Emerson 22" 720p LCD HDTV

I don’t have this exact model, but I do have a very similar tv from Emerson. It’s pretty good, my only complaint is that occasionally these tiny little pink specks pop up on the screen that won’t go away and they get my OCD going…

I work for one of the so-called “big box stores” in the electronics section most of the time. While this is a decent deal, this would easily be one of those things that I’d try to push a service plan on… I’ve had a couple Emerson things and they’re hit or miss… Like Philips.

I have the 19" version of this, and I payed $120 for it. I have to agree with one of the other commenters that these TVs are more monitors with built-in TV tuners. Of course, I use mine with my laptop and AppleTV more than I actually watch TV. Netflix has much better shows than what my basic cable had. As for the “last through the three month warranty then die” thing, I’ve had mine a year and I’ve even dropped it twice when I was moving. No dead pixels, and nothing is broken.

The Emerson brand used to be great, but it got bought up by a company by the name of Funai that has a habit of snatching up recognizable brand-names and attaching them to crappy, crappy electronic merchandise.

I had an Emerson set from before the HD era that lasted me a good 12 years, and probably would still be working had I not dropped it during a move and broke it clean in half. So, when I was in the market for a new HDTV, I bought a 32 inch Emerson LCDTV, confident that it would live up to the standard of quality that the old set did. I was mistaken. After a mere 6 months of light use, it up and died on me. One day it just refused to turn on, with no forewarning at all.

Funai’s comprehensive warranty is only good for a measly 90 days, after which point you’re on the hook for…I can’t remember if it was parts, labor, or both. I just recall that after contacting Funai and going over some troubleshooting steps that didn’t work, I was quoted an estimate for repairs that came to nearly what I’d paid for the TV in the first place. That’s when I went online to see if anyone had a fix for the set. I didn’t find one, but I did find out that the problem I had with it was distressingly common. That sent me back to Funai’s customer service, because I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend any amount of money to fix something that appeared to be a long-running, very widespread problem.

After going around and around with Funai’s customer service for months trying to at least get them to foot the bill for the repairs, they finally caved and gave me a full refund. However, while the end result was satisfactory, it was a long road to get there, and the whole ordeal was frankly a nightmare. Their customer service folks were rude and unhelpful, and even when they finally gave in and did the right thing, they were still very rude about it.

As an aside, while this is just conjecture, given the large number of complaints on the web about the Emerson brand that were similar to my own, as well as the Funai rep’s standoffish attitude when she finally contacted me to offer me the resolution I had been after for months, the refund struck me as being a move that was meant to head off my qualification in a class-action suit should people decide to sue them, rather than being something they did because they finally realized that it’s just good, responsible customer service to do it.

Anyway, I would recommend against taking a chance on this set even at its low price. The brand’s well-documented history of sucking wind just aint worth the gamble.

This is a tough one. I have a 14" old school TV I use near the computer for background, watching while on the treadmill. I get weary of squinting. And maybe a 24-27" monstroso old school in the bedroom that is rarely used - usually if someone gets dibs on the flat screen downstairs. I’d like to get 2. Price is right and $5 shipping. Many good reviews, a number of dire warnings. Money is tight and I’d rather not make a mistake. Maybe the usual cadre of wise (a$$) woot posts will make the decision easier. At the least, I’ll be entertained. Fo now, I’m hitting the sack. Maybe the law of supply and demand will make the decision for me. G’nite, Wooters …

Stupid question, but will I be able to hook this up to an antenna to pick up over the air signals? I wouldn’t need some conversion box or anything?

Yes, you won’t need a digital converter box as this TV has a digital tuner. BTW. the only stupid/dumb questions are the ones you fail to ask! IMHO

Normally, you would be right but at a 22" size, it is almost impossible for most humans to tell the difference between 1080 and 720. That is why one rarely finds higher resolution TVs at this size, and certainly at this price point.

I disagree - you will not need a digital converter box, because this is a digital TV! Plug your antenna in and it will work great.

Again, for a screen this size (22") you cannot tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p. You probably can’t tell either from 720p. Also, unless you watch blue ray exclusively, there is nothing to watch in 1080p (HD broadcast is 1080i). If you want to watch 1080p in this size TV: a)good luck finding one, b) good luck finding one you can afford, c) good luck seeing any difference

So, after reading the bouquets and brickbats here, I decided to buy one, but do a quick re-read of the product info.

Sorry, woot guys – it wasn’t the negative reviews that caused me to pull the plug on the buy-- it was the magic word: refurbished. Remember, refurbed means it was returned, possibly because it had a problem – tested and fixed, but not typically tested for every possible issue, and that’s where the run is at.

Johnny may have plugged in HDMI and got wacky results at 1080i resolution, returned the set with the note “it doesn’t work – picture skewed”. The remanufacturered got the set and checked all the channels, plugged HDMI 720p, plugged-in component, and everything seems to work perfectly. After cleaning it up and re-tweeting all the controls to be sure they were within spec they labeled it remanufactured and shipped it back. But 1080i would still be freaky for the next customer. Same could be for the USB port, or for a slight power fluctuation, or operating in a slightly warmer area. The remanufacturer simply cannot spend the time and money troubleshooting all the possibilities.

Might just be me, but I’m typically the guy who ends up needing to use the untested input.

That’s what they said!?

The human eye is not capable of perceiving High Def on screens less than 30" so any set less than 30" it does not matter what it is.

You will not be able to tell high def on it anyway.

Having 1080p on a screen this size is like paying $6000 on a sound system to listen to talk radio. What’s the point?

Yes, and you will get all channels within your area as long as you are within range of the stations and your antenna is adequate for picking them all up. BTW, there is no such thing as a HDTV antenna… just marketing. Any UHF or UHF/ VHF antenna will work. Just be sure to set the TV to Antenna, not Cable when doing the automatic channel scan.

Wow. With that knowledge, I will be avoiding anything Emerson. I used to work at Best Buy, over a decade ago. Symphonic (another Funai brand) was the cheapest thing in TVs and VCRs. Like $39 for a 13", and $29 for a VHS player, no record. We would load those things like crazy as door busters. And lots would come back within a week. Lots!

It is disappointing that many older bands are in the hands of holding companies and venture capital groups, who are happy to sell the name or use it to add legitimacy to marginal products.

But, that’s business.

If that were actually true, there would be no perceived difference in the screen resolution of the 1st generation iPad (1024x768) and the current one (2048x1536).

All other things being equal, full 1080 HD with a proper source certainly DOES look much better than 720.

I prefer just LCD. (or non LED) I had two LED displays and they both hurt my eyes. Returned them for a SAMSUNG P2770HD.

anyone know what the access time is for this unit? cant seem to find it online.

YES, we have NO bananas.

YES, you will NOT need a Convertor.