Hi ALL,
Just thought I would chime in here about the new Element FLX3202 (32") I just got last week. This is my first LCD HDTV but I am quite picky about picture and sound quality.
I find LCD HDTVs that I have seen to be a little irritating in that blacks are not generally as dark as a CRT and seem to have a blue haze over them.
That said, the element exhibits this haze to some extent, although not as much as some I have seen (Philips 26" for instance). I would turn down the backlight to try to eliminate this to see what it looks like but I am yet to find a backlight adjustment. I'm getting used to it though.
The reported slow response time (16 msec.) has yet to exhibit any problems that I can see. However, I do not play games on it so there may be some problem there, but I don't know that. I do however watch my share of sports and have yet to notice anything that I thought related to this and I have looked close.
I found it necessary to adjust the color to my liking and it was relatively simple to do. I do NOT like the cartoon look of a lot of LCD HDTVs with un-naturally vivid colors and that is how this LCD shipped. My taste leans more toward the look of British TV....Real.
The HDTV (ATSC) tuner is ever bit as good at locking and holding OTA signals as my Samsung SIR-T451. That was a relief. I didn't want to go backwards. It also performs as well as the ATI HDTV Wonder PCI card in my HPZ556 HTPC. I have a very poor reception environment here in the trees behind a hill about 20-40 miles from the transmitters and I use the largest Radioshack combination antenna available with a CM7777 pre-amp.
The Analog (NTSC) tuner is also quite adequate. In fact I believe it does as well or better than my NTSC Samsung TV. It AIN'T HD by a long shot though.
The VGA connection works as advertised and I have had no problem using the Element as a monitor for the HP Z556 HTPC.
The Composite/SVHS Video rendition is at best okay (for what it is), but I have to say that the Element's picture quality is better than the Hauppauge MCE 500PVR PCI card in my HP Z556. I think there may be something amiss with my Hauppauge card.
The PIP controls are only adequate but are still quite useful to me (I have never had PIP before - It's a hoot!). You have no choice as to the size of the smaller PIP window but you can easily move it to 5 different locations around the screen. You can also run it in split screen (2 equal halves).
The automatic stretching (no other choice) of ATSC 4:3 (SDTV) video to 16:9 when using the HDTV tuner video is a fatal limitation according to my wife, but I think she CAN get used to it. This does not apply to NTSC Tuner/Composite/SVHS Video where you have multiple zooming choices.
All in all I got far more than I expected out of this purchase and do not YET regret it. Now I get to see how long it lasts. I would still be watching Standard def TV if not for the modest price of the Element.
dmatch
