Today for review is the Dynex 7” LCD Portable Television from Geeks.com. Many people keep these sort of TVs on hand for emergencies, weather alerts, long trips in the car when traveling or just to use outside at a picnic or when tailgating. This little TV has a lot of cool features and high-class functions, is small and lightweight and can be powered with the built-in battery if you’re not near an outlet. But is it useful in lots of different situations? Let’s take a look.
Info:
Dynex 7” LCD Portable TV DX-7HTV-09
This DX-7HTV-09 portable, handheld digital TV features a 7-inch widescreen display with a 16:9 aspect ratio that lets you enjoy your favorite TV programs anywhere you go. With built-in ATSC and NTSC tuners you can enjoy both digital and analog TV so you won’t miss a big play in the big game!
An A/V input as well as an A/V cable is included so you can add external audio and video sources. For late night or quiet time viewing there’s a headphone jack so you can plug in some headphones. The DX-7HTV-09 has a built-in rechargeable Li-polymer battery and includes a car power adapter so you can view TV in your automobile, RV, or boat!
7-inch Dynex DX-7HTV-09 Portable Handheld Widescreen LCD Digital TV
- General Features:
- Color: Black/Silver
- Screen size: 7-inch
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 widescreen
- Built-in ATSC/NTSC tuners
- A/V input for external audio/video sources
- Built-in antenna
- Built-in rechargeable Li-polymer battery
- Portable
- Back kick stand for desktop use
- Built-in speakers
- Includes card style remote control
- Front View:
- IR receiver
- Power button
- Menu button
- Ch+
- Ch-
- Left
- Right
- Enter button
- Input button
- Wide button
- Left Side View:
- Headphone jack
- Volume control dial
- Brightness dial
- Right Side View:
- RF In
- AV In
- Power/Charge LED
- DC 9V connector
- Power Specifications:
- DC — 9V 1.5A
- Unit Dimensions:
- 5.75 x 7.25 x 1.1-inches (H x W x D, approximate)
Package Includes:
- 7-inch Dynex DX-7HTV-09 Portable Handheld Widescreen LCD Digital TV
- Card style remote control
- Power Adapter (100-120V 50/60 Hz)
- Audio/Video cable
- L-shaped F connector
- Car power adapter
Additional Information:
- Dynex Model: DX-7HTV-09
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Info:
The TV comes packaged in a fairly dull blue cardboard box with a plastic see-through window on the front. The sides and back of the package tell you all the pertinent information about the product, its specs and the package’s contents.
My pictures of the package didn’t come out too well, primarily because the front of the plastic is covered in some sort of sticky tape/glue residue. Considering the plastic and TV are highly reflective to start with, it made for some bad photos going through the tape gunk.
The box opens from the back. Inside, the TV rests in plastic packaging underneath a cardboard box full of cables and the remote, and the manual.
The peripheral box contains the remote control, power cable, an AV adapter, a car power adapter and an F-connector.
The TV itself is packaged in a plastic bag. It’s a nice-looking unit, very sleek, with a 7” screen. The speakers are right on the front of the device. Overall it has a nice presentation.
The included manual is pretty much garbage and doesn’t tell you anything about how to use the device.
Overall the unit feels pretty solid and durable. It doesn’t seem like some flimsy piece of junk that’s going to crack in half as soon as you lay it down somewhere.
On the right side is the AV/DC/RF inputs and power LED. On the left is the mic input and volume/brightness controls. The rear has a picture frame style stand that can be used to prop the TV up on a counter or table, which is great.
Let’s get on to taking a look at how it works…
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Installation, Performance, Comparison:
As soon as you power on this TV for the first time, you’ll learn something very important – whether or not it’s going to work well for you. A gadget like this is only as good as the reception in your area. While this TV may have a good number of features, come with a nice price tag and have good capabilities, none of that does you any good if you don’t get strong reception in your area. This was the case for me. There are ways you can make it work better, and we’ll get to that, but let’s start at the beginning.
When I turned it on straight out of the box, it wouldn’t pick up any stations. The antenna was fully extended, and even though I was inside, I was in a room on the edge of a building next to a giant sliding glass door. Consulting the manual for help on how to get reception is useless as I mentioned, so you have to figure it out on your own.
One thing about this TV is that a lot of its functions are controlled entirely by the remote. The guide, the auto channel reception surfing, the menus – there are no buttons on the actual unit for these features. So if you lose the remote, you’re in trouble. It also forces you to have the remote on you at all times, which is sort of silly. The other irony is that with all the things you need the remote for, you can’t control the volume with it. You have to use an old-style manual adjustment wheel on the TV.
I ran the autoscan twice before it found any stations. The first one scanned 63 or so possible stations and found 0. The second scan yielded 1 result – the local FOX station. It automatically tuned to the station since it was the only option I had.
When the reception managed to come in clear-ish (which was never for longer than a 60-90 second period), the picture was actually superb. The detail was great, the audio was loud and clear, no crackling or fuzziness. Hitting the Guide and Info buttons on the remote brought up info about the show I was watching and a summary of the episode.
But still, it was the only channel I could get. And most of the time it came in with the screen scrambling and the signal totally dropping out every so often.
Taking the device outside, I was able to pick up one or two more channels, very intermittently. They never came in well enough for me to actually consider them watchable and only ever lasted a few seconds. FOX, however, worked better when I was outside, though still not as reliably as it should.
The potential of this device is easy to see – but it does seem like it needs work with picking up signals. Perhaps I live in an area with poor TV reception… That’s me giving the device the benefit of the doubt and assuming it just isn’t built with a crappy antenna. I only live 10 miles or less from all the local broadcasting stations, though, so it seems more likely the antenna is just garbage.
There is an input on the side of the unit where you can attach a more powerful antenna. With that being true, even if you live in an area like I do, purchasing this TV isn’t a complete loss. You just might need to pick up an extra accessory to give your unit the signal-sucking power it requires. There is also an AV input, so you can connect any piece of hardware with AV out capabilities to the TV and watch that. That feature works very well since it’s wired. Again, this TV has a good picture when the signal is strong.
This TV does run on a battery, but you can’t put batteries into it. It has a built-in battery that requires a good while to charge and doesn’t operate nearly long enough. You’re always going to be using the plug with this thing, either to power or recharge – and for a portable TV, that’s not a real benefit.
The car charger is a nice touch for anyone buying this to keep their passengers entertained while on the go.
For those who buy these types of devices for emergency situations, this might not be the best product. It already doesn’t work very well inside buildings, and if your power is out, you have no way to charge it once it’s dead because it doesn’t have replaceable batteries.
The TV also has some neat features like a sleep timer in case you want to fall asleep watching it. All of the menus that show information or settings are easy to see and appear clearly over the show – even when the show is coming in perfectly, as it is above. Most people won’t care about things like this, but they’re there.
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Conclusion:
Overall I like the look, construction and capabilities of the TV. I thought the guide and info blocks that tell you what you’re watching were very cool, and the picture is as good as you could hope for when it manages to come in. But, the fact remains that it would hardly pick up any stations. Considering it is an antenna-based TV, that’s a pretty big issue.
Ultimately if your reception is strong, this would be an alright little device. While the built-in battery idea might not make it the best choice for those hoping to keep it down in their tornado bunker, it may be worth picking up for your kids to watch as they ride in the car on your next family vacation.
However, since the thing is only good if you pay for an additional peripheral, that doesn’t bode too well for the unit itself.
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Pros:
+Pretty solid picture when you get it
+Nice loud sound
+Informative guide/info systems
+Nice set of built-in options
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Cons:
-Remote is needed for lots of things
-Reception struggles pretty hard
-Battery doesn’t last long
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