Not a terrible deal, but better alternatives exist, November 29, 2008

I bought this TV from Brandsmart USA because I was looking for a small cheap TV to put into my dorm room that had HD. Unfortunately I didnt read correctly, but this TV is only HD-Ready. That means that if you have HD through a cable box or sat. recevier, you are fine, but if you are planning on catching HD through the air… you are out of luck. Also, after searching all over the internet to find a universal remote code, I called Coby Tech support only to be told that Coby does not release codes for its products.

My TV had a small bright patch in the top of the screen when I bought it but it was so small and I had received such a good deal that I just decided to ignore it. But when I used the S Video connection, it often times would cut in and out of picture. I returned the set, and got a replacement. Same issue with the S Video Connector again! Also the front of the second TV was cosmetically imperfect. I think Coby just uses poor quality control, if any.

I just finally threw in the towel and returned the set and went with a Toshiba.

Prices are dropping so fast on these types of TVs that I would say stay away from this and get a brand name. You will spend or more, but you will be glad you did. Also, just so you know in advance. Most name brands offer 1 year warranties. Coby offers only 90 days on a TV of this size.

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Not so hot…., November 26, 2008

By 

Joseph L. James “joej” (s/e GA) – See all my reviews

  

I wanted a cheap 19″ tv for my dining area…

I got it…The tv does not have a code for programming

a universal remote for the sat box..So…you’ve got to use two (2)remotes…That’s ok if you don’t mind it..It never occurred to me that there wouldn’t be

a “code” like every other brand I ever heard of…

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Decent HDTV performance, weak in all other regards., April 26, 2009

The Coby TFTV1913 suffers from a dreadful case on inadequacy.

On the positive side, the HD TV tuner gives a clean, sharp image. The flat matte finish of the screen is wonderful at eliminating glare and looks pleasant when powered off.

The aspect ratio is not standard 16:9. It is 16:10. This makes watching widescreen movies a slight bit unsettling, as you will notice the small stretch.

The automatic TV tuner scan picks up some nice free HD channels over the air, but the majority of my digital cable channels scanned out of order or not at all. This befuddled me. For example, while one channel would be 22 anywhere else in the house, this TV picked it up as 28. 22 was a completely different channel.

Standard definition TV comes across quite poorly, even for an LCD TV and is in stark contrast to the great HD it can provide. I have a strong digital cable signal, and broadcasts just looked blocky, pixellated and full of random noise. When I replaced the Coby with a different brand and model, SDTV came across just fine.

The component input behaved very strangely as well. I may have had a defective set (in fact I know I did because it shipped with a dead pixel left center), but component came across almost as poorly as SDTV. I tested it with a PS2 game, DVD via PS2, Xbox 360 game and DVD via 360. All DVDs played back much darker and I had to adjust the contrast/brightness to accommodate the change. The PS2 game looked absolutely atrocious. The 360 game I tested was a 720p title and looked little better than it did on a standard CRT TV (yes the AV cord was set to HD)! To top it all off the sound volume was unreliable. At times it would be very loud for a DVD menu and then quiet for the movie. In games, cutscenes would be very quiet but gameplay loud. I couldn’t account for this problem at all.

Also worth mentioning is the lack of HDMI input, but since this TV is only 1080i and cannot process 1080p signal, the missing HDMI is no surprise.

As a PC monitor, forget this. At 19″, the native resolution is 1440×900; a resolution many graphic adapters (Intel 845, 852 etc.) don’t normally support. In the event you are forced to use a lower resolution (1280×1024), the image becomes more than a little blurry/fuzzy. I found myself straining to read text, even after tweaking refresh rates and ClearType prefs. If you use a smaller font, black text will appear slightly purple/blue against a white background.

Combined with the other visual issues already mentioned, this TV/monitor is just horrible.

For use as a TV, pick up something a little more expensive with much better visual quality and far less issues.

For use as a dedicated PC monitor, avoid it. You can easily find a decent 20″ LCD for around the same cost, and add a digital TV tuner yourself.

For use as both monitor and TV tuner, it does the job… but very poorly.

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