Sceptre 37" LCD HDTV. Any Common!!!

Receiving my 37" today (Hurry up UPS!) and got to say Marcel's comments about tech support response concern me. Nothing bugs me more than doing the research to get a good product only to have company fall down on support side. Frustrating to be de-valued once you have become a "customer". Some companies will do everything to get you to spend money on their products, but then forget about you once you have. Really hoping Sceptre doesn't turn out to be one of these companies.
Since the manuals are apparently so weak, it would be in Sceptre's best interest to have some folks out there disseminating a little grassroots info on blogs, forums, etc. to satisfy the obvious need for this type of "advanced" information. My guess is that they don't really think of the LCD TV's as a true entertainment hub, and only view it as a set it and forget it monitor.
I'll wait and see what my experience is like, and report my findings here. Hoping that I'll end up an advocate for Sceptre, but if they drop the ball, I'll dump my unit and get something else (and make sure as many potential customers as possible hear my story).

 

jbren, your concerns is already having an effect on their sales. I for one,have delayed purchasing for those very reasons. That and you know,they will come down in pricing.

bjkimb

 

Yep, same here... and that I am reading about it has problems with its color balancing (RED).

 

I am holding back on my too. Some how I have a feeling that Sceptre is just a middle man company. It main business is to bring design/ Mfg. product from Asia and customer base in the west. There are a lot of these companies popping up lately in the US. I can't prove this but based on the customer service we got so far I don't think I am wrong on this. This is just my personal opinion.

 

Received unit and spent yesterday playing with different inputs, modes, hooked up antenna, etc. Have to say that its pretty sweet - espcially when its displaying full HD mode. This is my first HD, though, so of course it looks good to me.
I haven't noticed a problem with color balance or saturation. Unlike reports from others, the reds seem red to me, but this weekend I'll try comparing it to other red things.
I also haven't used high-end inputs yet, so can't speak to quality of HDMI, DVI or VGA inputs. Thinking I'll hook it up to laptop (IBM T43) as second monitor this weekend and see how it looks and compares.
Meanwhile, I do have a question to put to others who have unit - How do you change the aspect ration (size) of incoming signals. For instance, my DVD player is sending 480P signal, and it shows up in middle of X37, but shouldn't I be able to have TV upscale/upsize that image?
-Jake

 

So I'm curious how well the Sceptre displays standard definition. I'm confident that the HD will look good (especially to us newbies to HD). But the majority of programming I will receive is not HD. The SD I've seen in stores appears to look worse than my CRT. But I've read that the SD quality on an HD LCD is very specific to the tuner. How does the Sceptre perform with SD?
Thanks

 

The SD I receive over the Antenna looks awesome, almost HD'ish. My other SD comes via cable and through a Replay TV, so did (before X37)and does look like crap.

 

jbren said:
"Meanwhile, I do have a question to put to others who have unit - How do you change the aspect ration (size) of incoming signals. For instance, my DVD player is sending 480P signal, and it shows up in middle of X37, but shouldn't I be able to have TV upscale/upsize that image?"

DUH. Just found the "Aspect" button.

 

jbren, I have a question for you, what is a "Display TV" you refer to one the previous post? You got me stumped!

bjkimb

 

In regard to Marcel's post... we may have an answer. I just received my Naga 37" last night
and was having the same problem. I'll try their fix suggestion when I get home, but
hopefully this will be of some assist to you all....

Here's tech support's response:
(I'm assuming that when they say to press the volume buttons on the TV, it means the
actual tv, not the remote)

** UPDATE: Installed this change last night and it fixed the problem immediately. I ended
up using a delay value of 4.
- - - - -

Dear Customer,

It's a memory delay issue.

Due to the sensitive nature of high resolution extra large LCD panels, sometimes visual
blemishes/artifacts are displayed on screen when the LCD has a problem with the video
playing device people are using.

********WARNING : DO NOT ADJUST ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES WHAT WAS INSTRUCTED. IF
YOU ADJUST OTHER SETTINGS, THERE IS NO WAY TO RESET THE TV BACK TO IT’S DEFAULT
SETTINGS.*******************

Turn on the TV, and press both volume buttons on the TV simultaneously. A debug
message should display. Press the button "1" on your Sceptre TV remote control. A flat
rectangular gray window should open at the bottom labeled Memory Delay. Adjust that
with your volume + or - buttons until the visual anomalies are gone (USUALLY PEOPLE USE
THE VALUE 2 OR BELOW). Press exit multiple times. Turn off the TV, and unplug the power
cord. Wait 5-10 minutes, and then plug the power cord back to the power source. This
should solve your visual problems.


Best Regards,
Sceptre Technical Support Group

 

bjkimb said:
"jbren, I have a question for you, what is a "Display TV" you refer to one the previous post? You got me stumped!"

I'm not sure if I was the one who said this? Can you find quote? I can't think what I would be referring to...

My latest X37 experience: Getting more and more addicted to HD broadcast. I bought the Terk HDTVa indoor amplified antenna and have been watching the Olympics on local NBC affiliate HD channel. Not sure broadcast of Olympic action is truly in HD, but man does it look good on this TV.

 

jbren, Look at this page at 2-17-06 @ 17:51. I am still trying to learn the "lingo"!!

bjkimb

 

Replay TV ... it's a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), like TiVo.

http://www.replaytv.com/replaytv/default.asp

 

Has anyone out there got their Free 26" Samsung LCD TV from the advertisement that frequently appeards in this thread? I suspect it is bogus and wanted to see if anyone had checked it out and can let the rest of us know what the "Catch" is.

 

Oh...yep...Replay TV.
What I was trying to say is that my Replay TV intercepts my analog cable input and slightly delays the signal while recording so you can time shift. In my experience, this degrades the signal slightly, because the replay is outputting signal according to own record settings. So, analog signal always looked cruddy and still does even on digital TV set.

 

I have 2 replaytv units. I love them. And the best thing (compared to TIVO) about ReplayTv is that it does not send your recording and viewing habits back to TIVO.

Yes, it is true, that the older replay units outputted a digitized version of any signal it receives, but I think the benefits of the DVR outweigh any degradation I can see.

I can't see myself being without a DVR ever again. YEAH-COMMERCIAL SKIP

Yes, there are some HDTV DVRs on the market now (though not cheap) that should fill the bill nicely these days.

One reason why I have not upgraded my earlier units is because my units are nicely networked together and I have the option to download them to my PC, and... I can't afford to buy 2 new HD-ReplayTV models. I have already spent $600 for the lifetime subscriptions for these units. Don't feel like paying that again just so I can "DVR" an HDTV signal. I can always "bypass" the DVR in the set or just view any select HDTV signal directly through the TV.

 

I am not as tech-savvy as many of you appear to be, but I am about to purchase a 37in. or 42in. LCD TV like many of you. There is a lot of discussion on this board about the Sceptre TVs, which I am considering buying. I wanted to ask about a couple questions to all of you, and about comparable TVs also sold at Costco to help make my decision.

1) Is there any where one can go to see the Sceptre LCD TVs plugged and working??

2) I am attracted to the Sceptre TVs because of their price. Maxent appears to also offer TVs that are slightly cheaper. I know the Mexent TVs are HDTV-ready (while Sceptre has the HDTV tuner built-in). But from what I understand the satellite companies are almost giving HDTV receivers away for free with packages, so there is no real additional cost if I want to watch HDTV on my Maxent. Am I missing anything about a drawback of not having an HDTV tuner built in? Are there any reviews or issues with the Maxent TV that should make me lean toward the Sceptre?

3) I am a bit reluctant to buy either the Maxent or Sceptre TV because of the brand name. Do you guys see any value in spending a couple hundred more for a Phillips or Dell, or perhaps $1000 for Sharp Aquos? Costco has a 37in Phillips for $2000, HDTV tuner built-in, and there are no delivery charges. Dell is about the same price. There have been a lot of messages about glitches with the Sceptre -- is that making anyone else pause and think about buying more of a brand name?

4) I really don't understand much about all the input offerings on the different TVs I am looking at. I want to watch DVDs and TV is the best picture possible. I don't play video games at all. There is a chance down the road I will want to connect the TV to a Media Center PC.

I am going to get satellite TV. I have a Sony Progressive Scan DVD player that is about 2 years old. Any advice on things I should look for on my TV purchase as far as inputs?

Sorry for the long message. I'd appreciate any help all of you could offer.

Thanks for the help. I hope all of you are enjoying your new TVs.

-ajaslan

 

Whoever the guy was that posted he checked with Costco and said the price was about $1600 was wrong. I'm almost positive

Went on the website today and Costco has the 42 inch sceptre tv up online. Price is about $2000. Heres the link.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup.aspx?Prodid=11112191&whse=&topnav=&browse=&s=1

The specs look really good. Atleast the Contrast Ratio is 1000:1

 

Hey ajaslan

I for one can tell that I bought 2 37" TVs in less than a month from each other.

I own a 37" Sharp Aquos with the Black Piano finish. Beautiful TV and excellent quality and picture. I only have analiog cable so I can only magine what it look like once I go HD. The TV lacks the PIP and te 1920 X 1080 resolution. While I wont do much gaming on it you cannot get a One to One pixel mapping of my desktop on to the TV screen. It is an awesome tv anyway.

I also own the 37" sceptre. I freakin love this thing. I have this one in my room. I connect my laptop to the VGA to VGA cable/port and POW! a one to one mapping of my desktop and it freaking looks awesome. I also bought a bluetooth wireless KB and mouse and I can surf while in bed. It has alot of Standard feautes and PIP is cool because I can surf the web while watching tv in the other.

Sharp customer service is awesome as the brand would imply. The sceptre customer service is not as good for what I heard. I have not had the need to call them yet.

If Sceptre made a bigger than the 42" I would buy another TV from them but the 65" Sharp Aquos looks mighty good. But I will wait for te prices come down somes more...This will give sceptre time to come up with a bigger TV.

 

All,

Has anyone read the artical at the attached URL? This article may have provided some explaination for the issue with "bad" looking SD TV program on the Sceptre 37".

I have read similar discussion else where too.

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/reality.html