Any thoughts are welcome. We have been running cheap televisions for years now, hunting for all those bargain deals, TV offers, the odd LCD review, etc and it has served us well and taught us a lot but maybe now is the time to part company. Hopefully to a company that can really take it forwards in the way we would have liked to but just don’t have the money to invest ourselves. Any interest in buying or investing in cheap televisions should be directed to leewelton @ msn.com (minus the spaces).

The cheap television team…

The Technika 32-56 32″ television has been reduced from £199.99 to £179.10 by Tesco. It is HD Ready 720p rather than 1080p but at the 32″ size the difference in picture quality isn’t going to be terribly noticeable like on a large 50″ plasma TV for example.

Connectivity wise the Technika 32-56 LCD TV has the expected slots to plug in a range of home entertainment equipment, including 3 HDMI sockets, a single SCART socket and a USB port. So it could easily accommodate a HD games console, Sky HD box, Blu-Ray DVD player and a surround sound system for example.

Even before Tesco launched the price drop deal on televisions the Technika 32-56 32″ LCD TV was one of their best selling cheap LCD televisions.

The Technika 32-56 LCD television currently boasts 236 customer reviews on the Tesco website with an average score of 9 out of 10 which is rather spectacular for what is a very cheap TV. Below is what one of the reviews says, however if you want to give us your own personal experience of owning a Technika 32-56 LCD TV or want to tell us your personal customer service experience when buying a television from Tesco please use the comment box below.

Technika 32-56 Reviews:

Plus Points: Good picture and sound. Proper mains off switch. Price. It’s from Tesco so no grief if it goes wrong. 18 month warranty
Bad Points: Remote control poor, on my second and this has problems
very slow to respond, but quicker with universal remote. The Technika 32-56 TV stand is very small.

Watching the current swathe of television commercials for the premium German brands BMW, Mercades and Audi they enhance the ideals the viewer has of the brands. Quality, performance, new technology and style with such ease. Using all that is good with visual and audio stimulation.

Even the none premium car brands that Toyota are competing with are producing television commercials that really sell their products in what is undeniably a difficult and strained market right now. The Renault TV commercial with clips from old movies just oozes style. VW carries on a long tradition of simple, informative and clever advertising to push the message of build quality and reliability. Ford showers us with new technology and performance. All of the above use stylish imagery and excellent music both of which have become the staple of purposeful and solid television commercial in recent times. All the advertising agencies involved in the above adverts should be commended. The same can’t be said for the advertising agency and Toyota advertising executives that signed off the money for the Toyota Yaris Gadget Guy adverts.

The selling points that I believe Toyota as a brand has built up over the years are build quality and reliability. Considering they are the biggest car manufacture in the world these two main selling points haven’t done them bad so far. So why not stick with what works?

Obviously the idea behind the Toyota Yaris Gadget Guy TV commercial is to help encourage the Toyota brand appeal to a younger audience, however I fear it has failed completely. The advertising agency involved seem to have deduced that young people (around 5 years old) like cartoons and that young people (around 14 years old) like rap music. Combining the two and throwing in a puppet for good measure results in the perfect advert for selling cars to 10 year olds! All the advert does is show the car can connect to an iPhone, wow!

The average 17 to 25 year old is going to hate the music and the cheesiness and the image the car is selling. Why would anyone in this age bracket want a Toyota Yaris when the competition (without even trying) look so much more fashionable by virtue of Toyota producing such a counter productive television commercial. I would think and hope that young people buying their first brand new car are wanting to aspire upwards and not downwards and for me that is what the Toyota Yaris Gadget guy tv commercial is essentially doing. The car in front is a Toyota, the driver in front is a unstylish tracksuit wearing chav (which they won’t actually be as we all know they buy Saxo’s).

I could go on and on like a doomed blue bottle trying to escape a closed window about how rubbish the Gadget Guy advert for the Toyota Yaris is, but you are most likely as bored as a discarded DFS sofa on a roundabout. So rather than moaning here is what I think Toyota and the advertising agency that probably pocketed tens of thousands of shiny pounds for their lame efforts should have done. Feel free to agree, disagree or offer up ideas to the unseen eyes of the world wide web in the cheap television comments below if you so wish.

Firstly I would have thought after all the issues Toyota had with the brakes on several of their cars any advertising they paid for would be to help rebuild the reputation of Toyota cars being extremely well built and reliable. Not the biggest selling point for younger consumers I know, but even for them and more importantly for the brand pushing this plus point is never a bad thing.

Secondly the Yaris is a cheap car to own and run, but again there is no mention or hint of any of this. Particularly for young people buying their first car the cost of tax and petrol is as important as spending 2 hours in the bathroom before leaving the house. Also car insurance in the UK has reached Silvio Berlusconi levels of ridiculousness in the past year. The cost can sway people into buying a car that won’t cost the Earth, the Moon and even Mars to insure! Both of these marketing points aren’t going to push a cool imagery on younger folk, but are underlying tones that really should be present. Unlike the annoying Gadget Guy television commercial they also would not put people off the Toyota Yaris.

Finally the main point, making the Toyota seem cool and desirable to the younger generation. Something Toyota and the advertising agency involved have so epically failed to achieve with the Gadget Guy TV commercial. What I believe they should have been trying to do is appeal to those inspirational ideas that so many young people have. Yes it’s a small car, but it’s cool and those who own one are on the first step of the ladder to owning something slightly flashier in the future. The Mini before they also started to devalue their brand by releasing variations of the Mini as ugly as my granddads nut sack and unnecessary as bacon flavoured ice-cream (think the Mini Coupe and Countryman).

So they should be making the Yaris appealing by making it look social, youngsters want to impress their friends so show it in a myriad of young well dressed people. Hell, stick them somewhere that young people want to go. Show those youngsters that are dreaming of going on a road trip with mates that the Toyota Aygo is a cool car to do it in. Show them this is what you could be doing if you buy one, these are the adventures you can have, the world is yours, go explore! Throw in a little of how well it drives and the technology (something the Gadget Guy commercial does show, albeit badly) and the features of the product. These are all simple well tested ideas that just work well. Being clever has just given us another crap television commercial and myself some stiff fingers, there are several other ways I’d rather be making my fingers stiff!

I have rabbited on for far too long about this annoying, badly considered and ill thought-out TV commercial. Even Kia car TV commercials are much better and more stylish. Hopefully the next time Toyota are about to sign off on a TV commercial they come and consult with me first, or even better commission me to come up with the ideas. And no I don’t know who sings the stupid song on the even more stupid Toyota Yaris TV commercial.

Jason Gardiner Second Hair Transplant Operation

Back in July Jason Gardiner was caught covering up his bald patch to hide it away from celebrity photographers and their prying lenses. So the Dancing On Ice and Born To Shine judge has apparently spent £6,000 on top of the £30,000 he spent a year ago on his first hair transplant operation to cover up the bald spots from the paparazzi and television cameras.
The results after two ops were plain to see as the 39-year-old proudly paraded his new look on the internet. The operation TV judge Jason Gardiner underwent was allegedly Follicular Unit Transplantation (well a top up at least).

Jason Gardiner Twitter Picture After Hair Transplant

After television personality Jason Gardiner posted the hair transplant result pictures on twitter he went on to say:

“Day 1 post op & head is feeling tight with slight dull throbbing pain.”

“You would never know I’ve had it done. No swelling or bruising at all. Photo taken just now in my hotel room in LA after my 2nd FUT procedure!”

“Everybody, from family to my closest friends, said I looked great without hair.”

“But this procedure I’m having is not for anybody else, it is purely and simply because of the way I feel about myself.”

“This is a process that requires patience. You don’t see the yield until 10 months to a year after. So initially, my closest friends were like, ‘Oh my god, what have you done to yourself?’

“And, to a lesser extent, so was I, because you go in with this pre-conceived notion that the hair is going to start growing through fairly rapidly but the reality is quite the opposite.”

“If you are going to do this, you have to be patient. But a year down the track, I can’t tell you how impressed everyone is, including myself, at this procedure.”

What do you guys think of Jason Gardiner’s second hair transplant operation? Let us know in the TV blog comments below.

Cheap Evotel ELCD32USB 32 Inch HD Ready LCD TV

We haven’t been able to find any reviews for this very cheap 32 inch Evotel ELCD32USB LCD TV but if you have purchased one from Argos please get in touch and tell us what you think. The cheap televisions team would be very surprised if the picture quality was up there with the more well know LCD TV manufacturers, but is it is then this Evotel LCD TV would be an excellent cheap LCD TV deal.

Cheap Evotel ELCD32USB 32 Inch HD Ready LCD TV product information:

HD Ready.
Freeview digital tuner.
32in (81cm) TV with widescreen visible screen size.
Resolution 1366 x 768 pixels.
50Hz.
Brightness 410cd/m2.
Contrast ratio 4000:1.
Response time 6.5ms.
Viewing angle 178/178 degrees.
Progressive scan.

Connectivity:

3 HDMI sockets.
2 SCART sockets.
PC input socket.
Component video socket.
Composite.
S-Video socket.
AV socket (rear).
DC socket (rear).
1 USB port.

Sound quality:

2 x 10 watts RMS power output.

Digital features:

This TV will not work with digital signals in the Republic of Ireland, you will require a digital set top box or satellite source .
Digitally interactive.
Digital text.
Digital video broadcasting (DVB) subtitles available.
Auto setup.
Auto scan for new channels.
Now and next programme guide.
7 day electronic programme guide (EPG).
Top up TV compatible.
CI slot.
Audio description compatible.

Additional features:

UHF/VHF tuner.
Sleep timer.
Remote control batteries required 2 x AAA (included).
Size of TV H52.8, W79.6, D11.1cm.
Weight of TV 12kg (unpackaged).
Complete with tabletop stand.
Size of TV with stand H58.3, W79.6, D23.3cm.
Suitable for wall mounting (bracket not included).

Energy efficiency information:

On mode power consumption 160 watts.
Standby power consumption 1 watt.

Additional Information

Current selling price valid until 20/01/2012

Sky Sports Football Fixtures On TV

I know existing Sky TV customers will be saying that’s not fair to themselves but it’s not my fault. For those that want to take Sky up on their half price subscription for 12 months the SkyTV1 discount code I used has expired. However cheap televisions has had a tip off that the discount code SkyA is valid until 8th September 2011 and SkyTV3 may also still be valid. It would be much better if Sky would stop charging people to view the channels in HD though, £10 a month, £120 a year is expensive in this economic climate and isn’t helping forward the world of HD television viewing for the masses.

So as I now have the luxury of being able to watch the nations favourite spot on my 50 inch plasma television (I can’t wait), I’ve been hunting through the TV listings for what football games are being televised this coming week on Sky Sports.

This Weeks TV Football Fixtures starting 20/08/11

Saturday 20/08/22
Arsenal Vs Liverpool – Premier League – 12pm Sky Sports 2
Peterborough United Vs Ipswich Town – npower Championship – 5pm Sky Sports 2

Sunday 21/08/22
West Ham Vs Leeds – npower Championship – 1pm Sky Sports 1
Bolton Vs Manchester City – Premier League – 3.30pm Sky Sports 1

Monday 22/08/22
Manchester United Vs Tottenham – Premier League – 7pm Sky Sports 1

Tuesday 23/08/22
FC Zurich Vs Bayern Munich (various other games on the red button – Champions League Qualifying Play-Off – 7pm Sky Sports 2

Wednesday 24/08/22
Exeter Vs Liverpool – Carling Cup – 7.30pm Sky Sports 1

Thursday 25/08/22
Scunthorpe v Newcastle – Carling Cup – 7pm Sky Sports 1

Friday 26/08/22
Barcelona v Porto – UEFA Super Cup – 7.30pm Sky Sports 1

It looks like it isn’t going to be a good week for the telly belly! But a great one for football fans. We might make this week long Sky Sports football fixture guide an ongoing feature here on the cheap television blog.

Sony Bravia 3D TVs & 3D PS3 Games

Senior Sony Computer Entertainment Europe development manager and 3D chief Simon Benson apparently told GI.biz “It’s certainly not a concern for us on the gaming side, the major reason being it’s not like when we’re adding 3D features to a game, it’s not a significant overhead for us. It’s not like we have to justify being able to sell millions more games because of it, it’s just another feature of the game.”

“The developers that we’ve worked with adding 3D features to the games, it’s typically been done through passion of the development teams and interest of the designers to deliver new experiences. It’s not often about the financial side of things. Because it isn’t a huge overhead. It’s not like in 3D live production (TV and movies) where someone has got to make the decision about hiring cameras that cost twice as much and doing post processing that costs ten times more and it’s a significant overhead, there you really have to look at the numbers.”

“What we’re talking about here is, in some cases we’ve had titles where 3D has been half a per cent of overhead. It can literally be the render programmer spending a couple of weeks manipulating it. Particularly if a game already has split screen in it, just take that mode of the game and re-author it to deliver really high quality 3D. So often it’s the case of it doesn’t even hit the radar of whether we should or shouldn’t, it can just be done.”

LG 42PT353K HD 42 Inch Plasma TV

LG describe the television as: “The HD Ready 42PT353K Plasma TV provides superb picture quality with a stunning razor frame design. Convert your living room to a sports stadium or cinema thanks to its crystal clear picture quality. The 42PT353K 42 inch plasma television also offers 600Hz technology and a USB connection for access to your favourite pictures, music and videos .”

Reviews wise the LG 42PT353K HD 42 Inch Plasma TV has very good customer reviews on Amazon with a rating of 5 out of 5 stars and one review saying: “Brilliant stuff from LG here. I love it when you purchase a product and there is absolutely nothing you can complain about. I haven’t exactly ‘tested’ everything such as the HD picture or all the inputs. But the picture quality is so great from standard freeview, I’m sure it’ll be fantastic. For this price I don’t think you can do better than this television. Another thing I really appreciate about this TV is the menu. It’s beautiful to look at with good usability. Other manufacturers can learn from this. I am very glad I bought this and not an LED TV for twice the price.”

The LG 42PT353K HD 42″ plasma television can be purchased for around £350 at all good home entertainment shops!

Cello Cheap 3D Televisions

Director of Cello Brian Palmer said: “Initially I was unsure about the future of 3D, but the quality of 3D vision now available and the number of new 3D films coming onto the market this year guarantees success for this new technology. Sky now has one 3D channel and existing subscribers who already have Sky’s full package can get it free of charge. I’m sure many other 3D channels will also launch in the near future, making ownership of a 3D TV even more appealing.”

The first of these TV deals at Tesco is the Sony KDL32 CX523 32 inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD TV with  Internet TV & Freeview HD. A full HD TV with a pretty good review score on Reevoo of 8.3 from 20 reviews for a reasonably cheap price of £399.99.

The second offer is for another, more expensive, 32 inch Sony television. The Sony KDL32 EX523 32 inch Widescreen  Full HD 1080p LED TV with Freeview HD. Again another very good review score of 8.8 on Reevoo and in the Tesco sale for £549.00.

32 inch televisions were the most popular size not that long ago, but now customers want the biggest tele they can afford and the 32″ set has fallen out of favour. However these two Sony LCD screens shouldn’t be ignored as there Bravia series is always high quality. We especially like that they both come with built in Freeview HD too. Anyway we’ll bring you the best Tesco TV deals when we hear about them very soon.