Small TV’s are perfect for kitchen’s, bedrooms and small lounges and reducing screen size doesn’t neccesarily mean that you have to sacrifice quality and features. We’ve taken a look round the major retailers and identified what we consider to be the best value small TV’s and DVD combos available to buy in February 2012.
Best Value Small TV»
1) LG M2250D-PZ
What we like – Full 1080p HD, LED backlighting, Very Slim, Great Value
Best deal – View Deal at Ebuyer.com
Details – We struggled to find another TV at around the £150 mark that was as capable as the M2250D. In fact, the majority of TVs at this price are either made by lesser known brands, are only 19 inch or aren’t full HD. The M2250D really is as good as you’re likely to get for under £200. It’s not the cheapest TV we found whilst visiting the various retailers but it is the best cheap small TV we could find that looks and performs like a modern TV.
There’s no DVD drive built into the LG M2250D-PZ which isn’t an issue if you’re planning on connecting a console. If you won’t be connecting a console and would still like to watch DVD’s basic DVD players are now very cheap and can be found for less than £30.
Key features include:-
Full HD 1080P – We’re still surprised to find large numbers of new TV’s shipping with legacy 720p panels. 720P is fine on really cheap, really small sub 20 inch TV’s but anything bigger than that really does benefit from the additional pixels provided by full HD 1080P TV’s. The M2250D’s screen is a full HD 1080P item.
LED Backlighting - TV’s that use LED back lighting not only produce better blacks and have better contrast ratios but are also considerably slimmer. This is a particularly important consideration on smaller TV’s that are likely to be used in smaller rooms. The M2250D is just under 17MM thick and has a stylish, well finished look that will compliment any room.
USB Functionality - You don’t need PC or console to view digital videos, pictures or music files on the M2250D as it features a USB port. It’s a case of transferring your files onto a USB drive and plugging that directly into the TV.
Best Value Small TV/DVD Combo»
1) Toshiba 19DV501B
What we like - Integrated DVD player, Toshiba Build Quality, Cheapest Brand Name DVD Combo
Best deal - View Deal At Amazon.co.uk
Details - The Panel used in the 19DV501B is a far simpler item than the LG2250D above. There’s no 1080P or LED backlighting, instead you’ll find a basic 720P panel with traditional backlighting. However, this little Toshiba costs less than £120 and produces better images than the majority of the supermarket brands we’ve seen recently.
Add to this a capable integrated DVD player and you’ve got a nice little TV that’s good enough for you’re kitchen or perhaps a kids room. Just don’t expect visual perfection.
The most important thing to consider when buying one of the TV’s on this page is to firstly determine the intended usage of whichever TV you buy. If you’re looking for a cheap small TV to entertain you in the kitchen or for the kids to watch a Spongebob DVD on the Toshiba 19DV501B will be fine. If however, you are looking for a TV for your own bedroom or for a small lounge the LG above is considerably bigger and has noticeably better picture quality.
