JVC TH-BA1 Soundbar System with Wireless Subwoofer Review

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(More customer reviews)You should know that a soundbar is not replacement for a home theater system. You are not going to the full impact bass and big room filling sound with a soundbar. What are you going to get? Convenience, simplicity and, if you set your expectations right, pleasing sound.
The JVC TH-BA1 delivers high value performance. It's an attractive, well built unit which provides sound that will probably put your TV audio to shame (it did mine - a Panasonic Viera plasma). The wireless subwoofer is a little muddy and undefined but does not overpower or boom. The unit has no variable crossover control but the factory setting sounds very balanced. You just plug it into a wall power outlet and follow the extremely simple pairing instructions and you are up in less than a minute.
The 2 surround settings are very subtle and natural sounding, avoiding that fake effect of many units. There are 2 optical inputs, so if you are not using HDMI this could come in handy for game consoles, disc players or DVRs. The small remote has the basic controls, plus the ability to control the relative loundness of the the center and surround channels, and the subwoofer. For you Tivo owners, the JVC codes work and you can control volume with your Tivo remote.
I choose this JVC unit over the Polk and Boston Acoustic offerings. I'd be curious to hear those units, but am very satisfied with the JVC. I recommend the TH-BA1 to anyone who wants to upgrade their TV sound without the expense and hassle of a full blown home theater system.

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Featuring a low-profile 4.1-channel front surround speaker, the JVC TH-BA1 Soundbar System is matched to a wireless subwoofer for a fully immersive sound for your movies and favorite music. The soundbar is configured to fit neatly under a TV or can be wall-mounted and its front surround technology eliminates the need for rear speakers and the placement problems, clutter, and extra wiring that comes with them. A single cable connects the soundbar to a source (DVD or Blu-ray player) or TV.

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Coby DVD-224 Compact DVD Player (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I wanted to be able to watch DVDs from the UK that weren't available in NTSC. So far the Coby has handled everything I've put in it with no trouble. It impressed a friend so much he got one too.
I'm not expecting it to last forever - it is a mega-cheapie after all - but at this price, I can buy a new one every year, and consider it worth it. I haven't found any other box that does multi-region with on-the-fly PAL/NTSC conversion at any price.
UPDATE - I've had my Coby for two years now, and it is still working fine. I have found some commercial DVDs don't play well in it, but it is a fault of the DVD manufacturer, not the player (I work in the industry). Basically, Technicolor don't test for compatability with the software codec used in this box, and frequently the only way to play DVDs duplicated by Technicolor is to go to the Select Scene menu and pick the first scene. It plays fine from there. This affects many cheaper DVD players, who all use the same software codec.

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Forget thinking outside the box--now you can stop worrying about the box altogether. Coby's DVD-224 is about the size of a hardcover book, so whether you're ferrying the player between the kitchen and the bedroom or hooking it up for periodic use by the kids, the DVD-224's small size permits enjoyment of DVD programs and music CDs in just about any room you want. While not portable in the traditional sense--the unit has no screen and requires AC power--the DVD-224 is much easier to move around, set-up, and use than a traditional component DVD player.It handles not only your DVD-Videos (both NTSC- and PAL-formatted discs, depending on your TV), but it plays your music, too--everything from standard CDs to home-burned CD-Rs, CD-RWs, and MP3-encoded CDs. Further, you can load a disc brimming with digital photos for custom slide shows in the comfort of your home theater.An onscreen display simplifies setup and operation, and the unit comes with a compact, full-function remote control. Other features include parental controls (with PIN lock), frame-by-frame slow motion, picture zoom (2x, 4x), and multiple-angle viewing (with applicable discs).Like to travel? The DVD-224 won't hog space in your bag, and an auto-switching universal power supply handles inputs from AC 110 to 220 volts (50/60 Hz) for use in most countries. Accordingly, the unit's onscreen display offers a choice of 5 setup languages: English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian.A composite-video output ensures compatibility with nearly any television and many newer computer monitors. Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio outputs (choose from either optical or coaxial) for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. A set of standard left/right RCA analog outputs simplifies hookup with traditional integrated amplifiers and most televisions.What's in the Box DVD player, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, and a stereo analog audio interconnect/composite-video cable.

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GSI High-Grade Sturdy-Steel Articulating Arm Wall TV Mount with Tilt and Swivel Functions - for LCD/LED/TV/DVD/Combo/Blu-Ray Flat-Panel Monitors/Screens/Displays, Mounting Brackets Fits 32-Inch to 55-Inch Screens Review

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(More customer reviews)There was one selling point for this bracket...its price. There is a reason this bracket is half the price of other articulating mounts.
I didn't need anything fancy, just something to keep the TV on the wall while articulating. It does the job and I have complete confidence that the TV will not fall off, unless you adjust the pitch. Through a poor design, the brackets that hold the TV to the mounting plate increase or decrease in length with the pitch adjustment. If you adjust the keeper screws to keep the brackets on the mounting plate with the TV pitched all the way, when you then change the pitch to 90 degrees, the keeper screws will no longer be holding the bottom of the brackets to the plate. As long as you aren't moving things, it should be okay, because all the weight is carried from the top, but it's still a poor design. Also, there is nothing stopping the brackets from sliding off the side of the mounting plate.

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Viore LED22VF60 22-Inch 1080p LCD Television (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently bought this TV for my fiancee from a local retailer, and I am quite pleased with it.
I am quite sure there are HDTVs out there that have a much better picture quality, but this is a massive improvement over my fiancee's old analog tube TV.
There are also several inherent advantages this has over the old tube monster.
1) Even though this TV has a bigger screen, it still takes up not even 1/4 the space of the old tube.
2) This TV weighs about 1/8 of the old tube.
3) Being this is an LED illuminated TV, it uses considerably less power, drawing a mere 12 volts instead of the tube's 115 volts.
4) This TV has an expected operating lifespan around double that of a tube TV.
About the TV, I had already read multiple reviews about it, many of them deriding the sound quality.
There is, however, a very good explanation and solution for that problem.
First, you need to go into the menu, then look under the Audio settings and switch off "Surround Sound" to put it back to standard stereo.
Unfortunately, the default setting has that switched on.
The so called "Surround Sound" on this is a cheap imitation not even as good as Dolby Pro-Logic, and it does indeed make it sound as if the sound is being played underwater, with a lot of gimmicky swirling effects.
Very annoying, that.
Switching that off produces a very acceptable stereo sound image.
However, yes, this is a super thin TV of only one inch thickness, and that necessitates very shallow speaker cones, so this makes for rather undersized speakers that are about as good as standard computer speakers.
However, the manufacturer had the presence of mind to have a headphone jack built into the back of the unit, which easily allows you to simply plug in a better set of speakers to improve the sound.
Besides, I suspect most serious movie watchers will dispense with the sound from the TV altogether by having their DVD player and satellite tuner play through a proper high end 5.1 setup.
As for myself, until I get around to moving my Yamaha 5.1 setup over to my fiancee's house, we are both perfectly content to watch movies on this nice little TV with its integral speakers.
Another aspect of this TV that is noteworthy is that it includes two HDMI jacks, making it a simple matter to hook up the satellite tuner to HDMI1 and the DVD player to HDMI2.
We then simply use the "Input" button on the remote to select between the two HDMI jacks to watch either what DishNetwork is broadcasting or a DVD.
For anyone who wants to know, yes, this includes an ATSC tuner, so anyone with a rooftop antenna or rabbit ears for over-the-air broadcasts will be able to seamlessly watch TV without requiring a separate converter box.
It also includes A/V jacks (Yellow-Video, Red-Right Audio Channel, White-Left Audio Channel), so you can easily hook up your three wire A/V cable to it.
It also has an RF connector for those of you who hook up your TV to coax cables.
Finally, for input, it also has the component video hookups (RGB) for the best picture short of HDMI.
Other jacks this TV includes are:
1) A COAX connector for hookup to a 5.1 COAX connection
2) Headphone jack (already mentioned above)
3) Two HDMI jacks (already mentioned above)
4) VGA connector that allows hookup to a computer's standard D-Sub video cable
5) Audio jack that allows an audio device to play through the speakers on the TV => often used with a computer sound card
6) Power
7) USB, which I seriously doubt anyone will have occasion to use, as it is intended strictly for updating the TV firmware
Are there better TVs out there?
Absolutely, and the one I intend to get when I can eventually afford it is the 32" Samsung LED TV.
However, this is small enough that it sits nicely on my fiancee's rather top heavy DVD cabinet, and it is quite nice for spending an afternoon sitting on the couch together.
You will really enjoy this TV, and you can even completely bypass the speakers if you don't like them if you so choose.
***ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION***
Having used this TV for the last few months, I have discovered two useful bits of information.
1) If you are looking to program a universal remote to work with this TV, I would suggest you look under the Samsung TV section for a valid code.
I did that with our DishNetwork remote, and we can fully control this TV with it.
2) This TV has a COAX jack to allow an external A/V receiver to decode digital audio to output to speakers.
The jack works for that purpose, but with one small problem, which is that the audio that comes out of it is limited to stereo ONLY.
Anyone wanting to listen to stereo only through his receiver won't mind that, but you will not be able to get 5.1 or other surround sound out of that jack.
We overcame that problem using our Toshiba 1080p upscaling DVD player by hooking the TV HDMI input to the HDMI output of the player, then hooked the COAX output jack on the rear of the DVD player directly to the COAX input of our A/V receiver.
We now fully enjoy Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 6.1/5.1 this way.

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