Haier LE24C1380 24-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED HDTV (Black)

All-Around Good, Budget LED 1080p TV, August 30, 2011

I’ll try to put a lot of information here both for people thinking about buying one, as well as for people who already have this unit (current owners: the last part of this review has information on how to access the hidden service menu, among other things).

I picked up this TV the end of August 2011 at a local store that was clearancing them out (new) at a blowout price ($159+tax, new!) It’s a 2011 model that has now been replaced with a different 2012 model, but while the 2012 model is slimmer (sorry, forget what the 2012 model number is), you lose some of the features that this 2011 model LE24C1380 contains (like the Time-shift function).

Though it’s a “Class 24” size, the actual screen size is 23.6.
Picture is sharp and nice, especially when hooked up to 1080p content, such as a bluray or HDTV.

Like most LED TVs of this size and range, it’s edge-lit, and when the screen is completely black, you do see just a bit of light in the lower-center of the screen (but as soon as there’s any picture at all it’s immediately gone).

The Time-shift function has limited use, but I have to say, I have used it a couple times, and it’s nice to have just in case you want to use it. Basically, you can plug in a USB thumb drive, and at any point, start recording full 1080p content off live TV onto the USB stick to watch it a bit later. Note that you have to have a decent speed USB thumb drive (really slow ones won’t work). Say you’re watching a TV show and someone calls you on the phone. You can use the time-shift function to then start recording the TV show so that when you’re off the phone you can go back and watch what you missed (skipping past commercials too) even while it keeps recording new stuff until you catch up. In reality there aren’t too many times I’ve used it, and of course, the TV & screen has to be on for it to work (so it won’t replace a DVR or VCR in everyday use)… but again, it’s better to have it than not, and they’ve taken this function away in the newer 2012 model that comes after this one, so if you want it, get this model.

Sound is OK for this size TV, but don’t expect theatre-quality sound or anything like that. I generally watch with sound at a lower volume, and it’s fine for that. Also, no other TVs in this size range (24″) offer any better sound (all seem to offer two 3W speakers), and unless you blast it, it’s good enough. There are lots of inputs and outputs (no need to write all the specs, it’s all listed here at this detailed listing). It has 2 HDMI inputs which is nice (both are currently occupied on my system). It has some nice features on the remote like an HDTV FAVORITES key. The reception is comparable to other similar sized sets.

(Note: if you live in an area further away from the transmitters like I do, I found that all those indoor antennas advertised for sale from RCA, Philips, etc hardly work at all.. they didn’t work well with other sets or converter boxes either. Believe it or not, a solution I found is finding an old double telescoping antenna from an old TV, plopping it down into a jar of silly putty [to keep it from falling over since it’s just the antenna meant to go into an old TV], putting it on a shelf in my closet, and running some coax wire along the wall to come out by where the TV set is. Doing that, I get 95% of the channels, as opposed to just a couple, which is all I could get with those advertised HDTV antennas).

There’s a blue “power-on” light at the bottom of the screen that isn’t bright, but it’s large, and I find those kind of things annoying, so I just covered it up with a piece of black electrical tape (what I’ve done to my DVD players and other sets that have similar lights like that).

One interesting thing: this TV is made by Haier, which is a large Chinese company that mostly makes appliances for OTHER companies (though this one they’re selling under their own brand, and starting to enter the US market with their own brand). It seems that they make a lot of the LG brand as well, because the remote to an LG BluRay player that I have actually controls this Haier LE24C1380 TV right out of the box (without changing or entering any manufacturing codes on the DVD player’s remote).

Personal settings (brightness, tint, contrast, etc) can all be controlled. You’ll want to go for the personal settings. Take a little time, find what you like. It will let you store one personal setting for video and one personal setting for audio. That’s what I have mine set to.

The included instruction manual is clear on some things, not so clear on others (such as how to start the time-shift function recording). If you can’t figure it out, at least Haier has a toll-free number, and they’re pretty good about helping and answering questions. The unit is also Energy Star rated and very, very efficient (ranking well at the engery-saving end of the ratings for units this…

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Great tv for the money, August 7, 2012

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Leslie E. Mclain (Oklahoma City, OK) –

  

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Neat set up, September 21, 2012

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Lawrence Pim –

  

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