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Review on πŸ“Ί Supersonic SC-1311 13.3-Inch 1080p LED HDTV with HDMI Input - AC/DC Compatible by Robert Correa

Revainrating 3 out of 5

A few *serious* design flaws ruin an otherwise decent product

This is a preview based on owning the product for a full hour. I'll update it when I have more thoughts. The first thing that struck me about 1511 is the way they designed the bulge that attaches to the TV stand, although it's probably strong it's quite annoying to those who won't be using it. Rather than placing a solid block of material *inside* the TV and attaching the stand *outside*, the bar itself is a solid block of material and is machined *inside*. a guide that suggests hiring a professional to do the installation, probably not because installing a VESA TV that weighs just two pounds 10 ounces (not including the edge) is a bit difficult, but because they don't think the average user is able to do this. Disassembling the TV to remove the mounting boss protruding below. whoops Sure, I've done a lot of laptop surgeries over the years, it hasn't slowed me down that much. To remove the protrusion, simply unscrew the eight case screws marked with arrows (four top, four bottom), gently pry the front of the monitor (including the flat panel) with your fingernails or a spatula, and unscrew the two large silver screws. inside the TV along with the plates holding those screws, remove the tab, snap the TV into place and reinstall the eight screws. But such an operation really shouldn't have been necessary for something that's usually considered the primary task of the end user (removing the stand to wall mount a TV). Another thing I quickly noticed is that the audio quality is distorted at high volumes. It doesn't matter for my use case, but is worth mentioning if audio quality is important to you. But the biggest and most egregious downside is the location of the HDMI port. Supersonic completely placed the HDMI port on the wrong side of their board and objectively misdesigned the case, making it nearly impossible to use the HDMI port without a 90 degree adapter. The problem with HDMI (both DVI and VGA) is that cables don't allow for a tight turning radius. It takes a few inches to bend ninety degrees. And the plugs themselves are usually about two inches long. The HDMI connection therefore needs at least four to six centimeters of free space in front of it if you want to connect the cable securely. On this TV, however, the HDMI port is at the bottom in a recess on the back that's about 2.25 inches tall. That's almost two inches less than what you need to securely connect true HDMI cables without constantly stressing the cable and connector. I wouldn't expect an HDMI connection to last more than a few months with this kind of abuse. This connector should literally be broken if used the way most people would normally use an HDMI connector (inserting a cable directly). It's just *awesome* poor hardware design. Also, if you mount your TV so close to the wall with a right-angle adapter that the HDMI cable has to exit the side, it will eventually cover the VGA port. (You can't turn the cable the other way because of the power cord.) To be honest, I haven't seen VGA on a computer since the turn of the century, so admittedly it's not a huge loss, but it's a downside one though. Also, I'd be surprised if you could connect most VGA cables without a 90 degree adapter, for the same reason you can't connect most HDMI cables. seriously revamp this product by first moving all the RCA connectors from the end into this notch (because RCA cables always have a rather small turning radius) and moving all the cables (VGA, HDMI) connected to the computer to the end. (because these cords are never made). They then either have to redesign their stand to screw in from the outside instead of the inside, or better yet, remove the tab entirely and ship the product with a lightweight stand with a thin vertical wall. Posts going down the back and into the top of the base and screws going through those posts into the VESA mount. Eventually they need to reshape and reposition the motherboard (or maybe just move it up) so they can make the bottom (under the t-connectors) about double the height (without reducing the indentation). This change would allow them to fit much larger speakers into the cabinet (bigger than the holes in the front of the cabinet) and then bounce the sound out. Such a design would of course require someone with experience in acoustic design, but I'm pretty sure it would be easy to significantly improve the sound quality without significantly changing the size of the TV. I now realize that this is an extremely cheap TV and has a 'you get what you pay for' sort of element, but then again, I wasn't planning on buying a cheap TV; I went to the *small* TV. Unfortunately, most major manufacturers have completely abandoned the 15-inch size class, so there isn't much more that could be spent on quality improvements. So I got what I could get. And I was able to get it to work just fine. what I need it for (at least once the 90 degree adapters arrive in a few days which I don't need and can't buy locally). A brand new TV would likely send the product back after determining that the center protrusion didn't slip off. Someone unfamiliar with right-angle adapters might give up on not being able to connect an HDMI cable, or worse, they still might connect one and break the HDMI connector after six months And so on. It could be a good product if they just paid a little more attention to detail - paying particular attention to how users actually use their products and designing them to make it as simple as possible.

Pros
  • This is great
Cons
  • Almost OK

Comments (4)

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May 21, 2023
NOT DC compatible for 32"
May 17, 2023
Better than the 15 inch by far
March 13, 2023
A few *serious* design flaws mar an otherwise decent product
November 27, 2022
Let's get real: It is a fine little TV