Hikona TC1400 > Reviews > Chop Chop, Flick Flick

Author's product rating:   

Picture Playback	Satisfactory
Sound Quality	Good
Ease of Use	Simple
Range of Features	Limited
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Cheap, Easy To Configure, Portable, Great Kitchen TV
Disadvantages:	A Little Small, Not Flat Screen, Limited Navigability On DVD Menu

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I spend one hell of a lot of time in the kitchen, and in my old apartment it was well and truly separated from any form of media interaction.

I decided that I would get a small TV for the kitchen, although being a lowly IT Consultant I couldn't really afford one of those wall mounted flat screens and due to the irepressible nature of the dirge on terrestrial TV I decided that I needed one with a DVD player built in so that I could just stick on a film or Stand Up comedian and cook away happily listening to that in the background whilst I conjured up some meal for The Blonde and I.

I found this Hikona TV in Tesco's of all places at £79.99. Now, I'm not quite sure where else to purchase this, but Ciao very helpfully tells me that you can buy it online from Ebay and it has been rated by 546 people. I think that it is likely that Tesco were offered these by a wholesaler for a decent price and wanted to shift them quickly as a one off. It seems like they are doing that more and more with electrical items.

Anyhow, the first thing that drew me to this item was the fact that I could fit it into my trolley with ease. No seriously, it did! What I actually meant to say here in the spirit of good review writing was that the unit isn't at all heavy and easy to move around.

I also liked the in built DVD player, and was delighted with the quality of the tray mechanism as I often find on cheaper units that you feel that you can break the drawer by putting the dvd in it. The only thing that disappointed me on this front was the fact that you have to actively press the DVD button to get it to recognise the drive and also, you can't flick between DVD and TV without the DVD resetting. 3 hours into the features of LOTR taught me that one. Funnily enough, The Blonde learnt a new swearword that day!

To be perfectly honest, this little unit merely does what it says on the tin, and at £79.99, you can't really blame it. If you are looking for a top of the line, flat screen, thin tube tv with all the bells whistles and features, then you are deluding yourself if you buy this one.

It doesn't have clever things like DVI inputs (although why you would plug a monitor into a TV is beyond me *grin*) and it doesn't have digital tuners. Hell, it doesn't even have a particularly high energy rating or energy saving feature. It's a budget TV.

The programme channels are very simple to install, although the aeriel isn't particularly strong, so an external £10.99 one is probably in order to get crystal clear pictures.

The remote is a little wieldy but contains the controls for both the DVD player and the TV. The buttons are a little confusing for moving chapters and alikes but the battery life is excellent. You also get about 3 extra days every time you take the back off and rub the batteries!

I have it sat on a shelf at eye level in the kitchen and it copes admirably with the steam and heat that I put out (Both from the food and verbally when it goes wrong), although I am sure that this will shorten its lifespan somewhat.

It will fit perfectly in a small childs bedroom, kitchen or study, although it would be far too small for anywhere else, and potentially too small for one of those big country style kitchen that I dream of.

So, the moral of the story is that this TV is perfect for a small area, where you don't need bells and whistles and are a little bit scared of just what happens if you do press the Red Button and you don't have a huge budget to spend. Buy this one.

Oh, and you can throw a raw potato at it without damaging it.