Customer Reviews

ViewSonic N1630w 16-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am looking for a small HDTV so I can use it as a secondary monitor - this one suit my purpose considering I only paid $199 for it.

PLUS
- Very good HDTV picture quality - I connect it to my cable and the tuner is smart enough to pickup all ANALOG and UNSCRAMBLED HD channels automatically. Overall HD picture quality is good.
- It has one VGA, one HDMI, one component video, one S-Video and one composite video input - pretty good for a cheap TV.
- NO NEED FOR AC ADAPTER!! The power supply is built-into the TV cabinet.
- Sleep Timer

MINUS
- Not very bright at all
- Limited vertical viewing angle
- Limted tilt; does not swivel from side to side
- Anemic sounding speakers / slightly better after I adjust bass/treble
- Mediocre picture quality as a PC monitor

Overall, for $199 don't expect it to perform like a Sharp or a SONY but I give it 4 star based on its sheer value and it's HDTV picture quality. It's a nice addition as a second monitor because you can also use it as a HDTV.

We have small televisions in our office. We have about 15 Sharp Aquos tv's that we are very happy with, but Sharp stopped making the smaller screens. There are really not that many options for small screen tv's. I read the reviews on the Viewsonic and at first was hesitant, but decided to try one. The picture is very good and since we watch them sitting at a desk, there is no problem with the viewing angle. The sound is not very good, but acceptable for our purpose. I would not recommend this tv for home use unless in low volume situations or use with external speakers as the other reviewer mentioned.

Got the N1630w 15-inch TV for the kitchen counter, but will need to find another use for it because the speakers are totally tinny, even with full bass and treble added, or different sound preferences selected (I think Viewsonic expects you to add external speakers to this unit so the sound is as good as the picture). Unit also sits very low to the countertop, and doesn't have a swivel feature to allow it to be tilted upwards. The viewing angle is critical .. like viewing a projection TV .. you must look straight into this screen or the picture washes out. We propped a dish towel under the front of the stand in order to have the screen looking up at us ... why no swivel, Viewsonic? It won't be good for computers for the same reason it doesn't swivel up-or-down. Analog TV performance is also quite poor, but then we all need to get away from analog anyway. Buy a 19-inch or larger as you can fit into your needs .. this TV is small in size, and performance.

I bought this TV after reading about the poor sound on the small Sharp. I should have waited for a review here. The sound is annoying (I found the music setting to be the least annoying for listening to voice). The picture must be viewed at eye level, as also noted in the first review. On a positive note it has all the inputs and outputs you would need.

I've had this television for over 2 weeks and I love it; it was the only one that I could find that met my criteria; a QAM tuner, AND it had to sit on my desk and fit under an overhead cabinet in my home office (it made it by 1/16", whew!)

The picture quality is very good, but as other reviewers have said, the viewing angle could be better. I watch it at eye level, straight on, about 3-4 feet away and it is super. If I stand up and walk around, the upper vertical angle lightens the pic, but still looks OK to me. I checked the lower angle and it darkens the display. Of course I wouldn't watch it that way, but if you were to have it on a high shelf, that could be a problem. If you are close to the TV, the Horizontal angle at eye level makes the picture have a negative type appearance when you stray too far to either side. This is similar to a 22" Vizio we have in the kitchen. Again, it works for me in my situation, but could be a distraction in other environments.

Lastly, the sound! Yes, it is not really great; kinda reminds me of a Transistor radio I had in the 50's. I tried to live with it for awhile, but it got on my nerves (I'm rather picky). I did not want to return the TV, so I purchased a pair of inexpensive Logitec 120 speakers, hooked them up to the headphone jack, and I am now very pleased with the sound output. If you demand more, you could spring for more elaborate extension speakers.

All in all, I would recommend this with the caveats mentioned above. I'm very happy with it and was well worth the cost! It gets 4 Stars only because of the sound quality!
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Update: 12/2009

I feel I need to downgrade my initial praise of this TV. All I said earlier is true, but after two months it began to develop pixilation and checker boarding on the QAM stations. I at first thought it was my cable company, but the 4 other sets I have with a QAM tuner were fine. I even moved this TV to other inputs and it had the same problem. I returned the TV for repair at my expense and it came back just the same, if not worse.

I called ViewSonic again and was sent a replacement TV (probably a refurbished one); they paid and were very nice. It is just the same. I then bought new cables, got a signal booster and had the cable company come and check; still has intermittent problems on the QAM stations. I even went to AV forums to see if there was any clue.

So, my thinking is that this TV has an inherent problem with the QAM side of the tuner. It will more then likely work for most folks, but not too well with my cable company. It has a great picture when it works, but when it doesn't, it is very, very annoying. I would put all the blame on the cable company, but as said, my other TVs work great. So, just my opinion-hope it is helpful to some.

One last item; the headphone jack on the replacement TV does not power the extension speakers I purchased to overcome the poor sound. SIGH!

I read the reviews, but was hoping this was a time they were wrong. Its hard to find a small TV. Don't do it, don't buy this one. The picture is great as long as you are sitting squarely in front of it exactly at eye level. But if you are buying this for your kitchen or a small room and doing what most people would be doing ... moving around, this is horrible. The slightest off angle viewing creates a washed out picture.

And the sound is worse. Tinny barely describes it and I haven't found a way to make it really acceptable.

Oh, and all this only after waiting through a VERY long start up time where we get to view the three birds!

Unless you have one of those very specific stationary uses where the users thought it was ok, move on. This TV is not suited for use in kitchens and most home applications that folks are normally buying a small TV for.

Please, Sharp, please bring back your small Aquos!

For starters, I've got no complaints about this TV. The picture is great, the tuner is great (I don't use a Decoder box so this is key), it's got a HDMI input (I do use an Apple TV so this is key).

I used a OmniMount PRO 12" ceiling mount to place the TV over my fridge in the kitchen, so the standard VESA mounts on the back were also something I needed. The stand can be removed easily enough with a small screwdriver (I expected ViewSonic to provide a small snap on cover for the hole left behind on the bottom after removing the stand but there wasn't one (at least not in the box I received - this might bother some people.

The setup menu's easy enough to deal with, I set it up to skip the duplicate analog channels so when I channel up and down I see the HD channel if it's available. I tried labeling the channels but can't seem to get the labels to "stick".

If sound quality is very important to you, I do recommend you purchase a supplementary set of speakers for it. Like any small TV I've seen it sounds a bit "tinny" on it's own. Thankfully there are plenty of computer speakers available which fit the bill, for example I used an Insignia NS-3006 setup that I picked up for under $50 and am delighted with the setup. The TV helps out by muting it's own speakers when you use the headphones jack.

Hope this helps.

With the set on the counter top and looking straight at it while standing, the picture was good but it appeared faded when siting at the table about 12 feet away. (Vertical viewing angle issue). Also, volume needed to be turned up near the max. Tinny sound. Maybe it's a 1-star. Returned it. Too bad. I miss the birds.

I seldom if ever write reviews, but this will be an exception. After extensive looking for a 16 x 9 aspect ratio small tv set which I could hang above my kitchen countertop and below the kitchen cabnets, I finally came to the conclusion that this was one of the "very" few which there was to choose from.

For a lcd tv of this size, it is well endowed with neat features... inputs, such as HDMI, S video, etc. The cost of this set is relative inexpensive ($176 from Amazon's dealer, "J&R") and it is a nice looking unit. Oh, did I also say that it is the only set of it's size catagory with the universal "VESA" mounting capability on it's back side.

It looks nice, has a great picture, and fits perfect. So, why not five star rating? The audio !! It is simply not very good... in fact, the telephone actually has almost as good a sound quality. Even setting the tone controls (in the menu), it still sounds like two tin cans with a string.

Several other reviews spoke of this, and I must say that now that I own this set, I concur 100%. If you are listening to voice it isnt "that bad", but dont say you were not warned that the sound is poor. Yes, I'm keeping the set, cause it's a pefect fit with excellent picture, and, well.... I'll get use to the sound -- after all, it's only used when in the kitchen (when there is a football game on, and you cant afford to miss a play).

UPDATE: COUPLE YEARS LATER January 18, 2012
View Sonics Customer Relations and Technical Service IS BAD. Turned set on and got "Set Clock" screen. Went to menu and set clock but set still wont allow me to get tv picture (I have sound). Called tech support -- poor lady only knew to tell me what the instruction book said about settting clock (which I had read already). Told me "your set must have a problem". When asked about a second line of technical help she said "she was the final technical authority". Called View Sonics Corp Office and was told they would check it for fee of $140 (you can buy them NEW on Amazon for less). What a waste to toss into trash can.
GOING TO CHANGE MY BUSINESS TO SAMSUNG who has 19" almost same dimentions which will still fit under countertop.

I had to order a second unit. The first didn't pick up channels 7 and 10. The new unit works perfectly. Someone complained about sound being tinny. The unit lets you have several sound enviroments. You can easily eliminate the tinny sound.