But even among the big names in the flat
panel display industry, there are some brands that offer the same technology at
considerably lower prices. The Japanese electronics company, Toshiba is one of
them with their HV10 series of LCD TVs.
Priced at around 9,000php (for the 24-inch model) or around $210, the
HV10 LCD TV from Toshiba offers consumers a very sweet deal to satisfy their
video watching needs. But does the lowered price tag also translate to a lower
quality product?
Here’s a quick review of the Toshiba 24HV10
LCD TV to give us some idea of how it stacks up in the real world.
Out
of the Box. Toshiba has made the packaging of
the HV10 as simple as it can get. Aside from the actual TV unit, the only
things that you’ll get are an aerial adaptor for connecting an antenna or cable
source, the metal stand with 2 screws, a power cable, the TV’s remote control,
a pair of AAA batteries to power the remote control, and of course the usual
bunch of paper work that includes the owner’s manual.
External
Tour. The external features of the 24HV10 are
typical of most LCD TVs in the market today. The front of the display is
occupied by the 24-inch screen. The screen is surrounded by a bezel in shiny
piano black colour. The lower portion of the bezel is where the company
branding and LED power indicator are located. And further below that is where
the 2 speakers are installed.
The entire left side of the device is
empty, while the right side of the TV is where you will find the power button
as well as the up and down buttons for changing the channels and for increasing
or decreasing the volume. If you take a look at the back of the TV set, you
will see all the usual Audio and Video ports, the aerial port, the power port,
and surprisingly enough an HDMI port. There are also holes at the back which
are used in case you want to hang the TV on the wall.
Compared to brands like Samsung or Sony,
the Toshiba 24HV10 looks a little thicker and less dense. Tapping on the back
of the TV set gives of a hollow sound, and together with its 4.5kg weight, the
24HV10 certainly doesn’t exude a premium and high quality feel.
Lastly, the TV set doesn’t have a moveable
base. It cannot swivel or tilt, so viewing angle adjustments will be much
restricted in contrast to other TVs with adjustable stands.
Video
Quality. The 24HV10 model that I have has a
native resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. And as such, it is supposed to deliver
images that are clear, crisp and detailed. This however, will depend on the
quality of the video source. For example, when I connected our cable TV, I
found out that some channels look better than other channels.
Furthermore, I noticed that when using
cable signals as a source there is a certain viewing distance where images look
the best. And if you try to watch from a point less than this distance would
pixelate the images on the screen. There’s also a noise reduction feature you
can activate to help improve image quality but it really doesn’t make much of
difference except in removing that grainy texture in images.
Audio
Quality. In terms of sound quality, the 24HV10
offers above average performance. The two 42x75mm speakers are very loud and
produces around 73-75dB of sound at 22% volume level. The sound is also clear
and there is an option for users to adjust bass and treble levels. Users can
also tweak the output balance between the two speakers in the sound menu.
Other
Things to take Note. Aside from audio and video quality, it’s also
good to take note of important features present or not present in the TV set.
For starters, the auto channel tuning feature of the TV is a little bit off. I
am not sure how Toshiba has wired their LCD TVs in automatically capturing TV
signals but compared to our Sharp TV, the 24HV10 wasn’t able to save all our
cable channels properly. Hence, it can be quite a trouble to setup and program
all the channels in their proper order.
On a similar note, the manual tuning
feature of the TV is quite handy. You can assign names to some or even all of
your channels, which is useful especially if you haven’t memorized all the
channels that your cable operator provides.
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| Remote with Owner's Manual |
Lastly, the remote of the HV10 series is
pretty small and light, so you might want to take extra care not to break it or
worse lose it. Furthermore, the remote control is the only way for users to
change the video source of the TV as the controls in the right panel of the
device only has buttons for power and for changing the channel and volume of
the TV set. So if ever the remote is lost or gets broken, there will be no way
to switch between using the TV for watching local cable/TV channels, playing
DVD and Blur-ray discs or using other A/V components.
Conclusion.
The competition in the flat panel display
industry is now as tough as ever. The rise of newer technologies like LED’s and
with the market being mostly dominated by the big three of the LCD TV industry
– Sony, LG and Samsung, smaller and lesser known brands like Toshiba with its
HV10 series is bringing in cheaper alternatives for the budget conscious consumers.
To sum it all up, the 24HV10 is a fine
investment if you’re looking for that LCD TV without digging deep in your
wallet. Although far from being perfect, it does what it’s supposed to do
without having any hiccups. There are some rough patches though, like the
confusing auto tuning feature, the missing video source button on the TV set,
and the not so premium build quality.
But with a price tag of roughly 9,000PHP,
the 24HV10 is not just a deal, it’s an excellent bargain!
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