Though I don't watch TV, I bought this unit as a gift for my wife who does and who wanted a receiver in the kitchen. Since we have limited space this unit is ideal. Though the instruction manual is deficient, the on-screen menus are mostly intuitive. Picture and sound quality are good for a unit of this size. Before you buy, here is what you need to know:
Unless you a located within a few miles of the transmitter, the supplied telescopic omni-directional antenna is entirely inadequate. I couldn't get anything except badly degraded reception of NTSC signals off air. Digital HD signals are broadcast on a different frequency band. I had to buy an antenna designed for optimum reception of HD; even then, weaker signals caused the otherwise excellent HD pictures and sound to pixillate and distort. For off air HD reception, expect to pay another $40 to $75 for an antenna designed to receive HD digital transmissions.
In the end, I decided that my wife would be unhappy with the limited choices of off-air broadcasts and so I installed a signal splitter in the cable company's signal feed to her other television and connected the Haier HLT71 to the second output from the splitter.
Connecting the supplied rechargeable battery is fiddly. Be careful inserting the small white two-pin connector and use a wooden or plastic probe to push the connector home. The battery is a tight fit. Connect the power pack to the wall power outlet and insert the round connector into the left side of the unit. Slide the switch on the left side to "ON"; the remote control has no effect until this switch is in the "ON" position.
Once everything is connected, use the remote control to display the on-screen menu. Use the direction keys to select the satellite dish and then use the down-arrow key to select the ANTENNA option; select either AIR or CATV, depending on where you are getting your signal. Use the down-arrow key to select SCAN and initiate the scan sequence with the right-arrow key. With CATV, cable, you should only have to scan once. With AIR, you will likely need to rescan from time to time, especially if you move the antenna around. I noticed that the found-channel counter rolled over from 256 to 1 while scanning CATV, telling me that there is only an 8-bit counter for this function.
Finally, if you are using cable, the standard RG6 coaxial cable is stiff and unwieldy. I bought GE brand ultra thin video cable from Home Depot, Pt. No. AV23278, and used it to connect the unit to the RG6 cable via a female-to-female splice. It is a much better solution and the cable easily concealed.
Overall the Haier HLT71 appears to be a good television, as long as you are prepared to spend more money and effort to get the best performance. It can deliver stereo sound. It comes with a power adapter for the car, as well as an A/V cable with RCA plugs on each end for connection to your component entertainment system; you can select the A/V source from the remote control. It has a flip-out stand to keep it upright on a flat surface and there is a camera tripod mounting hole on the lower edge of the unit.
Enjoy!Get more detail about Haier HLT71 7-Inch Handheld LCD TV.
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