Tchibo 7" LCD TV with Freeview built in.

Tribal

Haven't tried it without house antenna (lousy signal in my area), but it is SO good! Had the Staples 7" LCD TV "bargain" last week(£49), took it back, too shrill, took some time to set up picture. Unsat. Bad colour/sound etc. This one is already set up, colour great, picture great. Crystal clear picture. The sound is not full without headphones but not headache inducingly shrill on its own. It tuned itself in to all the freeview channels, and radio channels, absolutely excellent. My store had eight at 9 a.m., by 9.30am had five. It's advertised on the website, though it doesn't say freeview but I guess it's the same one -- the price is the same, £129. Well worth it, mine is used as a desk model, so pretty close to my face. Has a remote, but the pic. is only 7" so one can hardly be far away enough to use the remote I would think. With supplied headphones, fine clear sound, cord is about arms length long, so again, no need for remote? No idea how long the stock will hold, definitely worth a look. 3 year guarantee. Not to be sniffed at. Return/refund no problem at all.

Just checked website (newsletter), apparently all sold out! Crikey! Wish I'd got two, eBay calls....

quoia

Tribal wrote:

Haven't tried it without house antenna (lousy signal in my area) ..............

I'd be very surprised if you get any useable signal to actually get a digital Freeview picture without a "house antenna" almost anywhere in the country.

Unlike analogue where you can get some reception (and a watchable picture)even with a weak signal, digital is usually all or nothing.

I live close to one of the most powerful transmitters in England and get my digital signal through a 11 element chimney mounted aerial. 99.9999% perfect picture on all channels.
I also have an 18 element aerial in the loft, just 6 feet lower & directly below the other one. Getting Freeview on this is very hit and miss. Despite having a higher gain, the signal strength is less than half and the quality somewhat reduced. Some Freeview channels never work, some come & go without reason, others have a great picture 95% of the time but frequently pixelate the display. I can hardly imagine getting any DTT on a little whip aerial even if it is a special "DVB-T" one !

Best of luck.

whitedot

I got one - yay! I can confirm the website was out of stock by lunchtime.

Spent ages trailing around - finally got it from Halifax (last one). Echo the OP's comments, very impressed with the build quality, features and included accessories for £129.

Is there a way to plug in a bigger aerial for freeview though? Tribal, do you mean you've been plugging your chimney aerial into it with the adaptor and into the DVB socket?

simes

I can't see how £129 is a bargain for a 7" screen TV

You can get a portable DVD player with a 7" screen for £50. Which makes this look very expensive. These have a long way to fall before i would buy one, especially considering the fact its highly unlikely you will get a good enough signal for freeview from a portable aerial .

Tribal

It's only a "bargain" (to me) because of the Freeview element. I am not planning on using it without the house antenna, doubt it will ever leave my desk, doubt I will ever use it as portable. I like the size of it as the desk has enough stuff on it already, and this uses up virtually no room. Yes, I have to have access to TV everywhere! Sky is all over the house, but not in the study. A 7" portable DVD player (which I agree can be bought for abundantly less) is in no way comparable to this, any more than an MP3 is comparable to a radio. One is recorded, one is live.

whitedot

Follow up to anyone who got one - you can use a rooftop aerial with the supplied adaptor for Freeview, it just doesn't explain so in the manual (only shows it working with analogue).

PS - £129 is cheap compared to an uglier model at Currys for £199.99 here

RufusA

simes wrote:

I can't see how £129 is a bargain for a 7" screen TV

You can get a portable DVD player with a 7" screen for £50. Which makes this look very expensive. These have a long way to fall before i would buy one, especially considering the fact its highly unlikely you will get a good enough signal for freeview from a portable aerial .

FWIW those with an existing DVD player if it has composite inputs (as some do) then you could add one of the following to it:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5321014.htm

You'd need to factor in the cost of a composite -> scart adaptor lead though many DVD players have one in the box. Comes with a remote control, power block etc. The freeview box is small / light enough to be tacked out of site of an existing DVD player or LCD screen.

So £50 DVD player + £40 freeview, not as neat as the Tchibo version but cheaper and plays dvds. Perfect for a kitchen or similar!

HTH - Rufus.

HTH - Rufus.