PICTURE QUALITY. It did a very good job displaying fine detail. Color accuracy was very good, with image content, and flesh tones in particular, looking natural. Contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—was good, so images had depth and dimension, typical of most models we test. Brightness level was only fair, dimmer than most, best-suited for a darker room. Black levels were generally good, though not as dark as better performers on the darkest scenes. There was visible banding (unnatural contours) on scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, rather than smooth transitions. Film mode operation for HD film-based content was only good, as was deinterlacing performance. There were visible jaggies along the edges of objects during motion scenes on movies, and jaggies were also visible when converting 1080i video content to the display's native resolution.
VIEWING ANGLE. This Magnavox has a wide viewing angle overall, better than that of most TVs. It will provide the same picture quality, with fewer problems than most TVs, for typical viewing conditions—say, if your family is seated across a long sectional or in chairs off to the sides. With brighter scenes, this model did a fine job maintaining accurate colors and contrast as we viewed it from the sides. With dark scenes this model didn't fare quite as well. When viewed from the sides, the depth of black levels varied depending on the vertical position of the viewer's head. As we moved closer to the screen this limitation became even more apparent, especially if seated on the floor looking upward where black levels brightened significantly. This model's wide horizontal viewing angle is best appreciated when the TV's picture is viewed at eye level.
MOTION BLUR. This Magnavox TV has only fair motion performance, with significant blurring on our motion tests. This is typical of LCD TVs with the basic 60Hz frame rate. This model does not include a blur reduction feature. The visibility of blurring on typical program content is often subtle and may not bother most people, but keen-eyed viewers may detect some loss of texture and detail on scenes with movement.
SCREEN REFLECTIVITY. Though not as mirror-like as on some models, this screen surface is glossy and therefore susceptible to reflections from a nearby lamp or window. The screen is dark so it does a good job reducing glare from ambient light and maintains contrast even in a bright room.
SOUND QUALITY. This model has fair sound quality with below average performance. It's acceptable for typical programming, but shortcomings become obvious with movie soundtracks and music. With movies, dialog was generally clear and natural sounding but background music and other sounds were slightly recessed. Bass was lacking as was treble detail, while the overall sound was and a bit closed in. The volume from its speakers was limited—just adequate for a smaller, quiet listening environment. Also, at higher volume settings, dynamic compression kept the sound from distorting, but also limited the clarity of peaks in loudness, which was a bit distracting on some audio content. If sound quality matters to you, you might want to add a soundbar or other external speaker system—but if this smaller-screen set is a secondary TV, you might find its sound quality acceptable.
EASE OF USE. Overall, it was very easy to setup and fairly easy to do routine things. The dark labeling of the connectors on the TV console is very difficult to read. On first power up there is an on-screen guide that helps you through setting up the TV. It lacks the ability to add custom labels to different input sources.
STAND ASSEMBLY. The TV's base does not come pre-attached, so some assembly is required. Mounting the support stand to the TV is straightforward, though the stand requires the assembly of one part before mounting.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV does not have access to the Internet.
CONNECTIONS. This model has two HDMI inputs and one "component/composite shared" input (which means you can only use one type or the other at a time). It also has one USB port, a coaxial digital audio out, a headphone out, a VGA video input. Note: HDMI and other cable connections made to the rear-facing panel will protrude beyond the panel's slim depth.
INCLUDED IN THE BOX. A printed user manual. A quick start guide. A remote control with batteries.
