TV and DVD Combos

With the coming of the digital switch-over in the UK, many people are faced with the realisation that the old portable in the kitchen or bedroom is no longer going to receive any TV channels unless action is taken. One answer to the problem is to get one of the TV and DVD combos – a compact flat screen LCD TV with a built-in DVD player and no separate DVD box; no dusty cables. However, if you go down this route there are some things that you need to be aware of before you buy:

DVD Player Quality - be aware that some of the, shall we say, less reputable models of TV and DVD combos have very shoddy DVD players. The poor buyer of these cheap brands will quite likely find that the DVD player behind the screen fails long before the TV does, leaving them with just a plain TV and the need to buy a separate DVD player after all. If you go for any of the reputable make like Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba and so on, you are far less likely to hit this problem.

Sound - these TV and DVD combos tend to have smaller screen sizes, and the reasoning is probably that these combi sets are designed for smaller spaces than the main TV of the home. Therefore, there is less space within the unit for speakers, and consequently the speakers employed have to be small. To get decent sound output from small speakers means high spec, and therefore more expensive, speakers. In cheaper models you are likely to get cheap speakers and less rich or less powerful sound. One to bear in mind.

Freeview Signal - there are digital tuners and there are digital tuners, but although they appear to do the same job, they are not all made the same. If you live in an area that has a less-than-perfect Freeview signal, a poor quality digital tuner could make all the difference between receiving two channels and 62 channels. So remember, the message is once again to go for a reputable make, especially if you live in an area with a weaker Freeview signal, or if you put the TV DVD combi in a room deep in your house!

These TV and DVD combos are great little space-savers, enabling you to get a digital LCD TV AND a DVD player into the same space as that old analogue portable TV in the bedroom or kitchen. Just take a little care to avoid the above problems, and you will love yours.