Sceptre 32 inch TV Review


I have the 32″ screen sceptre television. 720p resolution. Presets for picture temperature are either very dark or very white washed or low color. After a bit of manual adjustments, the picture is near flawless.
3 hdmi connections on the back, 1 usb connection. All of the typical rca jacks.
Usb connection is for usb storage drives. Sorry only mp3 and photos. Wont play video.
Screen sizes are normal, zoom,stretch and cinema. Cinema is zoomed way in. Most of the image does not fit in screen are. Its like being zoomed in on 1/4 of the video.
Zoomed mode, zooms in too far also, just not as bad as cinema. Stretched, basically stretches the images to fit the width of screen area. Leaves black bars and middle of viewable area distorted from stretching. Though the manual says the outer edges will be stretched looking.

but. When you have the image set at the default original setting where you have black bares on left,right,top and bottom, your video will be at the highest resolution that your tv can display . So if image quality is your goal…..

bottom left button on the remote is one of the first buttons you should push. hit that three times if you want out of the dark, energy efficient mode. top right button, hit that twice. These are the defaults that I found most bearable with the lighting in my house. I still made manual changes.

The audio through the built in speakers, far above and beyond what I expected. This beats the LG tv I have for comparison. (specs to come in other posts).
External speaker sound, again above what I expected. This is while selecting between 2.1 surround, and 5.1 surround sound.

Overall weight of the sceptre 32 inch tv, a lot lighter than my 19 inch lg monitor and slightly less weight than my 32 inch lg television. Weighs less than 5 lbs. Or at least feels that way to me.
Assembly of the factory stand, very simple. Wall mount is 200mm/200mm and again very simple. For this, there is an extra backing piece you find in the box. I saw mine and was certain the manufacturer goofed and gave me an extra back for a some remote that didn’t get packaged. No worries, this backing is for the lower section to cover the hole when you removed the stand. I chose not to use the wall mount, Since I am in a new house and I really do not want holes in my wall. I may want to relocate that television some day, and would be stuck with holes. So um…. no thanks.
Use of local tv through antenna (had to purchase one) images are amazing. Now that is true high def at it’s finest, if this is an option for you, I recommend it. Highly recommend it. Full screen at default settings with high crisp images.
Signal through local cable, not using the cable box, well there are hundreds upon hundreds of channels that can be received. The Hd channels are of no quality comparison to local broadcast.
Pretty much the same if you use the cable box, you just have to find channel 3 and let the cable box do all of the work for you.

Ratings of Sceptre 32 inch TV
image quality in default 8/10
image quality at full zoom 7/10
audio on board 9/10
Audio through external speakers 10/10
ease of install 10/10
image set up ease 7/10
Broadcast signal image 10/10
Look of the tv (physical appearance) 9/10

Full review rating/score (based on TruXter Tech Review’s unprofessional opinion) 8/10

 

 

Update 12/28/2011

Lately I have noticed a weird noise when the  tv warms up. and then again when it cools off. Sounds like the plastic is snapping.

Update12/5/2012
But still. Bang for buck, this is a great T.V. . One year later and this t.v. is working like it was brand new. Speakers are good with no buzzing, no dead pixels, no off coloring. The t.v. is in great condition.
Menu is a bit slow. Especially selection reception resolution. That’s a tad frustrating. I haven’t found anything about upscaling so. I am not sure it does this. The popping I posted about earlier, seems to have stopped for a good while now. wasn’t a loud pop, more like a surprising crackle.