Best Buy Lcd HDTV Blog

What you need to know
Though I don't watch TV, I bought this unit as a gift for my wife who does and who wanted a receiver in the kitchen. Since we have limited space this unit is ideal. Though the instruction manual is deficient, the on-screen menus are mostly intuitive. Picture and sound quality are good for a unit of this size. Before you buy, here is what you need to know:

Unless you a located within a few miles of the transmitter, the supplied telescopic omni-directional antenna is entirely inadequate. I couldn't get anything except badly degraded reception of NTSC signals off air. Digital HD signals are broadcast on a different frequency band. I had to buy an antenna designed for optimum reception of HD; even then, weaker signals caused the otherwise excellent HD pictures and sound to pixillate and distort. For off air HD reception, expect to pay another to for an antenna designed to receive HD digital transmissions.

In the end, I decided that my wife would be unhappy with the limited choices of off-air broadcasts and so I installed a signal splitter in the cable company's signal feed to her other television and connected the Haier HLT71 to the second output from the splitter.

Connecting the supplied rechargeable battery is fiddly. Be careful inserting the small white two-pin connector and use a wooden or plastic probe to push the connector home. The battery is a tight fit. Connect the power pack to the wall power outlet and insert the round connector into the left side of the unit. Slide the switch on the left side to "ON"; the remote control has no effect until this switch is in the "ON" position.

Once everything is connected, use the remote control to display the on-screen menu. Use the direction keys to select the satellite dish and then use the down-arrow key to select the ANTENNA option; select either AIR or CATV, depending on where you are getting your signal. Use the down-arrow key to select SCAN and initiate the scan sequence with the right-arrow key. With CATV, cable, you should only have to scan once. With AIR, you will likely need to rescan from time to time, especially if you move the antenna around. I noticed that the found-channel counter rolled over from 256 to 1 while scanning CATV, telling me that there is only an 8-bit counter for this function.

Finally, if you are using cable, the standard RG6 coaxial cable is stiff and unwieldy. I bought GE brand ultra thin video cable from Home Depot, Pt. No. AV23278, and used it to connect the unit to the RG6 cable via a female-to-female splice. It is a much better solution and the cable easily concealed.

Overall the Haier HLT71 appears to be a good television, as long as you are prepared to spend more money and effort to get the best performance. It can deliver stereo sound. It comes with a power adapter for the car, as well as an A/V cable with RCA plugs on each end for connection to your component entertainment system; you can select the A/V source from the remote control. It has a flip-out stand to keep it upright on a flat surface and there is a camera tripod mounting hole on the lower edge of the unit.

Enjoy!

Disappointed
TV has the same issues as mentioned earlier by another reviewer--It will not retain the stations in memory when it is turned off. Have to go through the auto scan process each time it is turned on. Since I and at least one other person have experienced the aame failure, it appears there may be a bad batch out there. I will return mine and wait til a quality manufacturer comes out with a reliable 7 inch portable.

Picture quality was suspect also. There is very little detail in the picture and the black level could not be adjusted to improve it. Anything black had no detail unless you turn up the brightness and them the picture is washed out. Sound is ok. Remote is very good.

The tuner found 35 stations in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. I am using an outdoor antenna since I am about 45 miles from the broadcast tower. I did not try it with any other type of antenna since I was planning on using it in the bathroom and attached to the out door antenna.

I would probably have kept it if it had not had the tuner/memory problem.

TV Loses Memory Settings
I wanted to like this TV because no one else makes anything else like it. However, after programming the channels and setting the picture options, whenever the TV was turned off and back on, the TV would lose all programmed channels and settings and display the error message "Database Not Found" or something similar. Then the channels and settings would all have to be reprogrammed. Kind of annoying. I returned the TV as a result, but didn't order a replacement since I wasn't sure another unit wouldn't have the same problem. As far as the reception, the unit picked up HDTV signals fine when connected to the house antenna. Don't expect to get very good reception unless you hook up to an external antenna. As far as the picture quality, the picture was bright, but the pixel density was not very high, and the contrast was poor. No where near the quality of a decent HDTV in your home. But for the price, I could probably live with the picture quality. I will be waiting until Sony or Panasonic comes out with a similar product that actually works, with a decent screen. Sony already has a portable DVD player with a good screen, they just need to take it and add an HD tuner.

Nice picture, weak tuner
I bought this to replace my old battery 5" CRT emergency TV. My hope was that I could somehow get a local digital channel which would play on it without power, using a rabbit ears. I managed to get it to do that. With the supplied antenna, though I live in a major metropolitan area about 8 miles east of the city and 17 miles northeast of most of the transmitters, I can get no digital signals, and a half dozen or so analog, all fuzzy. With something like the TERK HD rabbit ears, with the power turned off to it, I can get one or two local digitals (but NOT the one station I wanted to get). So, I can say it passed the emergency test.

On the other hand, the picture is outstanding and near HD, comparable to one of those portable wide screen DVD players. Playing time seems fairly robust, too, plus it has a car connector.

I give it a couple of negatives for not having an apparent real time on-screen signal strength meter, so you have no way of aiming the antenna easily. The included antenna does not telescope inside the case for easy storage, either. And you cannot just tune to some arbitrary station. There has to be enough signal for the AUTOSCAN to pick up a trace. So if you autoscan with the supplied antenna, it can find very few channels. Best thing to do is hook it up to the best antenna you can find somewhere and then autoscan, then take it home and see if you can tune in a signal there.

I'm also hoping after February 2009 that once every station is up to full digital power and on their permanent assigned frequencies this unit will work much better.

Nice, but........
This is no doubt a good value, but be aware that digital signals are inherently 'weak' in that they require lots of power for transmission. And at this time (pre-digital switch over) most digital signals are not strong enough to carry more than a few miles. So... if like me you live more than 20 miles away from the nearest transmitting tower, you won't get any digital reception. And the analog reception on this set is about the same (or a little worse) than a cheap analog portable - I get the same one station that my old set gets. Reception is enhanced by using a better set of 'rabbit ears' especially one that has a 'booster' that you plug in. But that eliminates the main use for a tv like this - to watch while traveling or camping. I'll keep mine and hope that stations boost their signals post-switch over. If I had it to do over again, though I would have waited until then and read the reviews.

Visibly better than Samsung LN46A650
We bought the Samsung LN55A950 and the LN46A650 at the same time - one for the family room and the other for the bedroom. Side-by-side, the difference is very noticeable. Even though I set the image parameters the same on both sets, the colors on the 950 are definitely more vivid. You need not be a videophile to see the difference. Even when I view the 650 by itself in our bedroom, I can tell the subtle difference. It's still a great picture, but it just lacks the "pop" of the 950. Also, when viewing the two sets in total darkness but still powered-up and in the absence of any video signal, the 650 screen is a dark navy or gray, while the 950 is nearly (but not entirely) invisible. Granted, no one ever watches a blank screen in the dark - but there really is a difference in the black levels between these sets.

Both sets have the "glossy" screen, but to my delight and great relief, they pose absolutely no problem whatsoever. Both our sets are located in rooms with windows and overhead lighting. Can I see any reflections? Sure, if you look hard, you can see them - as I could on my old CRT TV. Before I turned-on the sets, my wife commented on the reflections, but no one has ever commented about reflections when the set is on.

As other reviewers have noted for the 650, the 950 also takes 3-4 seconds to pick-up the video signal on start-up. Images do not instantaneously appear as soon as you turn-on the set. This is a very minor issue.

I looked over the games, recipes, and other content that you can access with the 950. I actually found a good recipe for beef kabobs, but the material is mostly forgettable and this content would not be a deciding factor in my purchase.

I paid 00 for the 55" 950 and 00 for the 46" 650. Is it worth the difference? Of course, the screen sizes are quite different, but if I were to do it again, adjusting for the different sizes, would I pay 00 - 00 more for the better picture? Hmmm, that's a tough one. If you can afford it, I would go for the 950. The 950 made our holiday houseguests all wonder what was so different between our HDTV setup and theirs. That satisfaction is certainly worth something. However, I would definitely be very happy with the 650 and if I had not seen the 950 first, I would not be dissatisfied or wanting in the least.

55 inches of amazingness
This TV is amazing. The picture is near perfect and it has the darkest blacks I have ever seen on any television. I watched The Dark Knight on Blu Ray and I was blown away by the performance of this TV compared to my old Sony LCD. One of the main complaints I have is the 120hz feature. Thankfully you can turn it off. It makes everything look fake and ruins the viewing experience. After the first couple of minutes of The Dark Knight I had no choice but to turn the feature off.

Though on the expensive side, the TV is worth every single penny. You will not be disappointed.

Update: After doing some research and monkeying around with the settings, it should be known that the 120hz feature is not what ruins the viewing experience. 120hz TV's will always play content in 120hz, and it practically eliminates motion blur. What ruins the viewing experience is Samsung's "Auto Motion Plus" feature. This is the feature that I recommend turning off. Some people like it, some people don't. I personally am not a fan of the feature. Here is a more in depth description of the way 120hz TV's work.

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-13973_102-0.html?forumID=146&threadID=312626&messageID=2884506

I have owned the TV for a few weeks now and am still loving every minute of it. The TV is beautiful. I have found myself pausing while walking through the living room and starring at the TV even when it is off. Once again, you will not be disappointed.

Great New Generation LED Backlight LCD HDTV!

I've had this for a month now. I also bought the Samsung BD-P1500 with it. I love both units. I connected them to my Sony HT-CT100 soundbar and I am perfectly happy with the sound. Yes, I know the soundbar does not do HD sound,etc,.. but I don't care because the soundbar is quite slick with the TV. Plus, it does what I want it to do so no complaint.

As for the TV. The picture is so crisp and clear and the black level really black that it took a while to get used to watching it. I have a DirecTV HD DVR attached to it too via HDMI and it is an entirely different level of watching TV. The images look so "real" as my daughter said.

I know the TV can do a lot of other things if you attach it to the internet. But, I bought it really for just watching HD TV and movies. So, I was/am not that concern about its other functions.

Right now, DirecTV just upgraded my DVR to 1080p, so I can't wait to see any program or shows in 1080p. But the 1080i resolution is great as it is. So, no complaint in there either.

BTW, the upconversion from the BD-P1500 looks great too. Also, make sure you use HDMI 1.3b cables. I got mine here from BargainCell for < each.