During the week of Thanksgiving, we found a flat screen, LCD TV for a steal on Newegg.com. As it was, Ryan wanted a new television but I did not (ours worked fine and while it wasn’t large, we could see things. Well, I could. Some of the games he had been playing had subtitles and text so small that he had a difficult time reading it which is really the fault of the developers who were not acknowledging that not everyone has a massive and/or widescreen set yet. Anyway, I decided the only way he could get one is if he found one at a good price so I had to go shopping myself. Of course. We wound up purchasing a 37″ LCD HDTV by Sceptre, a brand we hadn’t heard of but the reviews were decent.

Thus far, he’s been pretty happy with his purchase. Shipping was really cheap (less than $20), assembly was minimal (just putting up the base but if you want something fancier that’s your own fault) and he can read his subtitles as well as play his games in high definition. It arrived without a single dead pixel which is pretty impressive, too! Setting up a PS2, Xbox 360 and our cable box was easy and there’s all sorts of ports for all sorts of hardware.

While there was a 1080p sticker on the set itself, it appears that this is not actually the case. Our TV is far from cutting edge and cannot be qualified as full HD because it’s only 720p but there is definitive improvement with some of the things we’re doing on the TV.

Keyword, some. Standard definition really looks quite shoddy, sadly. Older movies and television shows have this sort of pixelated look to them, especially from the side. It seems like almost everything looks a bit better directly from the front and back about 6 or 7 feet which is further back than we usually are. Some people won’t ever really notice but I do watch a lot on cable and there are not HD alternatives to some things so I guess I’m SOL.

I’ve also noticed that the TV gets quite hot during use and not even extended use. This could be an issue with LCD televisions overall and hasn’t affected performance but I thought it’s worth mentioning.

Like most flat screens, the sound quality leaves a bit to be desired. It was definitely more noticeable when we first bought it and I’ve become more accustomed to it now. This can be fixed by using different speakers, of course.

On the other hand, it’s much lighter than our old set and looks quite sleek with its black casing. And unlike my mom’s flat screens, the buttons are easy to find on the side and not hidden. I don’t know if I’m the only person who doesn’t always use the remote but I turn it on and off manually frequently. There is definitely a lag when turning it on which is compounded by the brand name flashing on screen.

The remote could definitely use some improvement. It feels quite flimsy and the censor is pretty picky. Luckily, my cat likes to lie directly in front of the censor all the time. Unfortunately, I had to do some searching to find a code for the SCEPTRE 37″ 16:9 6ms 720p LCD HDTV to work with our universal remote and, even then, I still need to use the TV remote control to switch the aspect radio which I do quite often because of the stuff I am watching. I suppose that’s just one of the downsides of buying an off-brand television.

The bottom line is, if price is your bottom line, pretty much any TV by Sceptre will be much nicer to your wallet than other brands but it may not be full HD or display standard definition as nicely as you’re used to. Your current TV usage will be a good indicator as to whether you should get a lower end television or opt to spend more on a set which will handle everything a little smotoher.