I’ve been given a month, more or less, to enjoy this humongous (32-inch!) LCD TV from Akai. That company may not be on the same level as Sharp or Sony, but then it’s still something to have a 32-incher staring back at you
Day 1
It’s here! I’m sitting right in front of it and I feel like a dwarf in comparison. One really has to place a regular screen—even including 21-inchers—next to a 32-incher to get an idea of the size difference. This one isn’t exactly elegant like the Bordeaux range of TVs from Samsung, which have the smooth glossy finish and all. This one has a black matte finish with a standard, grey border. The speakers at the bottom of the screen give it an even larger look. I can even mount it on my wall, if I want to.
Day 5
It’s been four days now and it looks like someone moved the TV a little. I try and adjust the position a tiny bit and it starts wobbling in giant-globule-of-jelly fashion. I’ve also noticed the flimsy plastic on the poorly-built back cover. A mildly punch and you can easily make a hole in it.
Day 10
The novelty has begun to wear off. One of the major flaws has to be the display itself! It’s got this rippling wave effect that originates from the top centre and radiates to the bottom, and it’s fairly prominent and rather distracting. Viewing angles are surprisingly good, and there are no signs of any kind of motion blurring either. Contrast ratio is pretty good too. There is a backlight feature to turn down (or up) the brightness of the screen more effectively.
Day 14
Connected the Xbox 360 Elite to the TV—that’s where it should shine. There are two HDMI connectors along with an array of others including VGA input and audio. I’m pleased—playing games on an Xbox 360 sitting a few feet away is rather enjoyable. 1366 x 768 is good as long as long as you sit at a decent distance. Unlike computer LCD monitors, you can count the pixels on the screen—that’s how coarse it is! Still, it would be the same with any other LCD of this size and resolution. The games run at 1080p but the TV doesn’t support it, so it downscales 1080p to its native resolution.
Day 20
Sound: not great. Loud enough for the daily-type TV, but not crisp. I’d say if you want to watch high-definition, action-packed movies, you’ll definitely want to connect better, external speakers.
Day 25
I’m busy punching away at the remote wondering where they’ve gone terribly wrong. Its light and doesn’t feel nice in my hand. The volume and channel-changing directional buttons are clunky and get stuck. The on-screen menu interface is easy to navigate, though.
Day 29
The end of the “joyride”. I’m not really going to miss it as much as I thought I would. I’m told the price is somewhere around Rs 40,000. I’m not totally blown away by the quality of the video or the sound—forget about build quality. This is just a good entry-level LCD TV for anyone wanting to make that leap—one of the cheapest 32-inch LCDs you can get. Would I buy it? I think not.