Aldi HDTV and upscaling DVD player

flogen

What do people make of these two? Available on the 6th:

Tevion 32" HDTV (€529.99):
* HDTV compatibility: 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i
* 1 × HDMI socket
* NICAM stereo
* Teletext – up to 1000 pages
* Contrast ratio: 1500:1
* Brightness: 500cd/m2
* Response time: 6.5 milliseconds
* Viewing angle: 178°
* A+ Grade panel
* Size: 800 × 100 × 598mm
* Weight: 15.3kg
* 3D digital comb filter
* 2 × 8W stereo speakers
* 2 × SCART connections
* Full function remote control (with batteries)
* Colour capacity: 16.7 million colours
* Power consumption: only 170W
* Standby power less than 1W
* Wall mountable (bracket not included)

Tevion HDMI DVD Player (€59.99):
* HDMI connection means no loss of picture or sound quality
* Card reader (view all your pictures on your TV)
* Front USB input
* 5.1 channel output with AC3 Dolby digital decoder
* Full function remote control (with batteries)
* Front headphones socket
* Progressive scan
* DVD+ R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, JPEG CD, KODAK Picture CD, MP3 CD compatible
* DTS decoder
* FREE HDMI cable

The TV seems decent enough to me - although I'm trying to figure out exactly what resolution it is! It only has one HDMI port, but that's understandable enough for the price.

Not sure what the average price of an upscaling DVD player is so can't really comment on that.

http://www.aldi.ie/special_buys/index.html

Stokolan

Does it actually upscale or is it just using a HDMI output? I would have thought that for it to upscale to HD it would have to be a HD player in the first place.

TJM

It's upscaling. There's an upscaling DVD player for a similar price on pixmania (once you add delivery) but without the HDMI cable.

johnnyrotten

+ 3 year warranty!

rcs

Just a bit unclear as to whether it plays DivX's or not

WellyJ

The tv is more than likely 1366x768

Its not 1920x1080 anyway

Scruff

rcs wrote:

Just a bit unclear as to whether it plays DivX's or not

aye, wouldnt get it myself if it doesnt support it.
is the 5.1 output optical?

/edit
its also being disussed here (external forum)

corglass

I thinking of getting this. Anyone else thinking the same? Can anyone see any major drawbacks?

patch

I bought their 40'' Tevion and also the upscaling dvd player.
Both have since been returned.
The TV tended to flash snow on occasion while the dvd player simply stopped recognising divx.

Returning them was painless so it might still be worth a purchase.
I personally won't be buying Tevion again.

confuzed

Scruff wrote:

aye, wouldnt get it myself if it doesnt support it.

its also being disussed here (external forum)

most of lads not happy..it seems

Tazz T

I got the Tevion DVD Recorder last time and it's a joy to use compared to the Technosonic DVD player downstairs. I think it's time the Technosonic was replaced by this.

Stephen

Technosonic?

mathias

I would not buy a Tevion LCD tv at that price , there are major name quality manufacturers selling HDTV's at that price now and Tevion are not known for their quality.

Its important to realise that not all the makers of LCD's/ Plasmas are equal yet , not by a long shot , and you can get a genuine Samsung for that money which are outstanding.

Also to be HD ready the TV just has to have the right inputs and at least 720 lines of resolution , ( 720p ) , the best kind of HD is 1080p and that means a resolution of 1920 x 1080 , these are the top of the line but I have yet to see one for less than €1500 , and they would be budget models !

Theres nothing wrong with 720p , its excellent on the good makes , just dont expect 1080p for around the 500 mark.

craichoe

By the time HDTV becomes mainstream (which its nowhere near yet, as sky only offer a few channels in HD anyway) your TV will have reached End of Life.

There isn't any HD offerings on Cable or Terrestrial TV at moment and there won't be for some time.

Upscaling a DVD ... the maximum resolution is only going to be 720 × 576 anyway. if your TV is capable of this then your not going to see any improvement with a TV that can handle Full HD 1080P

Waste of time imho blowing your cash on a full HD tv. All the equipment at the moment is an intermediate anyway. Just like 1x CD-ROM drives were back in the day.

You could of course wait for the Blue-Ray vs HD-DVD battle to settle and see what happens, thats if you wanted to replace your entire DVD collection for their HD equivalent and thats only if they were shot in HD in the first place.

cullenswood

mathias wrote:

I would not buy a Tevion LCD tv at that price , there are major name quality manufacturers selling HDTV's at that price now and Tevion are not known for their quality.

Its important to realise that not all the makers of LCD's/ Plasmas are equal yet , not by a long shot , and you can get a genuine Samsung for that money which are outstanding.

Are they not known for their quality though?? I have heard they are pretty good.

Where would I get a Samsung for that price and who says they are more reliable?

Not trying to pick a fight here, just wondering.

patch

cullenswood wrote:

Are they not known for their quality though?? I have heard they are pretty good.

Where would I get a Samsung for that price and who says they are more reliable?

Not trying to pick a fight here, just wondering.

In my post above I said I returned my tevion which stopped working.
I replaced it with a samsung for 100 or so more.
The samsung is still working perfectly.

bk

cullenswood wrote:

Are they not known for their quality though?? I have heard they are pretty good.

Where would I get a Samsung for that price and who says they are more reliable?

Not trying to pick a fight here, just wondering.

Well in general Samsung are considered to build the best quality LCD's, they actually share a factory and technology with Sony.

oleras

corglass wrote:

I thinking of getting this. Anyone else thinking the same? Can anyone see any major drawbacks?

Might spalsh a few notes on this also.

* did anyone else think of elephants and jungles after reading that ?

cullenswood

patch wrote:

In my post above I said I returned my tevion which stopped working.
I replaced it with a samsung for 100 or so more.
The samsung is still working perfectly.

Grand so.

Where did you pick up the Samsung for that price. Am interested in buying one this weekend

Maxwell

bk wrote:

Well in general Samsung are considered to build the best quality LCD's, they actually share a factory and technology with Sony.

Considered by who? People or the industry?

Im sure there are a few other companies that would have better claims to having the "best lcd's".

Samsung are near to the middle/lower end in terms of quality and performance.

patch

cullenswood wrote:

Grand so.

Where did you pick up the Samsung for that price. Am interested in buying one this weekend

The tevion I bought was a 40" for 1500 at the time, I think.
By the the time I returned it the Samsung was down to 1600 at Currys.
I'm not sure how much they are now.
I know they would be cheaper on Komplett or Pimania at this stage.
do a bit of research as there are newer models out by now, you may pick up an older model a fair bit cheaper.

Rashers72

My mother in law went up to local Aldi @ 8.30 for 9am opening. They had already given out vouchers for the TV's, so they were already gone by then.
She was trying to get 2 DVD players, but they had limited those to 1 per person, so she got one of the guys getting the TV, but not a DVD player, to get one for her.
Will let you know how I get on.

bk

Maxwell wrote:

Considered by who? People or the industry?

Im sure there are a few other companies that would have better claims to having the "best lcd's".

Samsung are near to the middle/lower end in terms of quality and performance.

Samsungs and Sonys are the top brands for LCDs in terms of quality and performance.

Toshiba and Philips of course are also up there, but they tend to be a bit more pricey for the same or less quality.

Of course if you are talking about Plasmas, then Pioneer are the undisputed top with their new 8th gen Plasmas.

This is pretty much based on the opinion of must Home Cinema geeks over on the avforums.com

Of course you can get cheap, low quality ranges from Samsung and Sony, but little beats the new Samsung LE-F86 series and the Sony D3000 range.

oleras

bk wrote:

Samsungs and Sonys are the top brands for LCDs in terms of quality and performance.

Toshiba and Philips of course are also up there, but they tend to be a bit more pricey for the same or less quality.

Of course if you are talking about Plasmas, then Pioneer are the undisputed top with their new 8th gen Plasmas.

This is pretty much based on the opinion of must Home Cinema geeks over on the avforums.com

Of course you can get cheap, low quality ranges from Samsung and Sony, but little beats the new Samsung LE-F86 series and the Sony D3000 range.

Philips up there wrt quality according to geeks ? Doubt that very much.

rick_fantastic

what about LG? one of the market leaders IMO

bk

oleras wrote:

Philips up there wrt quality according to geeks ? Doubt that very much.

Yes, the Philips 9000 series are considered excellent, but a good bit more expensive then screens from Samsung and Sony with equivalent picture quality, due to the AmbiLight technology in the Philips screens. So unless you have very deep pockets, most of the home cinema geeks generally avoid them.

rick_fantastic wrote:

what about LG? one of the market leaders IMO

LG and Philips have a joint partnership LG.Philips LCD to produce LCD panels and they are in a constant battle with Samsung for the number 1 LCD panel manufacturer position.

However to be honest must of the home cinema geeks don't really rate LG, Samsung panels are considered superior and more advanced and LG.Philips seems to have lost the battle with Samsung and is instead concentrating on building PC LCD displays rather then TV panels.

Tazz T

How's everyone finding it.

I think the HDMI connection makes for a great picture and it's very easy to setup and use.

The downside is it doesn't looik great and the tray feels very flimsy.

The biggest bummer for me is I can't get it to play RW discs recorded on another Tevion. I really didn't think that would be a problem. It might be the make of disc. Anybody know a way round this.

Sleepy

From a look at the specs Tazz T, it says that it recognises DVD+R/RW but there's no mention of DVD-R/RW (the most commonly used format when burning DVD's).

The_Conductor

craichoe wrote:

There isn't any HD offerings on Cable or Terrestrial TV at moment and there won't be for some time.

You can pick up the MPEG4 digital transmissions from 3 Rock handily enough (they are encoded though- so you'll have to use a CAM). The MPEG2 transmissions of terrestial chanels are not encoded. I believe they are still taking names for the decoder boxes

Go live (as oppossed to these test transmissions) is Aug 08.

Tazz T

Sleepy wrote:

From a look at the specs Tazz T, it says that it recognises DVD+R/RW but there's no mention of DVD-R/RW (the most commonly used format when burning DVD's).

Says it does both on the box.

I'll try a different make of DVD. (Already tried Tevion & Mr DVD) then I think I'll bring it back and pick up the Phillips.

Pity cos I love the Tevion DVD Recorder.

Tazz T

Just an update on this for anyone else who purchased. Twas indeed the discs. Wouldn't take DVDs by Mr DVD (Tesco does them) or surprisingly enough Tevion. However working perfectly with Kodak rewritables.

I'm happy, especially when I see on a different thread that Dixons' HDMI cables are more expensive than the whole package. The USB function is a reall eyeopener as well.

davidsatelle100

Tazz T if you are bringing you player back, dont i'll take it off you

couldn't get one anywhere last week

Tazz T

Sorry man. I'm keeping it now.

Rashers72

Rashers72 wrote: »

My mother in law went up to local Aldi @ 8.30 for 9am opening. They had already given out vouchers for the TV's, so they were already gone by then.
She was trying to get 2 DVD players, but they had limited those to 1 per person, so she got one of the guys getting the TV, but not a DVD player, to get one for her.
Will let you know how I get on.

The DVD player part of the player stopped working. Rang the customer services line, faxed them the receipt, and they had a new one couriered to me within the week (over bank holiday weekend). Told me to keep the old one. The new one had no remote or instructions, which would prevent others for trying it on with them (You cannot use the USB part without the remote).
Still that is some customer service. Beats any Irish company I know.