Changhong CHL1555B LCD television

Name: Changhong CHL1555B LCD television
Item: Changhong CHL1555B LCD television
Rating: 3.00
Author: Campbell Simpson

The Changhong CHL1555B is the one of the cheapest all-in-one televisions we've seen

Campbell Simpson

Good Gear Guide

02/11/09

Expert Rating

3.00 / 5

Pros

HDMI input, 16:9 aspect ratio, high resolution

Cons

Only 500:1 contrast, poor vertical viewing angles

Bottom Line

The Changhong LT1599DV LCD television is a good choice for a child's bedroom or a cramped study. Its small size and light weight mean it is not hard to carry around, while the integrated DVD player, HDMI port and high resolution screen makes it versatile enough for a range of uses.

Would you buy this?

Yes 2
No 3

Price
$ 449.00 (AUD)

The Changhong CHL1555B is a 15in LCD television with an integrated DVD player. Its 16:9 aspect ratio means it's good for watching DVDs on, while the HDMI port and 1366x768 are an appropriate combination for connecting a high-definition games console for the kids.

Like the Teac LCD228HDM and the Kogan PRO-22, the Changhhong CHL1555B has a simple and Spartan design, but it doesn't look excessively ugly (we're thinking of you, Tyagi 3788). The buttons are arranged in a row on the top of the unit; the on-screen menu they operate is identical to the Teac LCD228HDM's and several other cheap small-screen LCD televisions. The remote is, again, not exactly a work of art, but it gets the job done.

We were slightly surprised but pleased to see an HDMI port on the rear of the Changhong CHL1555B — VGA, component, S-Video and composite are also available. The 1366x768 resolution means that, when set up via HDMI, the screen becomes quite a versatile little device; we did the majority of our testing on a Sony PlayStation 3 and a Microsoft Xbox 360.

The inbuilt DVD player is rather loud — especially when starting the television up — and menu navigation is slow and clunky, but once playback started we didn't notice any jumpiness or image errors. A USB port and SD card slot allow a small range of media files to be played back — we had success with JPEG image files, MP3 and WAV audio, but not video.

Picture quality is okay given the small screen size. The screen isn't the sharpest or most vibrant, but its 1366x768 resolution allows it to display a lot of detail — you'll need to get up close to see the best of it due to the small panel size.

The Changhong CHL1555B's 500:1 contrast ratio is very low, but casual watchers will find it acceptable for DVD and digital television. It suffers with darker Blu-ray video like The Dark Knight and video games, but it's enough to get by. You'll need to sit front and centre to see the screen clearly, though, as a narrow vertical and horizontal viewing angles mean the image loses contrast and clarity quickly as you move off-axis.

The Changhong CHL1555B is cheap and small — making it a good addition to the household if you've got a spare spot in your study or a child constantly hogging your big screen. Picture quality isn't excellent but as long as you're not watching it 24/7, it will be satisfactory.

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