Proton LX-37B1C2 37-inch LCD TV Review

[Audioholics]

<A href="http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/protonLX37B1C2LCDTVreview1.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 125px; HEIGHT: 95px" alt=[protonLX37B1C2LCDTV] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/protonLX37B1C2LCDTV_th.jpg" align=left border=0></A>It's no great secret that there have been a flood of LCD televisions hitting the market in the past year or so, and it can be terribly difficult to separate the "wheat from the chaff" unless you know what to look for. Proton's newest 37" LCD television presents a nicely "tweakable" set with a reasonable amount of user settings to dial in the television picture quality to respectable viewing levels. We found the Proton LCD television to be a fast response display with more than enough resolution to satisfy. While it is not a good deinterlacer, using it as a monitor and pairing it with some good quality source components made for a very pleasing viewing experience.

[Read the Review]

 

[BMXTRIX]

Highly tweakable?

As in, you will have to tweak it into a completely different set if you want to view HD discs on it next year since they will all employ HDCP protection?

I think 3.5 stars out of 5 is a complete gift. That is a poorly engineered display device to lack many of the basic image handling capabilities that you do find in a quality display. Especially displays of far lower cost.

The lack of HDCP should completely negate this unit from going into the home of ANYONE! At that price, it isn't a maybe - it is a MUST - it MUST have HDCP to be of any value to someone.

I just don't understand:
Build Quality - 4 stars - yet the IR window doesn't allow for 'normal' remote usability? Is there something that makes it substantially BETTER than average in build that makes up for this? I mean, I would consider average to be 3 stars.

Also: Detail and video quality - 3.5 stars? For a display which doesn't recognize many film patterns and requires a high quality outboard video processor to produce the actual image since onboard processing is so poor?

I hope others realize that the 3.5 'overall' rating for this product really does equate closer to a D- score for this product which is clearly lacking in basic areas which almost every other display at that price range does reach.

A $3K computer monitor sounds more like what the review was of - not of a well designed television.

I don't think the review itself is in any way bad - it genuinely reflects these issues and it is what I referenced to draw my own conclusions as I hope others will. But, the star rating is what some go by... shame on them.

Keep up the good work guys.

 

[Audioholics]

Star ratings are tough. There are a lot of slow LCD displays on the market - this one was quick so I tried to emphasize that (it was one of the main positive attributes of the set). I suppose I could have been more harsh on it, but to be honest there are plenty of uses for an HDTV that takes component video inputs and does a reasonable job of internal scaling - which this unit did.

Yes, HDCP is quite important and in fact I was blindsided by the unit not having it (I was under the impression it had HDCP when I agreed to do the review). Rather than send it packing I went ahead and did the review and felt there were enough positives to eek it above average in some areas.

You're not wrong in your assessment, but there are more variables in the scoring system.

 

[BMXTRIX]

All good - no offense at all was meant. I love that you do the reviews and I am always pleased with what you charge me for using your site.

Just wanted to rant a bit I guess. Isn't that another forum? My bad.

 

[Audioholics]

Rant away - it's all good...

 

[Taylormade]

I would avoid Proton products like the plague. Granted, my experience has been with standard CRT sets, but their pathetic customer support and poor product quality likely translates into all of their products.

I had purchased a 27" tv that had to be replaced twice within a 6 month period. It finally died about 4 years after purchase. I also had a 35" tv that was replaced once and died about 5 years after purchase.

There was no doubt these sets had better picture quality than the competition but their failure rate was unacceptable. Since when should a standard CRT die in 5 years or less? I have never come across one, especially in the price range that the Proton sets were in.

The comments about the poor engineering of the LCD set reviewed seem warranted and it appears to be a product that's already obsolete.

 

[df4801]

It seems like the westinghouse 37" display ( available for under 2K at BB) would be higher resolution and a better buy.