A Trouble Free TV / VCR Combo - Toshiba MV13N3
Written: Jun 11 '05 (Updated Jun 11 '05)
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Pros: Perfect for kids rooms, nice picture, cable ready, front AV jacks.
Cons: Might be too small for some peoples taste.
The Bottom Line: Toshiba scores big with this TV / VCR combo!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Toshiba MV13N3 13 inch TV/VCR Combo TV |
When we move there were a lot of things that we got rid of including most of the televisions. It was going to cost .60 cents a pound to ship them [plus insurance] so I figured that it would be cheaper to just buy new ones. We have a large television in the gameroom and another in the livingroom but my youngest wanted something in his room that he could use for video games and to watch an occasional movie. I found this one online for $89.99 and couldn’t pass it up since it was a television and VCR combo - you’d be hard pressed to find a brand name 13 inch color television for that price let alone a combo unit. The site that I ordered it from offered free shipping for orders over a hundred bucks so I ordered some small stuff to make up the difference. Instead of paying almost $30.00 for shipping I ordered a tape rewinder and some headphones for twenty five bucks so I’d go over the hundred dollar mark. I could have just paid the shipping fee but at least this way I got something extra for my money. So far this has been a trouble free combo that’s far exceeded my expectations and my son absolutely loves it. As strange as it sounds, he likes the fact that this has a headphone jack on it, that way he can play games at night without having everyone in the house being bothered with the sound.
Toshiba MV13N3 13 Inch TV/VCR Combo
When I saw the pictures of this at the site that was selling it I thought it was a nice looking set up but once it arrived I was really impressed with it. It’s a sort of silver color with nice side speakers, tons of features and a VCR deck that is easy to use. I was really worried that this was going to be a factory reconditioned unit because of the low price but when it arrived it was sealed inside the original Toshiba box; thankfully they put this box inside another box and had it covered with “Fragile” stickers all over it. When I started unpacking the television I knew that, without a doubt, this was a brand new unit - everything was wrapped in plastic and had the original sytrofoam inserts. When you buy something that is reconditioned the packaging is sloppy and things aren’t wrapped. The cables, remote, user manual - everything was still sealed.
The television portion of the combo is nice; it has a thirteen inch screen [diagonal measurement], front AV jacks [makes it great for attaching video game systems], on screen programming that can be used to adjust the color, contrast, stereo set up and for the VCR. This is cable ready so you don’t need to have a cable box to receive cable channels however this doesn’t apply to digital subscribers of most cable systems. Most cable companies require you to have a special box to receive digital cable so you are still going to get zapped for a rental or have to buy your own box. The speakers aren’t that big but they do deliver a nice sound and I had to try this out to see how loud you could get it before the sound started to break up. The on screen display shows you the volume bar and I took it about three quarters of the way up before the sound started to get choppy - not bad for a television of this size. This isn’t a flat screen but the view of it is really nice, some televisions have some distortion on the sides if you aren’t sitting directly in front of it but you can view this from any angle and the picture is superb. Another perk to this is that it is Energy Star compliant so it isn’t sucking a lot of power when it is in use.
The VCR was easy to set up and features an digital clock on the face of it, on screen programming, closed caption views in three languages, commercial skip [via the remote] and one touch recording. You can program this to record up to eight different events in up to a thirty day timeframe and usually these types of things puzzle me to no end but I had no problem setting it up to tape my sons favorite shows. This is only a two head VCR so you aren’t going to get a crystal clear picture from the tapes but it is still pretty good and usually my son will watch what he’s taped a few times then tape over them with something else. If it’s something that he really wants to save then he will record it on one of the other VCR’s that have four heads. You don’t have to switch back and forth between the television and VCR when using the remote control and it’s already set up to control both pieces of the unit. This records nicely and it is pretty quiet, some VCRs make a lot of noise when they are loading tapes or rewinding but this is pretty quiet.
What really shocked me was the remote control; not only does it control everything for the television and the VCR but it’s illuminated so you can operate it with the lights out. When I first saw this I thought it was a glow in the dark type that holds its glow for about ten minutes but this one lights up when you press a button. It’s a nice remote with decent sized buttons and it can control all aspects of both parts of the unit so you don’t have to get up to do anything except insert a tape or if you accidentally eject a tape. It’s wireless and you can operate it from about fifteen to twenty feet away from the unit, it’s powered by two AAA sized batteries and so far my son hasn’t burned through the ones that came with the remote. It’s easy enough to operate and figure out what all the buttons are for and I’m hoping that my son heeds my warning about leaving the remote laying on the floor - this makes it easy pickings for one of the animals to come by and start snacking on the rubber buttons.
Warranty
This comes with a one year warranty against manufacturer defects. I was worried that since I purchased this from an online site that the warranty wouldn’t be valid but when I sent it in the card I got a reply from Toshiba thanking me for my purchase and notifying me that my card was received and my warranty was now in place. I doubt I will be having any problems with this unit but it is nice to know that if something does happen within the next year, it will be covered. Make sure you fill out and mail in the card to start your warranty or you can do it online if you wish. Follow the instructions on the card that comes with the television combo unit and it will walk you through the steps to getting things set up.
The Bottom Line
So far this combo unit has been a breeze to use and operate; programming the VCR is simple thanks to the walk through on screen programming and it even gives you a little blinking warning if you don’t have a tape inserted but you have something programmed to record. About the only negative of this is the size - since this is a thirteen inch screen the body is about fifteen inches wide and tall, unfortunately, it’s also that deep. This means that it doesn’t fit into most of the smaller bedroom sized wall or entertainment units but we solved that by cutting out the back section of my sons wall unit so that this could slide in and have plenty of room for ventilation. That brings up another point - some combo units tend to get hot because the items are stacked on top of each other but so far this has gotten a little warm when he’s had it on for a few hours watching movies but it hasn’t gotten too hot that I worry about it burning itself out. If you are looking for a mid sized television / VCR combo this is a great pick - I am thinking about getting one of these for my bedroom to replace the television and VCR that I have in there. It would be a lot nicer to have one piece of equipment than two. The downside is that if the VCR breaks or needs to be repaired, these types of stacked units do cost more to get services because they have to take a lot of stuff apart - well, at least that is the story I always got when I had to take my double deck VCR’s to the shop.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $89.99
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