VIVO TVs from DickSmith

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#713114 6-Nov-2012 19:46

Also the cheap ones switch the HDMI input rather than keeping them all active at once, so when you switch away from your PC to something else the PC sees that the screen has disconnected which is a total pain.

Richard rich.ms

Dunnersfella

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#713115 6-Nov-2012 19:47

I doubt you'll see name brand 32" TV's going under $300 at XMas... there's stuff all name brand 32" TV's left on store shelves right now by the looks of things. Sony / LG / Samsung etc seem to be moving away from the non-profitable consumable crap, and towards the higher end blingy TV's so they can return to turning a profit in their TV divisions.
I'm picking everyone will have a Vivo / Konka / Thomson for under 300 bucks though (but not far under, they will only want to lose so much money...).

Oh yeah, one thing to add for the OP.
Take a look at how easy the TV is to wall mount, not all of the budget brands will be able to handle a VESA pattern wall mount.

richms

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#713131 6-Nov-2012 20:10

And the orientation and direction of any connectors on it. A friends cheapie has the HDMIs striaght out the back so you have to make a carefully aligned hole in the wall to take it to use a mount that doesnt have about 60mm of gap behind the tv.

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Daaza

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#722646 25-Nov-2012 18:19

I've got one of the 31.5" Vivos. They almost are the same as the AKAIs that the warehouse sell and I'm fairly certain they are the same hardware as the 32" Veons. Different looking firmware, outer shell and remote though. 3 HDMIs, 2 bottom entry, one left side. Headphone output, USB(bottom entry).

The picture quality is pretty decent, it has played most of the video files I've put thru it, 1080p MKVs, VOB files, full BR rips. Though it doesn't seamlessly span VOBs or support DVD menus, and I've had the occasional ungraceful crash, which requires you to turn off and on the TV. It can read both Fat32 and NTFS formatted drives.

Sound is ok for an LCD TV, it has downfiring speakers of a larger size than some other slim line TVs, so not quite so anaemic on the bass. Supports a good number of resolutions through the VGA port when plugged up to a computer. Haven't used the component or composite inputs so don't know if there are any problems with them. HDMI works fine.

Startup time is a bit slow, 5 secs before you get the logo, then maybe another 5 till you get the tuner.
It has an independent analog and digital tuner, not that that matters to most people.

I did have one issue with the remote, but I think the battery holder might be a bit too tight and can hold the batteries off the circuit.

I haven't tried the PVR function yet, so can't comment on that.

All in all a lot of features for a bargain basement price. You might want to look at the Veon's instead, as they look nicer IMO (gloss look), psudeo-samsung remote layout and firmware. Also they come with a 3 year warranty. Also the are the same price of $399 at the moment

NonprayingMantis

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#722668 25-Nov-2012 19:25

Daaza: I've got one of the 31.5" Vivos. They almost are the same as the AKAIs that the warehouse sell and I'm fairly certain they are the same hardware as the 32" Veons. Different looking firmware, outer shell and remote though. 3 HDMIs, 2 bottom entry, one left side. Headphone output, USB(bottom entry).

The picture quality is pretty decent, it has played most of the video files I've put thru it, 1080p MKVs, VOB files, full BR rips. Though it doesn't seamlessly span VOBs or support DVD menus, and I've had the occasional ungraceful crash, which requires you to turn off and on the TV. It can read both Fat32 and NTFS formatted drives.

Sound is ok for an LCD TV, it has downfiring speakers of a larger size than some other slim line TVs, so not quite so anaemic on the bass. Supports a good number of resolutions through the VGA port when plugged up to a computer. Haven't used the component or composite inputs so don't know if there are any problems with them. HDMI works fine.

Startup time is a bit slow, 5 secs before you get the logo, then maybe another 5 till you get the tuner.
It has an independent analog and digital tuner, not that that matters to most people.

I did have one issue with the remote, but I think the battery holder might be a bit too tight and can hold the batteries off the circuit.

I haven't tried the PVR function yet, so can't comment on that.

All in all a lot of features for a bargain basement price. You might want to look at the Veon's instead, as they look nicer IMO (gloss look), psudeo-samsung remote layout and firmware. Also they come with a 3 year warranty. Also the are the same price of $399 at the moment

The dse website says 'digital tuner'. I assume that means freeview with the epg etc ( so I won't need a set top box for freeview). It seems odd not to mention freeview specifically.

Also, that is pretty good about it playing ntfs files. My Sony TV only plays fat32 which is very annoying as it limits file size to 4gb meaning no full hd, and it doesn't play lots of different file types either. No mkv for example.

Daaza

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#722671 25-Nov-2012 19:50

Yes it does do freeview, it has both analog and digital tuners. It's just slow switch from one from the other, if you have any channels that you can only get over analog in your region, though come April that will be a moot point.

It even supported my drives that have multiple partitions on them

LostBoyNZ

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#722672 25-Nov-2012 20:00

They are quite good for the price actually. They didn't cheap out on resolution, inputs or such. The best test is to see them in store, playing the same content as the name brands around them. To me they look slightly softer, but only slightly. That was looking at them close up, not from normal viewing distance. Honestly from normal distance I can't see any problems.

As Daaza said, the start up is a bit slower than more expensive sets, but that's not a major issue.

On the 23.6" model, the remote doesn't work from far away, or off to one side (yet it works when off to the other side), but remotes on the 32 and 40 work great.

They're not Dick Smith's home brand TV's. They occasionally seem to do their own home brand, but they're actually labelled Dick Smith TVs when they do (or Digitor, years ago).

Warranty wise they do just have 1 year, but if you can get a deal on an extension it could be worth it. Depends on the deal I guess, lol! But since it's under $400 you'd get a replacement, it wouldn't even be sent for repair.

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Daaza

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#722676 25-Nov-2012 20:13

I bought my one for $399, they gave me a free 1 year extended warranty upgrade (making a total of 2 years). And they also mentioned to me about the under $400 being replacements rather than a repair too, which was pretty neat of them, is that a CGA or a Dick Smith's thing?

If you have any specific questions about the telly, let me know, I'd be happy to help

LostBoyNZ

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#722678 25-Nov-2012 20:17

CGA or Dick Smith? It's a Dick Smith thing. Under the CGA the retailer has the right to inspect and try to repair the product before replacing it, so a guaranteed replacement is Dick Smith.

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zemien

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#733469 17-Dec-2012 12:08

I saw one of these the other day in-stsore for $379 with a $40 voucher promo (32" full HD).

Unfortunately the demo video they played revealed noticeable motion blur, while blacks are not dark enough. And suspiciously they didn't have a demo unit placed alongside the other big name brands, which were all tuned to C4, so a side-by-side comparison could not be achieved.

NonprayingMantis

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#733493 17-Dec-2012 12:31

I took a memory stick in and tried the PVR function out. it works OK, but not great. the live pause is pretty terrible, but pplayback of prerecorded stuff works ok. It also played a torrented movie in mkv that I had loaded on the dongle, which is more than I can say for my $2k Sony TV that fails to play almost any file types.

richms

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#733797 17-Dec-2012 18:42

I think I will stick with the warehouse for cheapies. at least I can be reasonably sure they will still exist for warranty purposes

Richard rich.ms

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#733854 17-Dec-2012 19:55

I think Dickies will be around for a few years at least!
Well, the brand will be, right up until the point that they're sold off for scraps by the PE firm ;-)

JimmyH

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#740527 5-Jan-2013 22:53

Picked up one of the on-sale Warehouse Veons this afternoon - $399 for 32" Full HD, 2xHDMI, 2xAV/component with a 3-year warranty didn't seem too bad a deal. Plan is to put in in the spare bedroom, and de-crappify the living room a bit by moving the seldom used console and VCR etc out.

I haven't un-boxed it and tested the picture quality etc yet. I already have some AV switches lying around if I need to connect more kit. Providing the picture quality is adequate I will be happy. It is for occasional use and I don't expect, and didn't pay for, top of the line quality. $399 was as much as I was prepared to spend (and a bit more than I wanted to) for the limited use it will get. But, hey, it was only $50 more than the 24" models with much more limited inputs etc.

Once tested, I'm happy to report back on my opinion if it's of interest.........

richms

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#740535 5-Jan-2013 23:03

Can you try it on hdmi from a PC with nvidia graphics and see if you get a usable image at all 3 refresh rates?

Richard rich.ms

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