Bush 1478T 14 inch Portable Colour Television

...decided on a replacement, the Bush 1478T 14" colour TV. Aren't we heartless ? the deceased hadn't even been taken to the tip and we'd already decided on a replacement.

So replacement decided upon, I went on-line to check if our local branch of Argos had it in stock so as not to waste a journey. Now here's a little tip if you're a member of Mutual Points, log onto their website www.mutualpoints.com first, then click on the Argos ...
...under £70 the Bush 1478 T has proved to be a winner in my opinion. The few negative points it has are far outweighed by it's positives.

Well worth buying and definitely brighter than any of the Bush's seen on TV
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It is with great sadness that I announce the death of our old portable television. For many a year she resided on the chest of drawers in the bedroom giving much enjoyment and pleasure to all those who watched her. Her passing away in early April, was a day of much sadness for all of five minutes, until Mrs scampi declared "The TV in the bedroom is knackered, where's the Argos catalogue ?". So after trolling through the consumer bible (aka the Argos catalogue) we decided on a replacement, the Bush 1478T 14" colour TV. Aren't we heartless ? the deceased hadn't even been taken to the tip and we'd already decided on a replacement.

So replacement decided upon, I went on-line to check if our local branch of Argos had it in stock so as not to waste a journey. Now here's a little tip if you're a member of Mutual Points, log onto their website www.mutualpoints.com first, then click on the Argos link and reserve your item for store pick up (unless you want it delivered). This way you'll get the mutual points awarded to your account, even though you're technically buying the product from a branch. Incidentally the TV cost £69.99 from Argos, which was a discount of £20 from its previous selling price.

Right you're probably tempted to start skimming this review already so I'll get on with it.

IS SHE A LOOKER ?

Well the new resident of the bedroom chest of drawers is a bit of a sassy lassy with a classy silver chassis. Yep she's a silver lady with the screen dominating most of her front profile with only five buttons for company, two volume buttons, two programme / channel buttons and an on/off switch.

GETING STARTED AND TUNING IN

This was very very simple. The TV has an auto tune in facility which is fully explained in the step by step guide in the instruction manual. Basically once the TV has been connected to mains electricity and an aerial, it has a facility to auto tune itself with very little human intervention. In other words it automatically finds the best signal for each TV station, these are then simply stored in the TV's memory. I managed this without too much drama, so all you technophobes out there shouldn't have any concerns.

PICTURE AND SOUND

For a small TV (14" or 34cm visible screen) the picture is remarkably good. Fortunately we have a connection to the house's main aerial in the bedroom, which probably helps. Even the notorious Channel 5 has a good picture. In the interests of giving a balanced review I've tried the TV for a night without the main aerial connection, and instead used the 'wire coathanger style' loop aerial supplied with the set. The picture quality hardly suffers, although BBC2 and Channel 5 do have a slight decline in quality. Sound quality is reasonable when you consider the size of the television and I didn't notice any discernable difference between the main and loop aerial vis-a-vis sound.

REMOTE CONTROL

A remote control is included with this television, which runs with the assistance of two AAA batteries (included). It's basically your bog standard remote with all the usual buttons you'd expect. It's quite responsive, if not a little on the large side, but adequate enough.

OK SO YOU CAN WATCH THE SOAPS BUT WHAT ELSE DOES IT DO ?

Any number of things really. The TV has one Scart socket at the rear which enables you to use it with a VCR, DVD Player or games console. I've tried it with the latter two and it's proved more than adequate. Teletext is also included with this TV, which is a godsend for a sports fanatic like me. Fast text is also present which enables you to access a particular text page without having to type in its number, instead you use the red, green, yellow and blue buttons on the remote control. I have found though that teletext is not so good if you try to access it when the TV is connected to the wire loop aerial as opposed to a main aerial. For example I recently viewed a football score that said ewcas le Uni ed 2 helsea 1, which became Newcastle United 2 Cheelsea 1 when connected to the main aerial (sorry Jill).

Other features include a sleep timer, the ability to store upto 100 channels, sound mute and a facility whereby the TV switches itself to stand-by after five minutes if no signal is found.

THE INSTRUCTIONS

As TV's go these instructions aren't bad at all. They're clear and concise and very easy to follow. Any jargon used is kept to a minimum, and as I've already stated even the most avid technophobe could follow them.

IS IT TOUGH ?

Well I haven't dropped it or anything so i couldn't possibly say. It seems a pretty robust model though. My son has though trodden on the remote control and it seems to have survived the experience.

ANY GRIPES ?

Only a couple of minor ones really. I've noticed that the on/off switch can be a little bit sticky and sometimes needs pressing twice before it registers. Also when first switching the TV on it remains on standby until, a channel is selected via the remote or the channel buttons on the TV itself. Also response to the remote control can be a little sluggish at times.

SUMMARY

For a price of a little under £70 the Bush 1478 T has proved to be a winner in my opinion. The few negative points it has are far outweighed by it's positives.

Well worth buying and definitely brighter than any of the Bush's seen on TV
 

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