Lightning Review: Kogan Pro 22 LCD TV With Built-In DVD Player

The Gadget: Kogan’s super-cheap, DVD-playing Pro 22″ LCD TV, a 1440 x 900 panel with side loading DVD player, a built-in digital tuner, plus SUB and memory card slots for DiVX, AVI and.JPG file playback
Price: $599 for the 22-inch, or $449 for a 19-inch version

Verdict: For 600 bucks, you’re never going to get the world’s best television here. But that shouldn’t dissuade you - there’s a lot of bang here for your buck.

Picture quality is actually pretty good, with a decent source. Of course, pretty good is a relative term. Watching TV through the analog tuner is like torturing your eyeballs, but the digital tuner gives pretty good images. Brightness is fine and contrast is decent but not great. Unfortunately the TV only features an SD digital tuner, but that can be forgiven for the price.

Playing back a DVD looks fine, when you can get it to work. Sadly, it’s the menu system of this TV that really lets it down - there’s a bit of a steep learning curve. The remote doesn’t really help matters either.

Despite claims that the TV would play back DivX and AVI files off a USB stick, I couldn’t get the feature to work at all.

Audio quality does the job, but you wouldn’t use the inbuilt speaker in lieu of better speakers if you could help it.

But if you keep reminding yourself that the TV costs less than $600, you can forgive it its many flaws. As expected, I reckon this is the ideal TV to set up in a rumpus room or bedroom - something you watch occasionally, but not as your main source of visual entertainment.

[Kogan on Giz]