A Review of the Sylvania 15" LCD HDTV/DVD Combo (LD155SL8): An All in One for the Kitchen, or Kid's Room

This is a small, inexpensive, 15" LCD television with bundled DVD player. Sylvania is known for their budget level electronics and have a reputation of generating a fairly good product but with little support. I'm going to let you know what you can expect to get out of this little LCD and where it would get the most mileage.

First this Sylvania TV produces and image of 1024x768 which is 720p. So don't expect TrueHD from this small device. The DVD player is integrated and doesn't seem to be up converting. It's just your standard DVD player. However it does play just about anything you can think to put into it. It plays audio CDs, even MP3 cds. It will play just about any user created disk ranging from VCD's to DVD's both +/- and RW. In that regard it is a solid little DVD player.

This TV comes with its own integrated ATSC tuner, so basically all you need to do is plug it into your HD cable package or add a good HD antenna and you're rolling at 720p. It is missing a number of features though. It is missing picture in picture, which isn't a huge deal due to its small size, but some people expect it on their LCD TV's these days. Also, the most annoying thing is that it isn't wide screen.

So not only is it already small at 15" but everything is reduced even more because of the letterbox. This drives me crazy and I don't know why all HD capable TV's aren't widescreen. The Sylvania's sound doesn't get any better, the speakers just aren't good. They distort easily and although I mentioned earlier you can play MP3 cds with the integrated DVD player, you won't want to after you hear the terrible sound.

The connectivity leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn't have and HDMI input. So if you were planning on playing the PS3 or Xbox 360 on this little TV you can forget about it unless you want to constantly trade your cables between your HD TV receiving device (antenna, cable box or whatever) with the gaming system.

Esthetically it isn't too bad. It measures 14.3"x18.6"x6.5" and is relatively light at 10 lbs. It comes mounted to its own stand, so you won't be wall mounting this LCD TV either.

Ultimately for the money (less than $200) (model number LD155SL8) this is certainly a get what you pay for scenario. I would put this Sylvania LCD TV in perhaps a child's room, or kitchen. It would do well there, where the discerning television viewer isn't likely to spend much time and if any damage is done to it, you won't mind. I can respect the desire to have everything bound into one, but in reality this is a $120 TV with a $20 DVD player. Personally I would upgrade to a $200 LCD and buy a cheap DVD player to attach to it, I think you'd come out a little better all the way around.