Sylvania LC320SLX

5/10 Surprisingly, it won't work with Dish or DirectTV remotes

loupgarous - 10/04/09  (Edited: 10/04/09)

The Sylvania LC320SLX flat-panel LCD television is a great value for the money EXCEPT for a glaring problem which should be advertised on the box - remotes for the Dish and DirectTV satellite TV systems won't operate it. If I had known this when I bought the TV at Target last night, I probably wouldn't have bought it. I plunked down just over $400 after sales tax for a TV that would work at least as well as the TV it replaced (and this is the first time I've had a TV, VCR, DVD player or recorder that wouldn't work with the Dish system remote). Worse, having worked my way unsuccessfully through Sylvania's owner's manual, Dish's remote control manual, their tech support system, Funai's tech support line (I was referred to them by the otherwise obliging tech support guy at Dish), and finally Sylvania's own tech support 1-866 phone line, I was told by Sylvania's tech support guy that this was NOT Sylvania's problem - that the codes for operating remote controls were given out by the people who make the Dish remotes, and Sylvania had nothing to do with the fact that their new TV wouldn't work with a Dish remote. I'm sorry, but here, I have to call BS on the tech support guy I spoke with at Sylvania. I have, among other things, worked as an electronics technician, and I know better than that - the manufacturer of an electronic device has total control over how it works under remote control. The manufacturer chooses the IR transponder installed in the device, chooses the codes which the device uses to communicate with its remote, and should, ideally, be in contact with industry leaders such as Dish and Direct TV at least to the degree that they can coordinate enough to get remote control codes which will work with satellite TV remotes. The sheer effrontery of the excuse I was given really made me angry (on top of the fact that I spent $400 in order to juggle two remotes in order to watch TV now). All that being said, it's not a bad TV. The picture is fairly good when the TV is tuned to local digital TV broadcasts here in Denver. Also, the layout of connectors is considerate - especially to users who have more than one HDMI device, such as avid video gamers and DVD enthusiasts - the Sylvania LC320SLX has THREE HDMI slots, count'em, three, along with an NTSC composite video jack, a set of component video jacks, sets of analog audio jacks to go with all the video jacks, and a digital audio jack. The controls are so-so with regard to ease of use and layout; only slightly counter-intuitive. However, with all the different combinations of control settings available to the user, it seems that there is not one that will allow you to with a minimum of fiddling to get a decent picture from standard-resolution 480p video as delivered by an older satellite dish or cable DVR. So before buying this unit, consider whether or not you're ready to upgrade your cable or satellite service to HD, because you will only be frustrated otherwise with the fact that you will be getting much better pictures by hooking up rabbit ears to the "antenna" jack of the Sylvania LC320SLX and watching free-to-air broadcasts than from your cable or satellite hookup. And consider whether or not you're going to be angry that you have to use two remotes to watch TV if you're a Dish or DirectTV customer after spending $400 on this set.