However, there are
two things I noticed about this display that some might object to. First I
noticed that it is loud. There isn’t a fan—although it does pump out a lot of
heat—but it does emit a very noticeable buzzing noise. How noticeable? With
dialog, I can make out the sound on my couch at 12 feet, and between voices from
my easy chair at 20 feet. All plasmas make some amount of noise, but I found
this hard to ignore at times. I also noticed that the component video inputs
were rather sensitive to weak signals; periodically with one of my DVD players,
the TV would simply blink as it lost synchronization with and then reacquired
the signal. I suppose a better DVD player would help but the unit I use for
testing has no problems with other TVs. I’m not a big fan of component video
anyhow, I prefer to use digital inputs, which work great with this TV. I would
expect that if your DVD player wasn’t up to the job, you could upgrade to a unit
that supported one of the digital output formats. For legacy TV, the W4200HD has
two analog tuners so you can channel surf independently when watching the
picture-in-picture, and there are enough hookups to connect plenty of game
consoles and video equipment like older VCRs and camcorders.
As a standard
television on its stand, the W4200HD works fine, but it would work best in a
location that takes advantage of its flat profile. A place where size wasn’t
everything, and its noise would not be as noticeable, like the breakfast nook.
That’s something even my kids could appreciate.
RATING: SOLID
Description: Dell W4200HD
High Points: Dual analog TV tuners; multiple
analog and digital video inputs; brilliant colors
Low Points: Audible buzzing
noise; smudged black levels
Contact: Dell, 800.915.3355,
www.dell.comPrice: $2,999
