Sonix 26" LCD TV - £499 at Sainsburys

loz

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My local sainsburys has a "special purchase" of these.

Specs on the box are scant. A search on the web reveals nothing.

Anyone any idea what the specs are, or more importantly how it performs?

It looks a bit similar to the goodmans at comet in that the speakers run underneath, but £200 cheaper.

Does this qualify as the cheapest 26" LCD out there at the moment?

specs on the box (from memory)
contrast 500:1
Brightness 500nits
2 Scart
Nicam
And that was all.
Confusingly the model number in very small print was LM27 or something (perhaps its a 27" in the box....)
 
I went to a larger local Sainsburys and they had one set up working.

I was very impressed for the price - so I bought one :)

The specs in the manual are a little difference to those on the box (so which do you believe???)

In the manual the specs are
luminance - 600cd/m2 (box says 500)
contrast - 600:1 (box says 500)
Res - 1280x768
no mention of response times

A good range of inputs consist of
RF
Scart x2 - though it lists these as composite, and says nothing about RGB - but they do support RGB
DVI - no doubt prompting questions of does it support HDCP :)
PC RGB/VGA
Component
S-video

It has PIP, but only a single tuner - but you can watch a DVD and monitor a TV channel

The manual has nothing about the TV functionality :thumbsdow - e.g. what everything on the remote actually does - no guide to RF channel set up, or any other set up options. But it isn't to hard to follow the OSD.
All it shows is how to connect up different devices

I have tried it on RF and a DVD via RGB.

I consider the picture quality to be very good for the price - no noticable problems with refresh rates or smearing.

My bet it is probably the same panel as the other low cost 26" LCDs around like Acer, and goodmans, and various obscure makes in dixons, etc.
Except this is £150 cheaper

Even better, my son works there on saturdays, so I got it for £450 :D

FYI, the manual also applies to a 32" model. Wonder if Sainsburys will have that at a similar bargain price
 
here's a couple of images
First is Sky via an RF feed (I distribute round the house)
2nd from a DVD (just using a the free DVD player from Daily Mail that I had to hand)
 

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I'd say thats exactly the same spec and panel as the LV26C Video 7 model and cheaper to boot.

I'm almost tempted to get one for myself for 18 mths then move it into another room when LCD has improved or SED is out or something.

If it is the V7 panel then its not HDCP compliant.

Not bad though.
 
In my case it was just for the breakfast room, so I wasn't looking for PQ perfection. So price was the major factor
 
loz

Any chance you could hook a PC upto the screen and let me know what the quality is like for surfing the web/watching quicktime movie trailers is like?

At this price I'm deffo tempted to purchase one as a replacement for my 19" CRT monitor.

Thanks.

Cheekster.
 
Cheekster said:
loz

Any chance you could hook a PC upto the screen and let me know what the quality is like for surfing the web/watching quicktime movie trailers is like?

will do - but it might be next week before I have a chance.
 
Cheers matey.

Much appreciated. I look forward to reading your comments...

Cheekster.
 
Ioz, you're in the Thames Valley right ? any clues/hints as to which Sainsburys has these TVs ?

Thanks,
Mr Sparkle
 
Bagshot road, Bracknell has them in stock.
Watchmore Park, Camberley also has them working on display
 
Thanks!

I take it that (for the price) you are generally impressed with what you have got ?

I may take a spur of the moment plunge....

Mr Sparkle
 
Mr Sparkle said:
Thanks!

I take it that (for the price) you are generally impressed with what you have got ?

Absolutely - for the price.

Though note I wasn't looking at this as my main tv - it was for the breakfast room/kitchen - no doubt people looking at it as the basis for their home cinema might find some flaws that justify spending twice as much.

I can't contrast them side by side, but my guess is this is the same sort of quality as the various £600-699 26" models out there from Acer, Goodmans, dixons, etc - but not quite as good as the £750-£899 models from Toshiba, LG, Samsumg, etc
 
I'm replacing a 14" CRT in the bedroom so a high end, high quality TV for home cinema is not was is needed.....just sthg that shows the pictures. Have a wireless RF feed as the source so am prepared to accept 'less than perfect' image quality (within reason).

Currently have a 17" JVC iDTV on order but for less than £500 the 26" could be a no brainer.

A little lunchtime trip is in order.

Not sure if a 26" TV in the bedroom would meet with WAF though...hmmmm...a features vs benefits sales pitch could be in order.....

Mr Sparkle
 
Funny enough, I am probably going to buy a second one for the bedroom too.

In both cases they have/would replace existing 14" CTRs - that stalwart of 2nd TVs :)

I plan on now putting a couple of Sky boxes (can't get DTT) in those rooms just for the FTV/FTA channels to provide a higher quality feed - and to allow a bit of freedom instead of everyone argueing over whats on Sky
 
Gulp! I now have a new toy to play with this weekend!!

For a 26" LCD, for the money, it seems like an easy decision to make for a second TV.

The demo at Camberley was only being fed by an RF input so the picture/image wasn't great. I think the full range of connectivity (DVI and Component) at this price level is a definite bonus.

Will follow up with a brief review after I've had time to plug and play :)

The 17" has been cancelled (hope I don't regret it).

Mr Sparkle
 
Have fun setting it up without a instruction manual!!! thought the OSD isnt too hard to follow.
One cryptic thing in the tuning part is System - this needs to be set to I

Also I found the auto tune seemed a bit hit and miss - it wouldn't pick up BBC1 or 2, which are my strongest signals. But it was quick to just punch the channel numbers in manually with the keypad. and easy to name them (if it didnt pick it up from text) and move around in positions.

I found I needed to play around with the "custom" setting for picture, as non of the other presets seemed best to my eye.
I also found the standard audio settings were very thin sound to me - but a quick adjust of the graphic equalizer fixed it - bit more bass, bit less treble.
 
Gav_2000 said:
It looks very much like this set as pointed out above;

Yep - that is identical.

Bit of a bargain at £499 and you can pick it up at your local supermarket
 
Interesting.....

The Sonix 26" manual (without any TV tuning info whatsoever...) refers to the 'LB2600' spec:

External dimensions: 662 x 510 x 102 mm
Active Area: 566.4 mm x 339.84 mm
Weight: 17.9 kg (didn't feel that heavy?)
Power Consumption: 152W

Videoseven V7 LTV26C spec:
External dimensions: 662 x 510 x 102 mm (without stand)
Active Area: 566.4 mm x 339.8 mm
Weight: 11.3 kg without stand, 13.8 kg incl. stand
Power Consumption: <125W

Many other identical specs though some anomalies. These two devices may use the same plastics and TFT panel and potentially be manufactured by the same OEM box builder. In theory just different badges.

Does anyone have a V7 LTV26C manual in PDF format for the TV tuning section ?

Thanks,
Mr Sparkle
 
Mr Sparkle said:
Does anyone have a V7 LTV26C manual in PDF format for the TV tuning section ?

Thanks,
Mr Sparkle

There was no tuning section in my manual either and I haven't been able to find one on the Internet. It isn't difficult to figure out though.
 
OK!

I found a link to the Video7 pdf manual on another thread and it is identical to the manual shipped with the Sonix 26". No TV tuner info.

I'm sure I'll work it out.

Thanks,

Mr Sparkle
 
Do you know if they can be wall mounted?
 
I'm pretty sure it has a standard VESA 100 mounting on the rear panel (I did check earlier) so any VESA 100 compatible mount should do the job. That's what I'll be using.

Hope that helps.

Mr Sparkle
 
FYI,

VGA resolutions seems to be 1028x768

Haven't had an opportunity to try DVI as my laptop is VGA only. So it would mean taking my desktop to the display or vice versa.

However, looks a nice picture, albeit a bit stretched

I will connect up to network later and snap a pic or two of web browsing
 
Thanks for your help. Looks like a good deal. Interested in one for my daughter but need to wall mount as no space elsewhere - teenager's bedroom!

Steve :)
 

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