Viore PLC7V95 7-Inch Handheld LCD TV with Built-in Tuner
by VIORE
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Our Price: $209.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Viore PLC7V95 7-Inch Handheld LCD TV with Built-in Tuner
Customer Review: I think it's a keeper
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this at Fry's, a chain of gadget superstores.
My previous kitchen/bathtub/camping/portable/convenience tv was one of those little casio LC 2.5-inch TVs that I really got along with and was quite sturdy. But now it's only digital, so....
My expectations were an optimistic neutral, and not just because I've never heard of the brand Viore.
I continue to be pleased.
I assume I have to be careful with this because it seems a bit more delicate than the previous casio, but perhaps I'm being paranoid and protective, and a bit pessimistic? Maybe not so much delicate but maybe less forgiving? The casing seems sound if a bit heavy and a bit plasticy. Probably not a bad thing at all, though looks a bit toy-ish next to a slick big LCD tv.
The included antenna reception is very finicky, but I sort-of knew to expect that. Volume's not so much, but a bit more than my understandably low expectation. Remote is also a bit finicky which I wasn't expecting. I'm sure there's a trick to how/where/when to aim at what, and I've not quite gotten that right.
It seems to properly detect and display format for digital SD vs digital HD and it has the expected aspect button settings. The picture quality seems perfectly decent, perhaps better. I've really only watched reruns and evening sitcoms. And I only have roof-top antenna (when I choose to connect it that way), so I'm not able to judge it for National Geographic or NFL channel quality programming or whatever. And like all digital TV now, if it gets the signal, it's clear. (Warning: be a bit patient with the finicky nature of portale/telescoping antennas, as always.)
I converted a dvd (one episode of hitchcock TV reruns on DVD) to avi (mp4, too), put it on an SD card, played fine. Finicky about the avi/mp4 format, but that's quite common gadgets of all types. Haven't tested the USB.
It even has the program guide that lists the last several and next several shows of the same channel, not just the "currently watching" sort-of fake program guide.
The battery life seems fair, at maybe 90 minutes? I've not actually timed it. I was hoping for like 8 hours. Who was I kidding?
Another warning: the manual is a wreck, what there is of it. And I don't see this product on the viore website. Surprising but not freakout-worthy.
If it breaks after maybe 1 year I'll probably still think it was a good buy at $99 plus tax. More toy than tool, but that's how I've treated my portable tvs for years.
Customer Review: Read this ine for full range of use
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the review everyone should listen to. Why? Because the various people who have reviewed this so far either missed key features or focused on only one or two features.
Like many of those who bought this TV, I did so to replace the old TV I watched while shaving each morning in the bathroom. In a digital world you need digital, so time to upgrade.
First off my rating of 4 of 5 stars is due to the poor documentation, even on their web site. For basic use you don't need it. Everything is easy and you can figure out 90% of it by just turning it on. But find out about playing files from an SD chip? Just need to try it. It does JPG fine, MP3 works too, though without details on playback quality and format there could be some issues I just haven't hit yet. MPEG? AVI? There's a playback function something like that, but I haven't yet found what works yet. Which of course is because neither the little pamphlet of instructions or their web site have it, they all skip over this little fact.
Right, well here's where people miss out on the use of this TV. First, digital isn't like the old days where if the signal is weak you got some snow and maybe some static, but mostly watchable. If nothing else that's how you tuned and/or adjusted the antenna. With digital, well you get a picture that starts becoming squares, frame rate drops and sound cuts out. Since you tune digitally, adjusting the antenna can be tricky, you adjust, then rescan. But if you look up the channel's broadcast antenna you can point right to it. Like any old TV set, you can only pull in what is actually around your area.
So, picture is OK and so is sound. As good as any portable I had before.
So is this worth it? Yes and this is what most people miss. Not only is it an OK TV, but a fine media reader. I had wanted a digital photo frame. Now I have one. You want to see you digital photos from your camera while on the road? Perfect. Want to check the photos or music on a memory stick? Again, you're in luck without needing a computer.
Is this the perfect TV? No, but for portability, add-on features (photo frame, video player, etc) price, simplicity and form factor, hard to beat. And I looked around before going with this one.
Customer Review: A cool little TV
Summary: 4 Stars
First the good stuff... I acquired this Viore PLC7V95 7 Inch TV to pass the time when we lose power in South Florida. Like all digital TVs the picture is really pretty good. It is not HD of course, but it will receive HD stations and display the picture on its wide screen. One thing that really impressed me is the TV can make almost every adjustment my Samsung HD TV can make. It even has a signal strength meter which really comes in handy with the little antenna that came with the unit. The remote control is full function. Why there is even a remote control at all is a good question because most people will watch the TV with it sitting on their lap and you can easily make adjustments using the buttons on the TV. It did not come with a cigarette lighter adapter so it can be run off a car battery, but I found one for sale at Radio Shack that cost only $9. I can also hook it up to my PC UPS system using the supplied transformer.
Now the bad... This particular unit appears to have a problem with the SD card and USB inputs. The USB input doesn't work at all and it will not play any movies on an SD card (it does display JPG files). I'm hoping the Viore support will resolve these issues shortly, otherwise I'll be forced to return it to Amazon. One thing the TV will not do automatically is adjust the aspect ratio to match the TV signal. A button is provided for that purpose. Another thing it lacks that several competitors apparently have is the means to connect it to a standard tripod. As for the sound, it is stereo but the speakers are about the size of quarters so don't expect to be impressed unless you hook up a good pair of earphones. Finally the instruction manual is a joke. Fortunately most controls are so intuitive a manual isn't really necessary.
Customer Review: Pleasantly Surprised
Summary: 4 Stars
I wanted to replace my old portable TV with a digital one. I tried out one from Best Buy about a year ago and ended up returning it a few days later. I took a chance on this TV and was surprised to find also had a USB and SD slot capable of playing MP3s, Photos and Movies including Divx and Xvid. TV wise it picked up everything in my area and even has an electronic program guide. Picture is nice for SD stations, HD stations are ok considering this is not an HDTV. Sound is pretty good for the included speakers. Not much bass but you can't really expect tiny speakers to boom. You can plug in headphones if you want better sound. The buttons on the unit are simple and easy to use. There is also a remote you can use if you want to control the TV at a distance. As a TV it does a good job. As a media player I was surprised how versatile it was. It played everything I threw at it and the video looked great. I'm very happy with this purchase.
Pros: Good picture and sound. Plays DTV and other Media. Unit allows for software upgrades so the company can constantly improve the functionality. Antenna cord is fairly long and has a magnetic mount. When there is nothing on TV you can always watch other media via USB or SD card.
Now here are the cons. Battery life is only about 1½ hours and there is no way to tell how much charge is on the battery. The USB port is a mini port that requires an adapter (included) to plug a USB stick into the unit. While the unit does come with a kick stand there is no way to mount it to a tripod or base. The unit only comes with an AC adapter so if you want to charge it in your car you need to buy a DC adapter.
Overall it's a good little TV/Media Player for around $100
Customer Review: A good little TV
Summary: 4 Stars
Having had this model as well as a similar iView (RJTech) TV for about the last year, the Viore has a slight edge in picture quality and sound. Neither one gets great reception with the provided antenna, but I live in an area with weak signal across the spectrum.
PRO: Playing AVI videos via USB or SD card was the reason I bought this, and I'm reasonably satisfied with the playback. When playing an AVI file, both the sound and video are excellent - and with headphones on, the sound is fantastic. However, video playback seems limited to AVI - it won't even look at a MPG, MP4, MKV or other video file.
CON: A minor gripe, but constant nuisance -- The USB input is Mini-USB, requiring an adapter to use a flash drive. This is just stupid. Flash drives use a standardized USB 1.1/2.0 interface, and this forces the owner to stock up on SDHC cards to use instead. Other portables I've seen use a standard USB slot.
PRO: Battery life has been outstanding. I would have to guess 3/4 of the price of this unit is the battery's cost. In a year, I have recharged it maybe twice out of nearly 30 hours of use. Excellent.
PRO: I have read many complaints about "the screen is all scratched up, right out of the box." My unit came with a very thin plastic film protecting the hard plastic screen, and the screen beneath is absolutely flawless. I thought it was glass. It's easy for someone with lazy eyes to just look at the film overlay and think "this looks like crud!" Yeah, then pull off the film, and it's perfect. Just be careful to protect that finish, Bubba.