Customer Reviews

Mintek DTV-173 17-Inch LCD TV/DVD Combo

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I just purchased the DTV-173. On 1st look, the unit appears to be well made and has a good look and feel. The remote is very functional but all features do not appear to be easily accessible from the console without the remote. I am very impressed with the auto formatting and the quality of the image. When I pulled it out and hooked it up to my digital TV service, the screen automatically formatted to the "fill" mode. On other 16:9 TVs I have seen, the fill mode causes the picture to become distorted and makes everything look shorter and wider. This TV seems to apply the formatting in a way that keeps the picture resembling a normal image. When I use the menu to switch back to the "Force 4:3 mode, the picture is noticiably different, but not to the point that I need to continue watching with the bars running up and down the sides. Another good feature is that the TV remembers your last setting and keeps the format the same when you turn off the TV. In the forced 4:3 mode, the side bars are filled black, which is better than other models I have seen that keep a light gray color in the unused space. The image when using the DVD player was very impressive. the full action scenes in my Star Wars DVds cause no pixation or image jitter. The Player and card reader mode have a seperate set of settings for the aspect ratio and A/V adjustments. When I popped in a DVD and watched in full screen mode and then switched back to TV mode, the screen went back to the format I had set when I last watched TV. It even maintained the different britness and contrast settings in each mode. The DVD player plays all of my media, which includes DVD, DVD+RW, and SVCDs. Some of my SVCDs use a none strandard bitrate, but this player played them all without a hitch. The picture is very clear and bright, but I did need to do a little tweaking when I first set it up. I am only giving a 4 star rating because I have not had it long enough to rate it on reliability. Overall 1st impression is great. This is a good value and packed with features for the price.

This is the second unit we have tried, with same problem. During setup, when setting TV Tuner to CABLE and performing Autosearch, only channels 5 and 6 are recognized. COMCAST Tier 3 engineeers have come out to the house, and it is apparently because this unit does not recognize the HRC transmission protocol which is used in the Northeast US. MINTEK customer service is very poor. With the first unit, we were allowed to open a ticket, but it took over a week before anyone called us back, and they were not able to help. With this unit, no one even answers the Mintek Cusotmer Service number anymore.

I have had this LCD TV/DVD combo tv for about a week now and am primarily using it in the office for computer and DVD watching. It's amazing how much better the picture looks when using the built in DVD player instead of the DVD drive in my computer. The TV picture is nice, despite the "made in China" brand name. The brightness level needed to be tweaked a little before an adequate picture could be watched but overall, it has a decent remote control and it works as advertised. The housing is not at all cheap looking, which you wouldn't expect in this price range and the sound quality does not sound "tinny" or like laptop computer speakers. One thing to note is the computer resolution, which is not stated anywhere but in the manual. It is not 1280x768, which is the native resolution of the LCD TV, but rather 1028x768. I was a bit disappointed that the VGA input would only produce this resolution, as there are other 17" LCD TV's that do higher. I was a bit misled thinking that it would produce the resolution advertised as the TV's resolution. I love amazon and would have returned this TV in a heartbeat if it didn't perform to its pricetag, but this product turned out to be a keeper. Hope this helps other buyers.

Great picture, plays everything I put in it. I can't believe there's no digital output on an HD set. This would be 5 stars with that one feature. I have never seen a DVD player without digital out, which makes me wonder about the quality of the DVD player. The speakers sound a little high pitch, but not too bad. For the money, not a bad deal. Amazon.com ships free and I got it in about three days in California. Go with the free shipping. What a deal.

I tried this TV out the first night I got it and the V-Chip decided on its own to lock out a few channels. Customer service could not help me. They authorized a return to the Chino CA warehouse. It cost me $38.00 to send it to them. A MONTH LATER I got the replacement only after repeated calls to customer service over the delays, and run-arounds with customer service supervisors (customer service is itself a treat with this company -NOT!). As soon as I tried out this replacement TV, it also started to lock out various channels on its own. It will lock out a channel at random for 15 to 60 minutes all on its own. Customer service does not call me back . Don't waste your money.

This unit has several problems, and the manufacturer has apparently gone out of business. I purchased this back in 2004, and it began acting strange soon after. The AC adapter started making a high-piched squeal, the DVD player stopped accepting disks, the content locks started engaging by themselves, blocking out certain channels with cartoons, etc. I could go on, but really, why bother? Trust me, and just don't buy it.

Great display out of the box with minor adjustment for color, tint, etc. Exceptional display w/DVD. Sound quality is good. This is a substantial unit and difficult to beat at this price level.

I tried this tv its okay once the channels wouden't come up so we buyed a new piece.I broke the cable recciver so i returned.I would suggest to put it on your buy list but maybe not bye it until you like it.

Please rate this a 4