Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Magnavox 19MD357B HDTV Strange Aspect Ratio, June 26, 2007
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.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent HD set, with the proper setup, August 10, 2007
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.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth the price in my opinion, May 28, 2007
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".
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