Customer Reviews

Sceptre X7SV-Naga 17" LCD Monitor with TV Tuner

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

 

 

I have had this monitor for about a month and absolutely love it! I use it exclusively as a television (digital cable, progressive scan DVD and Xbox) and it performs wonderfully in all situations. One thing to keep in mind is that there is only so much a television can do with a sub-par signal; if your cable signal is poor, the picture will be poor...that said, the digital channels I receive look pristine to the point of almost appearing 3 dimensional. DVD's look amazing, especially in 16:9 widescreen mode. It is highly adjustable and an excellent space saver. Compare it to smaller 15" LCDs by some of the BIGS and you will notice that they are all in the $700-$1200 range. The Sceptre produces a picture that is just as bright, vibrant and crisp (in my opinion) as these pricier brands. Sound could be better and it could use a few more inputs, hence the 4 star rating. Wired magazine recently rated it a best buy - it truly is.

DID A LOT OF SHOPPING AROUND AND COMPARISON BETWEEN PC CAPABLES "FLAT TV'S" AND TV CAPABLE "FLAT MONITORS" AND FOUND SCEPTRE TO BE A GOOD VALUE WHEN COMPARED TO HGHER PRICED UNITS.
PROS: 16:9 ASPECT RATIO, LIGHT WEIGHT, REMOTE, PLENTY OF INPUTS.
CONS: 1 YEAR WARRANTY, FLASHY-PLASTIC EXTERIOR, NO AUDIO OUTPUT,
NO HDTV OR 1080i CAPABILITY.

I don't know what people expect. I bought this based on several reviews amongst them a stellar one at CNET. My expectations were not as high as most people and I can tell you that I am very satisfied with the Sceptre. As a monitor it is fine. Text is crisp and colors vibrant. Compared to my Dell FP1800 though, the Dell most definetly comes out on top. But it is like a Swiss knife as it does so many different things.

As a TV with DirectTV hooked up via the Svideo connections it is very nice. Some ghosting and anomolies can be seen here and there but it surpassed my expectations. With just a basic OTA antenna hooked up the picture was just ok. It is certainly viewable and I have no problems with it's limitations here. I use 16x9 for all video aspects and it looks great.

With either Svideo or Component hookup for my DVD player is the area that it shines. Colors jump out at you and the 16x9 is perfect viewing.

And finally I come to the speakers. For my office with the Sceptre 3 feet away it comes across as clear and loud.

You get what you pay for is heard just about every Friday in anyones life, and the Sceptre has proven to be a most excellent product for my viewing habits. It does so many things, some very good and some that are just ok.

It is a keeper for me as I am quite happy with it.

I bought this monitor for the 16:9 capability and the many
different video connectors it has. In general it works well,
though there are a few problems with it. One is that, although
it has a VESA mount on back for wall mounting, if you take the
base off it leaves two large holes visible under the monitor (as
others here have noted) AND the buttons on the front stop working
and the remote causes crazy things to happen. I've tried two of
these monitors and they both do the same thing. The base apparently
acts as both an electrical connection and perhaps as a
heat sink (the monitor gets fairly warm when on). You can wrap
some wire around the screws that used to hold the base on and the
remote and front buttons will work again, though if the base was
also acting as a heat sink problems may show up later on.
In computer SVGA and DVI modes the monitor sometimes causes
a ground loop-like loud hum in an audio mixer located
on the other side of the room. Cycling through the video modes
usually gets rid of it.
Sometimes when switching between onscreen displays on a VCR
or DVD player when the monitor is in NTSC or S-Video mode, the
monitor won't sync correctly and will display a double image.
Cycling through the video modes usually fixes it. It doesn't
appear to have this problem when displaying live video.
The first monitor made a very loud high pitched squeal when
on, similar to the noise analog tv sets make. The second one
also makes this noise, but at a much more reasonable level. It
seems strange that the new display technologies have not
eliminated this old bane from the analog world.
The image quality is good and the feature set is great. The
problems it exhibits I can live with. It would have been nice
if the Sceptre engineers had done a better job on sync and
mounting aspects.
When I returned the first monitor a tech rep called me
several days after I faxed in the info they requested (though

requiring a fax is kind of archaic these days) and gave me an
RMA after a few questions, so tech support was reasonable for me.

I bought this monitor nearly a year ago for $503 and free shipping, and I got much more than I paid for. The monitor is great for many reasons. It has every input you can think of - and even the wires to boot - so it is more than a computer monitor. I'm a college student, so it has become my TV, computer monitor, video game monitor. The PIP capabilities are also great. It is great when you are screwing around on the computer talking to people or whatnot, and you can have the CUBS game on at the same time. I have only a standard VGA output on my computer, and the picture quality is pretty good. I can't wait to see what it looks like with DVI.

I have few complaints. Mostly little annoying quirks. The monitor creates a lot of interference with speakers that are nearby; however, this only happens when the monitor is changing modes, or coming out of hibernation. The monitor automatically sets itself to "optimum" viewing levels...but it sometimes sets the clock incorrectly, causing a shaking of the screen. The Instructions were TERRIBLE. They really don't explain all the capabilities very well.

Overall, the best money I've spent in college.

EDIT: After about a year (convienently right after the warranty expired) the last 2" or so on the right side started acting screwy. sometimes it will be all blue, or sometimes it will be all red. I took the monitor apart to see what is wrong, and I noticed the wires that power that portion of the screen make 3 90 degree bends within and inch or two. From moving the monitor back and forth between college and home (which I have done in the original packaging each time) I think it might have gotten pinched. I've tried contacting Sceptre, but its like they have no customer service department. For that reason alone I would never buy another product from this company. I'm sticking to name brands, because then you can at least bitch to someone when something is wrong.

After about 2 months I'm still very pleased with my Sceptre LCD monitor. It has all the important interfaces (VGA, DVI, S-Video, component video, etc.). It is very bright and contrary to the other reviewer I think it looks great. It has a great finish and can be wall mounted. The TV tuner is very good (channel changing is slow though). I really like the built-in TV tuner and the PIP. The wide format (1280x768) is great too. I've tried installing a TV tuner in my PC and the headaches are just not worth the problems. Compared to other monitors, this is a great deal.

The Sceptre X7TV Has been a great monitor! I bought it for my Chevy Astro Van. It replaced the old CRT 12inch color TV. It also has so many inputs, I have two computers hooked up to it at once, plus the DVD, Sat and cable. and there is still more room for other stuff.

WELL YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, AND THIS IS A GREAT DEAL FOR THE MONEY, AND THE WAY THINGS ARE CHANGING SO FAST WITH MONITORS AND TVS YOU WILL BE OK. LOOKED FOR WEEKS BEFORE BUYING, AND IF YOU COMPARE PRICES THIS IS THE BEST, DEPENDING ON WHAT VIDEO CARD YOU HAVE WITH YOUR COMPUTER, WILL RESULT IN WHAT YOUR DISPLAY WILL LOOK LIKE. I BOUGHT A NEW CARD AND IT MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE> IF YOU WALL MOUNT IT, WHEN YOU TAKE OFF THE STAND THAT COMES WITH IT YOU WILL HAVE TWO BIG HOLES IN THE PLASTIC MOLDING RIGHT IN THE FRONT? (I WALL MOUNTED MINE AND BELIVE IT OR NOT REG. GRAY DUCT TAPE PULLED EVER SO TIGHT AND TRIMMED WITH A SHARP RAZOR BLADE MADE IT 100% BETTER)HAS A DVI CONNECTION BUT WITH THE PRICE OF DVI CABLE (WHICH I BOUGHT AND TOOK BACK) THERE WAS NO DIFFERENCE WITH THE DVI CABLE AND THE VGA CABLE. WELL JUST BUY TWO FOR THE PRICE AND GIVE ONE AWAY, STILL CAN'T FIND A SUB WOFFER THAT WILL GO INTO THE MINI-MINI PLUG INPUT THEY GIVE YOU ALSO NO AUDIO OUT>

Cabinet is cheap looking and the box information is misleading. The base is not intended to come off (it leaves an unsightly hole if you do) and multiple calls and emails to customer support got zero response concerning this issue. I wanted to wall mount the monitor close to the wall. Can't do with this model so I took it back. Would hate to think what happens if you have serious support issues.

The picture quality on this monitor was quite satisfactory, and the 16:9 screen is great for watching DVDs and letterboxed movies, but despite all of this, there's one major gripe I have with this TV/monitor. The specifications listed on Sceptre's website and on several other sites claim that the X7SV has closed captioning functionality, but having actually looked at one of these monitors and returned it, I can say for a fact that it doesn't.