Take a good look, people, for this television is your worst nightmare. The Niko OTP-3211W 32-Inch Widescreen LCD TV boasts top-of-the-line features, HD capabilities, and best of all, low price. Well, I got hooked and reeled in, my friends, because without thinking I purchased one, citing great reviews on Amazon and, again, that ridiculously low price ($749.99). When it arrived, we opened the box and plugged it in. You can imagine my excitement at this point, I'm sure.
First, we tried basic cable - no HD tuners, no digital cable boxes, just a coaxial cable, an RF connector, and a dream. The picture wasn't too bad, but I did notice some ghosting. For those who don't know, "ghosting" is a term used when things on screen are moving and blur slightly. This happens because the screen's pixels aren't refreshing fast enough to keep up with the movement. Now, the better models are tackling this problem and have it down to about eight milliseconds, but Niko must not have heard about this feature's importance.
Next, we tried a few DVDs, and they looked good except for the still-present ghosting. For three days I tried to ignore it (I've got too much pride), but in the end admitted defeat. I realize that using coaxial cable and RCA hookups won't get the best picture nowadays, but shouldn't it be good enough to bear, at least?
We returned the Niko and got a full refund, not including the near $200 dollars we spent in shipping. I don't even want to try and explain the difficulty we had in sending it back.
The bottom line: if you're thinking about purchasing a LCD or plasma screen television, start with online reviews, but don't end there - go to Best Buy or Circuit City and LOOK at them, play with the picture (contrast, brightness,etc.), talk to an expert. Don't be a Naive Neil.
