Hitachi 22LD4200

Not knowing much about LCD TV's... I unfortunately went for a known name. A big mistake... this TV must be one of the worst ever made!

Stick to Panasonic or Sony.... I wish I had!

I bought the Hitachi 22LD4200 because I wanted to replace my existing 15" television and 15" monitor with an all in one device that I could use for both. This model is advertised as an LCD television first and monitor second, however it is clear that it should be the other way round. As a PC monitor, the image is clear and crisp (although with a 22" screen, perhaps a maximum resolution of 1280x720 isn't really high enough. I could easily fit a lot more on screen if I was able to increase the resolution). Even so, text is clear, images are bright and colourful and games run clear and crisp. If I was to rate the image quality as a PC monitor on its own I would give it a higher score than the 5 I have given it in my rating.

The problems start when you want to watch TV. The TV features a built in tuner so you can connect your arial straight into the TV, however images look like you are watching them on a computer. If there is a lot of movement on the screen, then it becomes very pixellated. I reduced this effect by connecting via SCART with my freeview digital reciever and did notice an improvement, however compared to a standard CRT TV, the image is still poor.

DVD playback is quite good, so maybe if I had a fully digital TV signal using cable or satellite, I would be happier with the TV performance, however overall, I cannot say I am happy with my purchase.