SHARP AQUOS LC-19SB27UT

A solid performer for a basic TV February 16, 2010

With the world focusing on the largest flat screens, there are lots of reasons to own smaller units. We decided we needed a small screen bedroom so we could wach something other than what the kids had on in the family room. Nothing facny just a basic TV. When I started looking, there were few reviews for small screens. So, I looked for a brand I'd heard of at a decent price and we took a chance on the Sharp 19in LCD.

It's a simple unit with several input options but I needed nothing more than the over the air digital tuner. It ships with the expectation that you are going to do nothing more than take it out of the box, attach the stand, plug it in and turn it on. Essentially, they don't think you expect many extras at this price... and it lives up to that expectation.

Mounting---

My goal was to hang it on the wall with a vesa mount I already owned. Despite the tech specs not mantioning vesa, I went under the assumption that most units ship with attachment points.. besides, sears.com lists a vesa kit as "Frequently Bought Together." Of course, a GPS is also listed so I just wan't sure.

When I got it home, I was relieved to see the holes I needed. Unfortunately, the attachment point for the base did not come off easily and took some wrangling and loosening of a few screws around the edge of the case. Eventually, I got the neck off and was ready to hang the unit and only then realized it doesn't come with screws to attach the vesa kit. Yes, I'm sure my wall kit had them somewhere, but they were loast to the black hole otherwise known as a house with two kids. Again I took a chance and decided to try the screws that were designed for the base and I was rewarded in that they fit.. all three of them fit. Three? I thought there were four holes in a vesa mount... ahh well. Good thing the TV isn't heavy because it's already looking good up on the wall.

Programming---

Once on the wall, I plugged the unit into power and attached an antenna. BTW.. I'm surprised at how well old rabit ears work on this unit. I'm in the Chicago area so I know I have better-than-average signal strength so I thought I would give the old ears a try. I went in and found the menu option for auto-programming and waited for it to go through it's cycle. I was surprised it found several analog stations given the digital transition but I suspected I could just remove those from the list later. The process of selecting stations after programming is less than clear. Basically, you get a list of all the channels and you decide if you should add or delete them. Unfortunately, I find these labels backwords because "Add" means "it's already in the list and you will see it when you flip chanels" while "Delete" means "I, the TV, have decided to delete this chanel since there is no signal." Several times, I found myself saying "hey, I want chanel 9. I guess I have to press the Add button... wait... why doesn't 9 show up now?"

Do note that this unit is not good at adding chanels that I know exist but have a low signal strength. Chanel 2 in chicago is notoriously tough to tune in and my rabit ears didn't do the job. I still wanted them in the list of chanels in case I opt for a new antenna (or some tin foil). Here's a hint... don't waste your time trying to add missing channels. Who needs CBS anyway?

also.. be carefull since the "reset all" button is far too easy to hit and it applies with no warning. All channels deleted. Start from scratch. Do not pass Go.

Viewing---

OK. The TV was mounted and the channels programmed. How does it look? Did I mention this is a basic TV? It looks fine. Not bad and not stunning. Just fine. It's certainly better than my old analog TVs. The bottom line is that if you are looking for the best picture quality you can get, you may want to spend more than $179.

As an aside, we like the four buttons on the bottom of the remote that let you assign your 4 favorite chanels. This makes for a super quick way to get to the networks' main feeds and one of the weather chanels.

I hope this helps someone make some decisions about a small TV.

-Mike