Anyone who's seen a high definition TV with good demonstration content will quickly realise how almost life-like super sharp detail can become so addictive. Here in SA it seems likely that broadcasting will only be 720p, and so a full HD 1080p native display might seem like an unnecessary expense for additional resolution that may never be appreciated. However, with the increasing availability of 1080p blu-ray content and support from full HD gaming consoles (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3), it is becoming increasingly likely that you may be putting those extra pixels to good use. Traditionally full HD (1080p) displays have cost significantly more, but with a 47" (120cm) 1080p display on offer for under R15k you have to ask if the savings on a lower resolution unit is still worth it.
Having spotted a Sinotec 47" LCD TV recently introduced through a local retailer (Makro) I was full of suspicion and found myself trawling the Internet for any info mainly because of my fear of such an "unknown" brand. It almost seemed too good to be true, as the equivalent Sony Bravia and Samsung full HD panels retail for close to R20k more. The specifications listed on the website suggest performance on par with the higher priced competition (www.sinoprima):
- Brightness: 500nit
- Contrast: 1500:1
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080
- Response time: 6.5ms
- Viewing Angle: 176 degrees
- Inputs: x2 HDMI, D-Sub, component, RF, RCA & S-Video
- HD Compatibility: 1080i / 1080P / 720P
Sony has a similar sized (46") Bravia panel which would serve as the benchmark to determine if the Sinotec is an equivalent quality display that happens to be inexpensive (relatively), or an awful compromised product competing for the prize of lowest cost at literally all costs knowing nobody would even consider buying it on any other grounds.
I must have spent close to 2 hours in-store testing the panel. Fortunately the salesman was incredibly friendly and patient, and we unhooked the panel from the in-store satellite feed, and moved it over to the Sony Bravia display area where we placed it among the Sony Bravia screens (a variety of sizes, some full HD (1080) and other HD (720), and connected it up to high definition HDD player that contained a collection of various demonstration and test scenes that highlighted screen detail, colour reproduction and motion, ranging from 720p to Full 1080HD resolution at both 24 and 60 frames/sec.
Reading so many forums and learning of the all the joint ventures and production sharing across the brands in producing these display panels, I was expecting that the only area of differentiation was in clever electronics and image processing. Having such a low price in my mind I was a little biased upfront that the premium Bravia was going to be at an advantage. I was caught off guard though - the difference was imperceptible. Initially the colour reproduction on the Sony appeared more vivid with darker shadow levels, though after simply turning up the contrast, colour levels and an option called "Fleshtone" on the Sinotec, the two displays were almost identical. We'd attracted a surrounding audience, and I asked 7 other people who were also looking to buy LCD/Plasma TV’s, who agreed the image quality was indiscernible (with Sinotec gaining a few new recruits, especially when folks realised the one display was almost half the price of the identical one next to it). There had been some postings about the purplish/tinge black level, I was keen to see how this compared to the other displays. It’s evident when looking "down" on the display (i.e. the display is more than 60 degrees below eye level) and disappears as you draw level or look head on. It seems to be a characteristic of LCD panels though, as the Sony's and Samsung's LCD's displayed it to, with no sign of it at all on the nearby plasmas.
Working through the demonstration material the 1080p at 60 frames/sec illustration was also impressive in that there were no “tearing” or refresh artifacts at all. The level of detail and reproduction was also excellent on both. Freezing a picture (I was particularly interested in images with high contrast and curves (e.g. extreme close-ups) to see how it dealt with compression artefacts as this was something Sony’s Bravia marketing material often boasts about). Looking close-up (i.e. 5-10 cms from the screen), the two images were comparable. The Bravia did excel in that the static image which was absolutely rock solid like a physical page, while there was an almost a "shimmering" effect around the edges of sharp objects on the Sinotech. At more than 30cm from the screen you can't see this effect at all.
Not of much consequence to those using this with a home theatre system but in terms of Audio quality - I was surprised again: the Sinotech delivered very clear, bright sound with a solid bass, especially surprising that it was so noticeable when testing in a warehouse store environment such as Makro. The Bravia had a higher maximum volume, but the sound was forced with the distinct acoustic elements of a large plastic box. The Samsung (the 50" plasma) had the same volume level as the Sinotech, was clear and bright, but was also flat, with poor reproduction of lower frequencies and signs of distortion.
The only chink in the Sinotech's "armour" has to be its relatively obscure brand. I followed up with Sinoprima (Sinotech SA) on the 5 year warranty and found out that guarantee is for 12 months, with the remainder of the 4 years being covered by Makro. I have confirmed this with Makro’s head office, with proof of the 5 year warranty offered in writing in-store. In other words: hypothetically – if Sinotech disappeared tomorrow and something were to happen to your display as a result of a defect, Makro would have to sort out in having it repaired, or refund you the cost of the set, or provide you with an equivalent display. Sinotech may be an unknown brand, but a 5 years guarantee offered by Massmart is assuring.
Feeling good, I went back to Makro 2 days later (with a friend with a hatchback), we did one more comparison (placed it in amongst the other displays with the same feed) and he confirmed that he too could not see a difference) and made the purchase. Getting it back was a little difficult because of the size, but once there, set-up was painless, and we then had plenty of time at home to put it through its paces.
Progressive DVD playback was very good, using the first street racing scene from Fast and Furious. It seemed appropriate, set at night with a number of high-speed action cuts. Detail and contrast with shadow detail was very good and did the scene justice.
Connecting to a laptop was also effortless (using a DVI-D to HDMI cable (Makro wanted R497 for this piece of kit, with Zakspeed offering it for close to third of that amount), though I had to enable Over scan in order to full the screen for a number of the resolutions (could be enabled on the picture settings of the panel, or in ATI’s catalyst control centre. The full 1920x1080 is incredible; it really is mind-numbingly good. Unfortunately the only material I had were some showcase HD videos from Quicktime’s website, and Window Media’s HD showcase. The laptop was running at its limit, but it was a good taste of things to come. It’s a one way ratchet though – I can’t wait for HD broadcasting to start! A couple of hours of Bio shock and M3 Racing Challenge (used 1366x768 for both as my 3D graphics card was not up to the task of going much beyond this and keeping the game playable) was a superb experience, with only compliments for the panel’s performance.
For the price, you’d expect to only get the basics... Far from it: The build quality is excellent, fit and finish being superb, both front and back, with neat and clear labelling on the multitude of inputs on the back (2 x Hdmi, 2 x Av in, an AV out, VGA in, 2 x component in (for progressive DVD or later HDTV, and on the side conveniently another set of AV in and 2 USB ports (one normal, one mini-USB (an adaptor for normal USB was supplied in the box). The remote looks tasteful, with all the main buttons well laid out and finished in contemporary classy piano black, with a soft-blue backlight on the navigation keys of the remote that slowly fade out after use. There is also soft blue light under the Sinotec lettering (hmmm…just like the Samsung’s that very subtly shines onto the brushed aluminium strip which is tasteful, and changes colour (blue, red, or pink) showing TV status (on, off, no signal, signal from remote).
Another nice touch, and missing on some of the more expensive competition, was the inclusion of an ambient light sensor that adjusts the LCD backlight accordingly (based on ambient light and picture profile setting). This can be turned on and off, though I found this feature incredibly useful on, especially in a lounge with large windows where lighting changes between day and night, curtains open or not open. Its assessment was spot on most of the time, however there were some occasions where this feature becomes an annoyance rather than a benefit. In gradually changing light conditions (e.g. clouds moving across the sun or closed curtains bellowing in the breeze and letting it constantly changing amounts of light) revealed that the level of adjustment is not continuous, but rather in stepped changes. Therefore, if the ambient light fluctuates in a range between two of these "steps", you'll notice the brightness on the TV hunting up and down light levels as it tries to accommodate.
Interestingly, you can’t adjust the LCD backlight brightness manually. There are however options to change the picture brightness, colour saturation, contrast, sharpness and tint, with support for 4 picture profiles (soft, normal, bright and user) through the onscreen menus which are quite attractive (becoming of an HD display). Similarly there are sound profiles (Movie, Music, News and User) with adjustments for bass, treble and balance, as well as Auto volume level control (prevents commercials being comparatively louder, as well as compensating for different volume levels across channels) and SRS effects. Having a separate soft volume control for the headphone jack was very thoughtful, as was the fact that these profile settings are set separately for each source (which was useful to tailor the display settings for DSTV (which just looks so low-res that you want a softer, smoother image setting), vs. more vivid settings for higher quality inputs (progressive DVD, HD console or PC).
The inclusion of Picture-in-picture is nice feature and worked well, with a number of display options (either super imposed as a small, medium or large thumbnail, or split screen (one image on the left, the second on the right, or a thumbnail alongside).Also included is an image enhancement function (dubbed “MAG”) which you can turn on, off or put in demo mode (where it only applies the processing to one half of the image in order for you to compare). It sharpens the image and improves the contrast levels (creating the impression of higher contrast ratio’s) which looked good on HD material and computer input.
The USB support is a nice-to-have feature that could be useful, but would hardly form the basis for you buying this display. The ports can be used to connect a flash drive, digital camera or printer (that supports XCIF). Navigating the USB function is cumbersome, as the main navigation keys for this feature are under a sliding panel on the remote. The up/down/left and right buttons are not well laid out, and I found myself constantly looking down to locate the right one. The feature set is very similar to that of a DVD player offering image, audio and video playback. The USB picture viewer application is HD (720) , and not Full HD, which is a pity given the full potential of the hardware (I’m guessing they use this same software across the other displays in the Sinotec range). It is, however, more than adequate for sharing photos with friends or family comfortably in the lounge after a meal. If music files are placed in the same folder as the pictures (which can be jpeg, bmp, gif, png or tiff), they’re automatically played in the background in slide-show mode. The basic audio and video player supports a number of formats (mp3, wma, lrc, DAT, MPEG, VOB, AVI and MP4 (in xvid and divx). Video quality of the playback was alright but not great (I did notice sync issues between video and audio when playing back a DivX file. There is basic play, repeat and shuffle functions at file level, and unfortunately, you can’t select what to play by artist, album, as we’ve become accustomed to with other media players. One is also able to perform basic file operations (copy, move and delete files between folders and even drives on the two USB ports). The USB functionality is a nice extra with great potential, and is great if you don’t have the other kit, but I wouldn’t rush out and sell your Xbox / PS3 / DVD / DivX player just yet.
In summary, a really impressive product, available at an almost unbelievable price. It was a bit of an awakening too…a low price doesn’t necessarily mean a shocking product of the caliber of home-brands associated with mass discount stores…it is also a method to aggressively enter the market. As mentioned on some forums, this is quite reminiscent of Samsung and LG’s introduction into SA’s market in the late 90’s where they offered very good quality and feature packed products at almost subsidised pricing. Judging where they are today, it seems to be a good strategy Sinotec is following. My recommendation is if you're able to put your brand snobbery aside you'll be able to get yourself a high quality display that is technically superior to its competition in its price range and comparable to equivalent displays at two-fold this price. An excellent product definitely worthy of your consideration.
(edited version of a post made on myadsl.co.za)
