warranty for an additional sum which extends my protection to 3 years. With questionable factory support, that may be my salvation.

The Ugly:
(1) To get the digital channels TVs must perform a scan. This allows the TV to divide a single channel into the four sub channels. (This being one of FCC's reason to switch to DTV.) If the station signal is weak, either because it is at a distance, or the antenna is improperly aimed, a TV scan will miss registering the channel as available. If station transmitters are in different perimeter directions, then if the antenna is optimized for one station, the signal for a different station degrades, and can be missed by the scan. It is not unusual to scan more than once to acquire all of the available channels. This TV has only a "setup" scan, which erases all previous scan data; it does not have an "add channel" scan option which would allow keeping the channel data found on a previous scan. Hence you have difficulty setting up the set for all available channels. To get channels in all directions at the same time, my solution to this was to use multiple antennas oriented to different directions, and combining the signal by connecting backwards through a splitter, using it as a "combiner". That is rather then connecting two or more TVs to one antenna; I connected two antennas to one TV, although there are splitters that have single to more than two connections. Rather than a RF switch, I used a booster/splitter to then split the signal back so I could record off the air with my VCR through a converter box.
(2) This set has no signal strength/quality meter display in the setup screens to guide the orientation of an antenna. Because the TV has a noticeable digital processing lag between signal reception and display, you have to sl-o-o-o-ly rotate the antenna until the picture does not have drop outs, but you can not be sure this is at the best orientation.
(3) There are "Smart Antennas" on the market which deal with antenna orientation. These require an additional connection looking like a telephone jack. This set does not have this feature.

I was looking for an entry level HDTV and this one fit the bill. It arrived a day early from across country and came without any scratches. No dead pixels, easy to mount it on the stand. 360 runs beautifully and my Blu Ray player also. Regular TV looks amazing now. TV Menu is easy to use. The only quarrel I have is that it's a little slow-going powering up and switching from TV to a video source and back. But it's still acceptable. Remote control is easy to use and understand. Great TV for the money!

I purchased this television at Office Depot (sale <$380.00) recently. Overall, it is a nice set for the price paid (3.5 out of 5 stars). As most people know by now, you MUST have HD reception to get HD quality! This set has acceptable performance with standard cable with analog hook up. These new sets are just not equipped to handle the lower resolution feeds of standard cable. They perform much better with digital or HD feeds, which is where they excel! On HD, the Memorex performs just okay, considering its price point. You shouldn't expect Sony LCD quality from a budget LCD. I use this set mostly as a second computer monitor and gaming monitor for my son's Xbox 360. My set did come with a registration card (for the warranty) written in English. No dead pixels on mine, either. Incidentally, this set is a dead ringer for the Viewsonic line of LCD's.

Overall, I would recommend the Memorex as a good guest room, office, or play room set. The fit and finish is impeccable. You just can't beat bang you get for the bucks you'll pay.

I bought this tv from sears for $300 about 2 years ago. I've had no issues without. One thing that did confuse me though, was that the salesperson told me it was a 720p tv, and on the front of the tv it says 1080i, but when I hooked it up to my PS3, it said it could receive 1080p. Which it in fact does. The PS3 says its in 1080p, and when I hit the info button on the tv, it says its in 1080p as well. I've never actually watched cable on it. I mostly use it to watch Blu-rays (which look great), and play video games, and every now and then I connect my laptop to it as well. All and all a great set. On a side note. I dont know much about the sound. I have a surround sound and have never bothered listening to the tv's speakers. Cheers

We bought this television nearly three years ago. It worked fine... and, the sound was satisfactory. But, the image always seems a little dark, no matter what setting it was on.

Recently, the television just stopped working. It's front red light would blink, but no audio or video. Customer service informed us how to reset it over the phone. But, that didn't work. All repair places are estimating $100-$300 for a fix. The one place customer service recommended was going to charge $99 just to come and look at the television!

Three years for a $500 does not seem like a fair price. I don't think I'll be buying anymore Memorex products.

Had the TV for almost half year. Mildly watched (1-2hours per day). So far so good. The picture are very good. Work very well with my DVD player and wii. No complain at the moment. I will update my review if anything happens. I would recommend this product.

I wanted to review this because I see it has some poor reviews. My boyfriend and I own this TV and we think it was a fantastic buy. It has a really nice, clear and bright picture, and 2 component ports, and two HDMI ports. It comes with a stand or can be mounted on the wall. We've not had any trouble with ours and we've had it since December. We think it was a great deal!

I've had this TV now for a couple of months and am, for the most part, happy with it. The picture quality is great, good dark blacks and bright whites for a LCD and the 32" size is perfect for my needs.

The main feature that drew me to this TV aside from the price and picture was the connectivity. I have it connected to my computer via the VGA port (for now, I will be getting a DVI-HDMI cable in the near future), my DVD player via component, VCR via composite, and an oldschool NES via composite and there are still connections open (as well as the antenna in, I don't have cable). The icing on the cake is the clip on the back to hold the massive bundle of cables in the center of the tv so they can effectively hide behind the stand, keeps my setup looking neat!

The main drawback is a lack of software features (menu options), especially the lack of a signal strength meter for broadcast reception and the ability to add digital channels without scanning (analog channels can be added manually but I have not figured out a way to add digital channels without rescanning). These features would, of course, be a moot point for cable users and are only a mild irritation for me since I watch most of my tv through the computer.

Another mild annoyance is the inability to set the channel info display to a particular mode after power off. You can set it to display the current program info for each channel you switch to but as soon as you power off the unit the setting reverts back to the default, showing the station call letters and channel.

The physical design of the product is fine with me, though some may not like it. I like the glossy black boarder and I really like the matte screen as opposed to glossy, cuts down greatly on glare! The boarders may be thicker than some like. The unit has a fairly thin profile, and I love the cable organization as I mentioned earlier.

I got this TV for just under $400 as an upgrade from a 27" CRT tv with a bad transformer (my first flat screen tv!), but the price seems to have gone up since then. I'm not sure if it is still as good at this price since I don't have my product research on hand anymore. But I hope this review helps you decide. If the minor omissions in software don't bother you too much then it is a great tv.