Made for Gateway by Sampo
Written: Mar 31 '03 (Updated Mar 07 '06)
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Pros: Attractive,clear display.Great for sports viewing.
Cons: Navigating remote is complicated. Remote functions and front panel buttons broken after 2 years.
The Bottom Line: Even at this price, it may be too expensive for most families. It might be practical to wait for more improvements. Males tend to love it, females aren't as impressed.
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| sealley's Full Review: Sampo PME-42V3 42 in. EDTV-Ready TV |
UPDATE 2 YEARS LATER:
The TV still works although last summer the remote stopped working but it was more than the remote. The part of the set that receives the signal stopped. It was going to be $700 to fix. So we got used to walking over to the set to turn it off. Also from using the buttons on the front of the set we must have worn them out. Sometimes they would short over to another button. We ended up giving it to our daughter and got a new Zenith HDTV plasma set. I would have thought for the money that the Gateway Sampo would have lasted a lot longer. I was disappointed. Previous comments continue below from 2 years ago.....
We bought this TV from Gateway on the web and had many disappointments as to what their setup fees paid for. We spent several frustrating hours(no exageration)over the phone clearing up setup fee disputes. As for product knowledge, the local Gateway store had the TV but said that they really didn't know much about it since it was new. Their store has since closed. Connecting everything to it and getting it to work is difficult. A Radioshack salesman gave us the greatest help.
The TV we have does not run very hot as some of these do. We added extra speakers so we do not have a complaint about the sound quality. The color is great.
My biggest problem is that everytime that I turn the set on, I have to readjust the view settings. It always defaults to 16:9 ratio which stretches viewing horizontally. I reset it to panorama and there appears to be no setting that would change this permanently. The problem is navigating all the controls on the remote to get the picture resized.
Trying to watch a DVD or tape is also quite complicated. With 2 remotes and all those settings to maneuver, you feel like a pilot in a cockpit. My husband always asks me to set up a DVD. He has never figured it out yet.
DVDs will not fill the picture even at the wide screen setting. You will still have the letterbox effect. That was a disappointment to me.
I realize most people have cable or have satellite. But for those that do not have either, this set will not display. If there is any fuzziness to the broadcast it will refuse to display the picture. I had to buy a cable booster because many of the end channels were not displayed.
I can neither say it is great or say that it is not great. My husband loves it. It does show Nascar races and Basketball vividly. With the additional speakers you feel as if you are there.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 3000.00
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Epinions.com ID:
sealley
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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