Alba plc ALCD15TV 15 in. LCD TV

this tv is in my kitchen and works great better then i had hoped as the price was so good i realy love it

This tv was very similar to one my son has in his room, so I was confident that the tv would meet my requirements. I still need an aerial for this tv but i didnt think about this till afterwords

my son loves his new tv, after me down sizing for a BIG old bulky tv to this one. its compact & most suited for an 8ft by 8ft bedroom. there is nothing about this tv that doesnt disappoint him, glad i bought it. very easy to tune in & work

I bought this initially to use to help me align an outside aerial as I didn't fancy lugging a large tv outside. It was a refurbished model and was won on eBay at a great price from superb sellers "itssurplus". Actually I didn't bid high so was quite surprised to win it! It certainly did the job. But I was pleasantly surprised at the facilities offered. Like most cheap LCDs the contrast is not particularly good...rated at 400:1 but actually seemed less than other TVs I've seen with that spec. However there were no dead or locked pixels. Tweaking the factory preset levels certainly improved it but don't expect the quality you would get from a top-of-the-range Panasonic or Sony.

I have had a couple of LCD TVs in the past by Hitachi and Samsung and sent them back as the picture quality was vastly inferior to good 100Hz CRT TV pictures (if you have space!). So I was not really expecting much from this set. But I was pleasantly surprised and will probably put it in the spare bedroom for guests. Its picture quality is pretty much on a par with similar "cheapo" 15" LCD TVs you can get at Argos or Tesco for around £100-150 (Feb 2008).

Definition is defined as 1024 x 768, which is a bit pointless on a 15" tv used for tv reception, though I guess might be useful if you have a DVD player with upscaling, or a High Definition source...though frankly with that input you deserve a much better TV! Interesting feature is a button on the remote control that switches the display into letterbox 16:9 mode for viewing widescreen material on the 4:3 screen. Input from a Humax Freeview digibox through SCART socket (AV1) was just fine and better definition that analog terrestrial.

What I liked about this tv was...
1.The smart styling and neat adjustable stand, and on the back there are screw holes so presumably a wall bracket could be used, but check out the hole spacing dimensions first!
2.Brilliant value if you get it at the right price.
3.Nicam stereo sound (gives a crisper high frequency reproduction than mono)
4.You can tweak the sound with 5 band graphic equaliser
5.Auto tuning pulls in the name of the channel eg BBC1 and sorts into order for you. (OK I know this is a fairly standard feature nowadays but the latest model Funai 15" LCD doesn't do this!)
6. In common with all 15" LCD TVs this is really compact and ideal for casual kitchen or spare bedroom use. But it is better looking than most!

Other things I noticed but didn't use were....
1. Has PC input (not tested) as well as SVHS, SCART and RCA input on AV2 for games.
2. Has stereo sound output RCA sockets which would be useful to connect to an external amplifier or HiFi system.

Things I didn't like...
1. While the picture quality is very good value for money, I wouldn't buy this for my main TV viewing. Unless you are really constrained for space I would consider buying a second hand Sony or Panasonic CRT TV to get a better quality picture.
2. It's just analog though you can use an external Freeview or Sky Box. There is no Digital Freeview tuner built in. (Hey what do you expect for the money!!).
3. Like all slim LCD TVs the sound is thin and weedy compared with CRT TVs that have a larger box to contain the speakers. So this is no worse than similar models.

In summary then - Good value, vary stylish and compact, good input facilities... but don't expect the sort of picture and sound quality you would get from a Sony or Panasonic ... or indeed a conventional CRT TV.

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The telly was delivered and there was a rattling noise coming from inside it, plus the thing did not work at all. I contacted the seller and he did not want to know, was very very disappointed with the purchase and the sellers attitude.