office depot 3.5 inch handheld digital lcd tv $19.95

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OBLAMA2009

OBLAMA2009

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2008
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the bm stores are clearing out all the portable digital tvs. they have a 10 inch for 79 (it think, not a good deal), a 7 ich for 39 (you can pretty much get these from walmart on sale at for 40-50, so this is lukewarm) and they have the 3.5 inch for 19.95 (a pretty good deal). the brand is digital prism. i bought one and reception is so-so around low buildings, meaning in some cases i had to open my sunroof and turn the tv upside down to get some stations clearly. i live in the financial district in san francisco with lots of tall buildings that totally block reception. but if you are in suburbia and are near a tower you will definitely get much better reception. they come with an ac and a car charger, but if your car is moving you wont get reception, so you cant count on it to say entertain your kids on long trips. oh, and no hdmi :p

its not something youll use much but it might be useful occasionally when football starts up again
 
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OBLAMA2009

OBLAMA2009

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Apr 17, 2008
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mikeford

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2001
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4 Reviews, 3 could not get any channels on the tv, and one guy got 33 channels. Kinda sounds like some work, and some don't.
 
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Stefan2k4

Junior Member
Apr 17, 2010
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4 Reviews, 3 could not get any channels on the tv, and one guy got 33 channels. Kinda sounds like some work, and some don't.
Click to expand...


Or perhaps it means the reception of ATSC signals can be tricky in some areas because of issues like multipath and such. Notice that one review states that whenever the TV is connected to his roof top antenna it receives many channels, but none when attempting to use the antenna that came with the TV. Bottom line is if you live in an area far away from the transmitting towers, an area that doesn't have line of sight to those towers, or an area prone to multipath due to large buildings or mountains, digital OTA usually requires a really good antenna mounted high in the air. Back in the analog days you could still watch TV even if you didn't get the greatest reception in the world. It just meant your picture quality suffered. In the digital age it's feast or famine.

Anyway, this is still a good deal as these sets do have video input, or at least the 7" I picked up today does. That makes them useful for things other than OTA reception.
 
Danube

Danube

Banned
Dec 10, 2009
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I've had enough experience with TV tuner cards to know this product is a waste of money despite the deal. No insult to OP intended.
 
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Netopia

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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81
I bought two of the 3.5 inchers. I can sometimes get 2 channels IN and OUT and choppy, but most of the time it finds NONE. This is in the Washington DC area, where there are DOZENS of channels available. I'm going to crack open the second box, but it if doesn't have any better results, they are BOTH going back. $19 is GREAT if it worked, but for a huge and bulky headphones only FM radio, it's a rip off!
 
OBLAMA2009

OBLAMA2009

Diamond Member
Apr 17, 2008
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digitial tv is highly dependent on the antenna you use (terk is the only brand ive found to work in san francisco and i went through a bunch) and whether you are near a tower and away from buildings. i was able to get five channels in the office depot parking lot but zero channels in my high rise condo in the financial district with the 3.5 inch. the 7 inch has a coaxial for a nice antenna, that is probably the better one to get
 
lupi

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
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What type/how cheap are the external antennas for these? I had an old analog I used 2-3 times a year for watching outside and would like to get a replacement. I don't want something that looks like I'm trying to communicate with the space station, but also don't really care about using it while driving around and such.
 
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killster1

Banned
Mar 15, 2007
6,205
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i really dont know but i imagine it doesnt even have a external antenna maybe a google picture would tell us or someone else, also had a analog one and got all kinds channels, i stepped on it one day tho under some clothes
 
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lokitech

Senior member
Feb 25, 2000
231
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killster1 said:
i really dont know but i imagine it doesnt even have a external antenna maybe a google picture would tell us or someone else, also had a analog one and got all kinds channels, i stepped on it one day tho under some clothes
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External ears were my plan as well, but after examining the store unit, it does not seem to have an external port for antenna. So I went with the 7" unit. Got another 10.01 worth of stuff and used the Staples 10 off 50 coupon for everything. Went to Target and and got a powered antenna that was at 75% clearance for $9.xx. Got it setup on my workbench and its working great.
 
Savarak

Savarak

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2001
2,718
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Ok heres my review: I went to OD B&M and picked one up this afternoon... In my car I was able to receive only 3 channels, not very clear and occasionally choppy, 2 of them spanish speaking only, and 1 PBS-kids (curious george!). At home, I get 3 channels, the same 2 spanish speaking ones, and one english speaking one but NONE of them actually attain and hold a signal for video, only scrambled looking half-pictures. The FM radio will ONLY work with earphones plugged in, which I think is an incredibly stupid requirement(screen says earphones must be plugged in).

Overall, F-... Terrible, dont even bother with it!
 
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Netopia

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,793
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81
I took both of mine back. They had one 9" left in stock, so, for $79 I picked it up. It is 16*9 and has an external antenna that connect via a cable TV type connector... that's good, because other, better, antennas could be attached.

I'll try it out and post back. If it's no better, it'll be going back too!

Joe
 
Savarak

Savarak

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2001
2,718
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I returned mine... 21 in store credit... bleh!! I dunno what to do with it :p OD stuff is overpriced
 
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hkklife

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2003
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@Netopia;
Like most portables, it uses the headphone wire as the antenna for FM reception.

Here's my mini review:
I got a 3.5" and a 7" the other day at OD. The 3.5" is pretty crappy, both in reception and build quality but it does have the nice touch of including some cheap-o earbuds and both an AC & a car charger.

I picked up 1 channel in the middle of a bedroom indoors. Then I got 2 channels when I moved close to a window and then got 3 (sometimes 4 but it kept flickering in and out and was very pixelated) when out on the patio. In comparison I can get probably 16 digital channels with a cheap Philips non-powered Walmart antenna on my 32" Sony LCD and close to 20 with a good powered Terk or similar.

The 7" & 9" TVs are still kinda flimsy in build quality but appear to be much better units overall.

I'm probably going to take mine back as well but will keep the 7" version.
 
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russw

Golden Member
Oct 13, 1999
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hkklife said:
Then I got 2 channels when I moved close to a window and then got 3 (sometimes 4 but it kept flickering in and out and was very pixelated) when out on the patio. In comparison I can get probably 16 digital channels with a cheap Philips non-powered Walmart antenna on my 32" Sony LCD and close to 20 with a good powered Terk or similar.
Click to expand...

So how many channels if you hooked up the Walmart antenna to the "portable"? Kind of "not portable" if one has to connect an external antenna.
 
lupi

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
these were in the sunday paper ad, so if interested may want to look soon.
 
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hkklife

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2003
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russw said:
So how many channels if you hooked up the Walmart antenna to the "portable"? Kind of "not portable" if one has to connect an external antenna.
Click to expand...

The 3.5" portable TV has no external antenna jack (the larger ones do, however) so I cannot connect another antenna to it. I am just saying, reception at my house isn't the problem---the problem is the combination of the integrated antenna + tuner on this little $20 TV.
 
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