HUMAX LD2060 Integrated 20" LCD with DirecTV Tuner
by Digital Dude
Satelliteguys.us first look!
5-22-2006
What price convenience?
Thanks to Robert at Valueelectronics.com the brand new Humax LD2060 review sample arrived today. The LD2060 is the first flat panel TV featuring an integrated DirecTV standard definition tuner to market and Satelliteguys.us gives you the web's first initial impressions review! As you've come to expect from Satelliteguys this will be an honest review, I call it like I see it. Being the first to market with a product that creates a new segment in consumer electronics is fraught with pitfalls, very seldom does a company score a goal with a new product and this one is no exception.
Before digging in here's a look at the specifications for the 20.1" TV.
Unpack and setup.
The LD2060 is advertised as a perfect solution for the kitchen and other space limited installs since you won't have to hide as many wires. Upon unpacking the TV you can see that it came with few accessories including remote, power cord, a/v cable, and phone cord.
Since I'm not in the mood to fish cable upstairs into the kitchen I set it up on my equipment rack in the theater room which offers the opportunity to feed the LD2060 from DVD, DVR, and HD sources in addition to it's internal DirecTV SD tuner. One thing about the TV that I like is that the picture is framed by black plastic. Silver reduces perceived contrast ratio and black level and with a contrast ratio of 500:1 this TV needs all the help it can get. Another specification of note is that in today's world of high definition is the 640x480 resolution of the panel, but remember this is a standard definition product but with a wideband component input (YPbPr) that will accept and down rez a HD signal.
Here is a picture from the front.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h207/cmhshark/ff3e8bfe.jpg
From an angle,
The rear inputs and output.
Finally the side component video input.
Setup doesn't take "Rocket Appliances", (OK bad play on words) simply plug in the cable from your DirecTV, plug in the power cord and the familiar DirecTV setup process appears on screen. One interesting note is that on the satellite dish setup screen you can choose between an 18" dish, or oval dish with 2 or 3 LNB's, no setup for the AT-9 dish. The DirecTV receiver inside is manufactured by Conexant and setup is just like you'd find on a D-10/11.
The included remote is in the standardized DirecTV layout but is light gray in color, Humax also included the obligatory "dice" stickers for sports bars that would ostensibly have more than one of these beside a standard Direc remote.
The remote is pre-programmed to operate the TV so remote setup is only needed if you add a DVD player, DVR, or stereo to your setup. (But it's not marketed towards that is it?) Curiously there is no s-video input or output, so if you use a DVR you're stuck with a low grade composite connection.
Performance
I'm spoiled. We've had HD for 6 years and with my writing reviews and covering shows like CEDIA for 5 years it's hard to step back and try to imagine the customer that would buy this type of product. The only TV in our house that is 4:3 is my child's TV, my computer monitor is widescreen, in fact our monitor's are the only LCD's in the house. Why you ask? Two reasons, both having to do with picture quality. First off the black level of the LD2060 about as bad as my daughter's 3 year old 15 in LCD TV/Monitor and with a 16ms response rate the LD2060 leaves much to be desired when it comes to handling fast motion. The pictures from an Olympus digital camera actually make the TV seem to perform much better than it actually does. Blacks are practically non-existent. Shadow detail is lousy and even though it touts "flesh tone enhancement" people appear clay faced, though the clay face is an improvement over my daughters 3 yr old LCDTV. On a positive note, there are few stairstepping artifacts.
TNT feed of Mavs-Spurs Game 7.
I've always found the 640x480 resolution of most 20" LCD's curious to say the least. Smaller yet higher resolution displays nearly always look better, though 640x480 is a good fit for 4:3 NTSC. I tried the component input by feeding it a 1080i signal of TNTHD from a Samsung TS-360. Another anomaly popped up when I did this. The LD2060's component inputs accept a HD signal, but there is no automatic 16x9 mode on the TV. The LD2060 stretched the picture vertically. To remedy this I had to switch the remote to TV mode, enter the TV menu, navigate to picture, then down to "size". The choices are normal, zoom, and wide. The target demographic must include old fuddy-duddies who hate black bars top and bottom! After selecting "wide" mode the TNTHD had the proper aspect ratio. I tuned to the local CBS station's 4:3 feed and the TV stayed in widescreen mode.
Local broadcast picture.
The LD2060 also has composite out so for grins I dusted off the auxiliary TV from the storage room, a 20" Toshiba CRT manufactured in 2000. The "old" style CRT had a more pleasing picture with the basketball game than the LCD. The old CRT does a much better job with motion and scan lines aren't much of a consideration at this size. Yes, the 6 yr old CRT (like you can get on Craigslist for $50) outperformed the $699 LCD. Granted the CRT takes up more counter space, needs an external DirecTV tuner, and doesn't look as "cool" sitting there but the subjectively better picture and sound, along with a $600 savings should help you get over the cool factor. Unfortunately digital camera's and interlaced TV's don't get along too well so I don't have a picture to post right now but stay tuned for more pics and analysis.
Sound quality was about what you'd expect from a flat panel TV. A little tinny but it attain enough volume to be heard above ambient noise like microwave ovens etc.
Initial impression summary
The Humax LD2060 does have it's niche. Sports bars that mount LCD's on the wall at every booth will find it a good product since there are button controls on the top for DirecTV functions and on the bottom for TV functions so patrons can surf on their own without losing remotes. People with space constraints in their kitchen can wall mount the TV via it's VESA 100 mounting holes, although you'll have to fish the cable from the dish through the wall and, if you want "full functionality" as DirecTV describes it, (i.e. on screen caller ID and ordering pay per view with the remote) you'll also have to figure out how to route the phone line to the nearest phone jack. Old folks will like the always full screen default mode if they feed it a dvd. Finally people with more dollars than sense will want one to look cool and modern.
$699 is a tough pill to swallow for a small, low resolution TV. Now if they could put the guts of an H20 into a TV like the $448 Tatung 20" widescreen HD LCD (Walmart) with a 1680x1050 resolution then they's really have something. I'll follow up after feeding the LD2060 from a DVR/DVD combo and tweaking the picture more with AVIA rather than eyeballing it so stay tuned for more pictures and info! Thanks again to Robert at Valueelectronics.com and no thanks to UPS who held it for 72 hours after it arrived in town before delivery.
I'll give 2 out of 5 dishes mostly for being first to market, flawed as it is double the price of similar TV's but with a $50 DirecTV reveiver in place of an OTA tuner.
Digital Dude out for now.
EDIT: I confirmed with DirecTV that these are only available to own, they cannot be leased.
by Digital Dude
Satelliteguys.us first look!
5-22-2006
What price convenience?
Thanks to Robert at Valueelectronics.com the brand new Humax LD2060 review sample arrived today. The LD2060 is the first flat panel TV featuring an integrated DirecTV standard definition tuner to market and Satelliteguys.us gives you the web's first initial impressions review! As you've come to expect from Satelliteguys this will be an honest review, I call it like I see it. Being the first to market with a product that creates a new segment in consumer electronics is fraught with pitfalls, very seldom does a company score a goal with a new product and this one is no exception.
Before digging in here's a look at the specifications for the 20.1" TV.
LCD Screen
Size 20.1”
Resolution 640 x 480
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Contrast Ratio 500:1
Brightness 450 cd/
Viewing Angle H160°/V140°
Pixel Response 16ms
AV Inputs
Composite Video 2 – Phono
Component Video 1 – 3 Phono (Y/Pb/Pr)
Audio 3 – Phono L/R
AV Outputs
Composite Video 1 – Phono
Audio 1 – Phono L/R
Audio/Sound
Amplifier 3W + 3W (max.)
Sound Effects Flat, Speech, Movie, Music, User
DIRECTV® TUNER
Input Connector 1 – F-TYPE
Frequency Range 950 to 2150 MHz
Signal Level -25 to -75 dBm
LNB Voltage 3/18volt=500mA max.
LNB Polarization V:+13.5V, H:+18V (V:+14V, H:+18.5V)
22kHz Tone Frequency: 22+-4kHz, Amplitude 0.6 +-0.2
Video Features
De-Interlacing 3-D Motion Adaptive
3-D Comb Filter Y
Noise Reduction Y
Sharpness LTI/CTI
Color Enhancement Flesh Tone Enhancement
Picture Mode Standard, Dynamic, Movie, Mild, Game, User
Other
Power Supply 110V, 50/60Hz
Power Consumption TBD
USB 2.0 1
Modem 1 – RJ-11
Dimensions
Unit Dimensions (WHD) 24.2” x 16.3” x 7.1”
Unit Weight 19.36lbs.
VESA Wall Mount 100 x 100 (VESA Hole 4 Each)
MSRP $699
This review will be updated after spending a significant amount of time with the unit but by the end of the article it is my sincere hope that you will have a better understanding of this breakthrough product. Previous integrated TV's with DirecTV built in were manufactured by RCA. They were large CRT RPTV's with built-in DTC-100's for DirecTV High Definition programming.Size 20.1”
Resolution 640 x 480
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Contrast Ratio 500:1
Brightness 450 cd/
Viewing Angle H160°/V140°
Pixel Response 16ms
AV Inputs
Composite Video 2 – Phono
Component Video 1 – 3 Phono (Y/Pb/Pr)
Audio 3 – Phono L/R
AV Outputs
Composite Video 1 – Phono
Audio 1 – Phono L/R
Audio/Sound
Amplifier 3W + 3W (max.)
Sound Effects Flat, Speech, Movie, Music, User
DIRECTV® TUNER
Input Connector 1 – F-TYPE
Frequency Range 950 to 2150 MHz
Signal Level -25 to -75 dBm
LNB Voltage 3/18volt=500mA max.
LNB Polarization V:+13.5V, H:+18V (V:+14V, H:+18.5V)
22kHz Tone Frequency: 22+-4kHz, Amplitude 0.6 +-0.2
Video Features
De-Interlacing 3-D Motion Adaptive
3-D Comb Filter Y
Noise Reduction Y
Sharpness LTI/CTI
Color Enhancement Flesh Tone Enhancement
Picture Mode Standard, Dynamic, Movie, Mild, Game, User
Other
Power Supply 110V, 50/60Hz
Power Consumption TBD
USB 2.0 1
Modem 1 – RJ-11
Dimensions
Unit Dimensions (WHD) 24.2” x 16.3” x 7.1”
Unit Weight 19.36lbs.
VESA Wall Mount 100 x 100 (VESA Hole 4 Each)
MSRP $699
Unpack and setup.
The LD2060 is advertised as a perfect solution for the kitchen and other space limited installs since you won't have to hide as many wires. Upon unpacking the TV you can see that it came with few accessories including remote, power cord, a/v cable, and phone cord.
Since I'm not in the mood to fish cable upstairs into the kitchen I set it up on my equipment rack in the theater room which offers the opportunity to feed the LD2060 from DVD, DVR, and HD sources in addition to it's internal DirecTV SD tuner. One thing about the TV that I like is that the picture is framed by black plastic. Silver reduces perceived contrast ratio and black level and with a contrast ratio of 500:1 this TV needs all the help it can get. Another specification of note is that in today's world of high definition is the 640x480 resolution of the panel, but remember this is a standard definition product but with a wideband component input (YPbPr) that will accept and down rez a HD signal.
Here is a picture from the front.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h207/cmhshark/ff3e8bfe.jpg
From an angle,
The rear inputs and output.
Finally the side component video input.
Setup doesn't take "Rocket Appliances", (OK bad play on words) simply plug in the cable from your DirecTV, plug in the power cord and the familiar DirecTV setup process appears on screen. One interesting note is that on the satellite dish setup screen you can choose between an 18" dish, or oval dish with 2 or 3 LNB's, no setup for the AT-9 dish. The DirecTV receiver inside is manufactured by Conexant and setup is just like you'd find on a D-10/11.
The included remote is in the standardized DirecTV layout but is light gray in color, Humax also included the obligatory "dice" stickers for sports bars that would ostensibly have more than one of these beside a standard Direc remote.
The remote is pre-programmed to operate the TV so remote setup is only needed if you add a DVD player, DVR, or stereo to your setup. (But it's not marketed towards that is it?) Curiously there is no s-video input or output, so if you use a DVR you're stuck with a low grade composite connection.
Performance
I'm spoiled. We've had HD for 6 years and with my writing reviews and covering shows like CEDIA for 5 years it's hard to step back and try to imagine the customer that would buy this type of product. The only TV in our house that is 4:3 is my child's TV, my computer monitor is widescreen, in fact our monitor's are the only LCD's in the house. Why you ask? Two reasons, both having to do with picture quality. First off the black level of the LD2060 about as bad as my daughter's 3 year old 15 in LCD TV/Monitor and with a 16ms response rate the LD2060 leaves much to be desired when it comes to handling fast motion. The pictures from an Olympus digital camera actually make the TV seem to perform much better than it actually does. Blacks are practically non-existent. Shadow detail is lousy and even though it touts "flesh tone enhancement" people appear clay faced, though the clay face is an improvement over my daughters 3 yr old LCDTV. On a positive note, there are few stairstepping artifacts.
TNT feed of Mavs-Spurs Game 7.
I've always found the 640x480 resolution of most 20" LCD's curious to say the least. Smaller yet higher resolution displays nearly always look better, though 640x480 is a good fit for 4:3 NTSC. I tried the component input by feeding it a 1080i signal of TNTHD from a Samsung TS-360. Another anomaly popped up when I did this. The LD2060's component inputs accept a HD signal, but there is no automatic 16x9 mode on the TV. The LD2060 stretched the picture vertically. To remedy this I had to switch the remote to TV mode, enter the TV menu, navigate to picture, then down to "size". The choices are normal, zoom, and wide. The target demographic must include old fuddy-duddies who hate black bars top and bottom! After selecting "wide" mode the TNTHD had the proper aspect ratio. I tuned to the local CBS station's 4:3 feed and the TV stayed in widescreen mode.
Local broadcast picture.
The LD2060 also has composite out so for grins I dusted off the auxiliary TV from the storage room, a 20" Toshiba CRT manufactured in 2000. The "old" style CRT had a more pleasing picture with the basketball game than the LCD. The old CRT does a much better job with motion and scan lines aren't much of a consideration at this size. Yes, the 6 yr old CRT (like you can get on Craigslist for $50) outperformed the $699 LCD. Granted the CRT takes up more counter space, needs an external DirecTV tuner, and doesn't look as "cool" sitting there but the subjectively better picture and sound, along with a $600 savings should help you get over the cool factor. Unfortunately digital camera's and interlaced TV's don't get along too well so I don't have a picture to post right now but stay tuned for more pics and analysis.
Sound quality was about what you'd expect from a flat panel TV. A little tinny but it attain enough volume to be heard above ambient noise like microwave ovens etc.
Initial impression summary
The Humax LD2060 does have it's niche. Sports bars that mount LCD's on the wall at every booth will find it a good product since there are button controls on the top for DirecTV functions and on the bottom for TV functions so patrons can surf on their own without losing remotes. People with space constraints in their kitchen can wall mount the TV via it's VESA 100 mounting holes, although you'll have to fish the cable from the dish through the wall and, if you want "full functionality" as DirecTV describes it, (i.e. on screen caller ID and ordering pay per view with the remote) you'll also have to figure out how to route the phone line to the nearest phone jack. Old folks will like the always full screen default mode if they feed it a dvd. Finally people with more dollars than sense will want one to look cool and modern.
$699 is a tough pill to swallow for a small, low resolution TV. Now if they could put the guts of an H20 into a TV like the $448 Tatung 20" widescreen HD LCD (Walmart) with a 1680x1050 resolution then they's really have something. I'll follow up after feeding the LD2060 from a DVR/DVD combo and tweaking the picture more with AVIA rather than eyeballing it so stay tuned for more pictures and info! Thanks again to Robert at Valueelectronics.com and no thanks to UPS who held it for 72 hours after it arrived in town before delivery.
I'll give 2 out of 5 dishes mostly for being first to market, flawed as it is double the price of similar TV's but with a $50 DirecTV reveiver in place of an OTA tuner.
Digital Dude out for now.
EDIT: I confirmed with DirecTV that these are only available to own, they cannot be leased.
Last edited:
