I was looking for my first widescreen television and, after a very poor experience with a Toshiba from Comet which eventually went back for a full refund, I settled on this television from Powerhouse.
I am no expert and I had not got a lot of money to spend. My criteria were that it had to be 28" (because I did not fancy peering at a screen that was less tall than my old standard shape television) it had to be stereo, it had to be affordable (i.e., around £300) and, ideally, it had to sound good.
The Sanyo came at the right price (though a stand was an extra £40) and, to my mind at least, looks very smart. It is not a flat screen, but it looks like one and only close up examination reveals that it is not. The way the television fits together with the stand is very pleasing visually and not difficult physically. I had to assemble the stand myself but it was easy and everything fitted where it should easily.
Initial set up of the set was strainght forward - the hardest part was sorting out the various power cables, scart leads and co-ax for the TV, video and freeview box, lots of checking backwards and forwards between the back of the kit and the instruction books! Joking apart, this was tricky by virtue of the fact that, as appears to commonly be the case with large TVs, the stand is immovable once the TV is in situ and getting around behind it to do all the connections is not easy unless you are a small child. Come to think of it, since I have two, why did I not get them to do it for me - they probably would not have needed diagrams either!
The stand has two shelves, not something you get with all makes, especially at this price and a silver finish to match the TV. It is made of wood and metal.
Switching on produces a rather surprising "twang".
One of my criteria was sound quality. It is not brilliant - rather light weight, though by no means as light and tinny as the Toshiba. there is a "bass expander" which does improve the effect but not impressively so. There is also Sanyo's version of virtual dolby - "active 3D" which again produces a noticeable effect and which is actually quite good.
It seems to me that manufacturers concentrate on the picture quality but tend to overlook the sound. Even many higher priced and different makes seemed rather poor to me (and, as a musician, like to think I know a thing or two about sound!). I get round this by using the audio output of the TV to connect to my hi-fi system when I'm watching anything where I want good sound quality.
Shame about the sound but overall I am very pleased with the TV which has good picture, good looks, Teletext and does the job for which it was bought.
Nov 3rd, 2003
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